Andrew Johnson to Major General Doyle, January 13, 1864
Mr. Johnson to Major General Doyle.
Sir: Having attended throughout the examination of the witnesses on the part of the crown against Drs. Almon and Smith, and Mr. Keith, charged with having obstructed the execution of a warrant, issued by the mayor against George Wade and others, under the extradition treaty with the United States and act of Parliament for carrying it into effect, I am enabled to comply with the desire your honor conveyed to me to furnish you with a summary of the result of the evidence.
The examinations occupied from 12 until half past 7 o’clock. The witnesses examined for the prosecution were the city marshal and three policemen; the sheriff of the county; Lieutenant Reyne, of the 16th regiment, and Myers Grey, esq., a barrister of this city. The witnesses were examined on the part of the defendants, the proceedings in that respect being ex parte. The general result of the testimony was more certain and clear as to the leading facts than usual in cases of such a nature, and concerning these, as far as this examination exhibits them, there cannot reasonably be mistake or misapprehension.
Your order that no large or indiscriminate crowd should be admitted within the gates of the Queen’s wharf on the occasion in question was strictly carried out by Lieutenant Reyne, the officer in charge of the guard; and the perspicuity of this officer’s testimony made it manifest that he had been a careful observer of all that passed.
With the exception of the acting policeman, whose natural excitement on such an occasion may account for some exaggerations, the witnesses variously stated about thirty, forty, and fifty as forming the whole number assembled, including persons in the commissariat employment, and in other public services.
Of this assemblage, there appears to have been probably about eighteen on the slip when the men were landed, and it was here that the transactions took place. The rest seem to have been dispersed about the wharf and open space at its head, which together form an area, as you are aware, of no inconsiderable extent.
On the slip were the United States naval officer, the high sheriff of the county of Halifax, your aide-de-camp Captain Gierke, the provincial secretary, the acting American consul, Lieutenant Reyne, and some other officials, together with three or four policemen, so that the number of unofficial civilians on this spot was trifling.
The three men to be given up were landed in irons. This was a cause of just offence to the public; it was an unnecessary continoance and exhibition of the force which the rendition of the men acknowledged to have been illegal; and to the men, especially to the two citizens against whom no complaint existed, and who had suffered already over two days of rigorous confinement in irons, it was a needless prolongation of the wrong and indignity under which they had suffered.
This circumstance had excited a good deal of indignation in the city when it came to be known, but the evidence did not show that in the first instance, among the bystanders on the occasion, any ebullition of feeling from this or any other cause was made apparent.
The sheriff, before he accepted the transfer of the men, required the removal of the handcuffs; these were taken off by the American officer on the slip. Wade was the first released, and remained standing beside his fellow-prisoners while their irons were being taken off. The sheriff then informed the three men that they were free.
About this time a boat with two men was proceding from the dock of the fish-market, the next adjoining to the north dock of the Queen’s wharf, rowing, as was stated by some of the witnesses, and not contradicted by any, towards the stream in the direction that would lead the fisherman homeward. Dr. Almon stepped to the edge of the slip, and hailed this boat, beckoning to the men to come in; they did not hear or did not heed the first call, but in compliance with a second, changed their course and pulled into the slip, when Dr. Almon told Wade, who still stood unmolested on the slip, to get into the boat; he did so without any obstruction from any one, and the fisherman pushed off. The boat with Wade and the two fishermen on board had proceeded a short distance from the slip, when the policeman Hutt, to whom the warrant had been intrusted, rushed down to the water’s edge, called aloud to bring back the boat, and presented a pistol towards the men in the boat, threatening to fire if they did not return. He said he used the Queen’s name, and intimated that he held a warrant, but the other testimony did not corroborate this statement.
It is not clear whether or not Dr. Almon offered any obstruction, passive or direct, to Hutt as he rushed down the slip. It seems probable that he then called to the boatmen to push on, but it is certain that when the pistol was presented he interfered. Some of the witnesses say he threw up the constable’s hand, in which he held the pistol, others that he pulled it down; a struggle, however, immediately followed, in which Dr. Almon was in actual, or in the view of the spectators in apparent danger from the direction of the pistol in the constable’s hand. At this stage Dr. Smith interfered, seized the policeman’s arm, and endeavored to wrest the pistol from him, or avert its aim from Dr. Almon, and Mr. Keith’s interference followed with the same object.
Meanwhile the fishermen who had paused, and backed a little at the policeman’s command and threat, were urged by Dr. Almon to proceed, which, after some hesitation, they did; and before the other policemen could reach them they had rounded the wharf, and being skilful and vigorous oarsmen were quickly hid from sight by the wharves and vessels, and no doubt were soon beyond the city limits, and the authority of the mayor’s warrant and the policemen’s authority.
There was nothing in the evidence to indicate concert between the fishermen and Dr. Almon, and nothing to raise the suspicion of concert between him and. Dr. Smith or Mr. Keith, or any other of the bystanders. Beyond a cheer from the end of the wharf as the boat was moving past, and contradictory cries to the boat, while hesitating near the slip, some to go on and others not to go on, there was no interference, except by the three persons accused, and of two of them, Dr. Smith and Mr. Keith, taking the evidence of the most reliable witness, their interference was limited to the rescuing of Dr. Almon from apparent imminent danger in which he was placed from the pistol of the constable. Other questions arose, as whether the policeman Hutt could be known by any distinguishing badges. He had not on the usual hat or cap, and his uniform coat was concealed by an overcoat, buttoned to the throat, leaving no insignia of office apparent beyond a button or two of the collar in front, but to a person not immediately in front of him, or at any distance, or not observing closely, he would not have been recognized as a constable. Again, the policeman swore he held the warrant in his left hand all the time, but no other witness testified to seeing it, and that was easily accounted for, because he showed how he held it; that is to say, doubled, and with his hand closed over it. These might have been important inquiries as regards the constable had any man in the boat been shot; as regards Dr. Almon, they were not important, as he knew Hutt’s official character, and had seen the warrant.
The delay in arresting Wade the moment he was released was accounted for by the sheriff’s having told Hutt, when he informed him he had a warrant, not to interfere till his (the sheriff’s) duty had been completed, and to give a little interval. On the whole of the evidence it seemed that the policemen were secure of the arrest, as Wade should come up the slip, and were surprised and thrown off their guard by his retreat in the opposite direction, and as far as could be discovered from the evidence, his escape resulted from means that casually offered at an opportune moment.
Unquestionably the evidence afforded no ground for reports freely circulated that implicated the citizens at large, or any great number of them in the prevention of Wade’s arrest at the time in question, or that gave to the transaction the character of a general or overpowering riot.
No arrest having been made, the case fell short of one of rescue, and the charge is confined to the obstruction of a police officer in the discharge of his duty, and the aiding of one accused of a high criminal offence to escape from justice. Dr. Almon, after some extended remarks, pleaded not guilty, and relieved the parties charged with him from any complicity with his act. Dr. Smith stated that he went to the wharf purely from curiosity, and had only interfered when he believed his interference necessary to avert bloodshed. Mr. Keith’s statement was to similar effect.
They are under recognizance with sureties to appear at the supreme court at its next sitting in April, and the witnesses are or will immediately be under recognizances to appear to give evidence.
I am, &c.,