The preparations for his departure did not occupy a very long time; the services of Miss Kate Warne, my female superintendent, were requested, and in a few minutes the important dispatches, some twelve in number, were securely sewed between the linings of his coat collar, and in the body of his waistcoat, and Timothy Webster was on his way to the capital of the country.
A COLORED CONTRABAND
CHAPTER VII.
Webster on his Way to the Capital.—Wrecked Trains and Broken Bridges.—An Adventure with a Cavalryman.—Rebel Emissary.—President Lincoln and Timothy Webster.
Everywhere along the route the greatest excitement prevailed, and the people were in a state of wildest commotion. A rumor had spread throughout the country that the government, indignant at the riotous conduct of the Baltimoreans, had ordered the guns of Fort McHenry to fire upon the city, that the bombardment was now going on, and that half the town was reduced to ashes. This rumor was false, as Webster learned on arriving in Philadelphia, although even in the staid old Quaker City there was manifest a degree of excitement scarcely to be expected in a community so sedate and easy-going as Philadelphians usually are.
Leaving the train at Philadelphia, Webster made his way through the crowded streets to the center of the city. He deemed it best to take counsel with some of the railroad and express officials, with whom he was very well acquainted, by reason of his connection with the discovery of the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln in Baltimore in the month of February immediately preceding.