well, on february 7th of 1861, george sterns who was an employee of the pwb railroad, wrote a letter to maryland's governor, thomas hicks. in that letter he said, "on sunday last, a man who said he was from baltimore called on our bridge tender at back river and i informed him an attempt would be made by parties in baltimore and other places to burn the bridge just before the train should pass, which should have mr. lincoln onboard. in the excitement to assassinate him. the man who imparted this information will not give his name. he was an old gentleman, very respectable in his appearance. he said he was a friend of the railroad and did not wish to see its property destroyed if it could be protected." [ laughter ] >> not so much about mr. lincoln. it's more about the railroad [ laughter ] >> well lincoln of course was a lawyer and he knew the power of corroborative evidence. on the night of february 22nd, right after he met with allen pinkerton and learned about this dreadful plot, he received an unannounced visit from fred seward who's shown here. and one of the letters that seward