John Yates Beall-- Part 4: The Last Mission, Arrest and Trial

From Wikipedia.

John Yates Beall decided to attempt to free some Confederate officers who were prisoners by derailing a passenger train in New York in December 1864.  But he and a companion by  the name of George S. Anderson were arrested in Niagara, New York, on December 16.

They were imprisoned at Fort Lafayette, New York, and here Anderson agreed to testify against Beall in return for leniency.

General John Adams Dix ordered a military commission for Beall's trial, which began on January 16, 1865,   Beall was represented by noted New York lawyer James T. Brady.    The arrest of Beall had not been reported in any newspaper and Confederate authorities were unaware of the trial.  Had they become aware of the trial there might have been a reprisal.

The commission found him guilty on all charges and sentenced him to death.

--Old Secesh