4 \J s > 3 o

H

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

John Wilkes Booth Miscellaneous

Excerpts from newspapers and other sources

From the files of the

Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

7/ 2ooW. OJ3o H says f * ington, Zd. The stex ™ 2d of forehead Uty^.^ > found floating at Govemment ^U'lSD^^SytranBlatecl and is as follows: Washington, April 15, 1865.

back m rd J ° he fell ,g°^.° ^- e Mind well that :

J. WILKES BOOTH.

of expression—those orbs that can meet in

On the back of the letter are two endorse- love or flame with passion ; his glances were ments, the first being," Hon. N. S. O. Labam. keen and he read character intuitively. In Richmond, February 12, 1865, In relation to fact, he exercised a kind of magnetism over plans and means of burning the enemy's ship- the person with whom he conversed, and no ping, hair terview with General Harris, formerly M. C crowned his square forehead and brows ; sueh from Missouri, on the subject." The other is, was his physique. A person who saw him " the Secretary of State, at his convenience, after death, remarked that his features were will please see General Harris, and hear what still beautiful, but it was evident that he had plan he has, for overcoming the difficulties undergone a great struggle, and was now at heretofore experienced.' rest. " Tt would be a useless task to multiply the The death of the President was his ruling passion," and Booth could scarcely have been evidence ; the chain is too closely connected, and needs no additional links. The testimony considered sane on this point. He inherited a is before the public, and the world has ren- morbid tendency to derangement from his father. dered V i verdict. This question being settled beyond all posibility of doubt, we will return Some pity may be felt for a man haunted to Booth. with this idea, and who atoned for it by a sudden and violent death, proceeded by the Booth as an actor did not, except in some most agonizing tortures, as during his last parts, deserve the exalted eulogiums bestowed ride he had not one moment's ease, cut off in on him. To use the words of an eminent New the bloom of youth. The most severe moralist York crijic, •« in all acting that demanded and bitter foe must drop a tear, even though, delicate characterization, refined conception, he now serves only " to adorn a moral and or carefulness, Booth was at sea, but in to point a tale." strong physical parts, requiring much decla- mation, the due need of praise was not be- stowed. His conception of Richard was vivid and original, and resembled very closely his father's great personation, which no one who had ever seen it, could forget." His Romeo was greatly admired and pronounced by competent judges a faultless piece of acting. Though the tubes of his throat were some- what affected, his voice had not failed, and his charge to the cavalrymen, was as sharp and clear as in his palmiest days. The disposition of the " star erossed " mur- derer of the President was not vicious, nor was he, as has been represented, savage and morose. His address was remarkably win- ning, and Insured the friendship of all, with

whom he came in contact. . An employ^ of the Arch Street Theatre thus described him " He was not a bad man and after all, was an innocent kind of fellow, who would not do a mean action, for the love of meanness. No eon ever loved a mother more fondly, and ha always spoke of her with the greatest admi- ration." Booth had no pretension whatever to lite- rary ability. His father was a man of uni- versal information. Wilkes had an idea that he was clever on this point, but his orthog- raphy was bad. and his syntax worse. He was exceedingly fond of poetry and his pocket book was filled with scraps cut from the papers. His favorite piece was " Beautiful Snow," which he recited exquisitely, and never without tears. He liked to hear persons of reading and information converse, listened' earnestly, and afterwards appropriated much that fell from their lips. His language was never ungrammatical nor vulgar, and he had great tact in avoiding matters, of which he was ignorant. When impressed with a sub- ject he was eloquent and always attracted a little crowd. Booth was exceedingly handsome. His hands and feet were in exact proportion to his

size and height ; his legs inclined to bow, in that respect resembling his father; his head

and neck were very fine ; a sculptor would not have asked a better model for the head of

an Apollo ; his nose was Roman and ample

but not too large ; hi* April 14, 1865—the president and his afterwards carried me Iu his arms to an upper planued. But all the rest he must have re- wife, their two friends, Major Henry Rathbone stoiy; for my wound was in the foot, and I wa« hearsed in his own mind as he had rehearsed and his step-sister, Miss Clara Harris; and unable to staud. For a week he nursed me other tragedies for the stage. His imagination tenderly, dressed my wounds, gave me my later, the actor, John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was doubtless crowded with recollections of the medicinos, aud, when 1 was strong enough', dramas that made up so much of his life, aud was assassinated that night in the very sight of again he bore me iu his arm* daily up and Baltimore with no one dramatic quality, lamed himself as he leaped to MURDERING INOFFENSIVE NEGROES. i but oue old servant whom he frightened with tlight and Iliad a black servant, a lad of about '.10 years, the footlights, and after a marvelous his ravings, his brandishing of theatrical swords, who had followed me from New Or, cans, and an almost theatrical oursult, was brought to bis recitations and rehearsiugs of dramas and Edwiii Booth took him in, though at the risk of bay at night in a barn, surrounded by troops tragedies that she took to be real. I knew that Incurring the rage of the rioters. The whole who set tire to the building, and when his com- house, for I had visited it years before with the family pitied the poor fellow, aud when the rades deserted him he vet remained iu the elder brother, my friend. We found it murders at the negro asylum occurred, Wilkes ilames, defiant, to the last; till he was ehot half abandoned aud unoccupied; the grounds proposed that Raudall should be hidden in the almust in the same part of the body In which he oveigrown with weeds, the rooms .dank and cellar. declared he would protect the boy had wounded L'ucoln. Then, like his historic He mouldering; heaps of theatrical dresses and | at the hazard of bis life if the mob came after victim, he lingered a few hours and died. paraphernalia all around; aud I can readily im- was not discovered, WILKES BOOTH him. But he aud wheu the agine how the brain of oue of the Booths might excitement abated and the streets were clear had never displayed any trait or indicated any have become disturbed in the midst of these sgain, I was taKen to the country and Raudall seutitueut thut made it probable he would end suggestive garments and weapons aud memo- was released from his concealment. his Qir-g* with thu a npsUiqg catastrophe. I had ries". I Wilkes Booth once afterward. »ecn him several times under unusual im<.»- saw In the For Booth, the father, lived there a part of his as a young mau with early winter of 1S65, I was again in New l'ork, stauces. 1 was intimate . moody, eccentric life; there the three brothers, this from a fever, his more distinguished brother,Edwiu, and thus time recovering camp and was Junius, Edwin, Wilkes, passed their boyhood, daily to the of had met the younger, who was brisht aud ex- driven house Edwin Booth, witnessiug the strange freaus of their genius of Wilkes was staviug as before. tremely handsome, as well as graceful and mau- where At this a father; going with him to the theater, dress- Mary- period I was a staff oilicer of General ly in ordinary behavior. He was born in Grant, ing him for the play, watching his perform- loyal, laud, and when John Browu's raid occurred he and as Edwin was very indeed even ar- ances, and coming home to see h'm in bursts of shared the horror and indignation of most dent in his seutimeut, he and I talked con- tenderness and passion like those of Lear, or at rejoin Southerners, as well as many ^Northerners stantly of my desire to my chief, and of brooding in a melancholy equal to that of the that time. The governor of Virginia called for the prospects of the war. Again Wilkes Booth Dane. What effect such a childhood, and such a regiment of volunteers, aud Wilkes was oue of restrained In my prcseuce any expressions of a parentage, *-«d such surroundings may have the first to respond; for there were apprehen- sympathy with the South; he said not one sions of an insurrection of the slaves as well as word to excite my suspicious, or even those of of other invasions from the North. But the his family. Edwin indeed told me afterward panic passed sway, and Wilkes returned to tue that he had long and violent political discus- Uo« stage. sions with his brother at this tint*. Wil.es In July, 18G3. I was a Union officer and sent declared hl.s wish for the success of the rebel- vl^yv Xt. I home from New Orleans badly wouuded. The lion so decidedly ttiat %?1 steamer that brought me arrived at New York EDWIN FINALLY' TOLD HIM just before the riots bro^e out, which so alarmed he should go elsewhere to make such senti- that not onlv that city but the entire North. 1 was ments known ; he was not at liberty to ex- taken to the house of my relative, General press them in the house of a Liuton men. But Bustced. an Irishman by birth, who had been a even then, when possibly he was plottiug some- violent Democrat, but was nevertheless an ar- thing of the conspiracy which was only too dent supporter of the war. His house was there- successful In one horrible aim, he was careful ' not to disclose or suggest anythiug that ' . . might for,-; . . awake suspicion or anxiety. His whole conduct seemed to me. when 1 learned it afterward, and looked back at the man as I had kuown him, like the heated be- havior of an actor used to portraying conspir- acies and mimic plots, and brooding upon such themes till

2I£ I

D. C.— George "W. 'Wiggins, Washington, luuiw John "Wilkes Booth well. I lived In -Was.hlngton during the war and saw much of theater the night he him I was passing the lady assassinated President Lincoln with the and saw Booth enter the who Is now my wile spoke to us, and I said after he building Be crazy nSaed ••Ida. I believe John- will go neither looked nor/acted naturally. yet •• He to heard oi! the tragpdy and rushed Later on I the Secretary Stantan's. iW a cleric in War Bureau and knew \e Secretary. He had already heard of the avvihi/crime. The Secre- Ordered me to seize a>™ and me clov a tary were ther .to the National Hotel, /Qeur which f*-tavalry headquarters, and *arn them to let Booth. Pennsyl- Abe AN UNPUBLISHED IKCIDEXT OJP TI1K this ' part of Maryland, set was shot last night down in LINCOLN TRAGEDY. cluster of old oaks and elms, with the ne- Washington.' gro quarters and the stables several hun- " 'Shot? Impossible!' rear. It had dred yards distant In the " "Deed, though, it's true, Mars Wil- been built In the latter part of the last liam.' Au Innocent Muu'a Narrow KsciMie enor- century, when the planters made "Just then I heard somebody ride rapidly * how- Frmii Capture and Hunjiinis— 1«> > mous fortunes from tobacco, which, up to the house, and looking out of the impoverished the soil as to make Ident He Avoided" Am ever, so window 1 saw a neighbor of ours. worthless in a great many in- " Gentlemen. it almost 'Have you heard the news?' he asked. * a Maryland stances. " 'No.' striking looking I was met by Mr. M., a " 'Lincoln was killed last night by Booth man, C feet in height, with a magnificent at Ford's Theater.' assassinaLtion of Presl- On the night of the head and a long white beard. "It flashed upon me in an instant, the that adventures dent Lincoln, and a short time before He had been through many meaning of all that cavalry swarming and during the period tragedy took place, a horse and buggy were when a young man through the country the night before, and I when he had many narrow es- rapidly oat of the alley back of of the war, came to the conclusion that I was the man driven forwarding dispatches and assist- Tenth street capes in they were after. You can depend upon ft I lord's Theater, turned down the lines. Once, for in- ing scouts through kept pretty quiet. I did not care about feel- the avenue, and then disappeared, going very' anxious to stance, the Government was ing the noose around my neck like Mrs. easterly towards the Capitol. A few mo- a well-known scout, who was at to capture | Surratt, whom I knew well, or languishing commit- escaped ments later the, greatest crime ever the time in Baltimore. The scout on the Dry Tortugas like my friend Dr. M.'s house, where ted in America paralyzed for a moment the and made his way to Mr. Mudd. There was enough evidence against hid lor the night. Next day there held the whole- country spell- he lay | me to hang half a dozen men in the then audience and primary meeting at Blad- happened to be a state of public opinion. I leap to the j was confirmed bound with horror. Booth's a very large force of Union ensburg, where in this opinion a few years later when I stage, his dramatic speech and remarkable. people gener- troops were stationed. The happened to meet an officer of the United dream before the audi- primaries in the morning' escape passed like a ally went to the States Army, who told me incidentally that and evening, after having a ence. But then came the awakening, and returned in the he had ridden through this part of the took advantage of fast upon the heels of the assassin came Jollification. Mr. M. country on the night of Lincoln's murder, this, went to the primaries in the morning the of an outraged people. Who looking for one of the conspirators, who vengeance scout, took a drink with the Pro- in- with the had escaped in a buggy, though they had the assassins were, how many were other side vost Marshal, passed out on the ridden after him as far as Elk Ridge, some the plot, how large its ramifica- friends return- volved in of Bladensburg with some 30 miles from Washington."—Haddo Gordon clew was part of the tions, was unknown. Every ing to their homes In the lower in New STork Evening Post. seized upon, every person over whom hung county, and reached Plscataway in safety, scout hid with some friends until the slightest suspicion, was immediately where the he could cross the Potomac, which was not arrested. reign of terror followed among A difficult, as there was a great deal of block- sympathizers in the city all the Southern ade-running done in that quiet little country and the country round. For the people in town, overlooked on account of its insignifi- their anger were not very particular who cance. suffered for the crime, provided the prin- Tlie Story Told. cipals were caught and punished. It is needless to say that I was welcomed The disappearance of that horse and bug- in the true Maryland style.After dinner we gy a short time before the tragedy was were assembled around a large open tire, soon brought to light and was eagerly which sent a glow through the old hall. seized upon as a clew that might lead The fireplace was so large that, instead of to important results. Several companies of cutting the cord-wood in half, as is usu- cavalry were immediately ordered to follow ally the case, they used it just as it came and overtake the buggy, to arrest the from the woods, four feet long. The driver.and bring him back to the old Capitol hall itself extended through the house prison. They took up the trill at Penn- from front to rear, and was the favorite through sylvania avenue and followed it loa.fiutf place of two or throe old hounds, famous in the hunting field in the eastern part of the city ml*" they who had been then their youth. We had been taljdng about came to the old Washington Pike, and b I narrow escapes in the hunting field, when to Bladensburg, where they were to lu ? had Mr. M. said: the guard that a man In a buggy "Have I ever told you how I came near urs passed a short time before. They put si' being hung for the murder of Lincoln?" to their horses and followed the pike for a A chorus of noes and a demand for the following account: long distance, besides scouring the by- story brought the "On the day that Lincoln was murdered roads of all the surrounding country. But I had driven Into town and put up my not a trace could they rind of the man in horse at the stables of Dr. , an old friend the buggy; he had disappeared, and though of mine, immediately in the rear of Ford's evsry effort was made to unravel the dis- Theater. It was rather late when I re- appearance, the Government authorities turned to get my horse, after attending to the business I was on. Indeed, I after- were never able to do so. Time passed. wards learned, it Was a very short time be- trials for the assassination were The fore Lincoln was killed. As I drove out of the in- over, public interest died down and the alley I noticed a horse standing behind cident was forgotten amid the stirring the theater, no doubt the one on which events that soon followed. Booth escaped. I drove down the avenue The Incident Explained. and finally succeeded in passing both the Washington pickets and those of Bla- It good fortune a short time ago was my densburg, the last line of the defenses of to come across an explanation of this in- Washington. A short distance out of Bla- cident; in fact, it was explained to me by densburg the country becomes heavily the man in the buggy. I had received a wooded, and continues so until you reach cordial invitation from an old gentleman my place. Instead of running in a straight line the pike makes a kind of a curve, but who lived about 16 miles off. In the upper there is a private road, a kind of cut-off, County, to join In a part of Princo George which saves a considerable distance to during fox hunt which was to take place those who know of Its existence. I had just Cnrlstnia* week, it was to be the event turned into this rOad, and had gotten un- of the season, as everybody had plenty of der the shadow of the trees, when 1 heard body time at that season of the year. It was the clanking of the sabers of a of cav- the pike. 1 stopped one or those delightful winter days which alry coming rapidly down pass without hearing are so common in Maryland, Just cold my horse to let them because cavalrymen in those times' enough to keep the ground from being too me, often fired and then cried: 'Halt!' soft, and yet warm enough to make riding very pleasant without being overburdened with The whole neighborhood was known to strong Soul hern feelings, and a a heavy coat. The country was low and have very covered with heavy woods, which dead rebel more or less did not amount to rolling, experience twice have taken the places of old, worn-,out to- much. I had the same 1 by-roads, but each time bacco patches, and great dark brown again, as crossed 1 fortunate enough to hear the cav- fields, stretching away on either side, was and so 'laid low,' as the dark- brighten.*! occasionally by the light brown alry coming, ies have it. of the sedge grass, which waved and of course, knew some-thing was wrong rustled in the breeze, almost like fields of "I, I had no idea. There was As 1 rode up tp Mr. M.'s —exactly what ripened wheat. the sun greeted by the combined rush no danger of Southern raids, as of house 1 was down behind the his pack of foxhounds, the South had just gone and chorus of and what had started noisy welcome lakes the place of hills at Appomattox, Whoiae a large body of Union cavalry racing door bells in the homes uf Southern Mary- through the country roads was more than land. A noted Confederate scout once told 1 could acount for. not ureainhig for an me that, when he was scouting through Instant that they were alter me. 1 finally this part of Maryland during the war, he !«';. reached home without meeting any more 1 biHT always ft It safe when he rode up to a house if he was greeted by foxhounds, as It was invariably u sUtn that the owner — Lincoln's Assassination. George Corkhill, The Assassination of Lincoln. B. of Washington, LINCOLN'S (Gath in the Enquirer.) writes to the New York Tribune re- ASSASSINATION. John Wilkes Booth's crime, like garding the assassination of Presi- New una Interesting Foots: Dtacloaed most other things, had its model in dent Lincoln. He says he has in his by Jiim.-s R. 1,'oru. tyrants, raised Department to g& dags to among companions who thought that decorate the President's box. Booth urged him to go off blood was the best solution of a quar- and have a drink, but Mr ,eft &»!» aml went on his mission. rel, and considered that courage was ™ This was the last he suw of Booth a purely physical manifestation. He I.Iik-oIu'n is sasuiuatlon. regarded the land he was bom in as To The Star: How many persons were I arrested for the belonging to its natives, though his assassination of President I Lincoln? were convicted? father and grandfather had come Who Who were I sentenced to death? Who were executed? there as foreigners. In the realities What lawyers defended (hem? Where were |

of life Booth had but little experi- they tried? Were any of the cases appealed ! ence; the political conditions around to the supreme court ? T. V. O.. Pawnee, him were hardly educational, and the uk. Nine persons were for stage conditions and examples, which arrested the assassination of Lincoln for two or three generations had been —Samuel Ar- nold, George A. Atzerodt, his nutriment, were drawn from the David E. Her- old, Samuel T. Mudd, Michael first quarter of the 19th century, O'Laugh- when such monsters as Pescara dom- lin, Edward Spangler, Lewis Payne, John II. Surratt, jr., and E. inated the stage.—May 5, 1892. Mary Sur- ratt. Of these, all were convicted with the exception of John H*. Surratt, who escaped. Atzerodt, llcrold, Payne and Mrs. Surratt were sentenced to death, ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN. and executed July 7, 1865. Walter S. Cox, Doster, Frederick A. Aiken, John Sensational Charges to Ba Made In a W. Clampitt, Thomas Ewing, jr., and | Forthcoming; Publication, - _ Reverdy Johnson defended them. All ] SpecUl to The Republic, f 9 J / j were tried in Washington, D. C. As a Vi, Sept (».—General Pakkersbcrq, W. last desperate resort, application was Harris of Kltohle County, a member T. M. rpade for a writ of habeas corpus for

which I of the court-martial investigated the Mrs. Surratt, which was granted by death of Lincoln and condemned Mrs. Sur- Judge Wylie of the Supreme' Court of ratt, has just finished a history of the assas- the District and made returnable at 10 sinatlon of President Lincoln. The history o'clock. At 11:30 o'clock, Hancock, ac- was compiled from tho stenographer's notes, whloh are in General Harris' possessioa. In companied by the Attorney General, ap- the book General Harris boldly charges that peared before Judge Wylie, and. by or- Jefferson Davis and certain members of his der of the President, declined to obey Cabinet were Interested in and encouraged the writ on the j ground that it was bus- i the assassination of Lincoln. He forthies pended. the statement by a large amount of docu- mentary evidence. His book will create a sonsatlon.

J W-IlHT —

Wilkes's Booth

Von «ivc iii your issue of Dec. :8, p. 10, "Mummy," over a column on the authenticity of a mummy of the man who assassinated Lin- coln. My understanding of this incident in his- tory somewhat differs from the popular version. Quote: "John Wilkes, Lord .Mayor of London. had just jumped his bail and had hurriedly left that city for the States, arriving some days ahead of his inevitable bad news. Going immediately to Washington, the first thing he noticed was that his old friend Laura Keane was playing in Our American Cousin and on seeking to obtain a seat for that night's performance, he ivas in- formed that the only tiling available was a box, or as it was called then, a booth. Feeling Hush and, as usual, drunk, he bought it: but when, alter a few more drinks in Miss Keane's dress- ing room before the show, he went to take his scat out front, he found that the dolt in the box office—who later became James McXcill Whistler —had ^iven his box, or booth, to President Abraham Lincoln and his party, who were already in it and couldn't, of course, be moved. As there wasn't a seat left in the house, Whistler took Wilkes around the corner to a place on V Sireet, and they were heard of no more. When, during the second act, one of Wilkes's enemies sneaked into the box and shot Lincoln by mis- take, the news was erroneously flashed that the President had been shot by John Wilkes Booth instead of in John Wilkes's booth. This was rather hard on the actor of that name who was TIME living miles away in an old barn, hard at work cutting all the other parts down for his next performance of Richard III, for a few days later he was surrounded and an attempt was made to set him on fire; but it was raining and he escaped down a drain, turning up—clean shaven — jo years later as a well-known Mormon." Time to my experience has been unusually

accurate and 1 would now like to know which of these versions is correct: the popular one or

the above quoted one. . . . N. L. WlSSER Shinnston, W. Va. John Wilkes (1727-97), Lord Mayor of London stormed through Britain's politics, libeled his King, fled to France, returned to sit in Parliament. James Abbott Mc- Neill Whistler sailed for England in 1854, never to return to the U. S. Ed. " Such was his erratic nature. Upon his return he was profuse in his apologies and through all the turmoil of the impending could tell impelled to not what him leave, crisis. WILKES BOOTH'S the city. Once a young utility cast man was " At last that fateful 12th of April came. for a part that required a handsome dress, ' Sumter has been fired upon! ' That day which the poor fellow had not. John heard after Sumter's flag was lowered John and LAST BURIAL him bewailing his fate at having a good L I walked from the hotel to the theater. I part and no dress except a common one. asked him what he intended to do. ' 1 am After rehearsal John opened his trunk and going North as fast as steam will carry said: ' Take the best and do your best.' me,' and he left Richmond before I did. " Many such acts of generosity, many acts " That company never assr mbled again. Lincoln's Assassin Rests in the charity, did this misguided of noble mad- John Booth began his starring tour, and I man—misguided, 1 mean, later on—for be- was commissioned an engineer in the United ' Baltimore Family Plot. fore grim-visaged war ' came upon the States navy and remained in service until the scene this man was as gentle as a woman. dawn of Appomattox. " I did not see John. Booth again <5ntil " season of 18G0-'C1 was a stirring one The March, 38G5, and that meeting I shall never in the South. At last the time came when forget. The Metropolitan Hotel. Broadway, SOME TALES OF HIS LIFE. brother was against brother and father was then the Rialto— that and the ' House of against son. No man could tell what change Lords '—for tho actors. I had just arrived bring. through this an hour might All in New York in charge of a blockade run- awful clamor we ' kept the even tenor of our ner—the Gordon—that took Mason and MARION BARRON is one of the way.' Discussions were not permitted in Slidell from Charleston to Havana. j JOHNfew surviving- actors of the old school. the theater in Richmond. Nearly every of of the company was a Southerner, He was the intimate associate Ed- member " Hurrying up Broadway I saw John lip no act be- win Forrest, Edwin Booth. Charlotte but no word escaped his — Wilkes Booth standing with his hands be- he must have felt. As for the Cushman. and of John Wilkes Booth, trayed what hind him leaning against the wall of the was to thrill the world later with the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. man who hotel, enveloped in his overcoat, trimmed clay assassination of Lincoln, the most In speaking of the assassin the other the with astrakan fur. 1 had not sun him for all history, except the Mr. Barron grave some alleged facts con- dastardly act in four years—but O! the change in him! his body crucifixion of Christ, he was as calm as a cerning the disposition of that " 1 found my old friend a different man contradicts the statements of several men child. Even the stirring events of every from the companion of four years before. concerned In Booth's capture. day did not ruffle his child-like demeanor. His eyes were wild and furtive, he could not " Mr. Barron, you knew Wilkes Booth And so we artists followed our calling command himself. He acted as one hunted, well?" I asked. for first up and then down the street he quota- lasthesaid: The answer came first in two apt would look most arduously. . At ; tions from Shakspeare: ' John, I want to have a talk with you. 1 am " all Your noble sonismad." a little fagged out now, but I will be Mad call I it; for to define true madness right in a day or two. And if you will meet What is it, but to be nothing else but mad? meet me at the hotel we will go over the old Had I but died an hour before this chance days.' I had lived a blessed time. "I promised and left him, starting up " John. Wilkes Booth I did know well, very Broadway. I had not gone twenty feet when well. Calling- to mind the last time I saw he. called me back. I returned and Inad- my old' friend and comrade, that madman, vertently opened my overcoat. He saw my John Wilkes Booth, I realized that if he had navy uniform. I saw a change come over died a month before that cruel act of April that wonderful face, and in those classic 14, 1805, his name would have been asso- features. All at once it flashed across his ciated with all the leading- stars of a roost mind that I was an officerof thegovernment traitorous brilliant galaxy of actors than whom none and it was not safe to repose any more famous ever lived and) dazzled Amer- schemes in me. With all the skill of the ica by their greatness. John Wilkes Booth artist he was he collected himself and said: gave promise of being- the greatest of all " ' I think I will not remaUi in New York, those men of genius, even greater than his so I will not hold you to our engagement." wonderful brother, Edwin. He would have After a little while I left him never to see been canonized in American dramatic his- him alive again. That he wished to im- tory. All the faults of an erratic nature part that awful conspiracy I am fully con- would have been lost in the blaze of g-lory vinced, for to the next intimate friend that he told what was In his heart created by his wonderful and magnetic ! came along there was murder in the genius. I and mind. That " There is no palliation in the slightest de- original conspiracy I do not believe. Of gree for the awful crime he committed. course I do not know this, but am judg- That he was mad/ those who best knew him ing from my knowledge of the ' milk of ' I believe, for his life was so gentle, and the human, kindness In that man's heart as harmonious mysteries of his disposition him. I have often regretted that act were I knew at variance with anything- that smacked of of opening my coat which displayed my what I cruelty or oppression. Booth and I were uniform, and as often thought Wilkes Booth companions, brothers in. art, roomed, to- would have done had John conspiracy. g-ether, and he would have been the. last imparted the details of that before man one would have thought capable of so " Had it not rained on the night would have heinous a crime. We all know that ' a Waterloo the map of Europe that uni- strain of insanity' was in the Booth fam- beon different. Had I not shown it often occurred to ily. As Edwin once said; to me: ' Many form I might have, has century. times my father has been accused of drunk- me, averted the disaster of the enness when failing- to appear, when he in " were at white reality was1 an irresponsible being.' While the passions of men heat and the world appalled at the enormity none could ascribe a cause. " of the crime, A kindlier heart, a more generous ' man, ' The sic semper tyrannis of Booth did never liver than John Wilkes Booth. Early not apply as it might have done when in his theatrical career he was recognized Caesar was assassinated. Abraham Lincoln as the bright particular star of the great was one of the most humane men, of history. Booth family. But like alll geniuses, he was Nothing so became him as his mild humil- as modest as a child, andi disliked, anything country was uppermost in his " a noble -mind was here over- ity. Love of What 1 pertaining to fulsomeness. He was a con- mind and the fervent wish that both sec- scientious stock actor to begin thrown.! It is known that for years the with, a close tions should a>;ain become brothers was student, and an Apollo In greatest secrecy was maiutalned by the form, grace, and the chief aim of his life, and so the theory ease of carriage. government as to the place of burial of He hadi a will of his own, that Booth thought this pure patriot a and nothing could change Booth. At last the authorities gave his him when once tyrant falls to the ground, for Booth knew he dn.-id.ed what to do. remains to his family and they rest in He would forfeit a his character as well as any one. He knew season's engagement G.reemnount Cemetery, in the same lot that rather than yield one that the only vote Edwin Booth ever cast lota of what ho had determined, contains the ashes of his great father and upon. wa.s for Abraham Lincoln. Not treason " Once at the Marshall Theater, Rich- other members of this gifted family. When brought to Balti- was it. but madness! mond, Va., we were in the stock company to- Booth's remains were in charge of an undertaker gether. Edwin, was the star, and ' Much Ado more they were opposite the stage door About Nothing ' the play. Edwin was the on Fayette street, Street Theater. John T. Benedict, John Wilkes the Don Pedro, 1 the of the Holliday Bishop, and I were the Claudio. We rehearsed the play—all per- Ford, Charles B. people there. There was fect. John and I went to our hotel and ar- only professional mistaking that form. The remains were ranged our wardrobes. About .'! o'clock John no preserved. Bfliwtn Booth turned suddenly to me and said: ' Barron, wonderfully well the burial that the tut ' long after you play Don Pedro tonight.' 1 do not; 1 told me at real in the same lot with play Claudio as 1 rehearsed,' I replied. that John was and family was a source ol &ri ..t "'Well, you go and tell Phil," (Stage his father to his mother, who aver felt most Manager I. B. Phillips) ' that 1 am gone comfort government, for— to Petersburg, and you will play Don Pedro grateful to the • and he can do Clauuio.' Out of the door he After life's fitful fever went, He »leeos well." and we did not sec him lor three days. PBSNTISS iN-lIKAIIAM. reaerai troops were scour- • Althougn ing the country on both sides of tho HOW LINCOLN CAME TO DIE. Potomac, In pursuit of the assassin, a number of days elapsed before he was finally run down, on a farm not far Unwritten History About Incidents That Led Up to the from the Rappahannock River. The barn In which he had taken refuge was Tragedy— Booth's Skeleton Now in the War set on fire, and after Herold had come out and surrendered himself, Booth Department's Possession. —An who declared his intention to fight to the last, was shot, through a crack in Official Secret. the building, by a sergeant named Bos- ton Corbett. Corbett received a great deal of ap- plause for this act, for which he claim, ed and received part of the, reward This failure, when the scheeme "Here comes the handsomest man offered for Booth seemed actually on the verge of frui- which had been matter of fact, in the United States." disheartened the plotters dead or alive. As a tion, so that unfortunate that Young Harry Ford, who made the most of them backed out, abandoning however, it was very the matter should have terminated in remark, was standing on the side- the conspiracy. Such, in fact, was had been cap- the situation that had arrived on tha such a wak. If Booth walk in front of his father's theater, of being killed, the lives morning of April 14, tured, instead fatal when afterw.rd hanged, in Tenth street, in Washington. The Wilkes Booth came to Ford's theater of two persons, though almost undoubtedly innocent, date was April u'v 1865. * to get his mail, and learned, inciden- might have been saved through his, The man of whom he "spoke, Wilkes tally, that the president was to see — testimony. _ the play "Our American Cousin," , Booth, was approaching from the There never was adequate evidence Leura Keene this evening. | with — was 1m- I diceitno of E street. He was half an hour after to show that young Herold It was about noon or con- the young actor, getting from plicated in the conspiracy young—only 26 years of age—and when up Mrs. Surratt of theater on Tenth street, cerned In the crime. Of faultlessly dressed. It was not with- the steps the But particles of the same thing might be said. flicked a few dust from his in- out good reason that Ford spoke of irreproachable pantaloons, and walked public sentiment was passionately under the cir- him in such terms of admiration; be- Nobody knows what did flamed, as was natural away. he victims. yond question he was one of the hand- during the afternoon; but early in the cumstances, and demanded Surratt and the somest men of his day. evening he met Payne and Otzerott at Consequently, Mrs. perished on the It was just about noon, and Booth the Clarendon hotel, on the southwest half-witted youth Atzerott. •was coming to the theater, as he did of Ninth and F streets a site scaffold with Payne and corner — Boston Corbett every day, to get his mail. An actor occupied a huge granite office The bullet fired by now by severed the by profession, he was for the time be- butldlng. By this time He had fully struck Booth in the neck, killed him Instantly. ing unemployed, but found it conven- matured his plan to kill Mr. Lincoln, spinal cord, and put aboard a littl ient to have his letters addressed to and he unfolded It to his fellow con- His body was and carried up the Potoma. Ford's. spirators. Payne agreed to under- steamer when When he reached the theater he the part of the scheme allotted to to the Washington navy yard, take monitor Mon- passed a pleasant word with Harry, him, which was to murder Mr. Seward, it was transferred to the became of ii asking him if there was anything new. the secretary of state a project which tauk at night. What — of a Harry could not think of anything was afterward carried out almost with from that time on is more or less however, refused mystery. The understanding is that it in particular, except that. President success. Atzerott, to and Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln were coming have anything to do with the business. was removed from the monitor penitentiary at to see the show that night. A mes- He sajd that he had been perfectly burled under the old official senger arrived only a few min- willing to try to kidnap the president, the Washington arsenal. But had surprising- utes earlier with a reauest that a box but he drew the line at shedding blood. records on the subject are this day be reserved for the White House party. At the same time he made no attempt ly incomplete, and even to the assassin's They were to have the upper box on to interfere, and. as if to wash his the final disposition of secret, the right of the stage. hands of the whole affair, Immediately remains is a carefully kept persons. The colloquy between the two left the city by train. known only to a very few published to young men lasted only a minute or What followed is a matter of famil- A story has often been body, about two. Then Booth went into the the- iar history, Booth went to the theater the effect that Booth's burial in the man- ater, his letters, came out, sat about 10 o'clock In the evening, mount- four years after Its got and trans- down on the steps, read his mail, and ed to the gallery, and, watching for a ner described, was dug up to a cemetery in there for a little while, ap- favorable opportunity, stole along the ferred by friends remained slightest parently thinking. Finally he rose passageway that gave entrance to the Baltimore. There is not the statement, however, to his feet and walked down the president's box. In those days the truth in such a the skeleton, 6treet again, in the direction from chief magistrate of the nation was not the fact being that still pre- which he had come. guarded by detectives, as is now the strung together with wires. Is possession of the will what were case, and it was easy for the assassin served and In the Nobody ever know pub- the thoughts that passed through the to enter the box from the rear and government, though hidden from department could mind of the actor as he sat there on shoot Mr. Lincoln in the back of the lic view. The war head. tell where it now is, if it chose. the steps after putting his letters in underwent any his pocket. But there seems to be Of course there was tremendous ex- The body never there are good reason to believe that during citement and confusion, during which proper identification, and actually those moments the plan to assassinate the assassin leaped over the rail of tho not a few persons to-day who Wilkes Booth president was first formed. Here box to the stage. Catching hie foot believe that it was not the but was a tempting opportunity to avenge in the flag that draped the box, he fell who was shot to death in the barn, reports in at one blow the fancied wrongs of the upon the stage in such a manner as to some other man. Published so far south, and an insane impulse bade him break his ankle. Then, addressing to the newspapers have even gone "Sic semper Identify one individual or an- seize it. the audience the words, as to A conspiracy against Mr. Lincoln, tyrannis!" with a tneatrlcal gesture, other as the assassin, who, according promulgated, made in which Booth, Payne, Atzerott, and he turned and fled. to the theory thus years, a number of others were engaged, had Though the play at the moment was his escape and lived for many already been on foot for quite a while, in the midst of its performance,^ no- under an assumed name, in this or that j There is no rea- Those in the plot had met repeatedly, body had the presence of mind to try part of the country. ( in however, that such no- for the purpose of talking It over, to stop him; and he succeeded sonable doubt, Klrkwood House, Washington, reaching the alley alongside the theater tions are utterly without basis in fact. at the on (where the Raleigh Hotel now stands) and mounting his horse, which he had Mr. Lincoln died at 7:20 o'clock in a and other places. But the plan in left there In charge of a boy. Before the morning after he was shot, fairly directly opposite view was not to kill the president. the hue and cry was on foot he small brick house Surrats- he was car- He was to be kidnapped, carried south was well on his way toward Ford's theater, to which to Richmond, and there kept as a ville (now Clinton), Md., crossing the ried. This house is now a Lincoln mu- hostage. In order to compel the Fed- eastern branch of the Potomac by the seum, filled with memorials of the mar- eral government to come to terms, navy yard bridge. tyr president, Including the tall silk night, especially with regard to an exchange The story of the man-hunt that fol- hat which he wore on the fatal the of prisoners. lowed has been too often told to be the chair in which he sat when that this extra- worth reciting here. Riding south- bullet was fired, a lock of his hair, the It is not unlikely an ordinary project, about which there ward, Booth paused at the house of a cradle in which he was rocked as was more than a dash of the theatri- physician. Dr. Mudd, about 36 miles Infant, a wreath from his coffin, a rail to have his ankle great va- cal, originated in the imaginative from Washington, of his own splitting, and a the road to brain of Booth himself. But circum- set. Meanwhile, on Sur- riety of other such objects. stances did not work out favorably. rattsvllle, he was Joined by a young Most Interesting of all are photo- a half-witted fel- execution of Payne, At- There was one occasion on which it man named Herold— graphs of the of hanger-on in the might possibly have been carried low, who had been a sort zerott. Herold, and Mrs. Surratt, and, as was natural, first pic- through—when, as had been an- at Ford's theater, yard of the penitentiary. The nounced, Mr. Lincoln was going to be a great admirer of Booth. He was ture In the series shows the reading together with friendly- present at an entertainment at the afterward hanged. of the death warrant, while Mrs. Surratt. the soldiers' home. Just outside of Wash- Payne, Atzerott, and but persons shelter Mrs. Surratt from are best acquainted being ington. An attempt was to be made persons who to-day sun with umbrellas—the day the assassination photo- seize him, either on the way with the details of frightfully hot. In the second to that he was inno- putting thither or coming back. But, at the are of the opinion graph the executioners are the affair. prisons moment, important business In- cent of complicity In black caps on the doomed last seen tervened, and Secretary Chase was and In the third the latter are Bent instead. swinging from the jcallows. while sol- 9 JL/incol n s

Great Emancipator Was Assassinated Fifty-Four ^ Years Ago

Fifty-four years ago next Tuesday, nith the. country in much the same post-war condition that it is at pres- ent, the death of Abraham Lincoln hrought to the nation perhaps the greatest and saddest tragedy in its history. .John Wilkes Booth—-who was born on a farm in Hartford county, Md„ near Baltimore, in 1839, and who had Rich- made hi.- debut on the stage as mond in "Richard MI" at the St. Charles theater, Baltimore — shot President Lincoln at Ford's theater, Washington, D. C, at 10:20 o'clock, an Friday evening, April 14, wise.). The President was carried from the theater across the street to the house of William Petersen, and he passed away there at 7:22 o'clock the fol- lowing morning, April 15, 1 SG5. The Ford theater and the house where Lincoln died are in the block just north of The National Republican building, on the same street. Booth had entered the theater just as the third act of "Our American Cousin" had commenced, the star of the evening being Miss Laura Keene. Booth escaped, but was finally tracked to a barn belonging to a man named Garratt, near the town of Bowling Green, Caroline county, Va. His pur- suers were twenty-eight men of the Sixteenth New York cavalry, under Lieut. Col. Eve'rton J. Conger of Ohio. After Booth had refused to surrender, the barn was set oh tire by Colonel Conger, who lighted a rope of straw it inside the barn on top . and thrust of a little pile of hay in a corner. Although Booth knew that either death or surrender was inevitable, he obstinately refused to come out of the barn, and, leaning upon a crutch - -for his leg had been injured while Jumping from the President's box to the stage of the theater—was in the act of taking aim at one of the pur- suing soldiers, who were stationed so ob- as to command every point of servation, when Lieutenant Dougher- Sergt. ty >^eing Booth's move, ordered Boston Corbett to fire on Booth, which he did with telling effect.

J \:- Llil

—

' (TZsOtt 7 /^Uy>) ^i^/

a41 O^Uu^u^,

L^\ (Ltf^^j^yitf txX-L^iri^ t^n^C^ I v Zj? — ^^ (3

)

Ux^s. (T^xSi /^ZX-«-<2_l^ ^d< £b&^ ifeu*^ ^ q LA^^ &£*_ *z

o&U-^t^AJ

IS> bs(yL0^i

a^ a^xJL Ur^SL^Mt ^/^* 7 c^\AT*y^tb<-&\s> tX^Asir/^-JAj, cor ^/lc^o^i^ (JUis^*stsv*yi-> *y

c^^e^^J i/ jTi_j<3 (Uo^L (~ o YIasVL' UO

{t^Aa^q

L^**. f^t^nntfy i/> X^Ji CLA^^^L -^ ~^L^t £br^k / J&*J

JAT*aQ_ JL^&e^ /cK. 7^k_^ innf/fa CUa^^A

lAA wua iM^t Jh LsV /2jr-3t-flA^4r~i^ Hr

the xn^U ^w wuu^u*^ Im, Cbi^eJieL^ a^-4

yun^ u> "fe" tfLA ~pbj ^f &~1 U*2^r*tS^&-L c/^^i^e 6Lal^ LJ^o^U, CA^cJ tAa/lc^ fc~ f^^O^ yPULAsou LsiA*^ \ 7 // /" pto^t

A/^6 ^mtaJlJ 6L6

Ms&^o**-*. <-A\^a-<_sJ* trv^i^

t£*J-

iyLn£j( yi^

(miasv^ Ia^lJ for I^la/^^l, ^ti^ *^-£* <£ °<-

&> ^56 7 t

£k> C^*. 2& W ^^L * U^i *j~*h ^ ^ ^ ^ "

Cc^a-^ -r U^^Jc^t. 9{fr^ ^^^ /^M^t <^v_, ^<_ ^ ^^iuXiU^f IS\S\ 6-e rjL^ fe

oh^ « u^- ^ trite ^-v^- >UL^IS»^c^yuf a

~pLz i^v^iA. 6^J J^Up Ui^u (MV^td

~~tU^ &n*J/yjJLAjUtsL^Ji^ L*

~ ^yvh^^t^^ W\ G&L^^ w lAnJLf' ^ r ^fuyiyt^Lu^ V <4inASL A, ^L^t^_ J d A Leuvy Lit/ $fc\ itt^ C^uail^- /icu etfxx-^J^ cajusDu^

T

iX^ULcLyi^^x iL^Octf C//t *4t*syL« i

^W^^^^ tHixyt^

(/Sl^/tn^J Id o^d^_ #M

\

March 5, 1931

Mr. Byron fade 3613 Hillman Street Youngs town, Ohio

«y dear Mr. *ad«

Tour letter directed to Mr. toll. President of the Coopany, has been referred to thit Department.

On several instances ire hare had up the matter of broadcasting different episodes of Llncoln , s life bat I am positive that we would not be ready to take on such a program as you suggest.

If at any tine we feel that your researches In this field could find a place in our program, we will be very glad to correspond with you.

Haspsctfully yours,

rec*or » • I JIH.IUJ luL USSWHWil _ X . ^ LAftTL Lincoln historical Research -oundation.

C William B. Ruggles 35i*8 Rosedale P Dallas, Texas 75205

July 1U, 1970

Henry B. Bass 1901 Comanche Trail Enid, Oklahoma 73701

Dear Mr. Bass: /

s cere ?f*TL ^l* jP gratitude for putting me on the list for your ^^ yOUr FOPay C1v13L War «tr«ely interest ing. And thanks forI S*5Sf 5J*° ^ 5 L^S. the zerox copy of my Uncle Mortimer's narrative encounter of his with Booth. I have typed copies of this, his cousin Bainbridge^ - I did the typing ! it is nothing to be prot^d oifand^hen rSbS&iJL^I obtained the first two narratives back in the Thirties, I don't think ° PlelU1S wh i8 delviAs in*> raffit. Kot'y^^ ' ° «« -*

y le MoPtimer ^Tippecanoe") Ruggles died n "!S in, I think, 1902 or 1903. For m M tr led for V* «"«• d8v8 8 "drummer") C<^^/*Constable of New vK u ™Z for ArnoS! York, where he lived. He had visited us in my hometown^ family (wife and son, both now deceased) in New York City in 1901. I knew he had written \m account of the meeting with Booth, but not had been published. where it Some time in the Thirties, I reviewed an^account of Custer's death in the Little Big Horn Battle for tSHa^as^ewl?^ Dallas — ***** on «ne in my editorial office in The News, to ask read General if? had ever Graham's account of the campaign. I had not so he lln+^1 * reading STS*; ?£!** it, I went through the volume to see what was beinz tMnSB: X foand ln *»» the RugllesSainbridge DohertyZctZS accountsiLlSL^jL^of their « meeting with Booth. I copied the first two waT 1 t D0herty SL "23 S 2 7* then yeaM late* "»«2 *> regrermy £tei£. ea J ag ?* * "!* a talk « the three Confederated to the S??! "Sjf10iL?081f S0Cl* °f Which a fellow *• « Dallas school S^SL^ceacner, W. ^R„ onger. If*mentioned *» the above facts. Conger asked me if still wanted the I Doherty narrative and when I said I did, he sail hTwould make me a copy as he had one - he was a relative of Conger who c«nmanded ^c^nclde^esr "** **"* **"" * «" ^^ of «^S23L.

9 b°ok £" vh±ch *<»* found the narrative was a Cen- l^^^J^n^f'lthlnk m ?** abottt the Century, it could have been sS^S^?Scribners'.) %I didiL not J . know the narrative had ever been published elsewhere. al y8 *!"? c Bvlllced «»* the execution of Mrs. Surratt was LlSI*.e ?f8 ? judicial SS L S wffi*l ?»%**•** *° kidnap Lincoln was plotted in her house ^t she was not inthis. The assassination as Booth slid ^ft£Tt£366 168 was a spur of the moment idea of himself and Sinn^L?Payne on reading in/^the morning paper that Lincoln and Grant would be guests

J <

at Ford Theatre that night. If Grant had been there, Booth said cheerfully, he would have killed him too.

It might interest you to know that my grandfather, Daniel Ruggles, who went to West Point from Massachusetts, was one of the 26 Yankees who were Generals in the Confederate Army. Two of his sons, Mortimer and the eldest, Edward, served in the CSA Army, my father, born in 1853, was too young. Uncle Tip, as we called Mortimer, had expected to surrender with Mosby, went with Mosby to arrange the surrender, learned there of the assassination, saw the black mood of the Yankee soldiers, decided that his Northern origin might make his surrender a risk, so planned to join Johnston, still fighting in Georgia. Bainbridge was his cousin so he went along. Jett did surrender, got his parole, rejoined the other two enroute to the home of all three in Fredericks burg. Hence, the accidental meeting with Booth. All three were captured, told their story, were never put on the stand during the trial of Herold, Payne, Mrs. Surratt, et al. This has always made me think Stanton did not want the truth told.

I should add another coincidence . Sometime between 1927 and 1937 while I was living on San Carlos Street in University Park, a family moved in across the street. Seeing the male waiting for a bus, I picked him up in my car. We introduced ourselves. His name was Jett. I asked if he was a relative of William Jett of the Booth meeting. He was Q More than six decades after 1865, and several thousand miles from Fredericksburg, here were relatives of two of the three Confederates living across the street from each other, a Dallas County municipality!

I am afraid I have run along at great lenght*

Thanks again for both of your letters..

Sincerely,

William Bo Ruggles

C

p Y - |

!-••- r .... ,-. „ -it n i man rU Scholar: Booth a warm-hearted Head said. Uncoln, she said. his country, led up to his killing scholar, however, mall Hoefler In a Another by Sandy Booth was the youngest son have bee talned Booth may very well 1863. when he was family of actors. By conspiracy, plotted b. John Wilkes Booth was Intelligent, made more than part of a wider scholar only 24, Booth had the vtctortou handsome and warm-hearted, a But he the South to overturn $20,000 with his stage career. Friday. caused Union goverment. 'said JMMM«i afflicted with an Illness that deep-rooted personal was Thomas Turner, history professor a But he also had voice, and he had to hoped to hoarseness in his College in Massachu problems that he may have engagements dur- Brtdgewater State said cancel several acting the trials of by killing Abraham Lincoln, setts, said testimony In escape next year. JJj Constance Head of ing the conspirators who worked wni history professor to marry a eight Booth also had promised plot wai Carolina University. Booth shows a Confederate Western ' daughter, but since his illness experts spoke at the senator's Clergy at the tin* •*> rata Head and other postpone his acting brewing. Sym- required him to that the Soutt h* Ninth Annual Abraham Lincoln Booth had forced the feeling almost a year, >- Capitol Friday career for do with Lincoln* death. posium at the Old State support her. In something to little money left to charged with theconspy afternoon. several in- Of the eight addition. Booth had made woman wert was not the "Insane, drunken not acy, four men and one Booth in oil wells that did him out to vestments the first time In Wston actor" that history has made for. hanged. It was produce the fortunes he'd hoped executed the U.S. Government | be, Head said. world was falling apart. that warm- "His own were sent to prison. » "He was a refined, Intelligent, was miserable, woman. The rest was Beneath his facade, he observance was Rid* hearted person," she said. "He Also joining the of books oa handsome, popular and the best-paid death ard Gutman, co-author And, Booth was obsessed with a American stage. Ladies Booth and Uncoln, who presented • star of the seemed attractive to him to wish. It show detailing the life of BooOL thrilled at him." hero," then die for slide life become a "Southern A variety of Incidents In Booth s

State Journal-Register (Springfield, 111.) February 1982

ASS |-n\u W vcvSoi c

OBITUARY NOTES. / ^ ^ u Medina, N. Y., Dec. 20.—John Ryan, the old- est resident of Medina, Is dead, aged ninety-six years. He was always prominently Identified with the Erie Canal, having had charge of the enlarg- lpg of one section. He was formerly a power In politics. Baltimore, Dec. 20 (Special).—Franklin Robey, who aided John Wilkes Booth and his companion, Herold, to And a hiding ptace In Charles County after the assassination of President Lincoln, died yesterday at his home in that county. He was Sixty-seven years old, and had always been reti- cent about the part he took In the escape of the assassin. It was Robey who piloted Booth from the home of the late Colonel Samuel Cox In Charles County, to the pine woods near where the town of Bel Alton now stands, and later directed Thomas Jones to the spot. It was then that Jones took charge of the fugitives and subsequently piloted them to the Potomac River, where they embarked for the Virginia shore. Robey was at the time an overseer for Colonel Cox. . u ... e BsLL • A\v\>o^

I WILLIAM II. ACTOR VvALLIS DEAD j

I i A. Veteran Artist Who .Supported 3Ian^ Prominent Stars.

['Philadelphia, Dec. 28. — William H} •Wallls, a veteran actor, who was associated yrith. Edwin Booth, Charlotte Cushman, and/ about all of the leading American Thespians of his time, died at his home In thla city,; ;1633 South Juniper Street, to-day. He dele-j ibrated his seventieth birthday on Thurs- day, and had been ill with Brlghfs dlseasa ;eince last May. i Mr. Wallis continued on the stage untllli She was stricken with the disease. He wastf an intimate of John Wilkes Booth, and? ynen President Lincoln was assassinated-* *e, with other actor-friends of the muW Werer, was placed under surveillance. Mr» ' -WaJlis secured John McCullough hi3 flrstl engagement—that of supernumery on ihatha J boards of the old Arch Street Theatre,Ure, laia ^hls city. A widow and three ; sons survive : A.n exchange fays: Traveling with Clint G. Ford's company is Edwin Urinlc, an ox-ariny officer, who saw Lincoln assassinated, and hears the distinction of btinjj the man who entered the theater with John Wilkes Booth, on the night President Lincoln was assas- sinated, and was arrested as an accomplice of the aosassin. Although Mr. Brink declines to talk of the tragedy, lie Pays he was the last man who spoke to Booth before he fired the .fatal shot. Mr. Brink says he knew Booth and played with him when a boy. Hei says the talk that Lincoln's assassin is still, alive i» all hosh, as he saw Booth lying dead: on a stretcher before he (Brink) was released as an accomplice. Brink was taken from prison to identify the murderer some weeks after the President had been assassinated. Mr. Brink has followed the profession of an actor since the close nf the war. He is about 60 years ot'age, or a ministerial appearance and Of a very meditative disposition. He speaks to no person unless he is spoken to, but Is not in the least disagreeable. He declined last night to tall: of the tragedy of 1S0V>, saying he only wished he could forget it. as the thought of it brought phantoius before his vision were SilSfe anything but pleasant. .

>A