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http://archive.org/details/accountsofassasseszlinc Accounts of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Stories of eyewitnesses, first-hand or passed down
Surnames beginning with s-z
From the files of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
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Vol. IX.—No. 452.] NEW YOKE, SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1865.
Entered according to Act ofX'ongress, in the Year 1865, by Harper GEORGJ) N. SANDERS. George N. Sanders, the notorious rebel who across our northern border has been so long con- spiring against the Government, was born in Ken- tucky, which was also the native State of Jeep Davis. lie is between forty-five and fifty years of age, and has been for many years engaged in vis- ionary political schemes. Under Pierce and Bu- chanan he was happy enough to gain a brief offi- ei.il authority. The former appointed him Navy ^~~ ***" Agent at New York, and the latter Consul to Lon- don. In 1801 he returned to this country and em- ,/A- braced tin rebel cause. was engaged in several ^ He schemes for increasing the rebel navy, all of which failed. His supposed connection with the plot to murder President Lincoln, and with other infamous schemes against the peaceable citizens of the North, is too well known to require any comment. Within the last fortnight his name has again come promi- nently before the public. It has been reported that some dangerous fellows from the United States have been engaged in a plot for the abduction of the rebel agent. It is probable, however, as the Times re- marks, that the "dangerous fellows" were only thieves who had designs on Sanders's silver spoons or Confederate gold chest. '^Z^s^7?/e^_ ct&cy EAC-SIM1LB OF GEOKGE N. SANDERS'S HANDWRITING. i |, SA_^<^*rS^"TV\Ov » in n.- Imi-- the per»"n wh'i-i I v. irv atup*' |o 1 i.i.x mid who jump."! »r itmliiinl- w.i.1 i.'.t Kdwln llo. .th I l« EYEWITNESS OESCRiBES^TO FORMER RESIDENT —\ !he I'nnlMll Mai •hul '• n.'lal l'i Ihenlre r ",ltr Puperlnlend-n'. "' ' Th« u Mi. III. (tarda, w ..a on Ihe !»*•; told h » OF READING IRE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN Ihe lime Kii.l m> loinlianloii thai the aawaaalll «o I'"' 11 '"', meaning kdwln. The HiiiMrrlnlrnil.-lit of 1'oll.e replied ll.-l I •* tim>i\*» nit wtiHMtn kwim'iih, now kv(i-m>vi:i> i\ tiik i»k- lU.olh. who-*J •ita-lii «u John Will.** nreaeni r\itr.iu:\ r t>r « imtitm v \m> i.mmhi it w ismxtwux, waa well known to many i> <•.. »\s thicn vni v<. mmvk ioi.r\n:i:it— VIKITKll Fr.7m the theatre we Ml" i.ltvVT Mllu II. M> Mm- IKJItli s Tllf-XTHi: TO nKK C.K>Kll\l, l'.-tera«n-a houiw The Trovoai rooni where HKK\ i;\l T.« TKI» TO VCKiMI'WY TIIK I'lllM TO SI'K V.al f.enernl entered Ihe r H, *" l, Mr. Uncoil. It.) dMng « in iti.it I'Hinncmiv or -orit \mhu<\\ ; 1 klndUU i.miu ki;r..NK who .topped me in Ihe hall. »V»I si> - hmad> on m> •>"">''' ,.i». ,d Ma are loo Lid wld: 'Young man there |mm*d,.vl- mane In her- alruvdn.' J al'joii MhiikxI !<• Nee iirrwnil Omni. lioua. and \t in.. i)n ei«n ..| tin MiooiliiK I. welll oulalde Ihe wern unlving I rend in Ulr nrw*- H-ldlera I -- i'n April aloop an . 1 j« i J i ..r I'lrimlrnl Abraham H on Ihe b»»li ,»*»«** [mi>iti> il»n l'r.-*iil.-j'it Lincoln would nod Horn, had alret.di l.lh.nli: liu. i.fli n been mi nil I ^.J I'. b.-low i. v Fit iMl-.tl » Tti.-ntre on i-'Hh eiiroei, nniiu the air.-,-'- above and «. in. w li.i In.,. porn ..' .1 .m.l l>> out ol Ihe li*:wc. n V. .nn 1 ¥ trcetr, thai even- theatre to keep ihr people .,,!i.r* wlii kite * I'-" mum .l-'e'l- Utter mi- I.- -n rnj'iil ne.l by i.cii.thI Ornnt. ii.io.- and ll..-..tr.-. The aa u pln> bona.-. fivi been i.rr.i.i.ii. uiill,- I h:.il ..-en Mr. I.lnoiihi n.-i.-r ajtaln uaed e,.i„,| II Walllrxg. I M...I ,.f i>-. i vr « lln.—»— n* Ill' 'fr.-o,iiciil).i I .ic-ircd in ham n lUKilll Had a lloewe lit .11 i'. ami w.-n! '"• Iheaire hr lerr'hle lru*.il\ hate p.iae.-.l a « a in.. I, en via I the alley In the rear II I.UIIII ..[ Ihn.r In II). private 1"" "III. IK Our American I'nualn al In charge of B bo). plaonit had left a home , II,' nl.|.i|i w»i I'n ii|, Ul.ll fnt.il nigh' I 111 Ihe dreaa pureuert hla lllla llO'lse waaiaealefl and leaping upon It. level lh« box cn*»e» hu».- in. i atr-lito lull* Thorna* i-lr. !!• nn ihi Ki«n«i a* ovei nennlng'a Urldge. which Poiorngr tin- I.llli olll> III ' « lira d ford (Vimler*. ( IVaahineton, no'll|ili'i) I.J tin- cat bran.h of e Capitol He Ml>. I.I111-1H11 Mmh liili'ri-slcxi. mile or ao Kaal of the now rrnploted In thr Department n' Mudd'a hou.e r lull- puriued hi. way to Ur one the "Tli.- party .1 1 i\ cfl mid I'l'mmiri r and Uli'i, la of allelided to i.ini-tal tSrniii wita abaent reiving where bla leg wo., few r>cw linen'ee Ililng tnrt.nl. h llurllnxlnn. New Joraev. m llcixiarnlartl Man M'tMi *M<* «\"0< ignite in Pct<;ri»'ii lloiiw In \\ lilrli l.ln- i» deaeehdelil 17m- afterward. I «• M'- Sander*, who a 1vi-.Ii hi* children who were ntlciidinr -Home llllle lime oiln llli-d. »"»ce of the nf ilovrnnr William Bradford, (if Ijultoo! Our.- The bo* wn» (KVUI-lnl on duty at nufht In tho IJnr.-lii. Mliw Marohal tieneral when a I'll ''olony. Mum.. In nn lntrr- In -Mr mill Mm, I'rocoal mouth until he ai-iuri-d a hold on the rail tiwvn en- llnrrla. 11 itllUKlller or Srlllitiif Hnirla. delermlnnd-looklng young ilen v\ lilt Ulck-I, .iinih In, Harvey Cleveland .Major linn mid » u« able la naked for n hum of lh« of Nt<« Vurlt. mid Pnymantor : tered and llilV. It HUpe.l'H II. mill hud u (uinifr rraldriit <( r I twill I UK. now "Thill our otn.-e rurnUlied 1" llullllimii' door kind whtrp J Malted the but. i-iil » aim In til" aurprl.ed him by nd- employed nn ii i>ienoi(rujli.r in tin- I wiiutiml Iho l.lni'ulna durtriK th", proper c«ae. I J.iir.n. unil Inaerled a l:nrie> Hint II Kergrmtt i-orbeil nnd «»ni" department .ij« Mr Handera, |.rrfnriii«n»"i'. Mrx l.llnoln h.U »t: fajlin- dren-lng him a. i dropped n.ruM, th'ja '.mid be I knew hla nam- Him iront nf th.- box and dining lb« he naked me how give* his icrai.'ii i.f lh>; Hiw.i»»ln:itioii li.K Ihe door leudliiK In"' ihe hot In iteen hla at-| replied that I had plan »!"> mllSU her hunbund'ii roilld rn- "I In ii Hint r.raphli. DM filler HUfh'ii manner lh.il no una n.-wtpaper-' und lw- 10 .iim.erebl iiolnlii. \U\ would plelur- In Ihe. t.-nlloi, trr from the »lde where tha He w:.a Ihe In hie Interview Mr Hamlet, lavtd 1 al one*. l.-un (nrwitnl. rra^-nJ umlllnnly. and Inio J.znlzed klm nuilleiiic »»«. In order to Ret • >"- r "vt ihn tlui'i of Hi.' NUKumlnatlnn who had ahot Booth. <;\ »l»hl. 1 tti^n »lt biirK u IHIIc out of neieaaari lu t-JImb main aald the box 11 r.a» Lpiinae to Inq.ilrlea from me lie of I'nul.l.'iit Lincoln oil thn night nf Kiartlrtl by » I'»«t4>l Shirt. ii i- (runt Ihe Main. .hie of Ihe hurn- i that he «m at the April II. I«*.\. I nan .1 ih<. end young "Aa Uii- phy it'll nf.irliiB It »ter. ! looklnK-lhrOUKh a kn«t- Wrni lur lrg bttlldlna- ll iiintnl »h«i. 1 I uurilcd by • hv "Wlirfn thr mtdleniv iililcled down l0l h . .'I'd llu.-dntl rw'taanl llunu-. | jlujiii) in hlmae'f mid 1 tjimnl to over to 1 (in-iii I'utifiiMoii lollow* I "J'art of our guard rUnhed It appeara --ii- (he Mewitril home where 'I Ikmiuw IU-B«llun] SBIKll-r.». Afln .1 nitr*..ti 01 ii»" a.'!in thai one of the coimi'lriunr* had liplif-AI. I el 1 i"'nlu* •' II" '"> 1 alaahed Mr. H«'»arda Ihr.Mi. nearly .!ini-c-r In the 17th Malm- Kcjrl- .iinl mi ...in. • ! in Mir ... 7,1 >%J .- :! . :x>:.s| By LINDA ntNV When the restored Ford's Theater in Washington reopens -\i in August, Harvey C. Bickel - - hopes to be in one of the dress - . 1te|r circle cane - | bottomed chairs; m across from the double box where President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot 102 years ago. "I feel I could have a keener perception of the assassination and that I could be closer and more conscious of its impor- tance as an historical event- more so perhaps than anyone else in the United States," said the lawyer and former judge of the Baltimore City People's Court. Mr. Bickel /eels this way because he is one of the few persons now living who inter- viewed a witness of the assas sination. He has asked for a seat as close as possible to the spot where a former friend and associate sat April 14, 18155. Met Him At Office Mr. Bickel was private secre- LINCOLN EXPERT-Harvcy C. Bickel, Bal- judge, is one of few living tary to the commissioner timore persons In h.i of attorney and former People's Court interviewed navigation Lincoln's assassinnlinn wilnc in the Department of Navigation and Labor when he of Ihe head as he saf in met Thomas Bradford Sanders his MS}' chair in Ihe box, was who was — aepuly commit dead.'' tlio notes stale. sioner in the same department Mr. ' After hearing that Mr. Sanders Sanders related to Mr. Bickel Ihe was at Ford's Theater during intricacies of Ihe investigation that followed the assassination, Mr. Bickel and the death of Booth met with him several times and himself. Th sergeant who kiilcd look down word for word his Booth told account of that event. him that he had done so to prevent Booth from Mr. Sanders told Mr. Bickel killing the soldier and his friends. he had gone to the theater He specifically to see General allcnded the military Iri-al of Grant and the President that three charged with conspira- April 14. The General did not cy, commenting that il was "a attend that night. pitiful sight" in see Ihe irons on The Mrs. Mary Surralt, who w.i shooting occurred as the hanged later for her part play noared its end, Mr. Bick- in tin plot. ers yellowed noles relate. Mr. Mr. Sanders said he looked across Bick./I lon.Vd Ihrotcli Ih the theater and noticed ''a froz- en and horrified expression" on the President's face before he understood what had happened. "I can still recall it m my mind's eye," Mr. Sanders began as he described John Wilkes Booth leaping down from the box onto the floor below, with a young and his l.tlks with shock of his black hair '' Mr. Sanders flying. ' stimulated him to ?'?'$' ' Booth then "--^ 'Htr —^ $ 'J read disappeared through and tolled more informa- the wings at the back of the timi. He now ims three bingra- (healer to the alley .where a phirs on Mr. Lincoln as well as horse f was wailing. c . ;>iM several folders filled with data On ll"> ;i.---io.in-ilinn " _. I Contusion Follows Air. 1-iicKci. wno was man inij ._ "Immediately all was in con Bucks county, Pa., came to fusion in the theater," the i Baltimore in 1!)14. lo practice papers relate. People shouted BiBigaaiftgeSsas law. He is a member of the and yelled, first asking who was Maryland Society of Churches, hurt and what had happened and the Maryland Historical Society. Ihcn crying, \\ "Catch him. seize IIKltU LINCOLN niKD— I'clcr mi house, wImti' wmiinlcl the German Society of him, hang him, lynch him." President wns Maryland taken, shown in |i lure liikm in early lUIHI's. and the Society for ihe History Mr. Sanders left his place in uf Germans in Maryland. He is Ihe dress circle, went down inlo blood-stained apron. She hnd.'followed soon after lhat of ' one also aciivc the the orchestra been in Eleventh and climbed up holding President Lincoln's the conspirators had cut Mi w ii'd Democrat:;- over Ihe Club. footlights onto Ihe head as he lay on the floor, Mr Seward's throat and seriously slage. Laure Keene, the actress Sanders thought. wounded his son. who was starring in "The "I remained unlil Mr. Lin- "Wild stories were flying all American Cousin" cried out to coln's tall, lank form was car night," the notes say. One ru- the audience: "For God's sake, ried from the theater across the mor was that Confederate priso- be men." A second actress street In Mr. Peterson's house ners in the Old Capitol prison stood by, sobbing. I recollect that I had never were breaking out and were Mr. Sanders then helped boost before been so impressed by his about to burn the town. a man who said he was a great length. He was 6 feet 4 Accompanied Investigator surgeon up into the President's inches in height." Mr. Sanders accompanied the box, for the door down inlo the Mr. Sanders, who was in the provost marshal general to the orchestra had been jammed— Army at the time, returned to theater where Ihe investigation presumably by Booth earlier in his headquarters where rumors of the assassination continued, the day. The doctor called for were circulating thai Ihe entire and then lo the Peterson House water. Cabinet as well as Ihe President where the President lay dying Mr. Sanders returned with a hod been assassinated. A mes- He wailed outside in Ihe hall pitcher of water which he gave senger came from Secretary of while the soliders arrived lo to Laura Keene, the actress, who State Seward's house that he guard the area and curious came to the door of the box in a was being murdered. A report crowds gathered in the street. "The next morning it was announced that Mr. Lincoln, who had been shot in the back Scl-*1^ «-<-"£ 1 W>r»\4L£ *fe j PAGE AG THE SUN. BALTIMORE, MO? ?! / K T? • Birkel Had Interviewed '* : ;5-:A:-V Witness To Shooting -At Theater By LINDA DUNN When the restored Ford's Theater in Washington reopens in August, Harvey C. Bickcl hopes to be in one of the dress circle cane - bottomed chairs across from the double box where President Lincoln was sitting when he was shot 102 years ago. "I feel I could have a keener perception of the assassination and that I could be closer and more conscious of its impor- s\ tance as an historical event- more so perhaps than anyone c'sc in the United States," said the lawyer and former judge of the Baltimore City People's Court. % "ft, \% .' Mr. Bickel feels this way because he is one of the few- persons now living who inter- *k viewed a witness of the assas sination. He has asked for a seat as close as possible to the spot where a former friend and associate sat April 14, 1865. Met Him At Office I lijo, is one or 1 iving persons to have Mr. Bickel was private secre- LINCOLN EXPli KT.- Harvey Hickol, Lai- jm few T iimore attorney nnd former oplc's C ourt in I crvirwrd .in coin's assassination tary to the commissioner of navigation in the Department of Navigation and Labor when he met Thomas Bradford Sanders, who was then deputy commis- sioner in the same department! After hearing that Mr. Sanders was at Ford's Theater duringj .the assassination. Mr Wrl met Willi nun several times ant took down word for word hi. account of (hat event. Mr. Sanders told Mr. Bickc he had gone to the Ihea.Lci .specifically to sec . puneral Grant and the President that April I'll The General did not attend (hat night. The shooting occurred as the play reared its end, Mr. Bick 'i^l~-^'yixi->^?CZV:r^^ A r -. Sandci's related "°V.~- '^4'|-:[^L J to Mr : Blc kcf foe 'Sp-: i intricacies' of- the -•; investigation '-^r;^ that followed and B I the death, of Boo th him sej t- 3 h«;i-sc:.,ii who killed Booth" to^ h|ln »iat he had done so- ft (prevent Booth from killing fel soldier and his friends.- ' _Ifc'atteruied the military triaLt of three -charged with conspira- cy, " ; commenting - that (t '-Ms a pihiul sight" 1 to see -the irons on Ahs. Mary Surratt. who wajl hangea later ' for M'k her pari in ihe^ plot. ,.- i Mr. B'ickel leafed through -foe many papers collected on the1 (assassination over th :;"50 > - nast; oars. A 3 yellowed Collier's ma- "I can s a.zme dates back .still recall ft" in my to 1909 itfl mind's several newspaper eye." Mr. Sanders bc-an articles' are almost as' he described as old. . John Wilkes j B'/Au leaping Mr. Bickel down from the . became in'tereslcf :• pox onto the floor m American below, with a history- when he . was shock of hi.s b]ack young and hair fl his talks with Air = Booth then Sanders disappeared through! stimulated him to the w/n.-s ,i read and collect the back of the' 'Vi more inform* Ihcster lUon. ... the alley He now has three where a 1 biogFal norse was r- - phies on Mr. waiting. Lincoln as well $ several Confusion Follows folders filled wifo'dafl &m&- on the- "Immediately -•*«• assassination. all was in con- :ig«sssJw*'. * fusion in the " Mr. Bickel, theater the who was born in papers relate. Bucks county, ----j, . People shouted p* "..,a came to and yelled, !5'?--- Baltimore : first asking who was in 1914, to practice hurt and what law He is had happened and a member of- -the then Maryland : crying/ Society "Catch him. seize of Churches fiim, '" he hang him, Ivnch him Maryland Historical Society' Mr. Sanders the German Society left his place in of Maryland fie dress circle, went down intoi tnc orchestra and climbed up' over the footlights onto the' E stage. — Laure Keene, the actress .gas wno was si- ^-^^m^ starring m^mm in' "The :"I remained 'until American Mr. Lin- \ ^ Cousin" cried out to coin's f0nes tall, lank were ^ing all the form was ^ , audience: car- LI$ ? "For' God's t o sake ned from the g n0tcs sa >''- be theater across thel ' 0ne ru- men." A second actress r hat street to Mr. Peterson's ™\ ^derate priso- .stood by, sobbing. usefc I ,n th °]d recollect that I ' CaP Ro1 Mr. Sanders I had nevnever£ fe, u. ?. PT«on ; then helped boost before were breaking out been so impressed by and were a man who said his about he was a great Jength. to burn the town. He was 6 feet surgeon up into the 4 President's inches in height." Accompanied Investigator box, for the door down into the Mr. Sanders, Mr. Sanders orchestra who was in the accompanied the had been - jammed- Army at the time, P rov ° st marshal , returned..,„„„(, general , to presumably , , — to the by Booth earlier in nis l" headquarters where 10a,Cr "'here the investigation the day. The doctor rumors called for were circulating of lhc wafer. that the enfirei assassination continued '")" 1(1 n- .....II .... ,i Cabinet' | as ,, land then Mr. well as the President to (he Peterson House' Sanders returned with a had been assassinated where the President lay pitcher of water which A mes- dying I he gave senger came He waited to Laura from Secretary of outside in the hal Keene, the actress, who State Seward's house while the soliders arrived came to the door, that he tol of the box in a was being guard murdered. A report the area and curious crowds gathered in the street. "The 1 next morning it was: announced that Mr. Lincoln who had been shot in the back) S<2-Aeie.r£ ; iy/Vi u j.x. tj O A : -S S.I ION ~^ -< ii o k. v A B R A H A K' L I N C C L A Q - "/ \% TOLD BY A IT E -W I T N' E- £• S S T /i .-' \ 'J " '- : '! !- X-"\ Washington , D.. C . , .1910. \ ^»W > •. ..->.' - n *.?••!, p-~ ! - -T.-vT-f. " A -i -i 3.11 • Slit :iOr.D ",'t ~ ii -•'•! t*V 1'5 : • *> > -o i '.v?jQ33 1 ;- C j 1/ £A j- fi£il\ »."\ v.-*r -"i ' oho irtorv or Lincoln 5 c clea'tli lo o/ taoois liao often boon oaonaled fcy sbroe oho llheiir onr -| -,- --i v. lOLoils hfi'vs ne^er boon iolcl. Oovioonly ao. oyo ovlinooo c b'6'ilt/ I"--? "b.LHO i.GlO-Ol :'C:-'vCJ: ... T.O.;~0 OUO C'OiiOl". LCS'i/ Oi i'O : nC0303 Of -O.hj-S . 1LVD Or 1-5.11 "L C.G-uITCnC'C witnesses ---(ticoc In the thoaoro be: :.nco„n on tony cf Inoton, D. O. j n> iq si;.OJ.ru-. J >>•! ;;."-S >J-A "T r j. ; ; _. O i C* ii C'- .wy. *^ y. /' ••* ; -:'3 .'* »_' «.'. .'. .!. _•- J J V, v> J_ v** - ', » U fiiO! i i h-Q IVdr ;: ntOl'Ori. T7"i7:;6 Ci: J~ t-i. -u.- '-,.1 L «In April, 3.865, I vms a young volunteer in tho 17th. Maine Regiment and was detail- cd ash clork at tho office of the Provost fiatshal General Defenses Worth oi tne" Potosiae.. The oi'fico was then located near tho Treasury Department at Washington in proxiciity to the old homo of Daniel E. Sickles, near which tho latter assassinated United States District Attorney Key. On April 14th I read in tha newspapers tkt Mr. Lincoln would v. at Ford's Theatre that evening accompanied by General Grant, and v/hiilo I had seen the former many times I do sired to have a good look at the latter and uint to tho theatre where Laura Keeno was playing in "Our American Cousin." I took a seat in tho dross circle of tho second tier iaaediately opposite the box which v/as to he occupied by Mr. and ?Trs. Lincoln, and General Grant, and into vtfdch I had a full view. v/as proceeding, there being but ons nan on tha stago, whan I heard a p* «tol shol ing forward over tho balcony to seo whether the shot %as in tho barroom at the side, 1 noticed a commotion in the box opposite. General Grant, it appears, had loft. for Burlington, vev/ Jersey, to goo hie children, whore they- were at school, and v/as not in tho box, which was occupied oy I'cc. and Mrs. Lincoln, Kfiss Harris, a daughter of Sena- tor Harris of Usv York, and Major Rathbone, a paymaster in the military service. I had watched «r. Lincoln during tho performance and especially Mrs. Lincoln, who sat at tie mouth of the box, and during the play called ffr. Lincoln'^ attention to different points. Ho would loan forward, look out of th'bbox, respond smilingly, and b:U back a little out of sight. The disturbance in thebox drew my attention and I no-;iced- is?rs. Lincoln sitting erect and staring at scanctldng with a frozen expression of coun- tenance, a?; though she was horrified. In' an instant Booth appeared vdih a dagger in u hi E3 hand- and yelling "ic semper tyrannis," sprang over the railing; of the box -shie-h wb.b about, I should judge, 12 foot above the stage. As ho sprang hi h spv.r caught in the flar: draping the opening to the box, *md ha was twisted slightly Bids-ways'-. i ; easi say hirj now coming down through the air, the motion causing hie thick . oLvi'ck bit: to «2 tend upwards in ouch a-r&anner as to gi've him a peculiar appearance. }?o struck on ids oido, on his elbow arid knee perhaps, and irasedi&toly rising-., rush -ad with a peculiar gait, off the sl&ge. When be struck hebroke a bono of his log and probably hi? pe- culiar walk aros© from that fact. An actor was on the stage, but as he afterwards stated, seeing Booth coning toward hisa with a gleaning knife, which, ha v.avod theatri- cally about bin head, thought that perhaps an injury was intended to himself. Booth passed through thy rings at the bask and disappeared. The evidence shows thai, he ruj"i through the theatre to the alley in the rear where ho hud r, horse in charge of a boy. He leaped upon the horse and pursued his way over Bennings n ridge, to //ha.* is now called Anacoetia, across the oast branch of the Potermc, a mile or 1.0 east of the Capitol, All war, in confusion in the theatre. At firVt, I v/ith many otJwra, thought that " -3- v the incident slight have something to do with the play, but in a minute s'dias indi a dual in the? box appeared at tbo opening ami stated that the President had boon shot. This v/as in ans-.-or to calls frora the audience "who is; hurt*;" ""ghat ia the matter in the box? I sssw Booth while in the box turn and cut at somebody who had seised bin or made a demonstration tovsard him. This person weg Major RathbonSfY/bo v/as then wounded. 1 ran down from the balcony through tho theatre ana climbed over the foot lights upon the stags. The audience was iianjediately in a franzy, and crying "catch him, seise hin, hang him, lynch himM and applied epithets to Booth &hat are unprintable* I.Cro . :iu;;zy, one of the actresses, stood near so sobbing, and Laura Kean'e, fearing 5 a riot, approached tho foot lights and cried out "for God's sake i>a men, ' saying it, as I recall, at least twice, A man announced that ho was a surgeon and as he attempted to climb into tho box I took held of his legs and helped to boost hiss until ha could secure a hold or; the mi and climb in. That day, it appears, Booth had vioitod the box, had cut a slot in the door jam and had placed a bar bo tlat it could bo dropped across, thus fastening tho door into the box from thabaleony or dr@un circle, so that no entrance could bo ob- tained from that side, It y/as necessary therefore in order to got into the be:; fq climb up from the stage* The audience having quieted down some, Laura Keenej \sren.t to the box whence 1 v.us a c; all from the opening looking on the stage, for water. I jumped off the s; and ran down through the orchestra circle and into the bar room at the lover aide of tho theatre, seized a pitcher of water and a glass, exclaiming that it v;ae for Use had been ran back with into tha theatre to the door of 'he President : who shot, and it box which by that tine had been unbarred, laura Keeno come B.na -took the pi teller and y lass . I noticed that her apron vziz bloody. It seems that she had held the head of Mr. Lincoln vdio %as lying on the floor, i staid lone ©sough to see Mr. Lincoln's tali lank form carried from the theatre across the stree to Mr. Petersen's house. I recollect that I had never before ue&n so impressed by hie great length* e 6 , r was feet 4 inches in height/ I then ran to our headquarters at 15th and Pennsyl- vania Avenue where I found the Officer of the Day and everyone on duty tie re in a high state of excitement from rumors that the President and the ntiro Cabinet v/ere being assassinated. A messenger had run to the office from tha Seward* a residence in the Sickles House crying that he mm being murdered and a, part of our guard had rushed over there whore it appears that Powell, alias Paine, one of the conspirators, had cut br 3 Seward's throat, had nearly killed Robinson, a soldier , and had badly injured Frederick Seward. The piece, as I said, w&a just around the corner from our offiJ. 1 CO • wOQH S3 o: Ware coming in for the detail of guards, forth". Andrew Johnson, Vice President, at tho Kirkwood, Mr-, Stanton, and I recollect well ih a rumor that the prisoner's at the i ~0« I prisoners at tha Old Capitol prison m>re breaking out. and ware - «*aufc to b«^ i $ild stories •, . were flvinr all m* Ingrahna, Provost Marshal Pcno^al i * rom Hew Bedford, ?fess., who kid arrjLvad at the of> fie© aelced • me v?ho had shot ?;Tr t-m-,~oTv, t *,,« a * Uncoln - I stated to Mm that 1!; was not Booth, as rumored; that I km>v Rnm'-fo «*aii t . ,-» . , ",88Bl wwin iiooth whan I had peon play, I had never - seen John W-Hkep ^nofh n? „~..» ->- Ui l-o*»*»8 i Kne*r it was not Ecv/in whoa J sax; ir +k- and in the air as he valuted over tha rail. I wen .-j.j„ ^.' onu* co tn«s j • theatre and taifc«'*-:-«rf-fii n-.-> o. of Police whom Col. • • Inerahaa told *-h - ««„ ,, '•«= wa twthat the aseaeain was not Booth, moaning Edwin. The Superintendent r of PolicetiZCw a r iHcloaraa,n^h n »j ' •** * answered that it certainly was John pst- . Booth wno sras voll Known to -any pros an From the theatreea>re m went across to Peter- son's house e where w*r* surgeon General w -j-at..^,Barnes ;s r q+»»+n , „ , r. bxanton, Secretary of War :uid ot feres. •? The -. . Pro\o*:ti.tnoat^ohalto»»»r«i-»i»i « . . General *ent into the house aod- in the roo:i *h*re Br. Lincoln lay dyin|> I followed him ' to thecrx- en+nr-wverury-way, »»whore m *. Mr, Stanton kindly pla'c- 1 immediately sappedatermad nn+ j-v, - ,i .. out u hw door and • stood onuu +h«,o..i soiUJiHay,+^vmw -i- . t aJioro I could b-ea the soldi aro --- -, - r™ , arriving a , ?I n ,.j . ^j ana aleard boon placed aerosa the stroot above and below tha Mi f ^o.,-. +« v^ -.-.--.m ; ,o kpep people out of - the houoe"ouoe. Crowdsr™^* , wore gtit-he ii ng from every J direction .- - » md fn« ( « i The next raorixig it was announced that Mr. Lincoln who had b&a/i shot in the back of thr bond as he cat 121 Ida easy chair in the bo.;:, mie dead. Booth pursued his !#ay to Dr. F.Audd'a house across the East Branch of tho rivor whore his leg wae attended to and he obtained a revolver and articles which had been carried over 'here that afternoon by Mrs* Surrstt. This act on her part lad to her su seauent execution as an accessory before the fact. Evidence shoved that Atgerodt v^ao expected to assassinate Ur, Johnson, who lived at that thee at the Kirkv/ood House, where the Raleigh is uov; located on Pennsylvania Avenue, about midway between the Cap! iol and the Treasury Department, Povrall , or Payne, after a sojourn of a little "- ',->" 'v> <_•> ^.« - i-j 4 [- t time in the M/eode, as I recollects north 01 the city, came daim fto ; r r in the small hours of the nomine and upon bwirti; not by a detective from our offico ctatione d there stated that he had been hired to dig a ditch. Ha was appro-handed, brought to the office and-con.sar71.oci to prison, fit? was a powerful built" rarcn. booth and Stockist his party, consisting of Hero Id and Ataarodt, pursued their say down" the Pctcraac river on horseback, for a numbor of ailes and hid in a pine thicket, whore they cut the throats of their horses u.nd beingafroid of capture., finally coroaod tho river in the early morning ^d proceeded through the. country to •- plac • no'l '*ar ix-qv\ Fredericksburg, Virginia, and finally to the house) of a lie, 'Garrett . Pursuit was fear od and they concluded to go into a building near the house. This was a number of days after thy assassination. In tho is anting the whole country was on the lookout for Booth, general Baker, Chief Government Detective, had traced Booth's party down tho rivor and finally to Garrett's house, Thoy ware informed that the a an were in the build- ing above rcuntioned. The giving of this infonxrtion, it is deported, led to the proo scription afterward of Hr. Garrett in that neighb'oMboxl, The inhabitant?; there, al- though perhaps decrying the assassinatiosi, sasre not satisfied with the action of 'tho Garrotte in giving up tho assassins. The building v;as surrounded "by the Federal . soldiers and Booth was ordered to cone out. Ho replied that ho would not surrender, but that there wan a man with him who would give himself up. Tho building was., set on. fire and burned rapidly. femi; Kerold ^as received and mode a prisoner, and Booth ^hile standing.' in the light of the conflagration with a rifle in" his; hands ready for yse, was shot dow: in nearly tho cans part of tho body where a fee/ days before he hod shot Mr. Lincoln. He w&s taken out and died soon afterward. Booth, hk&k who v/ao a son of Junius Brutus Booth, an English actor, although not living at the Booth, vae an' active sympathizer with, the Confederacy and hod employed hie time or a part of it in acting as a spy and in conveying mail end despatched to tho Southern Govarnaant at Richmond. Sheridan in ids Memoirs states that iie hoe every reason bo Believe that Booth was a nan ? *hon he eu ployed u> a scout or detective end who he Was a* evinced . was playing double. He slated tlat information he received from Booth in the Shonan- do ah Valley was only such as was known to everybody and of no value. Sheridan had Ids arrested, but lie ascapad. Booth ".as of the nelpUrunotic sort and was heard often to quote the lines "The youth v,to fired thy Lplan;:. an done, Outlives in fane the pious ,! mystery his act in rsaiar fool who roared it » This affords a hoy to unlock fhe of murder ing ttr. Lincoln. ?omo little time afterward I way. or, duty at niyht in the office of the Provost Marshal Gsnsral i./hsn a ratter doieriiirasd locking youn,- nan entered and asked ; o:~ a pass such as it was thy busing no of the ofiicu to furnish in c?jriain casos , I addros' sod him as Sergeant and he asked ma in some, surprise how I kno^a tho fact. I replied that I had so en his picture in the newspapers and recognised hisi at once, 'u- was Ser° geant Corbett who shot Booth* In ns3ponoa to inquiri-io yrcn na-"h.a said that he wtu on the aide of the building looking through a crack or knot-hole, that by the liy' 3 the fire which was burning she building he could sou 3ooth standing with hi;, riflo roady to firs at the first form presented and that he, Corbott, had no idea that tha fellow should bo allowed to take his life or the life of any of his friends and for that reason hs drov? a bead upon hia and fired. Soldiers rushed in Ovhd ;vayyed Booth out after they saw hia fall. Corbet", afterward v/ent infant: as :Sid also haj ;• Rath- bone who was- in the box at the theatre* and r>lsu, as I havs boon told, at least one of the oikrs who were* in tha boa. •9- Bqoth'a body vvas brought back to 'Washington, with Harold and he was buried at the Arsenal in South Washington. There ia no doubt as to 'ids coinplbta ideh-tifica"* tion. His body !ms subsequently removed by hir friends ait-jr identification and buried, as I have been told, at Baltimore. Tho conspirators renainin:; -dive -d th lha exception of John K. Surratt, were tried before a Military CocBQfa si on at the .Arsenal. I was pro Rent during a part of the trial ana saw Mrs. Surratt, Atzeirodfc, and rev/eli, alias Payne, heavily ironed, they having h&en tried before a Military Commission which did not require the renoval of the shaekes during thy tr iai. It vi^ a piti- ful sight to see tho irons on the t«>nan. They were all found cadi'!/" raid executed, although tho nost trenuous efforts v/ere made in "behalf of Mrs, Surratt «dfch President and . Johnson others to obtain a reprieve or pardon. Aa I recall statements' ,,, v ,., r< tho tine .they were all buried at the Arsenal. John H. Surratt had escaped and final- ly enlisted as a Papal zouave* at the Vatican in Eons. He was quartsres, as I have . been rcld, in the Castle of St. Angelo, near the end of tho St. Anpelc bridge v.Mch crosses the Tiber river and leads to St. Peter's Cathedral. Yi.ars afterward I viol tod the castle, : vhich was once j, the tomb of Hadrian, :uui recollect vrell that as I passed under its wails exactly at twelve, noon, a cannon fired froa the battlement over ny head startled me. I recalled that it was tho place where Surratt ms ou:-:r:,^^d and in to mnt the Castle and inspected it hich were still there, Surratt learning that his location had boon discovered, fled :md was captured sub Jf -10-n aeauently fm or up suiterrran sun. ho v/usr brought homo on a vassal f war -md tried by a civil court. O'.vinr to sonc diearry^nhint or technical;! tv Ha was ^ranted • now trial on .en ignore ./ :xj.i.uro xo sat forth in 'Jig pleadings the fact (-Jial: a new trial had been granted be fere the expiration of the tine, in vhleh he could be tried under the Statute cf 'Limitations. Judge v/vfffe of the .-United Sir- to:; Chr.-rt hole jtete^ksx-tthat the fact that U ere v;as a retrial should have been set forth in or indicia** and could not be ahoim by evidence, and that as the time limited by the statute after the assassination in rfUch Surratt could have ^n tried had'expired, ho was a free nan. Thereupon Mr. Surratt took hi« hat and left the court, he ms '>•?£>"'' ••:: • never punished further oxcopt bv hi' «iKJ A i-3S, ears. 01 tiio execution of hi-3 not and of his friends --.•< ,•.•! j:*., > through hisu " 3 wl fVn'lf \n * s„ ., JT s " ^ ^-* m Part j.n joining the conspiracy which l^d to the murder of ISv. Lincoln. ! . j , . ^coa<* Chicago Daily Tribune April H, I960 Johnny," a resident of New at the time sitting between Jersey. two detective Friends of mine flfe. j LETTER TELLS "You must excuse Hn for and one of them had just not writing you be for [sic] asked me the time which was but as the old saying says 20' minutes to eleven. Miss OF WILD RAGE better late than never," Sand- German has just finished a ford begins. "So hertpgoes. song called Sherman March I hardly think a letter' from Down to Geo [Georgia] and AT ABE'S DEATH the City especially at this was about to repeat it when time and from an Old Friend the door of the theatre was will be apt to be thrown to pushed violently open and a Unpublished Note Put one side and forgotten." man rushed in exclaiming A shade gruesomely, Sand- turn out for Gods sake the on Display ford explains he is inclosing! President has been shot in the remnant of Lincoln's shirt, I his private box at Fords the- f A hitherto unpublished let- ,to be divided between) atre. He then rushed out., j "Johnny," "Billy Denver,"' " ... I made straight | ter written in Washington and "Tom Greene." He him- two days after the death of | self, Sandford states, is keep- for Fords and such another i Abraham Lincoln, describing ing Lincoln's necktie as a excighted crowd I never be- [the wild excitement and rage- remembrance. fore witnessed. I asked who there over his assassination, Some Clothing Returned did it and was informed has been placed on .display Wilks Booth and they were Sapdford explains he ac ! by a Berwyn savings and bringing the President out quired (he souvenirs because loan company which recently j whefh I arrived on the spot his undertaking firm sup-! acquired the letter. plied "a common pine box" " Business is entirely sus- The letter, written by a in which Lincoln's body was pended and the whole city Washington undertaker's as- carried to the White House sistant, is on exhibition in is draped in mourning. . . . after his death on April 15. the Lincoln The Theatres stores every Federal Savings The box, with some of Lin- and Loan association, 0(555 place of business and the coln's clothing in it, later Gin Mills all are closed and Cermak rd., Berwyn. Im was returned to the under- closed with the letter perfectly inundated with was taker. • a bloodstained remnant of the crape. It dont do for a man shirt Lincoln wore when he Here are oUm^ excerpts to open his mouth unless he was fatally shot by Johni from Sandford's letter, in his I talks the right way. $30000 own spelling Wilkes Booth in Ford's the- and except for! reward has been offerecl here some changes for ater 95 years ago Thursday. the sake' for the arrest and conviction j ! : of clarity, with his disregard! v The remnant also is on dis- jof the murderer and up to play. for punctuation: : J date they are still at large. . "The Purchased from Expert murder took place " Friday night was a night just 25 minutes to eleven on ' The savings company pur- long to "be remembered by last Friday night at Ford's chased the letter from Ralph me I was on the streets all Theatre on 10th St. j The play G. Newman, a Chicago ex- night. Its impossible for me was our American Cousin. I pert on Lincoln. Newman said to describe the scenes as was at Grovers Theatre next occurred here the City he acquired it from a Chi- they to Junr Lamberts just 3% cago stamp collector who had was in one continual whirl blocks from Fords 'they were of excightment crowds on piirc$f|«ed it last December playing Alladin or the Won- : every corner and 10th St. in Ne# Jersey. derful, Lamp and had just and yelling down with the The letter was written •commenced the 4th Act. I was Traitors instead of hunting April 17, 1865, by Mose for them. ..." Sandford, the undertaker's assistant, to a " Dear Friend 5vr«L» $K120tf, MRS. MARY Assassination £g^, tfWtjP ONE OF LAST TO SEE LINCOLN, SUCCUMBS Omaha Wcman Saw Emancipa- tor Carried from Theater. OMAHA, Neb., May 13 (/P). — Mrs. Mary Marrow, 82, who as a girl of 16 saw Abraham Lincoln, fatally wounded, carried from the Ford theater In Wash- ington into the home where she was visiting, died last night. At the time of the assassination Mrs. Marrow, then Miss Mary A. Sardo, lived in Washington and was a chum of Louise- Peterson, whose parents con- ducted a rooming house for actors, two doors from the Ford theater. On the night of the assassination, she related, she and Louise were at the Peterson home. There was a sud- den commotion at the door and Lin- coln was carried in. She told how later she and Miss Peterson peeped into the bedroom to catch a glimpse of the dying President. "We always felt sorry for Booth," she told friends. Sc-Uoa-^Z-, frcA U>. the killing of Lincoln distort facts in making him Last Words Spoken on Stage Whicl appear conspicuously be- j fore the audience." Story of Shooting of "What were the last words spoken by actors on the stage," I inquired, The marching of Union veterans In "which Lincoln could have heard?" Washington fifty years after their "I talked 1 ," replied Mr. Schwarz, giand march over the same route un- "with Harry Hawk, leading man in the company, . about that very thing. der the eyes of Grant and Sherman He .confirmed my own recollection that rivets attention upon another world- it was in scene two, third act, of "Our stirring incident of that olden day, American Cousin," which was the writes Girard in the Philadelphia name of Laura Keene's play. Public Lediger. "Hawk himself was speaking when Booth's pistol shot put a permanent Of all the many hundred persons who period to that play. As Asa Trenchard, were in Ford's theatre when John Hawk was delivering the words of his Wilkes Booth assassinated President dialogue with Mrs. Montchessington as Lincoln, only a few are living. Fred follows: " 'Well, I guess I W. Schwarz, for forty years a railroad know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sockdologiz- man and finally secretary of branch " ing old man trap ' lines for the Pennsylvania, is one of Hawk told Mr. Schwarz that he never them. finished that sentence, which must, therefore, For more than a year prior to that have been the last words most dramatic of American tragedies heard by Lincoln. Mr. Schwarz was an employe in the T war department. I asked him yester- asked Mr. Schwarz what he did day to narrate to me in detail what after Booth had tumbled from the he did and saw in Ford's theatre that President's box upon the stage. historic Good Friday night, 1S65. "He didn't leap," said Mr. Schwarz, "I could scarcely see President Lin- "but he fell. There was confusion in coln from my chair, which was on the the President's box. I saw Booth there first floor of the theatre and not far with his dagger after he had shot Lin- from the orchestra," replied this vet- coln. I saw him fall upon the stage. eran witness of the assassination. "We not afraid, to do something because it could all eee Mrs. Lincoln and also He dramatically waved his hand and Miss Harris, who was in the upper exclaimed, 'Sic Semper Tyrannls!' and right-hand box with the presidential hurriedly limped to the back of the party; but the President's rocking stage." chair was so far back in the box that Like scores of others, Mr. Schwarz many in the audience could not get a then clambered upon the stage. He glimpse of him. saw Laura Keene display her blood- "The moving pictures now displaying stained dress. She had been in Lin- | coln's box and held his head in her arms. "Hawk told me,'' said Mr. Schwarz, "that he had talked that very after- noon with John Booth—he always called him John—but that the assassin had not intimate:! what his dart: intentions were." Mr. Schwarz met Sergeant Boston Corbett, who shot and killed Booth. Oorbett was a cavalryman and was among the troops sent to capture the assassin. The fleeing "actor was trap- ped in a barn, which was set on fire when he refused to surrender. But this, qs Mr. Schwarz ro'.ate-l it to me, is what Corbett told hitn very shortly after the event: "The fire was lit, and then 1 could see Booth in the barn through a Urge crack, but he could not see me. Twice I had offered to go in and capture the man, but the officer would not permit me to go. Fearing Booth might do harm to our men, I took aim and shot him in the neck a little back of the ear. He lived about three hours after j he was shot." £*!&- UtCXA+JLSLAJLSi S e_o-rs -JfrVvrx SEVERALARE LIVING, When en Who Were at Ford's Theater Lincoln Was Killed. Lancaster, Ohio, March 14, 1900. Editor Journal: On this anniversary Lin- the assassination of Abraham of book and coln I took up Herndon' s dis- read the account of the great and tragedy. Herndon closes by tressing be that but few people are to stating on found who were in Ford's theatre that fearful night. • Capt. Oapt. John Sears of this city and still JoTTrT Lusby, now of Iowa, both on that living, Were in Ford's theatre and carried Abraham Lincoln nisht home. the theatre to Peterson s from coat Captain Sears preserves the blue stained he wore that night. It is still the with a large spot, by the blood of •martyred president. This information 1 readers who may 'interest some of your Your fellow love the details of history. well ac- citizen, Dr. George Kreider, is quainted with Captain Sears have not been in Springfield since I with Ninian 1850 I then had business Edwards, Judge Treat, Judge Trum- W Linwln bull. John Calhoun, Abraham all but and James H. Matheny. I met Lincoln, who was not in nis office, l Treas- also met Mr. Herndon and State ol lhe urer Moore and Mr. Fram-is Journal. . Springfield was then a small capital town the business being confined to public square. The best hotel was the kept on a corner of the square and was of by old man Chenery. I visited all but six, Illinois, including every county and traveled frequently eighteen or twenty miles without passing a single home. , . two things: I was impressed with The vast extent of country and the great number of talented and really distinguished men then living in the read in the state- men of whom we many histories o? Abraham Lincoln. visit to Springfield was in the My Jackson- month of June. I rode up from railroad and ville on the old strap iron a snake head was in constant fear that would bob up through the floor as was sometimes the case. Springfield was city of even at that time, the flower cultivated flowers Illinois. Everybody to be in and the whole town seemed ladies dis- full bloom. Many charming cultivation Dlayed their taste in this custom to hold an an- and it was their was in the nua! show. The exhibition and, senate chamber of the state house was very on this occasion, the display great ciowds of peo- i line and attracted over from Jackson- ple, many coming N Your town has grown to a fine city it is a more de- but I doubt whether the good old aireable place to live than of flowers, town of 1853, with its wealth men. lovelv women and intellectual C. M. L. Wiseman. Witness to Lincoln's killing died in 1956 - Washington Times Page 1 of 2 5>ec/ tfW£*J^" You are currently viewing the printable version of this article, to return to the normal page, please click here . Sfpe ntatyhtgtrot Suite* Witness to Lincoln's killing died in 1956 o I 1 Comment and Reactions I Share Tweet I Email I Print Like By The Washington Times 4:45 a.m., Thursday, August 13, 2009 The recent passing of Elizabeth Gladys Dean, last survivor of the Titanic, brings to mind the last eyewitness of the Lincoln assassination. Both disasters occurred on the night of April 14-15 - 1 the Titanic in 1912, in the North Atlantic, and the assassination in i 1865, in Washington. As the Lincoln shooting receded further into the past, newspapers began writing up the accounts of those who were actually there. By the 1920s and '30s, the press shifted its emphasis to the last- survivor angle. Last witnesses began cropping up all over. For example, The Washington Post of Feb. 26, 1930, reported the death of a Union veteran named Henry C. Harris, "believed to have been the last surviving witness of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln." Another last witness died two years later, also a Union veteran, Capt. J. Hoofstitler. The Dec. 15, 1932, New York Times wrote that he was "said to be the last surviving witness of the assassination of President Lincoln." The Times had apparently forgotten its earlier Dec. 20, 1924, issue, describing the still-living Hickson W. Field and W.J. Ferguson as the last "two survivors." Not even close. Not until the 1950s was the matter settled. The true last witness was Samuel J. Seymour, a Washingtonian living in Arlington. Seymour was only 5 when he accompanied his father on a business trip to Washington from their home 150 miles away in Talbot County, Md. The elder Seymour was overseer of an estate owned by a family named Goldsboro, and Mrs. Goldsboro had suggested that the young Seymour, his father, and his nurse, Sarah Cook, come along with her and her husband. Upon arriving in Washington, Mrs. Goldsboro told the young boy: "Sammy, you and I and Sarah are going to a play - a real play. And President Abraham Lincoln will be there." http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/13/last-witness-to-assassination/print/ 8/5/2011 1 Witness to Lincoln's killing died in 1956 - Washington Times Page 2 of 2 Once inside Ford's Theatre, Mrs. Goldsboro lifted Seymour out of his chair to get a better look at the president. He thought Lincoln "looked stern because of his whiskers." When John Wilkes Booth leaped from the Presidential Box onto the stage after shooting Lincoln and broke a leg bone, in childish innocence Seymour wanted to help the man who had fallen down. On Feb. 8, 1956, four days before Lincoln's birthday, the now elderly Seymour appeared on the hit television show "I've Got a Secret," which had an audience of millions. The show included a host and a panel of four. The panel used yes-no questions to try and learn their guest's secret. They did, in fact, guess Seymour's. Seymour died shortly after, on April 12, 1956, just two days short of the April 14-15 assassination anniversary. His death may have been hastened by falling down in his New York hotel while waiting to appear on the show. Ironically, by appearing on a TV show, Seymour was not only onstage himself, but was in front of a far larger audience than all the people who ever saw Booth perform. • John Lockwood is a Washington writer. Ads by Google rjg} Inflation Gold VS Inflation Food Inflation 2011 Factors in Inflation Auto T http://www.washingtontimes.eom/news/2009/aug/l 3/last-witness-to-assassination/print/ 8/5/201 SV\ex-rwu\, TW?^^ Maine Man Recalls Death Of Lincoln 71 Years Ago Thomas Sherman, Then Civil War Telegrapher, Saw Booth's Leap To Stage Of Ford Theater a TTLEBORO, Mass., April 14. (A. P.)—Seventy-one years ** ago today Thomas Sherman, a Maine youth who went to Washington because he had learned the new magic of the telegraph key, slipped into a balcony seat at Ford's Theater. The play sped on to the third act. The President Shot Suddenly a shot cracked through the theater. A scuffle broke out in a box from which powder smoke lazily drifted. A man leaped from the box to the stage, and a cry rang out: "Hold him! The President has been -hot!" Today white-haired, white-bearded 33-year-old Thomas Sherman quietly recounted events he saw when Abra- ham Lincoln was assassinated April 14, 1865. Only a polite buret of applau.se greeted Lincoln when he entered his box, Sherman mused. "The crowd,'' he said, "had come principally to see General U. S. Grant, war hero of the day, who at the last minute was un- able to come. sassin, made a "The shot seemed lik' a trick of the due at. Mm. Then both play until smoke issued from the disappeared through the red- Presidents box. Then a handsom* eurtained exit." P'or a young man of medium build, immacu- moment, Sherman related, it lately dressed in black, leaped from was said the murderer had been the box to the stage. caught, and there were cries "Kill him! Hang him!" "He seemed a veritable fiend a.s he "I rose to his full height and brandished ran onto the stacje," Sherman a dagger. continued. "At the height, of the con- tusion "The only actor on the stage, Hai- Laura Keene, an actress, cami- on. ry Hawk, backed away, his hands held She seemed the only cool parson there. 'For God's high; a.s John Wilkes Booth, the as- sake, gentlemen,' sht begged, 'be quiet and keep cool.' She rent a pitcher of water to the Presi- dent. "Quiet was .soon restored and the President, unconscious, was carried out by four men. Mrs. Lincoln fol lowed, sobbing and wringing he: hands. "O.it.side was pandemonium. No one knew what, plot was afoot a no the city was full of rumors until word of Booth's rapture came hours later. As a telegrapher, Sherman was in the Senate gallery, he recalled, he I he midst of Civil War activity. From sent messages of impeachment pro- ceedings against Andrew Johnson. Later he became private secretarj to James G. Blaine and wrote a booK, Twenty Years with James G. Blaine Sherman's career also carried him to Liverpool as American consul. Sherman was born at Bucksporl, Me., and until recent; months lived in retirement at, Gorham. Me. SvnwW*, \4e 157 LINCOLN'S MURDER. Orig. manuscript diary for 1865 of Cor- poral J^nry_S. Sniith of Lowell, Mass., with entries mentioning Lincoln and Booth; with an interesting A.D.S. of James E. Murdoch execrating Booth. 2 pieces - - (50.00 ) In his diary, Smith records Lincoln's murder on April 14 by Booth, mentioning that he was "called up between 1 and 2 A.M." He mentions the death of Lincoln the following day, notes that half-hour guns were fired all day on April 16, and later records briefly the capture of Payne, and the shooting of Booth. The diary contains other interesting data by this soldier who was stationed in Washington. The A.D.S. by the noted American actor, JAMES E. MURDOCH, covers a full 8vo page, and prefaces a quotation from Shakespeare, which Murdoch declares "may be justly applied to the Tinsel souled wretch 'Booth' — the assassin! — one who to gratify an insatiate thirst for notoriety at the promptings of a faction as base as he was vain and heartless, in the true spirit of cowardice . . . struck at the life of the purest Patriot . . ." Murdoch's comment is dated from Hampstead Grove, Ohio, May 13, 1865. \ W. 3s-*we.£ T S Special to The Union New York Times Service HIGHLAND, N.Y! - Lottie Gildersleeve Smith, one of 166 Civil War pensioners in the country, has no regrets that she was "pushed" into marriage at 18 to a 63-year-old widower who told her he had been posted as a guard at the Ford Theater the night Lincoln was shot. "He was a good man and I stuck with him to the end," she said. "I met him at the home of friends in Arlington, outside Poughkeepsie, and they pushed me into it. I had no place to go. I'd just come out of the hospital with typhoid fever and my aunt and uncle were ill and had moved away up to Hyde Park. "They had lived on Brickyard Hill, on the Pleasant Valley Road, and I'd been bound out to my uncle by my father for $2 a week. But my fa- ther wasn't too good ... I worked hard, had to wash clothes, feed the horses ... I had four sis- ters, two brothers." James F. Smith — buddies at LeFevre Post 168, Grand Army of the Republic, called him "the Holland Dutchman" — was born in the Netherlands on Feb. 25. 1844. On March 2, 1862, he enlisted from Ulster County and was muster- ed into service in Kingston. He served with Company D 80th Regiment of the Infantry. He was a guard on ammunition trains and was wounded in action. After being captured, he spent three days and two nights in the Confeder- ate stockade at Andersonville, Ga. He was honorably discharged as a private at Ports- mouth, Va., on Jan. 29, 1866. A sometime mule skinner, handyman, farmer and rider of horses that pulled barges on the Hudson, Smith acquir- ed several acres and built a seven-room house for his bride. Mrs. Smith is hazy about her husband's war experiences, but she recalled that he had spoken of guarding Ford Theater the night Lincoln was assassinated. She knew, too, that in 1864 he had wed Christine Van Buren of Kingston, who later died. "He courted me, maybe for three months," she continued, "and he were married in Arling- ton on March 11, 1909, by Justice of the Peace John Hoppe. He wanted it that way. I didn't want it that way. But I told you I was pushed out. It wasn't anybody's business whether I married an old man." Her voice trailed off and an acerbic edge honed her remembrances, memories alternating between fondness and bitterness. Sitting in her boxlike, one-room house on a winding village lane, the small, frail woman spoke plainly. s™\\v onCt-ru# BOSTON, April 11. —To most of us Abraham Lincoln is but the name of one of history's most he- Mary E, roic figures. But ro Mrs. . Smith, of Lowell Lincoln is a reality. She was in the theatre on the night John Wilkes Booth killed the man who had welded a nation. She remembers vividly the martyred President as he walked through the wards of the hospital where she was stationed to cheer and comfort the wounded. ATTENDS G. A. R. MEET Mrs. Smith is attending the State conference of the G. A. R. Auxiliary meeting in conjunction with the State encampment of the veteran body - . , "I remember the night Lincoln was shot as well as if it were yes- iterday," said Mrs. Smith. "I was the President's ! sitting just below box watching the play. Suddenly wo heard a scream and Booth jumped from the box onto the stage. "I didn't hear a shot. There was muffled. a noise, but it was kind of The first thing we heard was Mrs. Lincoln's scream." SHOOK HIS HAND Among Mrs. Smith's cnerished recollections of the war is the occasion when Lincoln visited her Gen- ward in Jarvis United States eral Hospital, Baltimore, Md. It was there that she shook hands with him and had the pleasure of hearing him say: "After the war to tell you North- I shall be able ern women how wonderful you are." eighty-five Airs. Smith is nearly years of age, yet her recollection of up those days is clear. She keeps and with the present-day problems goes on, but is interested in all that she does not forget that the vet- her erans of the Civil War are world Her husband and brothev- siue side ers were killed fighting by some of those who are attend- Sat Ciosc to Box Occupied by with She ing the present encampment. attend artyred President When hopes she will be able to M because next year's encampment, Assassinated. one yet. He Was , she hasn't missed youngest son is still in a very criti v"*Jr> cal condition, but the Sec. himself So«Ak« > WASHINGTON, D. C., AT THE 2 _ / - /yo latest advices was sitting up read- TIME OF LINCOLN'S / at CtW^^S ASSASSINATION ing a newspaper, rumors are flying thick & fast, it is reported this eve- that John Sunatt the one who (From the Files., of the Chester ning Mr. Seward's life, was County Historical Society) attempted caught at one of the bridges at disguised in a woman's The Civil War letter which fol- Georgetown Honey Brook Herald Every day brings forth new lows was written by Charle s dress.— revelations, it seems Vice Presdt. Speakman to his sister, Abbie danger. The Speakman, Dilworthtown, Ches- Johnson's life was also in or part of it, of our Brid. ter Co., Fa. along: 2d R,egt. report for duty at 6 o'clock Quartermaster General's Office was to Booth the perpetrator of the Capt. of our Co. Washington City, J. Wilkes this evening, & this terrible crime is still at large, told me that he thought our turn April 17th, 1865. | "A" altlio, many persons believe that he would come about to-morrow night, Dear Sister, | 1 offers has been captured, the Govt, I do not believe that it will come at To attempt to describe the condi- | making a ! $20,000 very short time the City ! it is for a tion of this City, since 10 o'clock on $10,000 & all, unless of $30,000 offered for his ar- give the Veteran Reseive Corps ; reward to Friday night last, when a cowardly j all eluded I rest, al- I as yet he has nobly, some assassin murdered the President, rest but who are doing search, within fifteen minutes after most the entire force have been on would require a far abler pen than J j cars, boats, Guer- I done, all & night—The deed was ; since Friday mine, & more words than I can coin, the guard detained, & no one al- got scared pro- I were mostly having each newspaper in the City has ap- stages, j rilla to go out or come into the his command to- ! lowed poses to surrender peared daily in the form of "Extras," j City, a picket line completely en- at Fairfax Court House to to the number of four editions, and | morrow it is a mystery to all, this Dept, con- I circled it, & Gen. Augur Comdg. yet the half seems to remain untold, | the villian escaped, as those granted to lee. of how the murderous fiend first how ditions same day here, as sad | i last was a rascal as high visits a drinking saloon, drinks a full Saturday I would hang the 1 most of the houses were draped in Gen. Butler has returned to glass of brandy & then stealthily j Hamm. the day was murky, & a command, steals upon the unsuspecting innocent mourning, this City & is to have rainy, & in walking almost the entire supposed however that he will President inflicts a fatal wound, I it is of Penna. Avenue I did not Pro. Marshal & aid in bring- dashes across the arm of Major Rath- length j be made smile altho, I met hun- I justice, suc- bun, (inflicting a severe cut), who see a person ing these miscreants to the clerks were dismissed attempts to stay his progress, & in dreds, all cess to him say 1. as they reached the Office, arrived last evening a moment is crossing the stage of the as soon New Taggart there was nothing to do but brood to Alexa. Dill sends his Theater dagger aloft crying, "Sic, & j but went on calamity that had enclosed flowers over the terrible J & the Semper Tyranis," & "The South is compliments our country, with me it Dept. Yard. Avenged", in an alley the rear befallen from the War at j been a kindness to let me procession of the Pres- of the building he mounts his horse I would have The funeral work, being unwell the news of the takes place on Wednesday next knocks down the boy holding it, & is ident President completely un- - is to be sent to Illinois, it off, where he has gone the entire death of the his body of course a reaction came | the White House detective force of the Govt., aided by nerved me- will lie in State in this, & when it did come it the Military are this moment trying to all j tomorrow. was fearful to behold, men tore thro, I have had a bad head-ache for to discover, & have been ever since | seeking for something to was quite the night that this horrible tragedy the streets three days & yesterday the Rebel writ- occurred. devour, & when on Sunday sick all day so do not feel like Genl. Paine was brought in, the crowd ing -Adieu. made an attack on the Pro. Marshal's Thy affectionate Brother, office, & only by carrying him off CHARLIE. j building in an — I from the rear of the o ambulance did they succeed in sav- ing his life, the rebel Gen. Ewell & several other rebel Genls. & their Staffs were stopping at the Metro- politan Hotel, but luckily it was from them that they got away before the crown knew it, or their lives would not have been worth much. —The at- tack on Seward was made about the same hour viz. 1J o'clock & by a dif- ferent person, the villian disabled four men before reaching Mr. Seward else he would in all probability have killed him, the first man encountered i was the servant, who refused the I entrance to the house, & murderer | was stabbed in consequence, next the Sec. son, refused him entrance, to the sick room, & he shared the same fate, the other son followed, also another gentleman whose name I have for- j gotten were all knocked down, & ! more or less injured, Mr. Seward's ^>Y\v£~ THfc' Oliver Towne COLUMN The Uai Linco/n Died'. »*»'•» shot , mm "^toZtoSu.d»> was ..o.eph, Mian., n 1 St. tmm ^ , ten untold laic, yet me It is not an new. . . it may be in es ji* *g», aaother , heard about WMMri * „„ when I went to legendary scnee, a month ago College. diet's , he fact was That afternoon the£*>«$»% f^Then Lincoln but now sass^arJSt^ £ te recal,ed ' B l! tvrs^Ka^n-s^dS in 1865. reached St. Joseph ^ ^ an ungual role. THE CONVENT Played of Benedictine convent there. _ of the On the day *M^«^SKttE& mile, from remote «^UW the almoit 1,505 gene gtore across entered the . three strange men discus ran^a^aSdTe^naafuloota hafheea Wtted. about to ***%»£ The strange thing «g S ^^fflftP^T-2--^, otes "The ,„ his ho„k , «^,JJ-^5it5M3 m where the plot was ; ^»s d »«S ^^ dented that the JosepnotpHwaysaiway The storekeeperrTsin St ^ gur . made in his stoie, statement had been vived to this day. There h an epilogue. ^ THE THREE mf^.^^^^- to Atchison, fc« haP journey incidence,oy and , ' Lincoln mourning for Abraham president s fu . Hannibal, Mo., 3"si pened to arrive in there. neral cortege reached ransacked. luggage88 was T„US did the lives **~£^JSV?SS. s_ event in American m^^™™^occasions. tory. On two *. 3 • ' - _.^ - - - - SW«4, UJ'.Wic^A rY\< he had seen the president," he would not away. Senator Sumner, remain over night, but would continue who had been I his unable to keep up with us. then THE journey. I accompanied him arrived ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN to the and was admitted under depot and be left protest. He re- I on the next train I mained there until the walked along up C street to Pennsylvania president died. "I did not go to sleep • avenue, and then up Pennsylvania ave- thai night, but Some Interesting Reminiscences 01 walked the streets, nue to going from crowd . Tenth street, where I turned north to the crowd to hear Tragic Event Given by intending to go to the theater, which wa* the utterances and ascer- tain the temper of the people. but a block The war i Senator Stewart, away. Inasmuch as ii was a warm night, was over, and there were about 30.000 I ex- and had been traveling \ and walking, and Confederate soldiers in the city, who had was voy tired, I con- , been surrendered or were on The Nevada eluded that to go into a warm room would parole. Ji I Statesman the Only Man Is a singular thing, it is but I merely make me sleepy, so a fact I hat Now r walked io Living- wherever talk of violence I- Who Wa« Present Thirteenth street and called upon Senator originated, and there was a great deal of angry on Tliat Occasion. Conness, of California. In a very short demand that every rebel in town should time Senator Sumner, of be killed, f Massachusetts ' called, and we had been the quiet statement from some one in the in conversation crowd, myself He about | on several occasions, that Did Not Witness tin, >tuU .VQuir, halt an hour when a page came in and if Mr. Lincoln were alive he would eoun- : Hut Had Muiii !o do Willi Kvnnta announced that the secretary of state, William H. sel peace, quieted the angry people. His immeciiately Succeeding it. Seward, has been as- sassinated. recent inaugural address, containing We all three started the [\ imme- memorable words, "With malice diately for Fifteenth street to the resi- toward none, and charity for all,' had OBA.TH Ob' M.vi:i\i; dence of the secretary of stale, which endeared I'KKSlDJENT. him to the people. They knew was recently purchased and occupied bv that he / Senator was a man of peace, and Stewart Secretary while dying at . LeJlis o( the Assaaaiu- j Blaine and when we arrived the hands of an assassin, allon ol Lincoln. there we were met at the door by Hugh the influence of McCullough, his name was sufficient to maintain Washington, Feb. the secretary of the treas- ' Special: 1 2.— ' The ury, who informed peace and order at the national capital birthday [ u s that Mr. Seward of Abraham Lincoln will be rwas at the most critical hour of our exist- appropriately badly hurt and the surgeori in charge celebrated this year In ence. I was standing in front of Wil- i hun- would permit no one to see him ; dreds of, cities. Wp bird's Hotel when Senator Solomon Foo'e, The memory of that then walked over to (he 1: White House ! martyred of Vermont, drove up in a common, cheap president grows greener year and had barely reached the door when a by mess, -riger hack, which he had picked up on the year, and his place in history comes came and announcer) that nearer and President Lincoln had street. He called me to him, saying that 1 nearer lo the been shot at the •" pinnacle which I theater. he was looking for some senator to at- ins countrymen originally gave only i„ Senator Conness turned to mo company him to the residence of - Washington. and said: 'Stewart, there is a Chief tremen- Justice Salmon P. Chase, whom he was In the national house dous plot here to assassinate all the of representatives cab- going to get to administer the oa^h to .j there is not today one man inet officers.' Then turning to two sol- living who I Vice-President Johnson. 1 got in with was a member of that diers who were on guard there, di- body when Tan- i he coin died. rected to him and rode to the residence ol! Mr. Senator William AL Stewart, them go in a hurry to the rest- i Chase, on the corner of Sixth and Jii ol Nevada, is the onlv senator dence of the secretary of war, Air. Stan- now li'v^ j streets, and he was speedily ready tng who was ton, and they did so. to ac- a When they i I member of the senate arrived company us. We three then ^ when Lincoln died. at Mr. Stanton's house a large drove to the Senator man ra'i i Chandler, of Kirk wood House, on Twelfth street and *Sen Hampshire, was assistant away from the door, where he had be. secretary I Pennsylvania avenue, and proceeded to ! tit the treasury at that time, and Senator ringing the bell, and I have no dout j the loom of Vic. •-President Johnson, who Allison, of Iowa, was a that the presence of those soldiers pre- | member of the j had but recentb fallen into house oi representatives. vented the assassination of Mr. Stanton a slumber ;, ' from exhaustion and nervous si rain. He William E. Spencer, for many wars on that night. We three senators left j came to the journal clerk the White House door but partly clad and ad- I of the senate, and walked down to ; once I informed niitted us. In his little parlor, the writer that he Tenth street to the little building' which was in Ford's Theater I across j was about 12 by 14 feet when the assassination from the theater, into which in dimensions, ad- i occurred, and lie I Mr. Lincoln ' joining the n tmed Senators had been carried. room which he had jusl left, Morrill, Sumner Doolit- ! Mr. Conness and I ' Mr. Johnson took the oath i tie. Oglesby, Grimes, were informed that we might of president and a number ol enter the I ' of the United States, which was admin- I representatives, such as house, but that it was very Garfield, Blaine, : warm and istered to him Chief • Randall that it by Justice Chase, in and Carlisle, would be better if ! i fewer as having persons ' been the presence of Senator' Foote present on that occasion. lie said: were there. So we turned and and my- went i self. There Were no other witnesses, '•The new state « of Nevada was admit- j ted Some other people .may have entered to the Union ! the in 1863, and the first sen- room, as L has been stated in some news- I ators elected were Stewart and Nye. The V. \vi papers, but they were hot noticed latter has been in his grave tor M'. by us -many and were not men of prominence in I years. Senator Stewart is still here, pub- as life '" vigorous and strong as ever, although ^ iJ8SSSU3i«& J he is gradually approaching his eightieth birthday. He was a great favorite with President Lincoln, and was always a wel- come auest at the White House during Mr. Lincoln's administration." While Mr. Spencer was narrating these J acts and turning to official documents to give me names of prominent men whom he had known at the time. Senator Stew- art jmtered the office of the secretary of the senate, and in response to my Inquiry he said: "I remember that night very well. I came from New York with Judge Niles Searles, of California, a gentleman .of prominence on the Pacific coast, who had formerly been my partner. President Lin- coln held receptions 7 at o'clock in the I evening and at 10 o'clock in the morning. I Judge Searles desired to meet the presi- dent, and L accompanied him to the White House, I where he arrived at about • half-past 7 o'clock. I wrote the name of friend my upon my own card and sent it up to the president. The card was re- turned to me, and upon the back of it I Mr. Lincoln had written; 'Going to the theater with my wife. Come tomorrow. A. Lincoln.' That is ham the last note Abra- Lincoln ever wrote, and i would give a great deal to have it today. As we i walked slowly down stairs I tore the card into little bits in a thoughtless , manner, I never dreaming, of course, that it would I be the last , written word I would ever re- i ceivie from Mr. Lincoln. We stood upon I the J great portico conversing for a few moments, when President ' I and Mrs Lin- Coln came ' r out of the door and entered their carriage to be driven to the theater ' Then and there I introduced Judge . Searles to the president, detaining him but a moment. When the carriage drove ..away my frjend said that, inasmuch as„ ijJ]\^a^v^ |Yl S+4uJ*r\ K man who lay dying on Tenth apartments on Thirteenth street, near P. i name of the the nation ' saved the city and While he ^as there Senator Charles Sum- | street the excitement, amidst the ner came in, and there was a general dis- "Amidest revenge and the bitter feeling I clamor for LINCOLN'S cussion of the affairs of the nation. "Sum- deed, against the perpetrators of the foul I saw more ner," said Senator Stewart, "was talking was a'so a profound sorrow. the years loud and making a speech, very much au if men weep that night than in all familar to the addressing the Senate. of mv life. Lincoln was They felt that Senator Stewart Tells a Thrill- neople; he was their friend. The First Sud News. But above they had lost one like a father. "In the midst of the talk Senator Ccn- as to the ing Story of the Tragedy. and beyond all there was fear ness' colored servant came in and said: of what was elfect upon the nation. Fear horrible to men 'Secretary Seward has been assassinated.' to come mad? the night "We all Jumped to our feet," continued STANTON'S NARROW ESCAPE Senator Stewart, "and walked rapidly to who loved their country. It was a night the Secretary's residence, afterward known of terror." as the Blaine house, and now the site of The Next Day. the Lafayette Opera House. When we A most interesting feature of the remi- Soldiers Readied His House as As- reached the door we met Hugh McCulloch, niscence by Senator Stewart was the swear- ing sassins Rang the Bell. Secretary of the Treasury, coming cut. in of Andrew Johnson as President. After a restless night in- 'The Secretary is seriously wounded,' he night, a of such tensity said, 'but with care will recover. The as was never experienced in the nation's physicians will allow no one to enter the capital, not even during the dark- A NIGHT OF TUMULT AND TERROR eat room.' We turned away and went over to times of war, the morning dawned. Lincoln was dead! the White House—Sumner, Connesij and The nation was without a ruler. myself. Soldiers were pacing up and down Immediate action was necessary or an- Johnson Was Routed Out o. IU-d in In front of the door and about the grounds. archy would soon reign rampant. Solomon Order That He Slight Take We inquired if they had heard anything Foote, a Senator from Vermont, was Presi- concerning the attempt on Seward's life, the Oath of Office. dent pro tempore of the Senate. He had but they had not. It was while we were presided over that inaugu- talking with them that a messenger came body since the ration, Johnson being absent about all the letter that running up to the door. ; "I probably received the last time. In the mist of morning " 'Lincoln has been killed; shot while in an April Lincoln ever wrote. I didn't keep it, but Senator Foote drove Pennsylvania the theater!' he exclaimed, breathlessly. down I would give a thousand dollars for it now." | avenue in a carriage much the worse for Of course we were stunned for a moment. I _J^ejyaTt_ of wear and covered with mud. Mud on the It was Senator ;.Willdj«n_^Mt Conness seemed to be the only man who wheels, mud on every part of it. Penn- Nevada who was speaking to a Washington grasped an idea, and was the only one of I sylvania avenue, now a smooth paved thor- "Star" reporter. He was telling in a the three who really did any good at that j oughfare, time. was litle better than a quag- graphic manner the story of the as.sassiua- | Stanton Saved. mire. The carraige lurched into ruts and tlon, and was describing some of the scenes mud holes, the driver whipping the jaded " 'They mean to kill the P-csIdent an! of that fateful night, and also giving the horses and vigorously urging them into a all his Cabinet!' he said quickly. 'Go, goat facts, of the swearing in of Andrew John- semblance of a trot. In front of Willard's once to Stanton's house and he may be Hotel Senator Foote standing. Senator son as President. He was one of the four was sjtfci 1.' Two c-oldiers ran to Stanton's Foote directed the driver to stop at the men present on that occasion, and is the -'""- tse, and as they arrived a man ws~ curb. only survivor. the bell. He ran away as the s.,._.^,.. . "Lincoln is dead," said Foote. "We must "The day before the assassination," said swear in Johnson at once. There must be reached. Stanton himself answered the Senator, "I was in New York, talking a head to the Government." tSewart got bell and came to the door. Had It been with Niles Searles. an old friend I had into the carraige, and together they drove stranger instead of the soldiers who to the residence of Chief Justice Chase. known in California. He was then a judge ! there Stanton, too, would have been He joined them when their errand was and Is still living. 1. by the quickness with He was saved | explained, and the three drove to the Kirk- " 'I have come to have a very high opin- h Conness had taken in the situation." wood Hotel, where Johnson had apart- j ion of Lincoln,' he said. T would like to te three Senators hastened to the house ments. The Kirkwood was at the corner j meet him.' re the dying President lay, Stewart, of Pennsylvania avenue and Twelfth street; | and vigorous, arriving in advance the site. " 'Come over to Washington with me and dy | Raleigh now stands on the same .he others. He met the Surgeon-Genera! "We want to see Mr. Johnson," said Sen- I will arrange it,' I replied, and he agreed j the door. ator Stewart. "No need of sending up to do so. 'He is mortally wounded,' .-aid that ofil- cards; just tell us where his rooms are and "We took the night train, and I remember r; "it is only a question of time until he we will find him." we had sections opposite, and remained up es. The room is too crowded now. You How Johnson Was Sworn In. in go in, but you would do more harm all night talking over old times, not having j Johnson occupied two small rooms at the Uan good." seen each other in ten years. We only got An Avrful MKht. head of the stairs. These wer pointed out a little nap in the mqrniug." to the Chief Justice the Senators. Stewart did not go In, nor did Conners, I and After The President was unable to see Stewart to whom the surgeon general repeated his . rapping sharply on the door the Vice-Presi- and hie friend during the day, but they tatement. Sumner, on the contrary, in- dent came sleepily to it and admitted them. went over to tne White House In the even- 'sted upon going in and remained, while "We have come to administer the oath ing and sent word to the President that e other men went about the city and as- of office to you as President o fthe United they would like to see him. ted in allaying the excitement. States," said Chase. Johnson mumbled The President wrote a note In reply, say- That was the most awful night I ever something and went back to his bedroom. ing to Senator Stewart that he and Mrs. >erlenced, said Senator Stewart. "The He appeared after a time with his panta- Lincoln were going to the theater, and was wild with excitement. Everybody loons and vest on, and was putting on his asked him to call friend with his the next > out; all wrought up to the highest coat. He did not make a vary presentable appearance. was not just the kind of morning, fixing the hour at 10 o'clock. ch. It was a wonder there was not riot He out The Last ielti-r. what might a man that would have been picked d bloodshed. No one knew • then for Lincoln's successor. But he had . "That note," said the Senator, "was the jcur next. No one knew how far the con- been selected lbng agw for lue ciiicrg^-uoi . last thing Lincoln ever wrote. It was Mracy extended, nor how many were in- whine now arose, and there was nothing signed 'Lincoln.' I probably tore it up, olved, and who were marked for death at but to swear him as soon as possible and never dreaming that it was the last paper ..heir murderous hands. Seventy thousand give him the reins of power. Under the to which that immortal name was to be frantic people surged through the streets Constitution he was the man to take the office. signed by his own hand." demanding vengeance. There were 30,000 in the city, either as prisoners In solemn tones the Chief Justice admin- Stewart and his friend stood chatting at Confederates on parole or deserters from the rebel army. istered the oath which made Johnson Presi- the entrance o£ the White House, and Occasionally, in lact, frequently, there dent. After this ceremony he seemed a lit- Mrs. do. were there when the President and ' would be heard a demand for their exter- tle doubtful as to what he should The Lincoln came out. The President shook voice would ring out: 'Let's title "Mr. President," by which he was ; mination. A is addressed, seemed to disconcert him some- hands with the Senator, and Judge Searles It ill every one of them; no loyal man what. was introduced. They talked a few min- safe with these traitors in the city!' But a thousand times that night desperate acts "Get over to the White House as soon as utes, and Lincoln left the White House, to and violent measures were prevented by passible," urged Chase. "It is important | return no more alive. some one saying to the excited person who that you should be there isoon; the head of j On his return from the Baltimore and, counseled bloody deeds: the Government should be in his office in Ohio station, where he saw Mr. Searles o*/ " 'Stop! What would Llncolu say if he this great crisis." ' Johnson said he would go at onco, and Senator Stewart went to the roomo of S/ could speak?' effective. The use of of the the men who had participated in the cere- I "That was ator Conness of California, whq. ha^J \. senator leit Later in tne any i mony mm. Stewart saw him at the White House and he presented a different appearance, aa had a changed as a man would be who has YORK, bath a shave and donned a new suit or COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER, NEW that the new clothe*. When it was known President had assumed the office quiet was worn .somewhat restored. The -people had NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, themselves out in the long weary night. No more assassinations were anticipated. The conspirators were fleeing for tneir every d.rec- lives, and wer being pursued in tion. . .. Ths Government lived, but the nation mourned. 1 whit* bouae st»bles were found to be .ttv on lire. At this time Mr. Lincoln. In SU **.<•*&'V,S, his great anxiety, tried to enter the burning building. Sergt. Stimmel ran after him to prevent this, and others. Who wore watching the flames, took hold ot him and escorted him back 'to the white house. The next day he seemed much depressed, and "Tad" told the soldiers it was because the men had President Without Picked been unable to rescue one of the favor- ite family ponies. Men on l^ight He Was Slain, It tea lis Surrender of Lee. The events following Lee's surrender, April 9, 1865, Says Veteran. :•,, are among Mr. Stimmel's most vivid recollections. "I was standing by Hancock's head- quarters," he states, "when I heard a BY M. ELIZABETH PERLEY. loud noise of music and cheers, and I [Special Correspondence of The Dallv News ] ran down to the war department to see Fargo, N. D., 4.— Feb. "Had President what had haupened. Here I found an Lincoln consented ;o have a military Immense crowd of people, wild with Joy bodyguard on all his unofficial visits over the' good news. They soon moved about Washington, the tragedy enacted on to the white house, where they halt- at Ford's theater on April 14. 1865, ed and called loudly for ti.j president. when he was assassinated by John Mr. Lincoln appeared at an upper win- Wilkes Booth might have been dow and I remember well his reply to averted." the demand for a speech. " 'Gentlemen,' This is the opinion offered Ly Smith: he began, 'I can't make you a speech to-night, At this time Stimmel of Fargo, national patrlotTc~rfF undue Importance would be attached to sTrucTor for the Grand Army of the Re- any words I might say. Come back to- public, one of the few survivors of morrow and I'll try to be ready for you. President Lincoln's bodyguard of 130 But I notice that you have a band here picked men who watcheq; his comings and there's one tuno which up to this time and goings from 1863 until the time of has not been strictly in order. I now, however, by virtue his death. Mr. Stimmel Is now 80 years of my office, declare it a contraband old, but hale and with memory unim- of war and our lawful prize. Will the ; band give us paired. "Dixie." ' Mr. Stimmel states that the duties of "His request was followed by loud ap- the body guard were to protect the plause as the band played 'Dixie,' which main entrances to the white house and contrasted oddly witn the booming of to accompany the president on his trips the cannon, heard from different forts." mostly unofficial, in and about Wash- Got Word of Aasaaalnalion. ington. Mr. Lincoln flatly refused to be Thrilling recollections escorted to church, the thea'ter or social are also given of the president's functions. He was reported to have assassination which occurred on the evening once said: "I don't see why I should of April 14. '['here was have a crowd of soldiers trailing around work to be done at Gen. after me." Huj.cock's headquarters and young Stimmel had "He was always kind and genial with been detailed to oversoe this. He and his us," said Mr. Stimmel, "though I know men had gone to bed ea-!y that night, he was sometimes annoyed by our pres- tired out with all the excitement, ence. He would often give ub and he was sleeping a pleasant soundly when word while waiting for Mrs. Lincoln "to suddenly some one called go driving under his window, "Sergt. Stimmel, with him. She was a pretty, wake vivacious woman and evidently very up! The president and Seward have both been shot." proud of her distinguished husband. I Dazed and only don't remember hai* awake the young sergeant sprang that she ever directly from addressed us, but she would frequently his bed calling loudly to his com- rades nod and smile to us before entering the and all were quickly in the saddle. carriage. "We didn't know where to go," said Mr. Stimmel, Tola "Plgr Tail" Story. "The boys shouted, 'Lead off and we'll follow,' and I spurred my "We learned to know the president horse toward the white house, but best during the summer months when there was no sign of disturbance In thts lie used to go to the soldiers' home a quarter. AVe then galloped toward our little way out of the city for a good barracks for further information and on night's rest. He seemed to feel When the way were hailed by a policeman, who at the home that he off I was duty. told us to go to Ford's theater. We ! well renumber how he would stroll found the street before the theater filled down to our quarters, look into our with a strangely silent crowd. Mr. Lin- tents and crack a Joke, at which the coln had been carried to a house op- boys would laugh heartily. It was our- posite, where he lay slowly dying. ing one of these evenings that he told "The guard was already there and we us the story that we later named 'the got into our places as quickly as we pig tail story.' could. It was a terrible night, but I am "We were like most younp fellows thankful that it was my privilege to and wanted to be where there was the take part in its events. I should have most noise. We chafed under the re- fal'ed to do this had it not been for a straint and some of our number felt that comrade. Immediately after the assas- the body guard was not needed and sination our boys were called out from that we ought to be at the front fight- tlv barracks. One of their number re- ing. One evening, when the president membered that I was absent for de- was Walking about the grounds, one of tached service axid so clipped ant of our number, bolder than the others, ap- the ranks and ran to Hancuci's head- proached hirn and stated our case. Mr. quarters, which were nearby, to tell Lincoln listened patiently and then re- mo what had happened. He then ran plied: 'Well, my boy, this all reminds Quickly back and took his place in the me of an old farmer friend of mine lln^ before his absence was noticed. who used to comment unfavorably on "Our hrst duly was to clear the the, curl in a pig's tail for which he' street and this was almost impossible as could see no use. But he always ad- the crowd simply would not move on. mitted that the Lord, who put it there, We rode in among the people, urged and proba' y knew what it was for. even' threatened them, and finally drove " 'I don't myself see why I should them away, bui it took nearly an hour need you,' the president continued, 'but to do this. Then guards were placed at Secretary Seward, who is wise In each end of the street and no one was such matters, says I should be guarded, allowed to enter It | except by special per- swv.*^, £^ v ^JL "~ ^—-^ % lo 1 Journal Readers Add to Collec- tion of Stories About Martyr Presi- dent SOLDIERS AMONG WRITERS Men Who Fought in Civil War Relate Incidents in Which the Emancipator Figured Several of the many letters received by The Journal from readers who had seen President Lincoln and recalled personal In- cidents connected with the martyr's life were not published Friday. Lack of space alone prevented their ap- pearance iu the oentennlal editions so they are printed bejow: I I Was Hurled to Floor by Fleeing Assassin Iu connection with the anniversary of the birth of America's greatest statesman, Abraham Lincoln, it is interesting to note that there is playing in Chicago at this time an actor who was a member of the etaff of Ford's theater at the time thai, the emancipator was felled by an assassin's hand, and who was a close associate ot Edwin Booth. This actor is _Earl__Stirling, character man at the College theater, on the north side. On the night of April 14, 1865, Mr. Stirling was standing iu the wings when Booth fired the fatal shot. The next instant he was hurled to the floor. Booth had jumped to the stage, and In an effort to reach an exit had knocked him over. Mr. Stirling says that for fully 1 fifteen minutes he was not aware of what had happened "out front." He was among those arrested the following day, but be< cause ot bis age, he being only 20 years ! •Id, he was discharged. Mr. Stirling is Bow a wrinkled and bent from the weight of sixty-four years, forty of which have ' e*en servlc* on the stage. . j " Ve\. I ^ AU, The Rail Splitter the city in the evening train for Phila. the lane enters F St. between 9th and 10th. "O fatal day... President said that he did not "wish the The audience was paralyzed for some people to be disappointed" and so went seconds, but rushed onto the stage. A with his Lady arriving about 1/2 past 8. surgeon was called for and Charles S. Taft The Taft Diary Miss Harris (daughter of Hon. Isa Harris) a surgeon being present was lifted up and Maj. Rathbone of Albany were also in from the stage to the box by those pre- the We are honored to present herein excerpts same box which was a double one sent. Before this the door had been from the diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, pub- two being thrown into one. This box was removed by Maj. Rathbone and several lished for the first time anywhere. Mr. Taft in the 2nd tier and entered from the dress men had searched the box. The President was the father of Dr. Charles Sabin Taft who circle through a narrow corridor some was lying upon the floor. Water and stim- administered to President Lincoln on the three feet wide and eight or ten long. ulants were used immediately but with- night of the assassination. Horatio Taft There was a door at the dress circle end out avail in attempts to revive him. He worked in the Patent Office in Washington, and at the other end there were two was taken up and carried from the the- D.C. He was familiar with the Washington doors, one for each social scene, routinely went to the Capitol to box but now the two atre to the house opposite in about fif- hear political speeches, and was a regular boxes being thrown into one, one of the teen minutes after he was shot. A Dr. churchgoer. His three-volume diary covers the doors was closed, the other was open, Leale from Armory Square Hospital was period from January 1, 1861 through May and all of them unguarded. The assassin the first surgeon in the box. But Chas. did 1865 and details all the activities to which Taft J. Wilkes Booth had made his arrange- not know that there was any surgeon but was either a witness or participant. One of his ment in the most deliberate manner, himself present until the President was daughters, Julia Taft Bayne, would later write probably during that day. He had fixed a removed from the theatre. Chas. had a Lincoln biography, Tad Lincoln's Father bar across the door leading into the charge of him until Dr. Stone (the (1931). This remarkable diary has been donat- dress circle cut a hole through President's family ed to the Library of Congress and will be made and had physician) arrived available this month in its entirety on-line. the closed door leading into the box, which was half an hour after he was which enabled him to see the exact posi- placed on a bed at the house of Mr. April 14th - 1/2 past 10 o'clock PM. tion of the President and others in the Peterson, opposite. When the shot was fatal day. noble victim. The box without being seen himself. At about fired Mrs. Lincoln was sitting near her President has been assassinated. It has 1/2 past 10, he entered the corridor from husband with her hand on his knee. She just been announced at my door that he the dress circle, barred the door to pre- says she saw the flash and heard the was shot a half hour ago at Fords vent any one from entering, examined the report of the pistol thinking it was some- Theatre. Is it possible? I have just come position of Mr. Lincoln through the hole how connected with the play. She leaned from near the scene - it is too much. in the closed door. Then entered the box forward to see what it was and then behind all who were in their chairs (as looked to Mr. Lincoln to see where he was 11 o'clock PM. April 30th 1865. they were looking toward the stage) and looking. He was sitting with his head This has been a most eventful standing within three or four feet of Mr. dropped down and eyes shut. She was month. The most eventful in the history Lincoln. Shot him in the back of the head. not alarmed at this, he sometimes held of our country. We have seen during this The ball entering about two inches from his head in that way when in deep month the complete scorching out of the the left ear near the base of the skull and thought but she put her hand on his fore- "Great Rebellion" by a series of masterly lodging in the brain about two inches head and his not stirring, she put it on military achievements. The occupation back of the right eye. His head was prob- the back of his head and finding it wet of the Rebel Capitol by our troops. The ably inclined forward at this time. The she immediately withdrew it covered surrender of Genl. Lee with his army near murderer rushed to the front of the box with blood. She then screamed and that Richmond, and the surrender of Gen. with a dagger in his hand. Major is the last of it she remembers that took Johnson and his army in North Carolina, Rathbone caught his coat but Booth place in the theatre. She says as she put and above all in importance which has struck him on the arm with the dagger her hand on his head she recollects that occurred in the world during this month, wounding him severely, which compelled something suddenly brushed past her the President of the United States has him to let go his hold. Booth trotted over and pulling off her shawl. It was Booth as been assassinated. Abraham Lincoln the the front of the box and as he did so he jumped from the box. good and kind hearted, was shot while exclaimed "Sic Semper Tyrannis!" (Thus The President made no noise nor sitting in his box at Ford's Theatre on the to Tyrants) As he jumped from the box attempted to speak, nor strained a limb night of the 14th inst. at about half past his spur caught in the flag and as he after he was shot, nor was he conscious ten o'clock. Mr. Lincoln had been in the struck the stage he came to a crouching for one moment from that time until he habit of attending the theatre occasional- position from the effect of the concussion died when his skin was touched or his ly, perhaps once in four or six weeks as a his hands striking the floor but he raised hand was taken there was a slight quiver relaxation from the arduous duties of his himself in a moment and flourishing his or tremor of the muscles but that was all. position and constant mental exertion. dagger he strode across the stage some Mustard plaster was applied nearly all On this occasion he went rather reluc- forty feet in sight of the spectators and over the body and stimulants were given tantly. But it had been published in the past some of the actors, and reaching the as long as he could swallow in hopes to bills that himself and Genl. Grant would- back door- which opens into a lane, he revive him but entirely without avail. His be present, and Genl. Grant having left mounted a fleet horse and escaped. The pulse ceased to beat at 22 past seven. 24 The Rail Splitter out insensible. It best for her ly expected him when his mother came. Chas. had his hand on his heart, he said was thought He was very much excited and alarmed it fluttered for ten seconds longer. It was not to be there when he died. of but had not thought that his pa could be the opinion of the surgeons that the Dr. Gurley prayed by the bedside wound would have killed most men the President when he first arrived (at 3 dead. "'Taddy' your pa is dead," said Dr. Gurley. He was not prepared for this. He instantly or in a very o'clock) then went into "0 few minutes, but Mr. the room where Mrs. screamed in an agony of grief what Lincoln had so much Lincoln was and prayed shall I do? What shall I do? My brother is vitality that he lived ^2? with her, and remained dead. My father is dead. O what shall I nearly nine hours. with her most of the do? What shall become of me? what There were four sur- time accompanying shall I do? mother dear you will not die geons in immediate her and supporting will you? don't you die Ma. You won't or active attendance. -^fe.'jfcis^^v-. her into the room of die will you Mother? If you die I shall be . ?£-:< Dr. Stone, the sur- the dying President all alone. don't die Ma." Dr. Gurley said geon Genl. Dr. when she visited it. that up to that time he himself had not Barnes, the Adjutant After the death Dr. shed a tear but he could not witness Surgeon Genl. Dr. Gurley who was "Tad's" grief unmoved and the tears Crane and Charles. standing near Mr. flowed freely. He said, when I got back to Some others were Stanton said shall my own home at about 10 o'clock that present whose ser- we have any reli- morning, "I felt as though I had been vices were not gious exercises here engaged all night in a terrible battle and required. Most of the or elsewhere now? had but just strength enough left to / members of the Yes said Mr. Stanton, drag myself off the field." Sd Cabinet were there offer prayer now all night. Chief Justice and here. For the Chase and other distin- last half hour before guished men. Mr. the death, the Senator Sumner with utmost stillness had Robert Lincoln leaning presided in the room. on his shoulder, near Not a word not a whis- the head of the bed. per was heard. The Secy. Stanton was active President of the United in giving directions and States dying, surround- ,' /{. .* ; ~i~& 02±£rr ^t2£=s- ^^VUssii-r writing dispatches all ed by his Cabinet and night. Genl. Meigs stood many of the first men in M^.U!, at the door to keep out the Nation standing like all who were not wanted statues around the bed or to see that the room presented a scene for an CHUCK HAND was not crowded. The artist seldom equaled P. O. BOX 5 room is at the end of the entrance hall for solemn grandeur. It is to be hoped that PARIS, IL 61944 about 9 feet by 15 with two windows and it will yet be transformed to canvas. After three doors, one room entering from the the President died Dr. Gurley went to Mrs. Phone: (217) 463-4555 hall, one at the left as you enter opening to L and told her "the President is dead." email: [email protected] an open porch or piazza and the other at why did you not let me know? Why did www.tigerpaw.com/alincoln the farther end of the room opening into you not tell me? "Your friends thought it another small room from which stairs was not best, you must be resigned to the descended to the basement. Some four will of God, you must be calm and trust in Specializing in Books, individuals came into the room through God and in your friends." She soon after Pamphlets, Prints, that door clandestinely. left with Dr. G. for her home. She was Autographs, and Mrs. Lincoln occupied a room nearby asked during the night if her son "Tad" with some of her friends who were there. (Thaddeus), a boy about twelve years old, Ephemera about She went in frequently to see the should be sent for. "0 My poor Taddy' Abraham Lincoln and President with Doct. Gurley (the family what will become of him? do not send His Time pastor) who had been sent for about 3 for him, his violent grief would disturb the o'clock. She was not in the room when he house. When they reached the President's Dr. house died. Robert Lincoln was there and "Tad" met them on the portico. Interested in purchasing Gurley The two private secretaries of the "Where is my pa? Where is my pa?" he single items or collections President Nicolay and Hay. Upon one kept repeating the question till they got Catalogs Issued occasion when Mrs. L. went in and saw into the room of Mrs. Lincoln. He had Invited her husband she fainted and was carried heard that he had been shot but evident- Inquiries 25 Section I\JC,r UDL1LAJN Balorbury, Conn. February 10, 1985 Death of Lincoln told by one called on to take notes wv.^*W^ slowly forced the answer to my un- Stanton sat in a chair near the foot Dear Editor: ly enlarging A silence that was spoken question "The re- is- no-hope." on the left, where the pictures as I discovered this fascinating piece appalling prevailed. Interest cen- He had impressed me through drawn place the absent Andrew of history attached in some corre- tered on all who entered or emerged those awful hours as being a man un- Johnson. spondence of my grandfathers sev- from the Peterson House, and all the der the tightest of control, but I knew I stood quite near the head of the eral weeks ago. latter were closely questioned as to than that he was dangerously near a bed and from this position had a full Francis Hopkmson, my grandfa- the stricken President's condition. convulsive breakdown view of Mr. Stanton across the Presi- ther (who is now deceased) was the From the first the answers were un- During the night there came in, I dent's body. At right Robert Lin- son of Joseph Hopkmson, United varying — that there was no hope. my think, about every man then of prom- coln wept on the shoulder of Charles States District Judge for Pennsylva- A military guard had been placed inence in our national life who was in Sumner. nia and sen himself of Francis Hop- in front of the Peterson House and the Capitol at the time and who had Stanton's gaze was fixed intently kinson, signer of the Declaration of those next to it, but upon telling the heard of the tragedy. A few whom I on the countenance of his dying Independence and U.S. Judge of the commanding officer that I lived ' distinctly recall were Secretaries Chief. He had. as I have said, been a Admiralty under George Washing- there. I passed up to my apartment, Welles, Usher, and McCullough; At- man of absolute control throughout ton which comprised the second story J have no idea how James Tanners torney General Speed and Postmas- the night, but as I again looked at his front. There was a balcony, and I General Dennison, Assistant corner letter found its was into his (my ter face across the of the bed, found it thronged by olher occupants Secretaries Field Otto, twitching grandfather's) effects. and Governor seeing his muscles and the of the house Horror was in every Oglesby, Senators Sumner Stew- grief there, I knew that it Tanner's language was rather flo- and etched was heart writien every and dismay on art and Augur. I have seen many as- by the most powerful of effort that rid in composition, particularly in his countenance We had just had a week sorted pictures of the deathbed he restrained his emotions. opening paragraphs I took the lib- of tumultuous joy over the downfall scene, of have Vice indication that the dread- erty of editing this slightly to make and most them The first of Richmond and the collapse of the briefer President. Andrew Johnson, seated ed moment has come was at 22 min- the letter more readable and instant Confederacy, and now in an in a chair near the foot of the bed on utes past seven, the Surgeon J for newspaper publication. The letter when these happy tidings were changed to the left side. Mr. Johnson was not in General gently crossed the pulseless itself nontheless remains very much the deepest woe by the foul shot of a the house at all but in his room in the hands of Lincoln over the motionless in the telling of Tanner of Lincoln's cowardly assassin. Kirkwood House and knew nothing of bosom and rose to his feet. death vigil It was nearly midnight when Ma- events of that was Reverend Curley stepped for- With Lincoln's birthday coming up the night until he Dr. jor General Augur came out to the aroused in the morning by Senator ward and lifting his hands began, this month. thought I'd share this I threshold of the Peterson House and " unusual document from out of the Stewart and others and told that he "Our Father and our God asked if there was anyone in the was President of the United States. I snatched pencil and notebook with if you would care past you and. crowd who could write shorthand. with the readers of your With the completion of the taking from my pocket, but my haste de- to publish, There was no response from the newspaper. of the testimony, I at once began to feated my purpose My pencil point street, but one of my friends on the Jonathan Hopkinson transcribe my shorthand notes into (I had but one) caught in my coat and balcony told the General that there Farmington longhand. Twice while so engaged, broke, and the prayer was lost, a was a young man inside who could Miss Harris supported Mrs. Lincoln prayer which was only interrupted serve him Whereupon the General down the hallway to her husband's by the now tear racked body of Stan- asked him to have me come down as The Dealh of Lincoln bedside. As the door leading into that ton as he buried his face in the bed- M I was needed it was that I be- So hallway from the room where I sat clothes. "As Thy will be done, came a participant in the scenes and was open, I had a plain view of them Amen," as subdued and tremulous as witnessed events surroundings the final hours as they slowly passed tones filled the chamber. of President Lincoln's life. Lincoln was not the bed- his head, b yjJanTesJTan n e r Mrs. at Mr. Stanton raised the Entering the house, I accompanied side when her husband breathed his tears streaming down his cheeks. A I was a spectator ofTKeTInal scene down the hallway to a General Augur last. Indeed. I think, it nearly if I of the supreme tragedy of that time was more agonized expression never rear parlor. The sobs and moans of not quite two hours before the end, saw on a human countenance as he on the morning of April 15th. 1865- I Mrs. Lincoln struck painfully upon paid visits words. pen these lines. when she her last to the sobbed out the "He belongs to our ears as we passed the door of the passed As an employee of the Ordnance death chamber, and when she the ages now." front parlor. Entering the rear par- our room on her return, she cried Mr. Stanton directed Major Thom- Bureau of the War Department, I lor. I found Secretary Stanton. Judge out, to of the had some ability as a shorthand writ- "Oh my God, I have given my as M. Vincent take charge David K. Carter. Chief Justice of the er This latter fact brought me in husband to die." body; called a meeting of the Cabinet Supreme Court of the District of Col- touch with the unfolding of the I have witnessed and experienced in the room where we had passed umbia, Honorable 11 A Hill, and events of that awful night. much physical agony on the battle- most of the night; all others assem- others. The Matthew Brady portrait many field and in hospitals, but of it all, bled then left for their homes and I had gone with a friend to witness I took my seat on one side of a of President Abraham Lincoln the performance that evening at nothing sunk deeper in my memory other destinations. small library table opposite Mr. Grover's Theatre, where now stands than that moan of a heart breaking. Going immediately to my apart- Stanton with Judge Carter at the end. the President's condition, it is notes at I the National. Shortly after 10 o'clock over Stanton but more often by him for I finished transcribing my ments, sat down to make a second Various witnesses were brought in probable that Major Rathbone him- 6:45 the passed back longhand copy of the testimony that I a man rushed in from the lobby the purpose of issuing orders calcu- in morning and who had either been in Ford's The- did not realize that he President it crying out, "President Lincoln has self was lated to enmesh Booth in his flight. into the room where the had taken for Mr. Stanton, occur- in atre or the vicinity of Mr. wounded until after he been in all those ring that 1 wished retain this been shot In Ford's Theatre." had lay. There were gathered to me to Seward's residence. "Guard the Potomic from the city the Peterson House some time, whose names I have mentioned and one of the events that I had wit- There was great confusion at once, down," was his repeated direction. Among them were Harry Hawk, where he fainted from loss of blood many others, about 20 or possibly nessed this night. with most of the audience rising to shall who had been that "He try to get South." Many Asa Trenchard He was then attended to, his wound more in all, I should judge. I was engaged but a brief time their feci. A voice spoke loudly. "It's dispatches were sent from that table night in the play "Our American the a ruse of pickpockets, look out'" With dressed, and taken to his apartments The bed had been pulled out from when I heard a commotion on Cousin." Mr Alfred before morning, some to General Dix Cloughly. Colo- He and Miss Harris subsequently the corner and owing to the stature street below. I stepped to my window this almost everyone resumed their at New York, others to Chicago, Phil- nel G V. Rutherford and others As 1 married Lincoln, he laid diagonally on to see the coffin containing the body seats It was then that a member of adelphia, of Mr. took down the statements they made, etc. .the cast stepped on the stage and Through all the testimony given by his back. He had been utterly uncon- of the martyred President being we were disturbed by the distress of those Several times Mr. Stanton left us bullet in a hearse, which then passed said: "The sad news is too true; the who had been in Ford's Theatre scious from the instant the placed Mrs. Lincoln, for though folding to go to the room at the end of the .audience will disperse." that night, there was an undertone of ploughed into his brain. His labored up Tenth Street to F and thus to the doors between the two parlors were horror which held the witnesses back hall where the President lay. The White House, escorted by a Lieuten- My friend and I crossed to Wil- breathing subsided just a few min- closed, her frantic sorrow was com- doors were open, and sometimes a of privates, 'lard's Hotel, and there were told that from positively identifying the assas- utes before 7 o'clock From then to ant and detachment pellingly evident. there would be a few seconds of ab- walking along side with measured ^Secretary Seward had been killed. sin as Booth. the end only the gentle rise and fall She was in the company still of Said Hawk: the best of solute silence, when we could hear tread and arms reversed ~.*-_'i's iiiCi.*.i biantht-d as Ihcv at on< e Harry "To of his chest gave indication that life Miss Harris of New York, who, with plainly the stertorous breathing of mortal remains of Abraham as! ed, A'huL news of Stanton? IIjvc my belief, it was Mr. John Wilkes remained. The her fiance, Major Rathbone, had the dying man. the long journey they got him loo''" The wildest ru- Booth, but I will not be positive." The Surgeon General was near the Lincoln had begun gone to the theatre with the Presi- prairies the hearts mors filled llu-air And so it went through the testimony I think that it was on his return head of the bed, sometimes sitting on back (o the and he dent and Mrs Lincoln Booth in his knew and loved so well I had rooms in the house adjoining of others, but the sum total left no from his third trip of this kind when, the edge of it. his finger on the pulse rush through the Presidential the Peterson House into which the box af- doubt as to the identity of the assas- as he again took ins scat opposite me, of the dying man. Occasionally, he This copy of Mr. Tanners "Death ter firing the fatal shot, president had been earned Hasten- had lunged sin. I looked earnestly at him, desiring put his ear down to catch the lessen- of Lincoln. " was found recently in at Major Rathbone with his dagger the family papers of Jonathan Hop- ing down 10th Slreet, 1 found an al- Our task was interrupted many yet hesitating to ask if there was any ing beats of the heart. Mr. Lincoln's and wounded him in the arm slightly kinson and edited by him for this most solid mass of humanity block- limes during the night, sometimes by chance of life. He understood, and I pastor, the Reverend Dr Curley In the naturally i cation ing my path and the crowd constant- intense excitement reports or dispatches for Secretary saw him choke in his throat as he stood a little away from the bed Mr. puhi • If ymr'rr m nrWH "T^-at^t, ^o^^S THE ASSASSINATION. r^We*-, CW-^S Account of the Tragedy as Given by Tinker. i~!k?£l£s .jS I entered the Military Telegraph corps in 18C1 and left in 1869, my certificates of honorable service, signed by Secretary Alger, showing a longer period of service in that branch of the army than any other member of the corps. Dirring those eight eventful years, I was first with General McClellan's army and from 18G2 in the War De- partment as cipher operator and, from 1866 until 1869 as manager. During the civil war I had the op- portunity of meeting the President perhaps a thousand times, and Ivul learned to look upon him in his daily and nightly visits as a companion, while we telegraph boys venerated him as a father. My war dairy of April 11, 1865, records that the president came to the office late that day while I was alone on duty and told one of his inimitable stories, (which Bates quotes in his "Lincoln in the Tele- graph Office"), illustrating its finale by gathering his coat tails under his arms and taking great strides, pass- ing out of the office laughing loudly, leaving me convulsed with laughter at his amusing performance. That was the last time I saw him alive. I was not well and did not go to the office on the 12th or 13th, but on the 14th I spent an hour with Bates and Chandler, who gave me the news of the parole of Lee's army and grand illumination of the city the preceding night. To quote from my dairy: "Saturday, April 15—At seven A. M., a servant girl came into my room and reported a story that she had heard on the street that the President and Secretary Stanon were killed at five o'clock this morning. I thought it an idle rumor, such as abounded among the colored people, but shortly after my wife returned from market- ing and reported that she had heard a similar story at the grocery store. "I hurriedly dressed, and, swallow- ing a hasty breakfast, started for my office. On my way I found the street lined with people discussing the trag- edy. I hurried on, knowing that at the office I could learn all the facts. "A gentleman informed me that the President was dead. In front of the White House grounds I met a color- ed porter, John Bailey, just coming from the office, from whom I learned that President Lincoln was assassin- ated in Ford's theater the previous night about ten o'clock by J. Wilkes Booth, an actor. "The President died at 7:25 A. M. The residence of Secretary Seward was entered at about the same hour (10 p. m.) by an assassin who at- tempted to cut Mr. Seward's throat. "I went to the office and found Frank Stewart on duty. Bates had been there all night. Chandler, May- nard and Low, also. "All departments were closed and being draped in mourning. Our of- fice feels most keenly the affliction which has thus been brought to the whole country in the death of Abra- of his tender heart, would perhaps Lincoln no heart to " ~ ham We had j£v forborne from administering. work—bitter tears flooded every eye; » Andrew Johnson was sworn irf as and grief choked every utterance. - Presi(lent by Chief Justice Chaso at 'The country this awoke morning the K irkwood house." to a new life, which calls ior steam . v II A i ailT measures yet untried, which he, for THE ASSASSINATION. whom we now mourn in the goodness 7—C JL 2-^C^L^c *-, ^ftflt^f. /2*rt8?^\ Ajl^Su /C- ^^7t <*f£*<** A< j^/^S 4.C -«-^VLi_M-/>z /U-l <_^ il^e^*/, &>>-*-*£ ti < 'fag-acr /ZU V~tT}C e/^trr. t^U^A^. /Ce JvT^ju ' &*% c&~^ e/ A '2c<-» /-^dv r« £5*Z~< ^< .^ ' , / / c. <<+*£* <*-?& /^tC ^ /$/,'/, , , . „^L a » v v LJz£r*£ cX.^.1^ 0L^.~<—«, £?-*i, Jp*^~^~*~' — Z't-c* V ^-elcJ - - Br \ WJi ™ \ 1 f'r ^^1 < i \ T1 " 7 I'NITIIB RT.»T| \ ...^.„» T JariCcWl 'A vVoman Who Saw Booth Newarker, 93, Shoot Lincoln Is Dead MRS. NELSON TODD, In Lincoln Talk WESTERLY, R. I., Dec. 1 (A. SA W LINCOLN SHOT P.).—Miss Levene C ft. Stewart, a direct descendant of Chief Nini- gret of the Narragansett Indian Short Hills, N. J., Woman, 97, trihe, died today at the age of 100. Had Met Clay and During the civil war she was a Webster in of Wilks i neighbor Washington Booth, whom she knew personally. Special to Thc Nkw York Times. She was in Ford's Theater when i SHORT HILLS, N. J.. June 29.- Mrs. Booth snot President Lincoln. Nelson Todd , who witnessed Miss Stewart was born in Balti- Lincoln's assassination, died here more September 2, 1932, and trained last night alter a three months' ill- as a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hos- ness, at the home of her grandson, pital, where her brother was on the Nelson Todd. She would have medical staff. She came to West- been erly seventy years ago. 98 years old on Aug. 17. Henry Miss Stewart will be buried here Clay and Daniel Webster were Saturday in the dress she wore at among notables she had met dur- the inauguration of President ing her lifetime. I Grant. She leaves no survivors. A participant in j many civic i events in Newark, Mrs. Todd was a guest of honor at the city's char- Uiimea tor centennial celebration in the She 5J«u fork Mosque Theatre on April 15, 1936. •AH The News Tiiat's Fit to Print," by She made her last public appear- published Ev< Day in the year Company. ance on Feb. 4 as guest ,'HK New York Times of honor President at Adolph S Ochs. Publisher and the New Jersey State Exposi- C. Fvanck, Secret ary. tion B. i&SW*^--xj in the L. Bamberger & Co. de- APU11. 0. partment store. ^ui ftK.WKUNIWUAY, ]^_ MBS. KELSON XQDJQ On Mrs. Todd's ninety-seventh Woman. Who Saw Lincoln Shot Dies Eadlo listeners tonight will have an birthday some one observed that opportunity to hear Mrs. Nelson Todd, BOSTON, April 6.—Mrs. AnBle gt _ Lincoln park, oldest living she looked fit enough to reach the Wright, who was a member oTTfie au- 93, of 39 member of one of the oldest families one-hundred mark. die«ce at Ford's Theatre, Washington, in Newark, who was present in "I don't want to be a hundred," D C. when Abraham Lincoln was shot, ; the Ford Theater in Washington on Mrs. Todd said. "I have lived long died here last night, (She was 6ii years the night President Lincoln was enough." old. - Her husband, the Jate John B. assassinated. Mrs. Todd was born in Albany, of Ford's Mrs. Todd will speak over WJZ at B Wrighf, way stag* manager a daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth P. M. after an Introduction by Charles Theatre at the time el the tragedy. Garthwaite Rodwell. Colfax Ix>ng during a broadcast which In infancy she Mrs. Wright was aceompanieij by Dr.. was taken to will Include songs of the Civil War Newark by her on night president J. S. Tait ths the period. parents. She was married to Nel- shot, when a call foe a doctor was Mrs. shake hands son Todd in 1858. was sent out. Dr. Va.it was lifted from Not only did Todd She often recalled tlie orchestra' into Lincoln's box anil at- with Lincoln, but she was acquainted the night she tended the dying President. 3he was on with John Wllkea Booth, the actor, who and her husband saw Lincoln shot the stage it)*- many years under the fired the shot which killed the Great at Ford's Theatre in Washington. name or Annie dishing. Emancipator. She had often described how John Wilkes Booth jumped from the first box to the stage and how Mrs. Lin- coln screamed as the President WOMAN SAW SHOT slumped down on his chair. LINCOLN Also surviving, besides her grand- Mrs. Eastman Dies at 91 —Believed son, Nelson, are five grandchildren, Last Survivor of Audience nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. East Falls Church, Va., Jan. 23— (AP)—Mrs. Sarah N. Eastman, 91, who saw Abraham Lincoln shot in the Ford Theatre, died yesterday. Relatives believe she was the last survivor of the audience that wit- l nessed the assassination. \ 'i 'i TbcU, (Y\cs. K)eXs<*v MAY 1935 As this magazine contains educational articles, sales suggestions and illus- trations of permanent value, it should be preserved for reference. A cumula- tive index to these topics appears in the February, May, August and November "ssues. ^s&^ SUN LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA HCAD OFFICE MOHTIiEAL (Incorporated In C«nirla in 186B a* a Limited Company) TOE MONTHLY AGENCY REVIEW May, I-;;., hiFE ANNUITANT WITNESSED ASSINATION Mrs. Nelson Todd, 95, Visits Newark Branch From time to time we have published letters of appreciation from Sun Life annuitants who, on account of their advanced age, have generally had a background of interesting reminiscence. When Mrs. Todd recently visited our Newark Branch and expressed the pleasure it would give her to write the letter which we here reproduce, we did not think it would lead to having us the opportunity of publishing an item of such historical interest as subsequently transpired It appears that on Lincoln's birthday commemora- . tion of 1934, she broadcasted from New York over a national hook-up the story of her experience on that memorable night at the theatre. Mrs Todd is, despite her age very healthy and active, and insisted upon calling at our Newark office rather than have them wait upon her at her home for these details. As to the story itself, we think we had better let her tell it in her own words as recounted in the American press of February 1932, when she faced the microphone for the first time at the news reel studio. She was then ninety-two years of age. n Newark today there is • .. a woman who I [ have heard that he had fallen into is believed to be one of the few persons bad now company. We all knew alive who saw Abraham his sympathies were Lincoln assassinated. with the Southern Mrs. Nelson States, and we learned Todd of 39 Lincoln Park later that he oldest was a member of a set of fellows living member of one of the oldest —radicals we would call them families in Newark, yesterday today—who Mrs. NELSON recalled the drew lots to see which TODD circumstances of the one should kill Lin- tragedy which shocked coln It just the nation happened that the lot fell to on the night of April 14, out 1865. Booth. and said That young lady there Despite is a fine the fact that she is in her "I shall never horse-woman. ninety- forget the first time I saw third year* Mrs. Todd does Lincoln— "I was everything but nor the last. The first married in 1858. The war, as yon sit at time was home peacefully. She is in just a little know, followed the habit before his second inauguration a couple of years later, ol walking from her modern when he passed lnose were awful apartment to through Newark by train times. What a relief when the vicinity of the Four was it ended on Corners at least 1 horse-back riding and rode through the ninth of April, 1865! once or twice a day, dining out, and going side streets so that I saw Lincoln not out for an once Memorable Trip automobile ride when the spirit but several times on the rear moves. platform My "Immediately persistence must have upon learning of Lee's sur- attracted President render my husband Motion picture theatre Lincoln s attention. William planned a trip to Wash- patrons throughout Coulter, a friend ington. the country of my father's The day after we arrived was Good will have an opportunity to see the conductor of the train, Friday, April 14. I and hear Mrs. Todd in a "talkie" told me later that the President remember because we within pointed me went to church. the next My husband in , few days, telling the story of how was active Lincoln was shot. A leading news reel con- cern requested her to describe the tragedy before its camera and microphone. Mr. E. C. Hoy, Branch Manager The Sun March 26, 1935 picture was taken at the concern's Life Assurance Co. of Canada INew York studio one day last week. Her 1216 Military Park Bldg. first experience before a movie camera Newark, evidently N.J. turned out well, because on the following day Mrs. Todd again went to Dear Mr. Hoy: Purpose of lengthening thefilm "* *** in mail- fa. " * ^ ~s Knew Both Personally myl^^k^TonT ^ Not only has Mrs. A thG death S°n Todd shaken hands ^ mY EdmUDd ! "S C,,iIdren with ' Purchased ' an Annuity for me in" Abraham Lincoln, but she vonr r a PrOV°ih was personally y g m W1 th $10 °- 00 cadl acquainted ° m°"«» for life. I am now 95 yen with John Wilkes Booth the of al T r l- ^ I actor who fired the shot " l «" but be which ended the ns n "so'u 2" *? W ** SSwrfS Jfa^a "' career of the Great T U 9 " Emancipator. ***** ha* rovided has enabled " me to do nanv ? P - » r tlnT ^T ' shak hand s with cv ***** Which ° • ery tIm se l President ' ™uW not have ta. ?? T be "7 > since William Henry Harrison, aeodoZl ^ *f who died in "° "* *" of investment 1841, also with Henry Clay, tZ proven "» *« ^ «*- Daniel Webster i^t^1^ and Kossuth,' said Mrs. Todd. "I have V Uing thiS ,U "er t0 known many ,!' y °«' wIth thc splendid and distinguished it ^standing that yoi people, JyZ'^ltZ' ; and of all I have known there °' mmendin to other people, an was excellent investmentinves « Annuities as not a finer man than John Wilkes excellent me it for oldto""age comfortr> and Booth security-and particularly a Sun Life a line looking, mannerly chap about my own Yours Sincerely, •Written in 1932. (Airs.) Matilda G. Todd. May. 1935 THE MONTHLY AGENCjY REVIEW Trinity Church Sunday School, Newark. I was amazed wlion later in the day ho said "Salary Savings" Plan of Life Insurance '\V'o are going to the theatre this evening.' "Po the theatre on Good Friday ?' I said. V Our Actuary has received Ibo following letter from the Bell He explained that the President was to Telephone Com- pany of Canada, under E. i,l lend n benefit and last-night performance the signature of J. Mucphcruon, Vice-President: of Laura Keen in 'Our American Cousins' Ford (, Theatre, and it 8 the being a gala THE BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY This testimony to the value of life insur- occasion and our only opportunity, probably, OF CANADA ance to the permanent staffs of progressive of seeing President Lincoln, we might waive corporations should be an incentive our religious scruples. E. MACPHERSON Montreal march n. ism, to our "Theatres began earlier in those days. We VICE-PRESIDENT held force to extend this form of service. Year our were in places on the centre aisle just by year it becomes increasingly apparent Mr. G. W. Bourke, u few rows back from the stage at 7.30, Actuary, that the interest of enlightened employers in when the curtain rose. There was a flag- Sun Life Assurance! the welfare draped box on the left for the President, Company of Canada, of those who serve them, and in Montreal. Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris and Major Rath- their families, is being quickened. There borne. They sat in the second box. Dear Mr. Bourke: were no more significant figures in our report "The curtain had gone up on the second It has been suggostod that other industrial organiza- for 1934 than those relating to the increases act when there was a shot. At the same tions in Canada might be interested to learn of our in I Group Life Insurance, to which our instant was amazed to see John Wilkes experience with payroll deduction life insurance for booth, whom I had known so well, half employoos over the past few yoara. President made special reference in his address jump and fall from the first box to the stage, at the Annual Meeting. Group Pension feet below. His As you are aware, our Employees' Life Insurance twelve spur had caught in plans Plan was initiated in September have shown very substantial increases in the drapery on the box, so that his leap 1927, with two Canadian life insurance companies participating, recent years. turned out to be a bad fall. the These, as well as salary savings Mutual Life "For an instant no one realized what had Assurance Company of Canada and the plans, are forms of insurance protection and Sun Life Assuranco Company of Canada. happened. It struck me that John Willies provision made possible by co-operative Booth had committed suicide. It was not the By end of 1934, sovon years and three months effort between employers and employees. until some seconds later that Mrs. Lincoln after the introduction of the Plan, our employoos had In his reply to the Vice-President of the screamed. The house turned from the stage, obtained policies giving them insurance protection in where all eyes Bell Telephone Company, had been on Booth, and saw excess of $8,000,000 under the Plan. There is un- Mr. Bossrke President, the his head fallen on his chest, doubtedly a great deal of additional coverage with remarked that our experience of the salary slumped down in the old-fashioned rocking those and other insurance companies which is not savings plan, now extending over ten years, in chair which he had been sitting. Then, included in the Plan and of which therefore we have course, indicates that success in its operation is con- of we knew the greater tragedy that no record. At present more than 47% of our male had happened. tingent on the employers maintaining employoes and 7% of our female employees—almost a very people "Few knew how badly Booth was 26% of the total —are included under the Plan and this real interest in it. The cases which have hurt in his fall. I have read accounts and participation is constantly increasing. proved most satisfactory, and which conse- seen pictures of him hobbling off the stage Our experience with the insurance representatives quently have brought most benefit to make his escape. This is as false as the to all has story that he shouted 'Sic Semper Tyrannis!' been satisfactory, and they have shown them- concerned, are those where the employing selves willing to co-operate in every way, particularly firm has been generous in providing reasonable Rope Swung Over Booth in regard to two phases of the Plan which we consider important: facilities to canvassers, and where it has been "Here is what did happen and I think I apparent to employees that the official 1. That insurance be not oversold, so that cancella- am the only person that knows how Booth attitude towards tion may be kept at a minimum. the enterprise has been sym- made his escape. Knowing Booth, it was pathetic and helpful. Co-operation of this only natural my interest was keen enough 2. That employees should not be disturbed at their kind of course involves a little time, little to attract my attention back to him, even work or unduly solicited after hours. a when I knew Lincoln was assassinated. trouble, and a httle expense; but who can Over a period of years, co-operation in these matters When Booth's spur caught and threw him doubt that the indirect benefit, will work to the advantage of the insurance companies, even to the to the stage he broke his leg in a terrible their representatives and of our employees. employing firm, vastly outweighs these way, so that the bone actually protruded slight sacrifices? On the other side of the through his trousers, and smeared the stage With regard to the routine work involved, we find with blood. Naturally he couldn't move. the plan systematic and smooth in its operation. We account, any firm might well take pride in Laura Keen leaned over and patted his head. believe that the company is compensated for the small the fact that by their initiative, their exam- Then, to my amazement, I saw a rope swing expense of making deductions and supervising the plan ple, their advice, and their practical aid, over, evidently thrown by some confederates, by the fact that the dependents of insured employees many humble homes, in the welfare of which lasso him and whisk him into the wings. are not so likely to requiro special benefits as those of That was the last time I ever saw John employees who have made no provision. There is also they cannot disclaim interest, have been pro- Wilkes Booth. the important part which this plan plays in affording tected against the worst consequences of "As we walked away from the theatre and oase of mind and means of attaining a measure of bereavement. In providing facilities to their the great tragedy, my husband said to me financial independence to our employoes and protection employees for insuring their lives, the Bell 'What next?' 'We must go home,' I said. to thoir dependents. And so we went to the hotel, packed our Telephone Company were certainly not I am sending a similar letter to the Mutual Life things and went immediately to the railroad looking for compensation or reward; and yet Assurance Company of Canada, and have no objection station. The streets were seething with people. to its use in discussing salary deduction plans with what greater reward could they desire than At the station the trainmen on a cattle train prospective clients. the knowledge that they have helped fortify that was about to leave for New York had not heard the news so they let us ride in Yours very truly, their employees' homes with a fund of the caboose. J. E. MACPHERSON, $8,000,000 against the worst emergencies to rode all night from "We Washington and Vice-President. which they are exposed? arrived in New York in the early morning. Newark was just a way station in those days and the trains did not stop there. When we Birth of a Nation,' in whicli the assassination of the late Jeremiah C. Garthwaite, donor got in we learned that Lincoln was dead. of Lincoln was shown. When I saw the scene of the site on which St. Paul's Episcopal "Our family was surprised to sec us back I gasped out 'Why, it wasn't that way.' Church stands at High and West Market before we had planned. Being strict Episco- 'How do you know?' I was asked. Then I Streets. palians we did not tell them we had gone told that I was one of the few remaining to the theatre on Good Friday, so we told witnesses of that great tragedy." In thanking Mrs. Todd for her good no one of the thrilling scene of history we Newarker Since Infancy wishes and the story she has enabled had seen enacted. Nor throughout my Mrs. Todd has lived in Newark since she us to tell, we wish her a continuance husband's life did we ever tell. It was only was an infant. She is the daughter of the a few years ago that I let the truth out. late Aaron llodwell and Elizabeth Garth- of her present good health and hope I had gone to see a performance of 'The waite Hodwell of this city and granddaughter she at least attains her century / -ftTUUrvvO^A yWVeA Memories. of April by so short a time, it is necessarily one or my most vivid rec- ollections of those stirring times. STAGE WHEN "On the night of the assassination, ON Booth, who made the finest Borneo ever played at Grover's or any east- LINCOLN DIED. ern theater, had been going about the theater as usual and no significance whatever was attached to his pres- ence. As I went on the stage and saw Actress Tells of Scenes that him standing back of the Presi- dent's box, he bowed to me. The Followed Fatal Shot. thought fiittea across my mind that his being there was singular, but I dismissed it in my work a moment later. It was not until the shots rang out that I realized the meaning of his Calls Martyr's Heart Kindest; presence there. I worked very hard and wa. .awarded A GREAT HEART. different thea- Booth Once a Favorite. by many calls to the "Of Mr. Lincoln, one of the noblest, ters that Mr. Ford controlled in the Lotta kindest-hearted men I ever knew, my East. Maggie Mitchell and early-day fa- memories are of the tenderest. I had Crabtree—tne beloved the j vorite of San Francisco and Early Days iVoto personal knowledge of the bigness and East—were personal friends of mine, Celebrity of broth- kindness of his heart, when my and I played with them many times. Lives Here in Quiet. er, who was running a blockade, was "After my marriage to Mr. Wyn- captured, tried and sentenced to koop, himself an author and play- death. escaped His English partner wright, I eventually gave up my stage from the clutches of the law. Twice career. Living in happy and quiet retire- mother and I went to Mr. Lincoln. "Fourteen years ago we left New in attractive bungalow at No. Very gently he told ua he would do ment an York an 1 came to Los Angeles to live. is Helen mother 1182 West Thirty-first street, what he could, and later gave We haw.- been here ever since, glory- a passport Norfolk. Notwith- Truman (Coleman,) one of the great- into ing in the unmatchable climate and standing his intervention, Gen. Wolff, beauty of Southern California, some- est" favorites of the American stage who was in charge or the prison, re- times meeting the few friends left the few now living who and one of fused us admittance without gold, and of the old days when we knew and witnessed the assassination of Presi- took from us every available heirloom loved Lincoln and many times played, and possession that had not already dent Lincoln at Ford's Theater, at his request, the popular plays of been seized by the might, but not by that period." Washington, April 14, 1865. the right, of war. Mrs. Wynkoop, or Helen Truman, tragic hours follow- Speaking of the "For me, the terrible tragedy had, as sne was known during her stage the therefore, t ing the pistol shot that meant luch of a personal note career, has had a number of near- potent of grief. before any martyrdom of one of the most It was months tragedies touch her life. A few years figures in world history, Helen Tru- of us was restored to the usual mental after the assassination of President man, now the wife of Frank Wyn- poise, and I never played in 'Our Lincoln, while she was playing at the koop, himself a prominent actor of American Ciuisin' again." Holiday-street Theater, Baltimore, the "At the time, John Wilkes Booth the early period, said: St. Nicholas Hotel, where she was was paying attention to Kittie "We were playing 'Our American marked •stopping, was destroyed by fire. Miss the close of Blanchard, one of the noted stars Cousin.' It was toward Truman hail been ill and her absence left the Canter- the second act, and 1 had just of day, who was playing at was not discovered until the building next bury's. desperately in the stage to prepare for the Booth was was enveloped in flames and every love with Miss Blanchard, was scene when tne sound of a shot who one else had been rescued. When she back one of the loveliest characters I have reached my ears and 1 hurried was finally taken from the building, ever known. of the awful to see Laura Keene, the leading lady The news her feet were terribly burned, and all of the company, entering the box of affair completely unnerved Kittle, who her belongings, including jewels, steadfastly believe it, the President and, regardless of her refused to and wardrobe and money, were lost. gown, she raised his head to her lap was heartbroken by the tragedy and Three years ago. in the Vineyard and held him there while first-aid the events which followed it. It was Junction accident on the Pacific Elec- months before she able to ap- remedies were hastily given. was tric, she was severely injured, nar- pear on the stage again, in one of "The scene seared itself into my rowly escaping with her life. Both brain. With all the members of the the year's popular plays, in Louisville. hips were dislocated and her spina Afterward, Miss Blanchard the company it was all that was discussed became was injured, and she has not entirely for days, weeks, even months. wife of McKee Rankin, the noted recovered. Pandemonium, screams, cries and actor, and died only a few years ago. curses filled the air as Booth was "Besides my grateful remem- seen rushing across the stage to the brances of the kindness of President rear, brandishing a huge knife, with Lincoln at the time of the troubles Which he attempted to murder Col. in our family, among the most Rathbone, one of tne members of the cherished are the favors shown us Presidential party. by Gen. Grant while we were in Memphis. northern soldiers " 'I have avenged the South; I have The had avenged the South,' shouted Booth as visited us and want certainly followed he ran across the stage, escaping from in their wake. On our going to Gen. the rear entrance. Outside waiting Grant he said: 'We are here to fight for him and holding his horse was for the flag; not to fight women and Kd Spangler, a scene shifter, who was children.' A guard was furnished us one of those Implicated in the plot, and we were not molested again." which later resulted in his being sent STAGE OF STARVATION. to prison. Of her own brilliant stage career MOTIVE A MYSTERY. Mrs. Wynkoop was more reluctant to "I have never been able to under- speak. stand Booth's attitude. He was so "Starvation drove me to the stage 14," genial, so affable ana beloved by all when I was a girl of sho said. ll*j n.-.t .. was a Methodist, exceedingly v» no kne-.vr 7iIa»i;~ TSilt I..~ v. "Mother southerner. His father was an Eng- strong In her convictions, and loathed lish Jew, and, until the night of the the theater. But with our men fight- tragedy none of us who knew him ing for our cause, it became neces- intimately would believe he had any sary for us to live, and the stage, strong feeling toward either side in which was one of the hardest pro- the terrific conflict of the Civil War. fessions in those days, seemed the The Christmas before the tragedy was only answer to the troublesome prob- the last time, so far as I know, that lems of daily life that we were facing. Booth gave a large dinner. Follow- ing bis usual custom he gave an an- nual Christmas dinner and his genial affability made tne evening niera- Araliki. As it preceded the tragedy *> YEWITNESSES TO LINCOLN'S "Tru-oA^s , t\eA«-v> ASSASSINATION LIVE HERE One Was an Actress in the Cast of "Our American Cousin;" Another a Call Boy; Next-Door Neighbor BY SI SNIDER > j£ CU-^X ',-W t> 1 \ V.J There are living in Los Angeles several persons 1 who directly touched the fringes of the great tiagedy of Abraham Lincoln, the anniversary of whose birthday is tomorrow. Living in retirement in Hollywood is an ol d actress who was in the cast of "Our American Cousin" and was on {he stage the night Lincoln was shot. Prof. Gilbert Bailey of the University of Southern California lived next door to Lincoln in Springfield, 111., as a child. The program boy. at Ford's Theater is living in Los Angeles and until lately the call boy who summoned the actors to the stage was a member of the Hollywood colony. Most of these facts together with much hitherto unpublished data have been brought to life by the Rockett Film Company, which is planning to make a motion picture of Lincoln's life and whose researches have continued for a year or more. One of the most interesting of* "We had sacrificed more than*took note of the plays he liked,' the living witnesses Qf Abraham $20,000 worth of family jewels and for I was inexpressibly grateful to heirlooms for lawyers before we him and on the nights he came Lincoln is Mrs. Frank Wynkoop appealed to President Liacqln and to see us I tried to be at my of Los Angeles, whose stage name I was forced to se^k a theatrical best and, in so far as r»y oppor- was Helen Truman, or Trueman, engagement to earn a living for tunities admitted, I watched every the President and his as it appel^sd in the program of mother and me. John T. Ford of movement of Ford's Theater, Washington, gave parties. Ford's Theater in Washington, D. me a chance and my first appear- "For example, I .noticed that he C, the night President Lincoln was ance was with Mr. and Mrs. Billy never applauded with his hands, ahot. i Florence in "Dombey & Son," Sept. but he laughed heartily on occasion t 22, 1864. his Miss Truma.n. whose real name and his face spoke plainly of Was Helen Coleman, was born in "In those days it was the prac- approval. On the other hand, Mrs. Norfolk, Va„ of a fine old south- tice for established stars to travel Lincoln always attested her ap- ern family and her people cast from ono theater to another alone, preciation "by clapping her hands their fortunes with the Confeder- or. In rare cases, with one or two and sending us flowers and, like acy. leading people the theater stock all real women, she seemed to en- She first sgiw President Lincoln company supplying the rest of the joy a good cry when the play cast. at the White House, Sept. 3, 1864, The iteinerant star usually turned to pathos. provided play and, fen some where she went with her mother to the PLAYS HE SAW intercede for the life of her broth- cases the scenry, costumes and "President and Mrs. Lincoln nev- er, who had been condemned to props, but ordinarily these were together death for attempting to run the supplied by the theater. er came to the theater assas- blockade of the port of Norfolk. except on the night of the THE FATEFUL NIGHT sination and when they appeared SAVED HER BROTHER "From September 22, to the together that night we were all "The President received us most night of the assassination, April surprised and remarked about it. kindly," said Mrs. Wynkoop, look- 14, 1865, President Lincoln at- "During the time X was a mem- ing back with clear vision through tended the theater is often as af- the fifty-eight years intervening, fairs of state would permit and % and his great sympathy quite over- came my poor mother and myself. It was terribly hot, but the Presi- dent gave no evidence of discom- fort and quite made us forget it. He heard our sad story, asked a few questions and said: " 'Go home, make yourselves comfortable and do not worry. I will see what can be done, but I thin-k I can assiira you now that If the facts are as you state them this boy will not be executed. Re- turn here in tan days.' " "After the long, hot ten days, full of anxiety a$d alarms we re- turned to the White House and, after an hour's wait, were called Into the President's office, where we saw at once by the expression of his face that he had good news for us. "He explained that .my brother's case had been complicated by a charge of spying, but that he had been found not guilty of that charge and President Lincoln, him- self, had pardoned him of the oth- er. FELL iON KNEES "We both tell on our knees to thank him and there were tears in | his sad and weary eyes when he showed us the door. Since then I have always adored him and my mother never ceased to bless him " \ vrJ-«rAdLA s vW\«A j "We all respected iiooth because he was a good actor, was courteous ana kindly, but none of us except Mr. Em- Actress, Who* Played Before erson felt very friendly Upward him be- cause ha was cold, taciturn, aloof and at times seemed almost arrogant. "The night of the assassination I saw Lincoln on Fateful Night, Tells him back stage near the passage to the boxes just a few minutes before lie fired the fatal shjot, and we nodded of Horror—Saw Lincoln Weep jmrdlallyj A. minute later. I was called on scene down front, and did not think i "We had sacrificed more than $20,000 anything 6f Booth being there. "We nodded cordially back worth of family jewels and heirlooms I had Just finished with the words: lawyers before we appealed to Pres- Stage— for 'Good evening, Mr. Trenchard,' I was forced to seek and ident Lincoln, and mado my exit in "A shot.[ liv- number two across the ; theatrical engagement to earn a a stage from the President's box, when "Dead^ silence— ing for mother and me. John T. Ford, I turned to speak to our leading lady. of Theatre, Washington, gave Ford's Miss Gourley, and Mr. leader "Then Mrs. Lincoln's blood- first appearance Withers, me a chance, and my of the orchestra, — Flbrence, In who were standing curdling shriek with Mr. -and Mrs. Billy near. 'Dombey & Son,' Sept. 22, 1864. 1 started into my dressing room, and An. actress who played in "Our "In those days it was the practice for had not taken more than three step» established stars to travel from one American Cousin" before President when I heard the shot that killed the theatre to another alone, or. In rare Lincoln the evening he was shot to President, Meantime the front scena cases, with one or two leading people, had hern taken down and the stage death J. stock; company supplying by Wilkes Booth, namely, the theatre's was full set. The itinerant star / Mr?, Frank Wynkoop of Los An- the rest of the cast. usually provided the play and in some Booth Goes Mad geles, here tells of how kind the cases the, scenery, costumes and props, "The sudden sound alarmed me. I but ordinarily these were supplied by martyred President had been to her, knew there was no shooting in our the theatre. and paints a thrilling picture of the play, and it sounded close by. Instantly there was dead silence— then Mrs. Lin- fatal night. Lincoln Visited Theatre Often coln's blood-curdling shriek. I turned 'From. Sept. 22 to the night of the about Just in time to see Booth fall assassination. Ap.il 14. 1865, President upon the stage One of the most interesting of the theatre as often from the President's Lincoln attended the box. living witnesses of Abraham Lin- na affairs of state would permit, and I "Shouting. 'Sio semper tyrannls,' coln's assassination, discovered by took note of the plays he liked,, for I he ran limping across the stage directly the Rockett-Lincoln Film research was inexpressibly grateful to him and toward me. Then I saw he brandished a c ii the nights he came to see us I tried department, is Mrs. Frank Wynkoop knife, but I was too amazed to move. to be" at my best and, insofar as my of Los Angeles, whose stage name "He ran into number three opportunities admitted, I watched every dressing- as it room and struck at Miss Gourley was Helen Truman appeared movement of the President and his par- and Mr. Withers as he passed, cuttjng on the~l>rogramme of Ford's Theatre ties." Miss Gourley's dress, but not wounding her. in Washington, D. C, the night "For example, I noticed that he never "I want to say a word here in behalf President Lincoln was shot. applauded ' with his hands, but he of Ned Spangler, who was charged Miss Truman, whose real name laughed heartily on occasion, and his with being Booth's accomplice. I never was' born in face spoke plainly of his approval. On was Helen Coleman, knew ft finer boy and I'm sure he had the other hand, Mrs. Lincoln . always Norfolk, Virginia, of an old South- nothing to do with Booth's attested her appreciation by clapping unspeak- ern family. Her people cast their able crime. her hands and sending us flowers and, fortunes with the Confederacy. "Mrs. Lincoln's screams turned the l*ke all real women, she seemed to en- ; house into an inferno of She first saw President Lincoln atijoy a good cry when the play turned noise. The shouts, groans, curses, smashing of the White House, Sept. 3, 18G4, to pathos. seats, screams of women, shuffling of wher'e she went with her mother to p "President and Mrs. Lincoln never feet and cries of terror created a pan- came to the theatre together except on intercede for the life of -her brother, demonium that must have been the night of the assassination, and more who had been condemned to death terrible to hear than that attending hen th app for attempting to run the blockade of ™ ^ JSEFLa ™ 'the assassination of Caesar. Through . *% * were allT™surprised and re- ., xT^-r^n, night we th rt f °rf°lk all the ages it will stand out in N - it. my »'Pu £ . . . marked about memory President received up most .. as the hell -of hells. The , During the time I was a member "Miss Keene, with towels and co- kindly," said Mrs. Wynkoop, look- f the Ford stock company President logne, was the first to reach the Presi- ing back with clear vision through i Lincoln came to see Laura Keene, with dent, but, of course, she could ! and John Dyott, in 'The do no the 58 years intervening, "and his Harry Hawk good. Our entire Washington' and 'Our company was arrest- great sympathy quite overcame my ! Workingmen of but /"**-» was released In a few , A wi A *- i . i • (it-ill * ed, hours 1 if 1, Americanw Cousin. poor mother and myself. It was and placed under surveillance "Miss Keene's last appearance was of the terribly hot, but the President gave Secret Service. Friday, April 14, 1865. and as it had quite "None of us, even Mr. no evidence of discomfort, and been announced that both the President Emerson, could ever understand Booth's made us forget it. He heard our and General Grant were to be present act. We ascribed it to fanacticlsm sad story, .asked a few questions, the attendance was the best of the sea- gone, mad, and aggravated, possibly, by exagger- and said : / son. The house was packed to the ated ego. I " walls, there being no fire restriction in 'Go home, make yourselves com- "To me, of course, because those days." of his' fortable, and do not worry. I will saving my brother, Lincoln was the "I saw the presidential party when see what can be done, but I think great man of afl time. But as. a child they arrived and was near enough to ' I assure you now that, if the of the stage, I love to think of as can note how Mrs. Lincoln was dressed. him this a sincere lover of the drama facts are as you estate them, '^ did not wear evening gown> but and a an friend of its ^executed. Return exponents. His own life I boy will not be^ a new 6pr i ng Bnk dress, light gray in " and death proved to be one of the here in ten days.' 'color, and with black pinhead check, a greatest dramas of history. 'and bonnet to match. Ordinarily she "Tears Were in Lincoln's Sad Eyes" .wore an evening gown with a head- ' « ,, * dress of flowers. , "After the long, hot 10 days, full of , anxiety and alarms, we returned to the .Mrs. Lincoln a Distinguished Woman White House and, after an hour's wait, • Mrs. r'^'J^iL «,„« „,> k „ n# i v. * _ ii j i„.„ it. T).Mi^ni'» r.ffit-« Lncolln was not beautiful, but that 6ion of his face that he had good news wonderful thing called personality and for us. He explained that my brother's she would have been, been complicated by a charge distinguished in case had any company. of spying, but that he had been found "I first met J. Wilkes Booth not guilty of that charge, and President at a din- ner given by Mr. Ford to Lincoln himself had pardoned him of our company on Christmas night, 1864. Booth was not the other. We both fell on our knees to a member of our company, thank him, and there were tears in his but he was a great friend of Mr. E. A. Emerson, sad eyes when he showed us to the leading man of our stock company, and door. Since that I have always adored and mothax never .ceased to lie came to the theatre often to sec him my Emerson. bless him. i' ! beovG i n& it ;\ \ x-^xvvjj«\ . V^^*A An Exceedingly Interesting Incident, i LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12. — [To the] of Times:] In your paper Editor The j of today there is an article from your: New York correspondent about Mrs. Struthers—"Jennie Gourley"—which j claims that she is* the only surviving Woman member of the company that played at Ford's Theater on the night that Abraham Lincoln was assassi- nated. Permit me to state that the writer lis still alive and was a regular mem- ber of the company at Ford's Theater, and played that night the part of Georgina. I had just left the stage to go to my dressing-room to change my dress for my next scene when I heard a shot, and, knowing there was •no shooting in the play, -I hastened back to the first entrance and heard the screaming and other Bounds of voices, and saw President Lincoln fall over from his chair. I had noticed Booth previously. Q& he bad bowed- to me as I went on for my scene, from where he was standing back of the President's box. and wondered what he was doing there; but dismissed the thought, as Booth had the run of the theater, front and back, and was ac- quainted with all the company. Miss Laura Keene, the star that week, was the first one to reach the hox from back of the stage, and knelt down and raised up the President's head. Harry Hawk, one of the company, claimed for a few years before he died to be the only surviving one. and then W. H. Ferguson (Biely) who was the prompter that night, was "the only one," and now Mrs. Struthers is "the only one." I don't want to be killed off so young, as I am still able to come up smiling, and don't want to be "the only one," although there are not many left, either. But I have not cared for the notorietv of it, as I! had always wished it had never oc- curred as it was a terrible tragedy to go through. I have lived in Los Angeles for the past fourteen years, and wrote to Jen- nie Gourley a year ago, when T read the article vou had in The Times maerm'ne about her being alive, and residing in MiKord. Pa., but have had no replv Jennie Gourlev left the com- pany at that time to bp married to Mr. William Withers, the leader of the orchestra The remainder of the company played at the National Thea- ter, as we were not allowed to leave Washington, beiner suhlect to the su- pervision of the War department, un- der Gen Burnett, until after the trial of the assassin. Tours respectfully, HELEN- THTJMAN. fat that time) No. 1182 "West Thirty-first street. '* * J VW ^t^L^t-iJ. 'JfW£^E?i?K V^'Pd-V vUrrie* * » * * 1 PICTURES OF LINCOLN FUNERAL TRAIN L ; MICHIGAN CITY ON PAGE 8 J*—~Z~. As a little girl, Mrs. Harriet Van Pelt, above, who lives at the Sheri-. dan Beach hotel, sat as a" spectator' in Ford's theater in Washington and witnessed assassination of Abraham Lincoln. She is shown with :a Lincoln portrait. I WML SHOT % I Remembers if W THEATER "' "6e vne) Fatal ^ra— . c t Theater »mmi t\ .A in *• In The America " m&& and J ata1n See°T,the p from WS b x " «sident As. Michigan City today marked,, the birthday\of Abraham Lincoln; inj Booth home and school,;- Mrs. Harriet Van? "onie \thktet «.rf.T* was Pelt ofthe'sherfel^^peach hotel re- calls a memory W* 'tragic that 71 0neS years can not dim it the assassina- ;***& Booth **>&, — and heih " tion of the great emancipator by I ""or of Booth 7„ e stabbed, e t0 the John < from sta e Wilkes Booth. ' thfSrt * 1 f W^i although SS ot the box, As a girl of 18. she the" Rr? witness* "mem?*, PPenGd tragedy only - ' from the first row t P? m ' % £ nt B balcony «« the shoulder head in the Ford theater. of Mr3M^fLin faring ' «"n and not more than 25 or 30 fe Jf* , RECALLS FUNERAL TRAIN— the President's box, saw BooBgSfeter Martin T. Krueger, state repre- the box and heard the shot U n WaS rifig^otrt. ^ich """W "own,) sentative, remembers the Abraham Shortly after Ut *h . that sad incident, £ """ rk Lincoln • mom.n" ' ^ "«s for' funeral tram and its pause OT May 1, Lincoln's J e v funeral,'^tajn? Was at the old A sort of con^sed. Michigan Central station passed through Michigan City. naraL" jSpS I house. gripped Lin Michigan I '«.e Cfty.^Lzi^S,^ dreds of persons gathered' at? Then"en theth! lightsnft* thel _ j on were turned Sb** _—a^jgggjjjjjfllljgj Michigan Central station to | — see fiief | biejtieAmong them was Martin T. hei Krnege?, a boy of *« mAFu***'* "s car- | 11 years ! at the »«n he time. - A huge memorial arch wfis removed /ro^;,^" ^d taken th< thea ter erected at the to a and station where a gic;Jp board?* t j *• street We across ' of Chicago people met the trajpi'to th M& way 5 ma de their accompany the body out of I i to Chicago-, and IS? ter Stunned 1 •> aext then to .-"'• dayy wle ' - The ; Springfield. '.*& "ii t0 8ch °°<- ' *'•'•_. She's ".'^.- teHAmmg my * 89 Noif'^f 1 ; schchoo^l° ,rna t« pyhom i there to A -bright little womaa^st nearly Su , 89, Mrs. Van Pelt clearly recalls 7 '™ later the 9 3 Saxton April 14, 1865. She and her .older wife f p^ - (who 6" McKi sister, I died "'ey Nancy Sherman, both far their L 6f°L "I ijSept assa8mn s bullet last year at the Cleveland v 14, looi)." Female I seminary had gone to Washington to spend Easter vacation with their uncle, George lnd£ * ^e Hartwell of the patent fe Stag"*"Wh office Fj«erved under ° had there. Mrs. Van Pelt was Gen P . parched nt and h ad Harriet Sherman, daughter of 'Dr. with w Mason G'. Sherman of Michigan)! She cfty- \i-,ped aeafn after, j,;"!, ""ar- • - ^ .-Sf%^S'r \ death - In the afternoon-- they attended lr->MrIvanp7,tW I 7, we he reception at; the White House WM^ citv J " ^^ _ . j| &Vt*Hl%&fr™r^%CfocaS0 news. | \/ Gaiety Prevails During the afternoon, Mrs. Van Pelt with relatives attended a recep- tion at the White House and while there met the martyred president. The gaiety which every one felt pre- vailed at the formal affair. To climax the celebration, Mrs. Van Pelt was taken to the theater. She sat in one of the best seats in the house, direct- ly in the center of the dress circle, which at that time was in the bal- INATION cony. The presidents party was to occupy the box at the right. The play was "Our American LINCOLN Cousins." And when the president SEEN entered his box with Mrs. Lincoln, Major Rathbone and his betrothed, Miss Harris, the audience keyed to BY LOGALWOMAN the brilliance of the affair rose and cheered their leader. Wilkes Harriett Van Pelt Recalls "No one noticed John Booth" said Mrs. Van Pelt,' as he Tragedy of Seventy walked around the balcony to the Years Ago rear of the Lincoln box. Or if they did, they paid no attention to him." Shot Rings Out A Michigan City woman witnessed the assassination of President Abra- "Suddenly a shot rang out. No ham Lincoln, more than 70 years one knew what had happened. Not pres- ago. She is Mrs. Harriett Van Pelt even Mrs. Lincoln, until the of the Sheridan Beach hotel one of ident slumped on her shoulder. Then the stage and the persons still living who saw the I saw Booth jump to and 16th president of the United States 'cry out, "Sic Semper Fidelis" been fall victim to an assassins bullet. the news that the president had through the theatre." A survey by the Lincoln Histor- shot spread ical Research Foundation at Fort Although history says that Major Wayne shows that she is one of only Rathbone cried out for the crowd to three persons in the four states of stop the man who had shot the pres- Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, ident, Mrs. Van Pelt says she did not who was present at that tragic oc- hear the order in the confusion of casion on Good Friday night. the theatre. Mrs. Van Pelt \v,ho observed her After Lincoln was carried to a 88th birthday a few months ago was house across the street. Mrs. Van a student at a seminary at Cleveland Pelt and her party of relatives and during the latter part of the Civil friends went directly home while war and during the Easter vacation hundreds of the others milled about of 1865 she went to Washington, D. the theatre all night until word came C., to visit relatives. early the next morning that Lincoln con- Washington at that time was stir- had died without regaining ring with the anxiety that prevailed sciousness. during the closing years of the war. Because she returned to school r.l- Pelt But with Lincoln, re-elected and the most immediately, Mrs. Van services. news that victory had come at last did not attend the funeral per- the capital prepared to celebrate on One of the most remarkable for her inter- April 14. It was Good Friday but sons living in the city the religious holiday did not curtail esting life and personality, Mrs. Van occa- the joysome feeling of the entire Pelt carries a memory of that as if it had city. sion printed on her mind happened yesterday. , Format Dynamics :: CleanPrint :: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/201 1 1 127/LIF... Page 1 of 3 Newark Advocate .com Who held Lincoln's bright. Second, the source cited by Huff (The head? Advocate, March 26, 1901) cannot be located now to verify the account. The newspaper exists on microfilm, but the There is an old legend in Newark that her account is not there. There might have own John Veach was present during the been a typographical error with the date. shooting of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, and that Veach held Third, if the Maj. White referred to above Lincoln's head in the theater. Veach was was the same one who commanded the serving as inspector of military passes in 12th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company E in Ford's Theater during the close of the Civil which Veach had enlisted, Veach should War in 1865. have known that by the time of Lincoln's assassination, White had moved up the At the time, he was sitting with Major White ranks. In fact, White was brevetted to in the rear of the theater. They were brigadier general about a month before the among the first people to assist the assassination. Would Veach still have president. While rushing to the box, Veach referred to him as "Major" and would White saw the assassin Booth wave a dagger and have been sitting in the back of Ford's cry, "Sic Semper Tyrannis," then jump from Theater with Veach? Perhaps, but not the box rail to the stage. He saw Booth likely. catch his spurred left foot in the flag which draped the box, and saw clearly that Booth Fourth, Veach's name has not been found was injured. in any other account of the tragedy, except by his own telling, nor has that of White. In It was Veach and Maj. White who carried fact, a very detailed account in the book Lincoln across the courtyard that separated Advertisement the theater from the private residence where Lincoln lingered nearly 24 hours before he was relieved by death. All the words above are drawn from an account published by the late W. Thomas Huff in his Memories of Old Newark. Unfortunately, there is room for doubt. First, by Huffs account, Veach was telling the story at the age of 75 while at the pension office applying for an increase, although he was described as yet mentally ' Print Powered By d ' Dynamics http://www.newarkadvocate.com/fdcp/?unique=l 322488 1 39833 11/28/2011 Format Dynamics :: CleanPrint :: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/201 1 1 127/LIF... Page 2 of 3 Newark Advocate .com "Twenty Days" by Dorothy and Philip Related Links" * ^ 9 Kunhardt describes how Dr. Charles County ^§§jpil§ survived Sultana steamship explosion Augustus Leale was the first on the scene, Lost oh t soon assisted by Dr. Charles Sabin Taft. Newark avenue named after a veteran of the Army of Leale had been seated just 40 feet away. Iwthem Virginia Then actress Laura Keene appeared with a North and South embrace 'Dixie' pitcher of water and was allowed, even by The Works central to 150th Civil War commemoration the normally jealous Mrs. Lincoln, to hold the president's head in her lap. Two other War letters give glimpse into life, love of Capt. Thrall and future wife doctors arrived. The four doctors and unnamed others slowly carried Lincoln out The Lemert Family involved throughout Civil War history of the theater. Perhaps Veach was one of Socks for soldiers the unnamed others, but yet, it was Dr. Leale who held Lincoln's head at that point. Echoes of the Civil War Found at Cedar Hill Cemetery Civil War column: Conducting war genealogy research John F. Veach lived on 20 acres about two Hattie E. Dew highly noted woman during Civil War miles southeast of Newark. He enlisted in May 1861 with the 12th Ohio, Company E Major David A. B. Ivroore: A true American soldier as a private for three months, then £hio squirrel huntets-iri Civil War Hi reenlisted with the same unit for three The Battle of North^fepuntain Depot, West Virginia years and remained with it throughout the war. His service began under Col. John W. Dealing with spies in the Civil War Lowe, who was replaced by Maj. Carr B. r~] White after Lowe was killed, White then being promoted to Colonel. They joined the Army of the Potomac on Aug. 15, 1862, and participated in the battles at Bull Run, Advertisement South Mountain, Antietam and Cloyd's Mountain. Veach and White were both mustered out July 11, 1864. : Print Powered By ri >rmat.Dynamics http://www.newarkadvocate.com/fdcp/?unique=l 322488 139833 11/28/201 0. * • . ,. A (Svxbntt FRAID of growing old? That s foolish, sonny! Look at Dan Veader; born in 41 And fifty years of service with the firm; Still going strong— a brave and kindly man Who s lived the Xlistr y we have read about. A soldier in the Civil War—later in Washington He was eye-witness on that tragic night When Booth shot Lincoln. What a memory! I tell you, son, it brings the old times close When Dan Veader tells you all about Something that happened fifty years ago! And friends! Why, every man that ever met him , Is proud to call hlm"'Frlend, and does it, too. And that s what comes of honest upright living And years of faithful service. Don't you see There isn't much to fear in growing old, When people love you like they love Dan Veader? V&dtec; TWv\eA. EYE WITNESS OF LINCOLN SHOOTING RELATES STORY family of theswians, was not at the been gazing directly, at Lincoln .r. - lime a member of the J.''ord theater I l-Tied on his elbow over the r;i.l Daniel H. Veader Was in Audi- company. of his box had seen a man, of Mr. Veader was employed in Wash- ...... a fcoadovv, rush into the box, ence~ of Washington Theater ington from 1S82 to 1869, as pay- and then the president fell backward. Night of Assassination. master's clerk in the United States Here was the tragedy which but >i army. Relating, his story of the tragic handful in the whole assembly had With the anniversary of the as- event to a Register writer he, said: witnessed. sassination of President Lincoln on "It was on the evening of Oood "But now the assassin called tile Wednesday and the production of Friday, .April 14th. 1 805, at Ford's attention of everyone to himself by John Drinkwater's masterpiece on theater, and the hose was packed. jumping out of the box, scrambling the life of the martyred president The majority had come to sea tile scmew i..- t as lift did so, and brandish- presented at the Palace this after- president who. although disincline.! ing a small dirk. There whs but a noon, It 1b interesting to note that had promised tu appear so as no! seomi in which to notice an extra- there is a man now living in New to disappoint lhc*e who had set their ordinarily handsome .\nung man who Haven who was an eye-witness to hearts on the event, faced the audience and uttered theso the tragedy. "Luckily T had been ablj to pro- famous words: "Sic semper tyrannic" One of the few living witnesses to cure seals in the third row of the Then, before even the actors realized the assassination of President Abra- orchestra and so found myself In an what had happened, he crossed the ham Lincoln, is a citizen of New Ha- excellent position was to view whatev.-i deserted stHge and gone. i ven. Dartiel H. Veader of 3;> Highland happened in the president's box, whlc'i "Kveryt-hing hftd been so sudden that tstreet retired ser- recently from active waa located on the right side of th<- hardly anyone had more than a vice at the Winchester works where house and in the second tier. Just as .etharglo understanding of what had for many years he was cashier, was the play was commenced Lincoln ar- transpired. At someone's shouting. among those who saw the martyr rived, accompanied by three other per- "The president's shut," the theater president struck down. sons whom 1 afterward iearned to Vo was Instantly In a state of commo- April 14 will be the 5oth anniver- Mrs Lincoln. Major Kathbone. U. 8, A. tion and I wu» forced to seek safety o:i sary of the event. President Lincoln and his fiancee, n Miss Harris There the stage its*', i*. Many women fainted having been shot on the evening or was no guard at the door of the Presi- and above all there wan a veritable that date, in 1865, by John Wilkes - dent's box or even in the vicinity, or the babel of shouts and screams o' e .% Booth. The great f.igedy which tragedy that was soon to occured citenaent and fear. caused such widespread monrn'n^r inlsrht never have taken place. "To add to the S'iena ef confusion throughou t the civilized world, and "Well, the play Started on time ami '.he theater tilts were ordered closed *t a time whsn peace between (Ik- everthine proceeded without a hitch until Ine removal of the president. North and South had Mi*! been n>- until about 10:30 as near as I reef.il it. Tlila suggested the possibility." of fire c'aied ojoured at Ford's theatre. The scene had just been shifted and or hostile troops, or both, and then Washington. during a performance of the curtain was up, when, without entire ciowd it might oe j "Our Arnorloan Cousin." I*ura Keen* warning a pistol shot rang out, Nat- said, went mad. Outside the theatre I I a. famous aotress of the time, was urally Hie audience thought that the a rumor ran about that General Mos the leading- lady. Booth, although an next act had commenced and looker! by with tils Confederate troops hac actor and of the celebrated Booth toward the stage. But oddly, 1 had taken possession of the tiiv. "After leaving tne theater learnet that an attempt had been made on im lives of Seward, the 6ecretar> ol state, and Andrew Johnson vice presi- dent. And a hundred and ot.e other exciting tales, both true and false, were started and died out. It was several days before order \va9 again restored In Washington. "The day after the assassination wc of course read in the newspapers the account of what happened in the case of Seward, and learned later ths all- Important fact that Lincoln had died. The rest is to be read In history." In speaking of Booth's stumbling &> he jumped from Lincoln's box after shotMpg the president, it has been "•^ruM that the Assassin at the time I't iu^" "=«<([.' In the decorations it the 'box. ;>nd broke his ankle. Mr. 's Eyes in Secretary, and at his request, during By Gen. Thomas M. Vincent, U. S. A. the night. He was BORN in a humble cabin. In La Rue man wishes to engage In the ebony greatly saddened, and re- County, Kentucky, with its three- trade. A. Lincoln." ferred to the change of scene from that at gged stool, bedstead of poles sup- His interest manifested in the re- tho Cabinet meeting, a few hours before, ported by crotched sticks, log table, cruitment of colored troops is apparent at which General Grant was tin present, pot, kettle and skillet, and a few from his letter, dated April 1, 1803, to when the state of the country and pewter dishes, Abraham Lincoln's Major-General Hunter, In which he and the prospect of a speedy peace ascent in life began as he "climbed at said: were discussed. He stated that the night to his bed of leaves In the loft, "I am glad to boo the account of President during the meeting was hope- by a ladder of wooden pegs driven Into your colored force at Jacksonville, Fla. ful and very cheerful, and had spoken the logs of the cabin wall." I boo the enemy are driving at them kindly of General Lee and other offi- Upon this man it was that the choice fiercely, aa is to be expected. It is cers of the Confederacy. Particularly of the nation fell—the man who. In Important to the enemy that such a had his kindly feeling gone out to the the year 1831, when an obsenre flat- force shall not take shape, and grow enlisted men of the Confederacy, and boatman, after having witnessed the and thrive tn the South; and, in pre- during tho entire session of the Cabi- net fiogging of a slave woman, said, "If elsely the same proportion. It is im- his manner and words manifested e'ver I get a chance at that lnatitn- portant to us that it shall. Hence- tion, I will hit It hardr* the utmost caution and vigilance is It was a frequent thing for Mr. Lincoln necessary on our part. The enemy 'will to visit my office (in the War Depart- make extra efforts to destroy them, and roent), thus to obtain direct information, we should do the same to preserve and ' He was particularly Interested in the sue- Increase them." . cess of the recruitment, and for his own After the colored troops had won convenience he personally tabulated the their reputation, he said that their daily telegraphic reports on a slip of employment was one of the greatest paper. After he had made the necessary blows dealt to the rebellion. On one record, he would roll the slip around a occasion, in defining the franchise, he short lead pencil, and place It In hlfl vest said that some of the colored people pocket. If the number of men obtained "might be let In." They would "prob- was satisfactory, he would alt for a brief ably help. In some trying time to come, time conversing cheerfully, but If other- to keep the Jewel of liberty in the iwise the furrows of care on hl3 face family of freedom." would indicate the sadness of hla disap- April 14, 1865, I had, about 10 o'clock pointment, and, without a word, he would p. m., returned from the War Depart- depart. ment to my house, and very soon there- Soon after the act of July 17, 1802, after was informed by a cousin of authorizing persons of African descent Mrs. Lincoln—Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd to be received Into the service of the —that the President had been assassi- Unlted States, and before the President nated, and the members of his Cabinet had decided fully what he would do attacked. I at once hurripd to the tinder it, ho received an application— house of tho Secretary of War, and it may have been from a Mr. Black or learned that he had gone to the seena a Mr. Brown—for permission to raise of the tragedy, on Tenth street I a regiment. In hi3 characteristic way, found him at the house to which the he endorsed the application: "Referred President had been taken from Ford's to the Secretary of War. This gentle- Theatre, and there I remained, near the emphatically a desire to restore a satis- that it would bo necessary to stand pre- wound, from which factory peace to tho South. Yet, while pared to communicate the President's his life's blood was he was buoyant on that Good Friday death to the Vice-President, and soon oozing, were the sob- in his advocacy of "peace on earth to thereafter handed me the rough draft bing, grief-stricken men of good will,' ' he seemed de- of the formal notification, from which I wife, all the members pressed, at times, in consequence of a prepared a fair copy, and held it until of the Cabinet save dream of the previous night, which had after the President's death, which was Mr. Seward (himself the victim of an as- recurred several times on tho eve of officially announced at 7:55 a. m., April sassin's attack), and others in civil and some important event—a vague sense 15, by a telegram from the Secretary to military circles. of floating away, on some vast and in- Major-General Dix, as follows: Soon after 8 o'clock the devoted War distinct expanse, toward an unknown "Abraham Lincoln died this morning Minister (Mr. Stanton) had ordered all to shore! at twenty-two minutes after seven be arranged for the removal of the body to the Executive Mansion, and then left About 1 :20 a. m. it was determined o'clock." me, as his representative, until after the that the wound was mortal, that the The death bed scenes were harrowing in transfer should take place. It was about that, pressing smooth- President was dying, and that it was not the extreme. Surrounding and near the this time after and the eyes of President, I probable that he would ing the dead live through the illustrious one, who was Insensible from placed coins upon them for a last long night. The Secretary then informed mo the first in consequence of his mortal slumber. %K : — — U>iA U)WVxV^A s WEEK BY WEEK AN ANECDOTE OF LINCOLN vague wonder, Victory, the nation's vic- of the Union, filling In each issue of the Week By Week from boy- tory, the triumph hood to his death. Save each copy. You will have the air, the thought, the sense, with ex- anecdotes and illustrations that when put together hilaration more than all the perfumes. will give you a very wonderful story of the life of the immortal savior of our country. The President came betimes, and, with his wife witnessed the play from the WALT WHITMAN^ VIVID large stage boxes of the second tier, two DESCRIPTION OF thrown intj one, and profusely draped^,, the national flag. The acts and with \ LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION scenes of the piece—one of those singu- compositions which have at The day (April 14, 18G5) seems to larly witless to have been a pleasant one throughout the least the merit of giving entire relief an audience engaged in mental action or whole land— tr.e moral atmosphere pleas- 1 and cares during ant, too—the long storm, so dark, so fra- usiness excitements the slightest call tricidal, full ot blood and doubt and gloom the day, as it make-s not over and ended at last by the sunrise of on either the moral, emotional, esthet c such an absolute national victory, and or spiritual nature n piece ("Our Amer- utter breaking- down of secessionism ican Cousin") in which, among other we almost doubted our senses! Lee had characters so tailed, a Yankee, certain y or least capitulated, beneath the apple tree at such a one as was never seen, at Appomattox The other armies, the liki it ever been in Noith America, is flanges of the revolt, swiftly followed. introduced in England, with a varied fol- de-rol of talk, plot, scenery, and suih And could it really be, then? Out of all phantasmagoria as goes to make up a world of woe and pas- the affairs ot this modern popular drama—had progressed sion, of failure and disorder and dismay, perhaps through a couple of its acts, was there really come the confirmed, un- when, in the midst of this comedy, or erring sign of peace, like a shaft of pure tragedy, or non-such, or whatever it is light —of rigntful rule — of God? to be called, and to offset it, or finish it accessories. But I must not dwell on out, as if in Nature's and the Great popular after- The deed haptens. The Muse's mockery of these poor mimic •., noon paper, the little Evening Stai, had comes interpolated that scene, not really scattered all over its third page, di- or exactly to be described at all (for on sen- vided among the advertisements in a the many hundreds who were thsre it sational manner in a hundred different seems to this hour to have left little but places a passing blur, a dream, a blotch) —and "The President and his lady will be at yet partially described as I now proceed the theater this evening." to give it: Lincoln was fond of the theater. I - a scene in the play, MP""* have myself seen him there several times. There is it I remember thinking how funny was art. precedented lames , ... that he, the leading actor in the greatest Yankee and stormiest drama known to real his- tory's stage, through centuries, should sit there and be so completely interested in those human jaekstraws, moving about with their silly little gestures, foreign ci-ai leaving the stage j spirit, and flatulent text. exit, So the day, as 1 say, was propitious. were pause, a hush as it Early herbage, early flowers, were out. "There was a came the death of Abxa 1 remember where I was stopping at the At this period Lincoln. time, the season being advanced, there ham . with all.to. were many lilacs in full bloom. By one Great as that was, «g£ around it, and stieUn of those caprices that enter and give fold train cucilmg for many a ceutunj tinge to events without bei.ng a part of ing into the luture art °t tie them, I find myself always reminded of poht.es, history, fc iAhe th* n am the great tragedy of this day by the New World, in point ol tact, murder, tian=.pueu sight and odor of these blossoms. It thiriu- the actual simplicity of any com- never fails. wit"? the quiei and bursting a tad On this occasion the theater was monest ocl-mrenee-the oi vegetation, tor crowded, many ladies in rich and gay or pod in the growth costumes, officers in their uniforms, instance. , the many well-known citizens, young folks, the general hum following Through pos.Uons the usual closter of gas lights, the usual pafse With the change of Jge a pistol magnetism of so many people, cheerful the muffled sound of etc came part of with perfumes, music of violins and flutes not one-hundredth shot which time-and yet —and over all, that saturating, that vast, audience heard at the ^ tie hush-somehow, surely a moment's thrill—and then, througn vague, startled and ornamental drapened, starred the Presiden s box striped space-way of the : man, rawes himselt a sudden figure a stands a moment with hands and feet, ' - / o ——a on the railing', leaps below to the stage (a distance, perhaps of fourteen or fif- teen feet), falls out of position, catching his boot-heel in the copious drapery (the American flag), falls on one knee, quick- ly recovers himself, rises as if nothing' had happened (he really sprains his ankle, unfelt then) —and the figure, Booth, the murderer, dressed in plain black broadcloth, bareheaded, with a full head of glossy, raven hair, and his eyes, like some mad animal's, flashing with light and resolution, yet with a cei'tain strange calmness, holds aloft in one hand a large knife—walks along not much back of the footlights—turns fully to- wards the audience his face of stauesque beauty, lit by those basilisk eyes, flash- ing with desperation, perhaps insanity launches out in a firm and steady voice the words, "Sic semper tyrannis"^—and then walks with neither slow nor very rapid pace diagonally across to the back affair. The crowd rushir.g and eddying of the stage, and disappears. to and fro, the night, the yells, the pale faces, many irigl.tenad people trying in (Had not all this terrible scene—mak- ing the vain to extricate themselves, the attacked mimic ones preposterous—had it man, not yet f>eed from the jaws of not all been rehearsed, in blank, by Booth, beforehand?) death, looking Like a corpse, the silent, resolute halt-dozen policemen, with no A moment's hush, incredulous— jveapons but their little clubs; yet stern scream—a cry of murder —Mrs. Lincoln and steady through all those eddying leaning out of the box, with ashy cheeks swarms; made, indeed, a fitting side to and lips, with involuntary cry, pointing the giand tragedy of the murder. They to the reti eating figure, "He has killed gained the station-rovse with the pro- the President!'' tected man, whom they placed in secur- And still a moment's strange, incre- ity for the night, and dischaiged in the dulous suspense—and then ti.e deiuge! morning. of horror, noises, un- tnen the mixture And in the midst of that night pande- the sound somewhere back, certainty— — monium of senseiess hate, infuriated sol- with speed ox a horses s noofs clattering diers, the audi ence and the crowd—the the people Durst through chans and — stao.'e, and all its actors and actress, its railings, and breaiv them up that noise — paint pots, spangles, gas-light—the Jir'e- of the ;;cene there auds to the queerness — blood from those vcP'S, tha best and confusion a. id L.vror is inextricable sweetest of the land, drips slowly down, faint- quits feeble persons iall, women — and death's o LINCOLN'S DEATH. —at least the strong men do— the actors and actresses are all there in The Scene Graphically De their play costumes and painted faces, with scribed mortal fright showing by Walt . through the rouge, some trembling Whitman. , _, . —some in tears — L" — the screams and / * I calls, confused talk—redoubled, tre- bled or The following thrilling de«*oiip — two three manage to pass up water from the stage to the lion of President Lincoln's assassL Pres- ident's box—others try to clamber nation from the pen of Walt. Whit- up—&c, ith » d efwdteeiowd * '»« »ndmotle!| like some horrible J audience carnival WR I GUIT rush generally ^tj ld\Ar**&.*, U&-**" A|GKA1'UIC PKN PICTURE Ot THAT How Walt Whitman Describe the As- sassination of tlie l'resiilent In Ford's Theater »s Uu Witnessed It. EDNESDAY of this week was the anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln and lor the first nine in this State it was ob- served as a legal holiday. Four other States show this honor to the memory .of the martyred President—Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington Con- —and a bill has been introduced in national holiday I eress to make the day a in future. I out In this connection it will not be of place to reproduce from the Yew York Herald a part of the descr >tion bv of the assassination of Lincoln giv;n was the poet, Walt Whitman, whoi presept in Ford's Theater, when tlif foul deed , was done : (Out ".fhere is a scene in the play Cousin) representing * mod- WILKES BOOTH, AT American ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN BY J. in which two unprecedented SOUVENIR OF THE ern parlor, THE RECENT DEPLORABLE DISASTER). English ladies are informed by an im- FORD'S THEATRE (SCENE OF of May 1666. possible Yankee that he is not a man Meprodtuxd from " The Penny Illustrated P^er" of 6, fortune, and, therefore, undesitatA: for marriage catching purposes; after »-*iich, dra- the comments being finished, the stage matic trio make exit, leaving the "A moment's hush, a scream, the cry clear for a moment. ot murder, Mrs. Lincoln leaning out of "At this period came the murder of its box with ashy cheeks and lips, Abraham Lincoln. Great as wis all the with involuntary cry, pointing to the manifold train circling round it, and retreat- a ing figure, 'He has killed the President!' stretching into the future for many etc., "And still a moment's strange, in-' century, in the politics, history, art, ' credulous suspense and then World — in point of fact the — the of the New ; tran- change! then that mixture of horror, main thing, the actual miirdfr, — of noises, uncertainty the sound some- spired with the quiet and simplicity — burst- where back of a horse's hoofs clattering any commonest occurrence—the growth ot with speed— the people burst through ing of a bud or pod in the chairs and railings and break them up; vegetation, for instance. "Through the general hum following there is inextricable ot po- CONFUSION AND TERROR; the stage pause, with the change faint; quite feeble sitions, came the women persons are trampled on; many cries of MUFFLED SOUND OF A PljSTOI. SHOT, fall and tha agony are heard ; the broad stage sud- which not one-hundreth part of yet a denly fills to suffocation with a dense heard at the time, and audience and motley crowd, like some horrible moment's hush, somehow, surely a through carnival ; the audience rush generally startled thrill, and then, vague upon it; at least the strong men do; tha ornamented, drapcried, starred and the actors and actresses are all there in their space way of the ?«£*«" striped J** play costumes and painted faces, with a man raises hunsell with a sudden figure, fright showing through the a moment on ha mortal and feet, stands 1 hands rouge; the screams and calls, confused below to the stage, a dis- railing, leaps redoubled, trebled, two or three or 15 feet falls out talk a perhaps, 14 „cA heel in the manage to pass up water from .he stage position, catching his boot of flag- to the President's box; others try to copious drapery—the American lam- clamber up. on one knee, quickly recovers falls happened "In the midst of all this the soldiers of as if nothing had self rises the President's guard, with others sud- sprained his ankle, but unlell (he really denly drawn 10 the scene, bui st in—some th mur- 200 altogether ; they storm the house, so the figure, Booth, the «And through all the tiers, especially the up- dressed in plain black broadcloth, Uerer per ones, inflamed with fury, literally with full glossy, raven hair, bare headed, charging the audience with fixed bay- eyes like some mad animal s, and his onets, muskets and pistols, shouting with light and resolution yet flashing 'Clear out! Clear out!' strange calmness, hods with a certain "Such the wild scene, or a suggestion hand a large knife, walks aloft in one rather, inside the playhouse that back from the footlights, of it along not much * * * in the midst of audience, his lace night. And 'turns fully toward the basilisk that pandemonium, infuriated soldiers, statuesque beauty, lit by those of perhaps the audience a nd the crowd, the stage flashing with desperation, # eves, its actors and actresses, its paint launches out in a firm and and all insanity, and gas lights, the life words, -Sic semper pots, spangles steady voice the veins, the best and with neither blood from those tyran.iis," and then walks, diagonally sweetest in the land, drips slowly down, slow nor very rapid pace, dis- and death's ooze already begins its little the back of the stage, and " across to bubbles on the lips appears. I ' w > u h\\ h i i i m Veteran Recalls Assasbination 90, HE SAW LINCOLN SHOT u% Jfoiu Hark (&\m$B FINDLAY, Ohio, Feb. 12 OP).—W. H. ON LAST VISIT TO THEATRE said to Reg. U. a. Pat. Off. Roberta C'vil War veteran and few surviving > i nesses the Fit to Print." be cie~oi the "All News That's .'.'. J. for assassination of Abraham Lin- Farmer Has Never Cared Published Every Day in the Year by of the coln in Ford's Theater, Washington, Stage Since Then The New York Times Company. p! Apr;' 14. 1865, recalled or Lincoln's V, I'ublic Ledger Bureau Adolph S. Ocns, President and Publisher. f-.( annh ^rabvy to-day the scenes follow- J B. C Franck, Secretary. ing ti e p.'siol shot which ended Lin- ^ Atlantic City, Feb. 18.—The first, coln's life. Nt List and only time .Tnhp T.^prisey 90- cavalryman, declared TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1930. Roberts, then a > } ear-old retired tanner of Bridgeton, he was seated about thirty or forty f N. J., ever attended a theatre was the feet from the President's box. Lin- Witness of Lincoln night of April 10, 1865, he disclosed Tragedy Dies. coln took his place in tl»e flag-draped UNION CITY, N. J., Aug. 4 . where Lincoln had fallen." lie stabbed Major Rathbono. And I 3 It was then, Roberts declared, that ©brN^uifnrkOtmra can still hear Booth's shout as he Wilkes Booth, the assasssin, leaped on Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. the stage and disappeared. fled behind the scenes." "All the News That's Fit t» Print." Published Every Day in the Year by "A man leaped from the President's York Times Company. box to the stage and a spur becoming The New entagled in the flags threw him heavily Adolph S. Ochs, President and Publisher. to the floor. Flourishing a dagger, B. C. Franck, Secretary. Booth sprang to his feet aud made his escape through the wings and a rear William E. Wutrick at Ford's DAY, FEBRUARY 26,1930. entrance." WEDNES Roberts said his unit was assigned Theater when Lincoln Witness of Lincoln Tragedy Dies. to search for Booth, and wis on duty Was Assassinated. when he was found and shot. He is Ark., Feb. 25 (jP>. BERRYVILLE, commander of the Findlay G. Union A. R. —Henry C. Harris, 90-year-old Post. One of the few surviving members veteran of frte""Civil War and believed of Root Post, 151, Grand of the to have been the last surviving wit- Army ness of the assassination of Abraham Republic, and one whose eventful trav- Lincoln, died at his home here today. els led him to Ford's Theater, An accidental fall a .month ago has- Wash- tened his death. Harris, who served ington, D. C, on that tragic night of with the Forty-fourth Missouri In- April 14, 1865. died fantry at Gettysburg and Antietam, Lincoln Shooting recently in Syra- was paralyzed in one arm as the cuse, N. Y., at the age of 87. bat- result of a wound in the latter He was William E. Widrick, who went tle. He was seated about thirty-five to war at 19 and who participated steps from the Presidential box in Witness Dead in the midst of one of the greatest Ford Theatre when John Wilkes I dramas Booth shot the President. of all time. Born at Frankfort, N. Y., son of Gar- New London, April 22.— (AP)- B^jajnnjuJl^^Judd, a Union vet rett Widrick, a captain in the State Iran of theCTvTTwar, who often militia, Mr. Widrick came from a fam- recounted witnessing the assassin- ily of soldiers. His grandfather man- ation of President Lincoln and ned a gun in the Battle of Sacket Robert E. the surrender of Gen. Harbor in 1812, and his great-grand- Lee to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, father died for freedom's sake in the He made his home died today. American with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson How- Revolution. ard. He was in his 104th year, Against his father's wishes, young BULLETI N—P H I L and had been in failing health for Widrick enlisted in the 2d N. Y. Heavy some time. Art., joining six brothers already in the 104 Mr. Judd would have been service. Five of them died during the I old 24. He was one of SAW LINCOLN KILLED years May war the sixth, and Byge Widrick, died ! two survivinug Civil war veterans 1 several years ago in Amboy, N. Y. Veteran of Civil War Celebrates 96th in this city. The last surviving Lewis L. BakPr, a past Mr. Widrick often related the Ford's Anniversary veteran is commander of the Grand Army Theater experience. He was sitting Woodbine, N. J., Jan. ninety- 5—A of the Republic. with a companion across the floor from six-year-old Civil War veteran who that he Mr. Judd often declared President Lincoln's box and witnessed saw Lincoln killed celebrated his birth- stood nearby Lee and Grant, every part of the assassination. Later day at his small farm, Martintown, when the former surrendered. He he assisted near here, yesterday. He is John -Rfir frequently spoke of Gen. Stone- in rounding up Booth and vord, a member of the Michigan Vol- wall Jackson as the "greatest was present when several of the latter's unteers. man the South ever had." accomplices were captured. Revord told a number of friends and relatives who celebrated with him he "expected to Hvo a few more years." also spoke Ho of returning Comrade William E. Widrick, 87, of to his native State for a short visit Onandaga, passed away at his home. U 1 and told of his three brothers, all of whom had enlisted at the same time He was one of the few remaining men 1 ^ / *" j in th( . Michigan company. He resides who saw Lincoln's assassination at with his .second wife. Ford's Theater, and was one of the Z .1, little squad of soldiers guarding the Paine and railroad station who arrested | I A I Herald, two of the conspirators. He also witnessed the hanging of four of the plotters. ZToV\* if- UJteJ-ersVveiv^ , RECALLS THE SLAYING OF LINCOLN Written for Public Led 6 er nearly daylight, and then returned By jOHN_A. WIEDERSHEIM home, but not for sleep. the Public «S€**$*Stfv, TN LEnr.Eii of a recent At 7:20 a. m., April 15, the death was * announced. Sunday I read with great .satisfac- A rain then set in as if the sky was weeping. tion the story by Mrs. Robert Struthers Everybody was quiet. Nothing bitter was uttered. (Miss Jeannie Gourlay) of the assassi- Even enemies expressed their horror nation of President Lincoln, April 14, and indignation at his taking off, and now said 1865. To my knowledge, it is correct kind words of him, but, alas, too late. in all details. T remember meeting For several weeks I had seen Mr. Gourlay and seeing his daughter, him j morning after morning as he entered Miss Jeannie, as she was then, in the the War Department for consultation early part of 1865, when at Washing- with Secretary Stanton, and as we sol- diers ton, where I had been detailed from my and sailors who had been under him as our commander-in-chief regiment, the 119th Pennsylvania Vol- passed and saluted, he was always on the alert unteers, Third Brigade, First division, to respond, which he did. Sixth corps, Army of the Potomac, to His Last Public Speech the office of Secretary of War, for duty 1 heard his last public speech. It in the bureau of re-enlistment of vet- Wiedersheim in war time was on this wise. About noon of erans. April 14, a hundred or more of us, men Quite a number of us from the army I had Intended to go that memorable of the War Department, called on the President after and navy were taken from the field night to see the piay with the family he had returned from of one of Richmond following the surrender of and fleets at the front for such duty, the stockholders of Ford's Theatre, because President Lincoln, Lee at Appomattox, and brought him owing to our knowledge of active serv- out to General Grant and others were to be the front of the White House, ice. My recommendation came from there. It was arranged that we should when he gladly addressed us. Among Major General W. S. Hancock. start in time for the second or third other things, the President said, "Boys, act. I am thankful to you for what you I had seen the members of the Gour- When we were ready to leave the house the doorbell was rung and others did for the country. Now lay family, Laura Keene, Harry furiously, and a friend entered and almost breath- you can go home; the war is ended, Hawke and Mr. Withers, leader of lessly announced that the President and we will live again In the land of peace." the orchestra in the "American Cous- had just been shot and was dying. In," a couple of nights previously. For once, his usually sad face bright- The Sky Was Weeping ened, and he showed that After the war Mr. Hawke, who took the heavy Three of us immediately hurried to load of four years had been lifted from part in the play as Asa Trenchard, 10th street, and found that the Presi- his shoulders. resided for many years with his rela- dent had been taken from the theatre In the crowd was an enthusiastic tive, John B. Lober, at Bryn Mawr, man, incessantly waving the flag, and opposite to Mr. Peterson's house. We Jersey, England. he interrupted the President, crying remained on the street with the crowd out: Lord Dundreary in the play was a all In an ugly mood, but the Southern "Air. President, what are you going fop, and unmercifully plied with jokes to sympathizers were quiet and so riot- do with the d-—- rebels?" Mr. by the troupe, to which he invariably ing Lincoln pointed his finger at the man, answered, "I cawn't see that." was avoided. I hurried to the tele- and said, "Sir, you are wrong in using graph office to send a mesage home, Applause for the President such a term. They were rebels a few but no one was permitted to approach days ago, hut not so now. They have Just as Miss Keene had given him for a square or more. Everything was in laid down their arms. and we are broth- one and he made his usual answer, she charge of the provost marshal, and the ers again. They are back in the old saw the President entering the box and city had been placed under his guard. family. They have the same blood In quickly directed Dundreary's attention Cavalry was rushing in every direc- them as we have. Do not call them to the fact and said, "Well, maybe you tion, especially south, to capture names. They belong to us, and we cawn't see the joke, but you can see Wilkes Booth, who was now known to must woo them to our hearts. Let us what is up there." Then all turned to be the assassin, and who was well un- do it, boys; woo them back, and it will the box where the President stood in der way down into Maryland on horse- not be long before we will be a unite- full view of the audience, and he re- back, where he was later on trapped people again, working together for the ceived an ovation as he never had be- and shot. good of the country, common to every fore. He took his seat near the doo:- The surgeons sent out from the Peter- section thereof." of the box where shortly afterward Bon house hourly bulletins of Mr. Lin- The nejit morni&g came 'he noble life the blow of the , assassin. coln's condition. W« lia^rd them until ended. . Un^ (Wl«, ^. THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WITH NOTES AND QUERIES VOL. IX FEBRUARY, 1909 No. 2 CONTENTS LINCOLN TELLING A STORY Frontispiece JOURNAL OF THE COMMITTEE WHO BUILT THE SHIPS PROVIDENCE AND WARREN {Fourth Paper) N. Arnold GENERAL THOMAS J. 63 SUMTER (Sixth Paper) Henry A. M Smith 8o THE EDENTON TEA-PARTY, Hon. Walter Clark 86 WASHINGTON THE MAN, The late (Rev.) Edward B Coe 92 v REMINISCENCES OF LINCOLN, I, Gen. William H. Seward 104 II., Noah Brooks ? 107 - LINCOLN IN MASSACHUSETTS, Henry Jefferson 109 v RELICS OF LINCOLN ...... 112 Xj 1 HE ASSASSINATIQN : _J J3FJTN^QLN, Annie f/fj*IfiHX-— HOW THEY DID IT 1 IN 1832, AT WASHINGTON'S CENTE- NARY 115 PRACTICAL WORK OF THE D. A. R. IN CONNECTICUT, (Third Paper) Mrs. E. C. B. Buel . Il8" i NOTES AND QUERIES: : Saved California to the ', Union 124 The Lincoln Centenary 124 ' 1 GREYSLAER; A ROMANCE 1 OF THE MOHAWK, Chapter II, s Charles Fenno Hoffman 125 BOOK REVIEWS 132 Entered as Second-class matter, March I, 1905, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y Act of Congress March 3, 1879 t 1 ^M (W^ F. P. u> **£!*+* THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN (This account, by an eye witness, has never before been printed). have a vivid recollection of the tragedy of April 14, 1865, as at that time, my husband, the late John B. Wright, and I were in I Washington; he being the stage manager of Ford's Theatre during that season. This gave me the opportunity of attending the perform- ances there as often as I pleased, and I became acquainted with many of the actors at that time filling engagements there. One of these persons was J. Wilkes Booth. It is a matter of history that on the night of Good Friday, April 14th, Laura Keene had a benefit and the play was "Our American Cousin," and in anticipation of Mr. Lincoln's visit, an unusually large audience was present. I had invited our friends, Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, a surgeon in the Union Army, and his wife, to go with me; we had seats in the parquet, left hand side, and well in front, and in full view of the President's flag-draped box in the second tier on the right hand side. While waiting for the curtain to rise, Mr. Lincoln, his wife, Miss Harris, and Major Rathbone, entered the box and Mr. Lincoln sat down in the seat nearest the box door. The play began, went through three acts, and just as the curtain was rising for the fourth, I, like many others, gazed at the Presidential party. I saw Mr. Lincoln sitting with his back to the box door, leaning forward with his right arm on the cushioned front of the box, his chin resting on his hand. He was looking directly forward into space, as if in deep thought. I had previously seen Booth leaning against the wall near the door of the President's box. I wondered why he should be there, and I shall never cease to regret, idle as the wish is, that no sort of intimation of his real purpose entered my mind. Had it done so I might have prevented the awful tragedy. A moment after, there was a sharp report, as of a pistol, and Mr. Lincoln's head slid from his palm, his arm fell, and his head fell for- ward on his breast. An instant later, a young man, whom I at once 113 ' "j-^T^^ —iTMi TMif I H4 THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN recognized as John Wilkes Booth, sprang from the box to the stage. He fell on both knees, for his spurs had caught in the flags draping the box; he could not easily rise to his feet, and even at that distance and in those few seconds, I could see that he was suffering great pain. Making a desperate effort, he struggled up, drew a long dagger— could see the blade shining from where I sat—and like a maniac waved it above his head, with the exclamation which has since become historic: " " Sic semper tyrannis ! Though nearly half a century has passed, the scene is vividly before me even now. I never shall forget how he looked; his face deathly pale, his dark, luminous eyes showing plainly at that distance. Half crippled he moved with difficulty, but making a desperate effort, like a wild creature, with two or three bounds he crossed the stage and dis- appeared behind the scenes; all this happened in a few seconds. Bui; like a scene made visible by a lightning flash it made a never-to-be- forgotten impression on my mind. For an instant after the shock there was a deathlike silence—then an uproar arose among the audience. Mrs. Lincoln stood waving her hands up and down, crying: "They have shot the President! They have shot the President!" Then came a call: "Is there a doctor in the house; if so come forward?" Dr. Taft stood up, the crowd literally dragged him away. He was lifted bodily by strong men to the stage and to the box. He clambered over its edge and found Mr. Lincoln unconscious. Placing one hand over the wound on the back of the head he held it there for what seemed a long time, hoping he might regain consciousness and speak to his wife, but it was not to be. The rest is history. Annie F. F. Wright. Allston, Mass. UPr'.flVxV, VVgc£*vo TO PRESIDENT POLK RECOMMENDING A DESPATCH HEARER FOR CALIFORNIA 412. PIERCE, FRANKLIN. President. Choice MnmiHcrlpl l.ellcr Signed. 1 1/7 pages, 4to. Concord, New Hampshire, December 14, 18A8. To His Excellency, James K.. Polk [President of the United States]. The future president, just returned home from duty in the Mexican War where he served with the rank of General, writes the president to take "favorable notice [of] Lieut. John McNab, late of the 9th Reg't U.S. Army. The sudden disbandment of the ten new Regi- ments has left him at this time without employment, and it strikes me that the circumstances under which he entered the army - his valuable and distinguished services, his intelligence, integrity and admirable qualifications eminently entitle him to some place in the service of the Government ... .His conduct [as Adjutant] on every field and throughout the whole campaign won for him the confidence of all his superior officers. It would be difficult to speak of his services above their merits. Perhaps the Government may have occasion to send a bearer of dispatches to California. If so, I would solicit for him what I earnestly hope it may be your pleasure to grant, the appointment as such bearer which he desires...." This would be one way to obtain a free passage to California, where gold had been discovered the previous year, and the rush for wealth was well under way. Two tiny file holes in blank left margin otherwise in fine condition. Letters from one president to another are always highly de- sirable. Great association, as Pierce was a firm backer of President Polk's controvsersial policies which led to war with Mexico. ». 950.00 413. CODY, WILLIAM F. "BUFFALO BILL". 1846-1917. American scout and showman. Autograph Letter Signed "Cousin Will", on the blue and red imprinted letterhead of the Sells-Floto Circus. Full page, 4to. Vallejo, California, April 28, 1914. To his Cousin Frank. Colonel Cody writes: "...We have found California Very dull. And the Pictures have been delayed in get- ting the war historicals started. So I have got the blues today. Will write you again when I feel more encouraged...." Apparently Cody was in California to try his hand at movie mak- ing. Interesting content. Fine condition. 350.00 414. SULLY PRUDHOMME, ARMAND . 1839-1907. French writer; first recipient of Nobel Prize in Liter- ature (1901). Autograph Letter Signed, in French. 2 very full pages, 12mo. Paris, October 4, 1883. To Mon cher Confrere , saying that he is writing a long and ambitious poem. He also discusses his most famous poem Le Vase Brise , of which his correspondent has sent him a "surprising version". Good literary content. Fine. 150.00 415. HAYES, RUTHERFORD B. President. Attractive partly-printed Document Signed, as President. One page, 4to. Washington, August 30, 1877. President Hayes directs the Secretary of State ." to affix the Seal of the United States to "a warrant for the pardon of H. Wedemeyer . . Fine condition. With portrait. 450.00 REACTION OF THE UNION TROOPS TO NEWS OF LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION 416. WRIGHT, HORATIO G. 1820-1899. Union General; commanded department of the Ohio (1862-63); engaged at Gettysburg, Rappahannock Bridge (1863), and in the Wilderness campaign (1864); repulsed Jubal A. Early in his raid toward Washington (July, 1864) ; served under Sheridan in Shenandoah Valley; commanded first troops to enter Confederate works at Petersburg (April 2, 1865). Remarkable Autograph Letter Signed, with initial "H", on imprinted stationery of Head Quarters 6th Army Corps , as Major General commanding said unit. 4 full pages, 8vo. [Near Appomattox Court House, Virginia] April 16, 1865. To "My darling Wife". Choice let- ter written seven days after Lee's surrender, and the day after Lincoln died from an assas- sin's bullet. General Wright informs his wife: "...We are quietly in camp here, and may be so for days to come... I don't like to leave the Corps while matters are in their present transition state, or I would try to run up for a few days to see you and the babies. The Army was much horrified last night by the intelligence that the Presdt., Secy. & Asst. Sec. of State had been assassinated, & we are yet in the dark as to the details, further than that the Presdt. met his death at the hands of J. Edwin Booth the Actor. I trust the people hung him on the spot. And if this tragedy is the result of a mature plan of the Southern rulers, I shall advise that their crime be visited promptly, & relentlessly upon them. God grant that it may turn out to be the mad act of a few fanatics for which the rebel rulers and people are in no wise responsible, otherwise I fear that all the restraint of discipline will not suffice to prevent our soldiers from wreaking what they may conceive to be a just vengeance even upon the innocent and the helpless. I hope, however, for better tidings soon; and that the excellent feeling hitherto manifested by our soldiers toward the rebels may return. It has received a rude shock, but all may be well if they can be convinced that the South is not responsible for the horrid crime...." Truly, a remarkable letter penned during a most trying time. Wright's intelligence concerning the assassination was not tot- ally accurate; the assassin was John Wilkes Booth, and not Edwin Booth, and the Secretary of State (Seward) was attacked, but not killed, and recovered to resume his post in Johnson's cabinet. Excellent condition. 350.00 417.' STANTON, ELIZABETH CADY. 1815-1902. American woman-suffrage leader. Autograph Note Signed. 1/2 page, 8vo. Seneca Falls [N.Y.], September 4, no year. Ca. 1860's. To Charles U. Rack! accepting "your invitation with pleasure if Women can be my subject " Fine. 95.00 mraftMMww^^ r^* AUTOGRAPH LETTERS HISTORICAL DOCUMENT PAUL C. RICHARDS — AUTOGRAPHS FIVE DOLLARS