Mary Lincoln never recovered from Abraham Lincoln"s a.s.sa.s.sination. She insisted on wearing only the color black for the rest of her life. Mary lingered in the White House for several weeks after the shooting, then returned home to I llinois, where she spent her time answering the many letters of condolence she had received from around the world, and also lobbying Congress for a pension. This was granted in 1870, for the sum of $3,000 per year. However, just when it appeared that Mary was recovering from her considerable grief, in 1871 her eighteen-year-old son, T ad, died of a mysterious heart condition. This brought on a downward spiral of mental instability, dramatized in spending sprees, paranoia, and delusions-once she almost jumped out of a building after wrongly believing she saw flames consuming the structure. Her only remaining son, Robert, had her committed to a mental inst.i.tution in 1875. She spent a year there, during which she engaged in a letter-writing campaign to the Chicago Tribune that so embarra.s.sed Robert he had her released. Mary moved to the south of France for four years, living in exile in the town of Pau before returning to Springfield. She died in 1882, at the age of sixty-three. She is buried alongside her husband.
Robert Todd Lincoln went on to a stellar career as an attorney and then public official. He served as secretary of war from 1881 to 1885, during the James Garfield and Chester Arthur administrations, and served as U.S. minister to Great Britain from 1889 to 1893, under Benjamin Harrison.
Although he was not present at Ford"s Theatre when his father was a.s.sa.s.sinated, he was an eyewitness to Garfield"s a.s.sa.s.sination in 1881 and nearby when President William McKinley was a.s.sa.s.sinated, in 1901.
John Wilkes Booth would have been enraged to know that Robert Lincoln and Lucy Lambert Hale spent the afternoon of Lincoln"s a.s.sa.s.sination together, studying Spanish. I t"s possible that Lucy could have mentioned this upcoming appointment to the a.s.sa.s.sin during their final moments together that morning, fueling his jealousy. In the end, it doesn"t matter, because Lucy Lambert Hale will forever be linked with John Wilkes Booth.
Secretary Stanton, out of respect for her father"s position, refused to let her be called upon to testify at the trial. However, there were rumors that she was smuggled aboard the Ides to view Booth"s body and wept openly at the sight. This has never been confirmed. Regardless, the intimacy of their relationship soon became widespread knowledge in Washington, D.C., and she was only too happy to escape to Spain for the next five years while her father served as amba.s.sador. Lucy and Robert T odd Lincoln continued to maintain a friendly relationship, but she chose to marry William Chandler in 1874. She bore one child, a son, at the age of forty-four. William Chandler went on to serve as secretary of the navy. Their grandson Theodore Chandler would become a highly decorated World War I I navy admiral who was killed when kamikazes attacked his ship in the Pacific.
Lucy Lambert Hale died of natural causes in 1915, at the age of seventy-four.
Robert T odd Lincoln died at his home in Vermont at the age of eighty-two, though not before being present for the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1922. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Laura Keene would regret cradling Lincoln"s head in her lap that night in Ford"s Theatre. The a.s.sa.s.sination linked her troupe with the killing, and the attendant notoriety was hard on her already floundering career. The actress was eminently resourceful, however, and left America to barnstormthrough England before returning in 1869 to manage the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She later took to lecturing on the fine arts and publishing a weekly art journal. Laura Keene died of tuberculosis on November 4, 1873, in Montclair, New Jersey. She was believed to be forty- seven, although she was often vague about her actual birthdate and may have been three years older.
Edwin Stanton did not live long after the death of Abraham Lincoln, and those years he did live were fraught with controversy. Stanton clashed repeatedly with President Andrew Johnson over the process of Reconstruction. Johnson"s vengeful policies toward the South were in direct contrast with what Lincoln had hoped for, and despite their earlier animosity toward each other, Stanton was keen to see Lincoln"s wishes put in place. T ensions between Stanton and Johnson got so bad that in 1868 the president fired Stanton as secretary of war and replaced him with Ulysses S. Grant. Stanton refused to leave the office and was vindicated when the Senate voted that Johnson"s actions were illegal. Johnson tried once again to replace Stanton, this time with General Lorenzo Thomas. Stanton barricaded himself in his office to avoid being removed. The Senate, which had openly clashed with Johnson over other key issues, now began impeachment hearings, stating that Johnson did not have the authority to remove the secretary of war. Though Johnson escaped removal from office by one vote in the Senate, Stanton was the clear winner in the case. He retired soon after the vote, only to be nominated as a justice to the Supreme Court by the newly elected president, Ulysses S. Grant.
Edwin Stanton died before he could take the oath. The end came on Christmas Eve 1869; at the age of fifty-five, Stanton died from a sudden and very sever asthma attack. Did he have any part in the a.s.sa.s.sination of Abraham Lincoln? T o this day, there are those who believe he did. But nothing has ever been proved.
Few men could have successfully followed Abraham Lincoln as president, but Andrew Johnson proved particularly inept. His Reconstruction policies were bitterly divisive, to the point that he warred openly with members of his own party. He dodged impeachment but was not reelected to office in 1868. Later in life, Johnson was reelected to the Senate, but soon afterward he died from a stroke, on July 31, 1875.
Lafayette Baker became an instant celebrity for finding Lincoln"s killer. The red-bearded detective wrote a best-selling memoir in 1867, History of the United States Secret Service. In the book, he detailed his role in finding John Wilkes Booth. Several of his claims, including that he"d handed Booth"s diary to Edwin Stanton, led to a congressional investigation into his role in the disappearance of the diary. Soldiers had given Baker the diary upon returning to Washington with Booth"s body. Baker then gave it to Stanton, who locked it in a safe for almost two years, never telling investigators that he had the crucial piece of evidence in his possession. The publication of Baker"s memoir provoked a great public demand for Stanton to produce the diary. He did so reluctantly, but eighteen pages were missing. The secretary of war denied being responsible for excising the pages. The investigation ended without a formal placement of blame.
In 1960, a controversial amateur historian named Ray Neff came upon a description of the Lincoln a.s.sa.s.sination in a copy of Colburn"s United Service Magazine, a British military journal. The article was dated February 5, 1868. Lafayette Baker was the author. Neff claims to have deciphered a coded message from Baker within the story. The subst.i.tution code revealed a message that reads thus: "I t was on the 10th of April, 1865, when I first knew that the plan was in action. I did not know the ident.i.ty of the a.s.sa.s.sin, but I knew most all else when I approached Edwin Stanton about it. He at once acted surprised and disbelieving. Later he said: "You are a party to it, too.""
Baker, decoded by Neff, goes on to add: "There were at least eleven members of Congress involved in the plot, no less than twenty Army officers, three Naval officers, and at least twenty-four civilians, of which one was a governor of a loyal state. Five were bankers of great repute, three were nationally known newspapermen, and eleven were industrialists of great repute and wealth. Eighty-five thousand dollars were contributed by the named persons to pay for the deed. Only eight persons knew the details of the plot and the ident.i.ty of others. I fear for my life."
There is no consensus about whether Neff"s hidden message is authentic. What we do know for sure is that Stanton did not hesitate to ask the previously disgraced Baker to lead the Booth investigation-this at a time when the secretary of war had every single detective in the nation at his disposal-and that Baker magically pinpointed Booth"s actual location when the thousands of soldiers and detectives combing the woods and swamps could not.
I t should be noted that Neff"s hypothesis and his entire body of work have been repudiated and dismissed by the vast majority of trained historians and a.s.sa.s.sination scholars. Civil War Times, which originally published his findings about the cipher messages, later denounced him.
Once Neff became involved with the movie The Lincoln Conspiracy and began promoting bizarre theories about Booth"s escape and a later second life in India, he became even more ostracized from mainstream scholars.
The fact remains, however, that Stanton"s withholding of Booth"s diary was suspicious, as is the subject of the eighteen missing pages. No one has adequately explained this behavior, thus allowing some conspiracy theorists to continue to wonder if he had a larger role in Lincoln"s a.s.sa.s.sination.
Baker became increasingly paranoid after the congressional investigation, certain that he would be murdered. And he was right! Just eighteen months after the investigation, he was found dead in his home in Philadelphia. While Baker was at first believed to have died from meningitis, evidence now points to a slow and systematic death by poisoning. Again, this evidence comes from Ray Neff. The Indiana State University professor used an atomic absorption spectrophotometer to a.n.a.lyze strands of Baker"s hair. The results showed that a.r.s.enic had been slowly introduced into his system during the last months of his life. Comparing the rising levels of a.r.s.enic with diary entries made by Baker"s wife, Neff noted a correlation with visits from Wally Pollack, Baker"s brother-in-law, who was in the habit of bringing imported German beer to Baker"s house whenever he came calling. Pollack, not incidentally, also worked under Secretary Stanton as a War Department employee. The suspicion is that Pollack poisoned Baker by mixing small amounts of a.r.s.enic into the beer. Whether or not he acted alone is a matter of conjecture.
Abraham Lincoln"s irresponsible bodyguard John Parker never presented himself for duty or tried to help in any way on the night of the a.s.sa.s.sination. Incredibly, Parker was not held accountable for shirking his duties. In fact, the first time he was seen after the a.s.sa.s.sination was when he showed up at a Washington police station the next morning in the company of a known prost.i.tute. Formal police charges of dereliction of duty were pressed against Parker, but once again he was acquitted. Three years later, after many attempts to remove him from the police department, Parker was finally booted for "gross neglect of duty." He went on to work as a carpenter and machinist. He died of pneumonia on June 28, 1890, at the age of sixty.
Lincoln"s responsible bodyguard William Crook had a more esteemed career, working in the White House for more than fifty years-a time that spanned administrations from Abraham Lincoln"s to Woodrow Wilson"s. However, it was his relationship with Lincoln that he treasured most, and his 1910 memoirs provide a vivid insight into the journey to Richmond and the events of April 14. Critics have accused Crook of padding his own part, but the book makes for compelling reading. William Crook died in 1915 from pneumonia, at the age of seventy-seven. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in a service attended by President Wilson.
After the war, Robert E. Lee applied for a pardon for his acts against the United States. Secretary of State William H. Seward did not file the pardon but instead gave it to a friend as a souvenir. The doc.u.ment wasn"t discovered for more than one hundred years. President Gerald R. Ford officially reinstated Lee as a U.S. citizen in 1975.
Ma.r.s.e Robert was buried not at his beloved Virginia home, Arlington, which was confiscated during the war and redesignated as a U.S. military cemetery, but at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia. He died on Columbus Day 1870, at the age of sixty-three.
Lee"s counterpart on the Union side, General Ulysses S. Grant, had an admirable career after the war ended. He remained in the army, helping to implement Reconstruction policies that guaranteed the black vote. He saw his popularity soar in the North. Elected president in 1868, he served two terms in office. Grant"s later years were filled with travel and, later, financial upheaval. After losing his entire fortune to bad investments in the early 1880s, he sat down to, with the help of editor Mark Twain, write his memoirs. Considered by many to be one of the best military autobiographies in history, Grant"s life story was a best seller. Royalties from the book guaranteed his family a comfortable life long after he died of throat cancer, on July 23, 1885.
The question "Who is buried in Grant"s tomb?" seems an obvious one, for Ulysses S. Grant is buried in this enormous mausoleum in New Y ork"s Riverside Park. However, so is Julia Grant. She died on December 14, 1902, at the age of seventy-six, and now lies alongside her husband.
After being discovered alive on the battlefield that day after the battle for High Bridge, Colonel Francis Washburn was immediately transported to a field hospital, then home to Ma.s.sachusetts, where he died one week after Lincoln did. Coincidentally, he pa.s.sed away on the exact same day as the Confederacy"s General James Dearing, his opposite on the field of battle. They were the last two casualties of High Bridge.
Two officers present at Sayler"s Creek, General James "Pete" Longstreet and General George Armstrong Custer, followed remarkably different paths after the Civil War. Longstreet"s longtime friendship with Grant figured prominently in his embrace of pro-Union Reconstruction efforts, much to the chagrin of diehard rebels, who soon began an active series of revisionist attacks on the great southern general, attempting somewhat successfully to impugn his reputation as a leader and paint him as a coward. By the time Longstreet died, in 1904, at the age of eighty- two, he had served as a diplomat, a civil servant, and a U.S. marshal. A house fire consumed all of his Civil War memorabilia, leaving almost no legacy other than his autobiography to set his wartime record straight.
General Custer continued to fight, using the same aggressive, impulsive tactics that served him so successfully at Sayler"s Creek. In his time he would become far better known for his battles on America"s western frontier and for his friendships with other larger-than-life figures, such as Buffalo Bill Cody. In June 1876, Custer and his Seventh Cavalry were sent to Montana to force Sioux and Cheyenne Indians back to their reservations. On the morning of June 25, his scouts reported that a small band of warriors were camped along the Little Bighorn River. Behaving in much the same fashion as he did at Sayler"s Creek, Custer split his cavalry into three columns and attacked without making a preliminary study of the terrain.
The results were disastrous. Custer and his men were soon cut off, surrounded by a vastly superior force of Oglala Sioux under the legendary warrior Crazy Horse. Custer ordered his men to shoot their horses and stack the bodies to shield them from incoming rifle fire, but within an hour every last man was dead. When the Battle of the Little Bighorn was over, the bodies of the slain soldiers were stripped and mutilated, thanks to an Indian belief that the soul of a mutilated body would wander the earth without rest for eternity. Scalps were taken, stomachs slit open, eardrums punctured, and genitals dismembered. In the case of Custer"s brother T om, who had won his second of two congressional Medals of Honor at Sayler"s Creek, his heart was cut out and eaten. Another brother, twenty-seven-year-old Boston, was also killed and scalped.
Strangely, the only body left unmutilated was that of George Armstrong Custer. When U.S. soldiers later came upon the battlefield, they described Custer"s face as being a mask of calm. A round .45-caliber bullet hole in his left temple and another just below his heart were the only signs of violence-and point to the likelihood that he was killed by a long-range rifle shot.
Initially, Custer was buried in a shallow grave on the battlefield, next to his brother T om. News of the devastating defeat was quickly conveyed to Fort McPherson, Nebraska, then on to Washington, D.C., by telegraph. I ronically, word of Custer"s defeat arrived in the nation"s capital on July 4, 1876-America"s first centennial. In its own way, the death of Custer was as traumatizing as that of Lincoln, emboldening the United States Army to seek revenge against the Indians in the same way Lincoln"s a.s.sa.s.sination had northerners seeking revenge against the South. Custer was just thirty-six when he died. His body was later relocated from the Little Bighorn and buried at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
William Seward would live just seven more years after being attacked in his own bed on the night of Lincoln"s a.s.sa.s.sination, but in that time he would undertake an activity that would leave an even longerlasting legacy than the heinous attack. In 1867, while still serving as secretary of state and still bearing the disfiguring facial scars of the knife attack, he purchased Alaska for the United States. What soon became known as "Seward"s Folly" would later be seen as a huge a.s.set when silver and gold and oil were discovered in the new territory. Seward died on October 10, 1872. He was seventy-one.
Major Henry Reed Rathbone, present in the box on the night Lincoln was shot, later married his date from that evening, Clara Harris.
Unfortunately for Harris, Rathbone later went insane and killed her with a knife. He was inst.i.tutionalized for the remainder of his life.
Boston Corbett, the man who shot John Wilkes Booth, received a handsome reward for the killing, even though he"d disobeyed orders. He left themilitary soon afterward, first working as a hatter, then serving as a.s.sistant doorman for the Kansas state legislature. I t appears that the mercury used in making hats, which was well known for causing insanity (giving rise to the term "mad as a hatter"), caused him to become mentally unstable.
In 1887 he, too, was sent to an insane asylum, after brandishing a revolver in the legislature. He escaped, then moved north to Minnesota, where he died in the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894. He was sixty-two.
Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O"Laughlen were all given life sentences for their roles in the a.s.sa.s.sination conspiracy. Ned Spangler, the besotted sceneshifter, received a six-year sentence. All were sent to the Dry T ortugas, a baking-hot group of islands west of the Florida Keys. Their jailers, black Union soldiers, had complete power over the daily movements of these white supremacists. O"Laughlen died of fever while in prison, at the age of twenty-seven. Spangler, Mudd, and Arnold were pardoned in 1869 by Andrew Johnson and lived out their days as law-abiding citizens.
The man who helped John Wilkes Booth and David Herold escape into Virginia, Thomas Jones, was circ.u.mspect about his role in the a.s.sa.s.sination for many years. He was taken into custody shortly after Booth was killed and spent seven weeks in the Old Capital Prison before being released. Even though he became a justice of the peace after the war, the tight-lipped former member of the Confederate Secret Service was ever after wary of persecution for aiding John Wilkes Booth and David Herold. That changed in 1893, when he wrote a 126-page book telling his side of the events. Jones died on March 5, 1895, at the age of seventy-four.
Perhaps the most shadowy figure in the Lincoln conspiracy, John Surratt, Mary Surratt"s son, could have been instrumental in reducing his mother"s sentence by showing that her part in the a.s.sa.s.sination was that of pa.s.sive support instead of active partic.i.p.ation. But rather than give the testimony that might have spared her life, John Surratt fled to Montreal, Canada, immediately after the a.s.sa.s.sination, where he followed the news of his mother"s trial and execution. Surratt then fled to England under an a.s.sumed name and later continued on to the Vatican, where he served in the Papal Zouaves. He was discovered and arrested but escaped. Another international search for Surratt soon found him in Alexandria, Egypt.
Arrested again, he was brought back to the United States to appear before a judge. Amazingly, the jury deadlocked on his involvement. John Surratt was free to go. He died in 1916 at the age of seventy-two.
Mary Surratt"s body was reburied in the Catholic cemetery at Mount Olivet in Washington, D.C., where it remains to this day. The pet.i.tion to spare Mary"s life never got to President Andrew Johnson; his a.s.sistant Preston King kept the information away from Johnson. But apparently that action preyed on King"s conscience. A few months later, King tied a bag of bullets around his neck and leapt from a ferryboat in New Y ork"s harbor; he was never seen again. He was fifty-nine years old.
EPILOGUE.
The last days of Abraham Lincoln"s life included perhaps the most dramatic events in the nation"s history. I t is eerie that Abraham Lincoln found much solace in the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, given that the two great men met their ends in the same way. Caesar was betrayed by his countrymen, as was Lincoln. Both men died within months of their fifty-sixth birthday, before they could complete their life"s work.
Just as the story of Julius Caesar has been told and retold for centuries, the tragedy that befell Lincoln should be known by every American. His life and death continue to shape us as a people, even today. America is a great country, but like every other nation on earth it is influenced by evil. John Wilkes Booth epitomizes the evil that can harm us, even as President Abraham Lincoln represents the good that can make us stronger.
Appendix.
RE-CREATION OF HARPER"S WEEKLY.
The April 29, 1865, edition of Harper"s Weekly was entirely devoted to the a.s.sa.s.sination and death of Abraham Lincoln. The edition went to the printers just hours after word reached Washington that John Wilkes Booth had been located and shot dead. This gives the writers" words an urgency and heartfelt emotion that allow modern readers to gain a very real sense of how the nation was reacting to Lincoln"s death. On the day that it came out, Lincoln"s funeral train was traveling from Cleveland to Columbus, Ohio, and the trial of the conspirators had not yet begun. The nation was still very much at a loss over how to deal with this national tragedy. Here we reprint the entire text of the article "The Murder of the President" as it appeared in that edition.
THE MURDER OF THE PRESIDENT.
The Fourteenth of April is a dark day in our country"s calendar. On that day four years ago the national flag was for the first time lowered at the bidding of traitors. Upon that day, after a desperate conflict with treason for four long, weary years-a conflict in which the nation had so far triumphed that she breathed again in the joyous prospect of coming peace-her chosen leader was stricken down by the foul hand of the cowardly a.s.sa.s.sin. Exultation that had known no bounds was exchanged for boundless grief. The record upon which had been inscribed all sorts of violence possible to the most malignant treason that ever sought to poison a nation"s heart had been almost written full. But not quite full. Murder had run out its category of possible degrees against helpless loyalists in the South, against women and children whose houses had been burned down over their heads, and against our unfortunate prisoners, who had been tortured and literally starved to death. But there still remained one victim for its last rude stroke-one victim for whom, it was whispered in rebel journals South and North, there was still reserved the dagger of a BRUTUS.
Beaten on every field of recognized warfare, treason outdid its very self, and killed our President.
The man who lent himself to traitors for this vile purpose was JOHN WILKES BOOTH, who sold himself, it may be, partly for the pieces of silver, but chiefly for the infamous notoriety attaching to such an act. There was an ancient villain who deliberately purposed to perpetuate the memory of his name among men by an act of awful sacrilege-a sacrilege so striking as never to be forgotten-and he burned the temple of the Ephesian Diana. EROSTRATUS gained his end, and has been remembered accordingly. A memory far more detestable is in store for JOHN WILKES BOOTH, who dared, by the commission of an infinitely greater sacrilege, to bring a whole people to tears.
He was the third son born in America of the eminent English tragedian JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH. There were three brothers, JUNIUS BRUTUS, Jun., EDWIN, and JOHN WILKES, all of whom inherited a predilection for the stage. EDWIN, however, is the only one of these who has attained a very eminent position as an actor, and he is probably surpa.s.sed by no living man. In justice to him it is proper here to state that he is true and loyal, and exacts our sincerest sympathy. The elder BOOTH, father of these three actors, died thirteen years ago. He pa.s.sed the quieter portion of his lifeupon his farm, in Harford County, some thirty miles from Baltimore. JOHN WILKES BOOTH, the murderer, was born in 1839, and is now only twenty-six years of age. He went upon the stage at the early age of seventeen, simply as JOHN WILKES. As stock actor he gained a fair reputation, and afterward a.s.suming his full name, he began a more ambitious career. But, partly on account of his dissolute habits, he never achieved a marked success. He performed chiefly in the South and West. He has appeared but few times before a New Y ork audience. In person he bears considerable resemblance to his father. His eyes are dark and large; his hair of the same color, inclined to curl; his features finely molded; his form tall, and his address pleasing. He abandoned his profession recently on account of a bronchial affection. I t is said that he has frequently threatened to kill President LINCOLN. His companions have been violent Secessionists, and there are doubtless many others involved to a greater or less degree in his crime. The attempt to a.s.sa.s.sinate Secretary SEWARD was made probably by an accomplice. I t is supposed that Secretary STANTON and ANDREW JOHNSON were to have been added to the list of victims. The latter, at least, received on Friday a card from BOOTH, but was not at home.
Those who were acquainted with BOOTH"S movements on the fatal Friday say that his manner was restless. He knew that the President and his party intended to be present at Ford"s Theatre in the evening. He asked an acquaintance if he should attend the performance, remarking that if he did he would see some unusually fine acting. I t was the general expectation that General GRANT would form one of the President"s party, and there are many who suppose that a blow was intended for him as well as the President. The latter had pa.s.sed the day in the usual manner. In the morning his son, Capt. ROBERT LINCOLN, breakfasted with him.-The Captain had just returned from the capitulation of ROBERT E. LEE, and the President listened with great interest to his narration of the detailed circ.u.mstances. After breakfast he conversed for an hour with Speaker COLFAX about his future policy as to the rebellion which he was about to submit to his Cabinet. At 11 o"clock the Cabinet met. Both the President and General GRANT were present. Having spent the afternoon with Governor OGLESBY , Senator YATES, and other leading citizens of his State, he went to the theatre in the evening with Mrs. LINCOLN, in order to unite in the general expression of popular joy for our late victories. The party consisted of Mrs. Senator HARRIS and daughter, and Major HENRY RATHBONE, Of Albany. They arrived at ten minutes before nine o"clock, and occupied a private box over-looking the stage. The play for the evening was The American Cousin.
BOOTH came upon his errand at about 10 o"clock. He left his horse in charge at the rear of the theatre, and made his way to the President"s box.
This box is a double one, in the second tier at the left of the stage. When occupied by the Presidential party the separating part.i.tion is removed, and the two boxes are thus thrown into one. We give an accurate plan of the box on page 259.-According to Major RATHBONE"S statement, the a.s.sa.s.sin must have made his preparations in the most deliberate manner beforehand. Of this fact there are at least four proofs, as we shall see: Stealthily approaching the dark pa.s.sageway leading to the box, BOOTH, after having effected an entrance, closed the hall door, and then, taking a piece of board which he had prepared for the occasion, placed one end of it in an indentation excavated in the wall, about four feet from the floor, and the other against the moulding of the door-panel a few inches higher. He thus made it impossible for any one to enter from without; and securing himself against intrusion in that direction, he proceeded to the doors of the box. There were two of those. Here also the villain had carefully provided before hand the means by which he might, unnoticed himself, observe the position of the parties inside. With a gimlet, or small bit, he had bored a hole in the door-panel, which he afterward reamed out with his knife, so as to leave it a little larger than a buck-shot on the inside, while on the other side it was sufficiently large to give his eye a wide range. T o secure against the doors being locked (they both had spring-locks), he had loosened the screws with which the bolt-hasps were fastened. In regard to the next stage of BOOTH"S movements there is some degree of uncertainty. He had been noticed as he pa.s.sed through the dress-circle by a Mr. FERGUSON, who was sitting on the opposite side of the theatre.
This man knew BOOTH, and recognized him. He had been talking with him a short time before. FERGUSON states that when BOOTH reached the door of the corridor leading from the dress-circle to the boxes he halted, "took off his hat, and, holding it in his left hand, leaned against the wall behind him." After remaining thus for the s.p.a.ce of half a minute, "he stepped down one step, put his hand on the door of the little corridor leading to the box, bent his knee against it," when the door opened and BOOTH entered. After his entrance to the corridor he was of course invisible to FERGUSON, and, before the fatal shot, was probably seen by no one but the sentry at the door of the corridor. The latter he is said to have pa.s.sed on the plea that the President had sent for him. What pa.s.sed before the shot is only conjecturable. He made his observations, doubtless, through the aperture in the door provided for that purpose. And here we come upon another proof of a deliberately-prepared plan. The very seats in the box had been arranged to suit his purpose, either by himself or, as is more likely, by some attache of the theatre in complicity with him. The President sat in the left-hand corner of the box, nearest the audience, in an easy armchair. Next to him, on the right, sat Mrs. LINCOLN, Some distance to the right of both Miss HARRIS was seated, with Major RATHBONE at her left and a little in the rear of Mrs. LINCOLN. BOOTH rapidly surveyed the situation. The play had reached the second scene of the third act. Mrs. LINCOLN, intent on the play, was leaning forward, with one hand resting on her husband"s knee. The President was leaning upon one hand, and with the other was adjusting a portion of the drapery, his face wearing a pleasant smile as it was partially turned to the audience. As to the act of a.s.sa.s.sination, there are two conflicting statements. According to one, BOOTH fired through the door at the left, which was closed. But this seems to have been unnecessary; and it is far more probable that he entered rapidly through the door at the right, and the next moment fired. The ball entered just behind the President"s left ear, and though not producing instantaneous death completely obliterated all consciousness.
Major RATHBONE hearing the report, saw the a.s.sa.s.sin about six feet distant from the President, and encountered him; but BOOTH shook off his grasp. The latter had dropped his weapon-an ordinary pocket-pistol-and had drawn a long glittering knife, with which he inflicted a wound upon the Major; and then, resting his left hand upon the railing, vaulted over easily to the stage, eight or nine feet below. As he pa.s.sed between the folds of the flag decorating the box, his spur, which he wore on the right heel, caught the drapery and brought it down. He crouched as he fell, falling upon one knee, but quickly gained an up-right position, and staggered in a theatrical manner across the stage, brandishing his knife, and shouting, "Sic semper tyrannis!" He made his exit by the "tormentor" on the opposite side of the stage, pa.s.sing MISS KEENE as he went out. The villain succeeded in making his escape without arrest. In this he was probably a.s.sisted by accomplices and by MOSBY"S guerillas.