The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-15 00:00:00

AMERICA.

:QUEENSTOWN, Saturday Morning.
The Cunard Royal Mail steamer Persia, from
New York the 3d inst., has arrived.
The funeral of the late President Lincoln had
reached Chicago, and was about to proceed to
Springfield Cemetery, where the body is to be in-
terred. _ _

Accounts respecting Mr. Seward and his son
continue to be favourable.

A Washington despatch of April 29 says
" Notice has been given by our Consul-General
in Canada that all the criminals connected with the
murder of Mr. Lincoln must be surrendered to the
United States' authorities. This has a meaning."
The mystery as to the disposal of Booth's body
has not been cleared up. It is stated that not half
a dozen persons in all are:acquainted with the truth
of the matter. The Washington Star of the 29th
ult. furnishes the following additional details of
Booth's movements subsequent to the assassina-
tion

" There no longer remains any doubt that Booth
fractured his leg when he sprang from the Presi-
dent's box upon the stage. It being one of the
small bones, it is not probable that he discovered
the extent of the injury until the next day. On
the night of the assassination the confederates of
Booth were actively engaged in measures to divert
pursuit from the right direction, and a number of
horses were turned loose, with no other object than
to convey the idea that the ~,,aasins were still in
the city. The report of Booth's being seen in Penn-
sylvania was also started by his friends, it is be-
lieved ; but all such canards were neglected, the
detectives steadily and surely tracing the murderer
in all his wanderings through Maryland. Early on
Saturday morning the detectives and military were
sent across the Eastern Branch, others following
in quick succession, until Prince George's, Charles,
and St. Mary's counties were fully enveloped.
Colonel Ludington, chief quartermaster of this
department, was called on to furnish horses, and
at one time there was not left at headquarters a
single waggon or available horse. The first reliable
information concerning Booth was obtained on
Saturday morning at Surratt's tavern, about ten
miles from the city, on the road to Bryantown. The
military called at this place, but failed to get any de-
finite statement until the detectives came up. The
tavern is owned by Mrs. Suratt, and leased to the
old man who keeps it. Upon a close examination he
stated that Mrs. Suratt had been there on Friday
afternoon, and left word that two men would arrive
during the night, who were to be generously pro-
vided for. She also directed that two carbines sus-
pended by a string between the plastering of a par-
tition should be given them. Booth and Harrold
arrived as expected, and remained until some time
Saturday forenoon; but on leaving Booth declined
to take a carbine, stating that he was too lame to
carry it. Harrold, however, took one, and the two
set out for the lower counties. Upon reaching the
neighbour of Bryantown, near Port Tobacco, Booth's
leg became too painful to proceed further, and the
services of Dr. Mudd, of that vicinity, were called
into requisition. After the fracture had been dressed
and Booth had left the detectives arrested Mudd,
who denied all knowledge of the character of his
patient. The boot, however, which had been cut off
from Booth's foot, the inflammation rendering it
impossible to draw it off, was found, and in it was
written with ink J. Wilkes,' the word Booth evi-
dently having been scratched out with a knife. Why
any portion of the name was left is a mystery, unless
a sudden alarm hurried off the party before the
completion of the erasure. The next place Booth
and Harrold were heard from was at the house of a
Dr. Coxe. The latter upon being questioned denied
having seen any such parties, but said that three
paroled rebel soldieh had applied there for accom-
modation and had been sent away. Coxe's servants
all asserted that the two men had staid there over
night, that their master had entertained them in the
most hospitable manner, and on their departure next
morning gave each a quantity of whisky. The detec-
tives next came upon the fugitives near the Sachiar
Swamp, in Charles County. There they found a dila-
pidated shantly occupied by an old coloured woman,
who stated that on that morning two men, one of them
with a crutch, had come out of the woods and asked for
something to eat, offering to pay any sum for it. She
being afraid of them told them she had nothing; that
there were no white people around there, and that
they could get nothing to eat in that vicinity. The
lame man then inquired the direction to the great
swamp, which she gave, and the two went off. The
shanty stands in a small clearing, surrounded on all
sides by dense pine woods, with the exception of
one side, bounded by the swamp. The Bth Illinois
Cavalry and a regiment of coloured troops were im-
mediately sent through the swamp in every direc-
tion, searching every thicket, but without finding
any trace of the assassins, the latter having evi-
dently secreted themselves in the pine woods and
made their escape while the swamp was being scoured.
On Sunday afternoon Booth and Harrold crossed
the Potomac at Swan Point, a short distance below
Matthias Point, and passing Port Royal en route to
Louisa Court-house, were captured (as previously
described) at Garrett's place. Facts have come to
light which show conclusively that Booth and hisac-
complices had, before carrying their plans into exe-
cution, decided upon the routes to be taken in
making their escape. Maps, understood to be in the
possession of the Government, and which are known
to have belonged to these parties, bear distinct
marks of the routes laid out by them. Booth and
Harrold were to escape to Rebeldom and seek Jef-
ferson Davis's protection, who was finally to assist
them in leaving the country. Harrold, in conver-
sation with an acquaintance of his who resides in
Maryland, some time previous to the murder of Pre-
sident Lincoln, made a remark to the effect that
there was no extradition treaty between the United
States and Spain, a remark that excited no special
attention at the time, but in the light of subse-
quent events it would appear that Booth and
himself contemplated shelter somewhere in the
Spanish dominions. Surprise has been expressed
that Booth selected such a shallow-pated blab-
mouth as Harrold as his nearest accomplice in so
terrible a plot. This mystery, we think, may be
explained in this way :—Harrold, a young man of
idle, vagabond habits, was a good shot and a capital
boatman, spending much of his time in gunning and
fishing excursions in the lower counties of Maryland,
acquiring in this way a thorough knowledge of the
country, especially its by-paths, forests, swamps,
and creeks, sought only by the hunter and fisher.
On the outbreak of the rebellion this knowledge
made his services valuable in the capacity of guide
for blockade-runners, and there is no doubt that he
has been actively engaged in that business through-
out the war. Doubtless he was recommended to
Booth as a suitable guide in his flight, and that the
acquaintance between them was formed in that way,
But for the injury received by Booth in jumping to
tilestage,
by which he was crippled, it is possible
that the well arranged plan of escape might have
succeeded. But the outraged flag of our country,
trampled upon by Booth in his exit from the box,
would seem to have been endowed with powers of
volition, seizing him by the spur and causing him to
fall crippled on the stage, whereby his flight was
intercepted and his few days of Cain-like existence
made days of agony intense. It is believed that had
he not been immediately captured death would have
ensued from mortification of his broken leg--uncared
for as it necessarily was and in constant use. Traces
at points of his route indicated that he attempted
to obliterate the tell-tale marks of his crutch in the
earth, whereby his route might be traced,ot u
and that
the
he hopped on one leg at other points, n
crutch, to the same end." g
A letter written by Booth to his mother, dated on
the morning of the 14th of April, the day of assassi-
nation, has fallen into the hands of the Government
authorities. It is directed to " Mrs. M. A. Booth,
No. 28, East Nineteenth-street, N.Y.," and bears a
Washington, D. C., Post-office stamp, dated April
14. It bears the appearance of having been written
in considerable haste, and is all contained on one
side of half a sheet of note paper :

"April 14, 2 a.m.
" Dearest Mother,—l know you expect a letter from me,
and am sure you will hardly forgive me. But indeed I have
had nothing to write about. Everything is dull—that is,
has been till last night (the illumination). Everything w"