The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1865-04-20
THE AssASsINATION.

Bf oru 1neaLre, In w aehlngtOn Clty
& He was shot in the back of the head
Hand lay in an unconscious state, unit
Saturday morning, when he died at %
kminutcs past seven. Without seeing
] the approach of death, without a strug-
9glc or torture, he closed his eyes in
IAN instant, and opened them in Heav-
Zen. God spared him the horror of the
passage through the dark valley, and
caught him up, like Elijah, without
ibis KNOWN 6 the pang of death.
h The wretch who has thus gained an
Immortality Of infamy, and who com
united, when all the circumstances are
considered, the most shocking and
Z.atrocous deed in history, is John
2Wilkes Booth, a play actor, son Of the
sonce eminent tragedian, and half
Ebrothcr to Edwin Booth, the present
distinguished actor. About the same
gmoment that President Lincoln was
4assassinated, an attempt was made up
Eon the life Of Secretary Seward, by an
Baccomplice, who stabbed him in the
Eneck and breast, while the Secretary
gwas lying in his bed with a broken
Harm. The evidence accumulating al
sWashington, shows plot to assassin
gatc, not only the President, but also
atho Vice President and the members
Eof the Cabinet. Booth and his accom-
epliccs are but the tools of horrid
conspiracy, the expectation OF which
must have been to produce anarchy by
assassinating the heads Of the Depart
ments, and thus overthrow the Gov.
1crnmcnt.
Any attempt to describe the mingled
feelings of horror, CONSERVATION, rage.
and grief, which the first announce
\ M ent OF the assassination created
would of course fail. We shall never
forget the shock with which hundreds
read those awful words on the bulletin
board in front of the State Journal Of
! fec, "Abrdhdm Lincoln died this
lmorning at 'wenty. y.fro minutes after
sercn" But where the gricf and hor-
J ror are universal, where tho whole
loyal people mourn together, no words
are needed to express the great afllic-
qtion.
How eagerly, since this "bloodicst
( picture in the book of Time" the .peo-
pie who loved Abraham Lir coin, have
Searched and asked for somc cxpIana- !
ton Of the purpose of this terrible dis !
|pensationl But God knows, and we
must wait until He reveals it. He
2prcserved Abraham Lincoln to SEQ the
rebellion crushed, and then took him
in blaze of glory, and while the
shouts of n grateful nation were ring
ling in his cars. 1t may bo that heI
would have been too merciiul to the
rebels. 1t may be that the loyal pco-
lplc, in their joy at the crushing of the
rebellion and tho approach of peace,
would have forgiven tho rebels tool
readily, and that the deep damnationl
|of this taking off was needed to arouscI
chem to tho pitch Of furnishing severe
|ly the greatest of all crimes, treason.
1T may bc that our rejoicing had goncI
far enough, and that we needed someI
terrible and Christening aflliction toI
check us.
Whom Charles Sumner said that
Slavery was tho sum Of all villainiesi
land tho blaokcst barbarism he toldI
the literal truth. And men begin to|
SEQ that God will destroy us, unless
Iwc utterly destroy slavery and thei
men who brought on the war in its de-
fcnsc. The nation must be purged off
this race Of men before wc can have!
peace. Their history is history of
outrage and crime. They have beonI
proud and murdcroUs, and have usedI
tho dagger and the pistol upon the
provocation. They have
Itarrcd and feathcrcd, whipped and
hung, our brothers, and even our wo-
men have been whipped and carried
Through tho streets naked. They
have torn tho entrals from helpless
inNgtoos with blood hounds. They
sent out all the fillibustcring ex-
|pcditions. They brought on the Mex,
lean war to acquire slave territory +,
land tho Kansas war to extend the
'accurscd institution. They plunged
tho nation into four years of unparal. J..
lcllcd war, they starved thousands of
our prisoners to death, and now their
principles and crimes havo eliminated
lin the murder OF tho President of the
|0at!on. Abraham Lincoln is martyr|
TO tho cause of human freedom and tho
rights of man. Let him be crowned
Set his bust on every tabIc and hang
his picture in every room. Erect his
lsintuto in ovorY nnhlio saunre, ThoI