The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1865-05-29
HOW BOOTH WAS cAPrUEED.

HOW BOOTH WAS CAPTUEED.
The following account of the capture of Booth,
the murderer of President Lincoln, given by
Sergt Corbett before the court martial at Washing
ton: er
"When [ arrived at the house, ny>superior
officer, 1t Docherty, told NE that Booth was
there, and dlsected ME TO deploy men to the
rish.and Eeft round the bhildir,; and see that
no ole escaped, sby this time i"Iulries bad been
MADE as the house, and It was sscertained that
Booth was not in the house, but In the barn The
greater part Of the guard were Withdrawn from
the house aud placed around the barn, and or
ders were given to allow DO one to escape We
had been previously cautioned to see that our
arms were in .feadiness for use. Alter being
ordered to surrender, and told that the barn
woull be fred if they did not, We remained
there some minutes, Booth inquired who We
took him for; he said his leg was broken, and
what did We want with him. He was told that
it made no dlffere6ce who we were; that we
knew who they were aad that they must sUrren-
der themselves prisoners. He wanted TO
know where they would be taken if they gave
themselves up; no reply was given. The pariey
lasted much longer than the time first stated,
about half hour In the course of that time
~fngJy words passed, and Booth positively de-
elareu he,WouLd not surrender. At one time be
saids 'SWell, my boys, yoa-may get stTetcher
for me-" at another time ne said, "Well, Capt
makesquick work; shoot TIE through the hearG;
or words to that effect; so that | knew he. was
perfectly deS Sperare. and would Dot surrender.
After u while | heard whispering there; Booth
had previously declared there was no other per-
son in there The other person, Who proved to
Dc Harold, seemed to De trying to persuade
Booth 10 surrerder-we could not hear the
worrs After a while Booth sung out, "Captain,
there is u slsn in here who wants to surrender "
Ir orGs followed .itut | coud not bear what they
we're Booth said .Oh go out aud save your
liie;" he then caded otit, Il deolare before my
Maker this Ban is innocent OF any crime what
eyer" oS worcs to that effect Frrther aord4
followed, IN which HarolG seemed to tell Booth
thSt. be w0qtG net surrender He was told to
tuha his arms and come out; Harold declared he
had arms; Booth also declared that this other
man uaarmed; that the srms belonged to-
him. Immediately after this, Harold having
been aatea opt without arms, detective Lt-Col
C8Rder cane over te the side where ! was and
directed the barn to be fred I had pre-
ViouSly been standing before a crack in the
boarGS large enough 10 put in your hand L
knew that Booth could see Us, aud could have
picked US GI, and ne m TACT once made the re-
mark Il could have picked three or four Of your
men off, just Graw your men off fifty yarGs and
will come out;' he used such words many times:
when the fire was lighted (Which was almost
Immediately after Harold had been taken out of
the barn), | could see him distinctly in about
me middle oil the barn; he started, at first to-
wards the door, and I had c full front dress
view of him; | could have shot him much easier
;han at the time [ old, bat, as long as he made
10 demonstration | did not shoot hin; kept
my eye on him steadily; he turned toward the
.other side; he Brought his piece up to an aim,
and supposed be was going to fight his way
out I thought the tihe had come, and [ took
steady aim upon him and sho5 him, the ball en-
tered his head little back of the ear and came
ous little higher on the other side of the head;
he lived | think until about seven o'clock that
morning, perhaps two or three hours~after be
was shot; did not hear him speak after he vas
shot, except to cay out when he vas shot; 9TH !
eFs stated that he did utter words after that but
dld not hear any after shot him.
4 lhe Bank of the Commonwealth, we under |
ftand, is about to resume business. The effects |
set the Bank remaining are being removed to the !