Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-04-29
An Authentic History OF the Capture
of J. Wilkes BoOtEl, ut the Gar
rett' Farm in Caroline County, Va

OIL Wilkes ES0OIE, az GhAS "stA-
rettp Farm, in Caroline County, Va.
We copy from the Fredericksburg Herald
the following account written and signed by
Mr. Richard IT, Garrett, Of Caroline: -
On or about the Goth day Of April, 1904 re-
port was brought to our neighborhood from
Richmond, that President Lincoln had been
shot and killed in q theatre in Washing ton city,
by an actor whose name was supposed to be.
Booth, but no circumstances attending the
murder were stated On the 23d OF April, l.
heard the report confirmed by.a gentleman
from our section who had been TO Richmond,
and he stated that it was reported IN Richmond
that Mr.. Seward and Vice President johnson
had also been killed. On the Oath day OF
April, about 1 O clock p. M, three men rode
up to the edge of my yard. lwc1t out to them
and they were all strangers to me. The one
that was In front introduced himself to inc, as
Captain Jett He then introduced the two
men to me, the one as Lieutenant Rugges,
and the other as his friend Mr.. Boyd. lie
stated that Mr.. Boyd was 4 Confederate sol
der, who had belonged to General A. L. Hills
Corps, that he was badly wounded in the leg,
below Petersburg, q few days before the sur
render Of our army, that he and Llcutcnant
Rugges were going on little scout towards
Richmond TO see how matters were getting on,
and that his friend Boyd was suffering so much
from his wound, that he could not accompany
them on horseback, and that he would thank nc
to take care of him until Wednesday morning,
at which time they would cal for him. as it
had always been one Of the principles Of my
religion to entertain strangers, especially any IN
Distress l at once consented and promised L
would DO tho best | could for him. | found
when he alighted from the horse. he was on
crutchcs, and could not put one OF his legs to
the GROUND. He went with me to my house
and Jet and Ruggcs rode off, leading the
horse. on which Boyd had ridden when he came.
They went towards Bowling Green and saw
no more of them. Boyd took supper with my
family and slept that night in an upper room
in which my two sons, John NJ. aud Willie IT,,
and two Of my children slept. .-f.
My son John M. was in the house, up stairs,
when the three men were at my yard he came
to the window and saw them, but was not near
enough to hear any Of the conversation that
tranSpircd between Jctt and me, nor did he
know either Of the men, ncverh having seen them
before. Some time after breakfast, on Tuesday,
my son j ohm NJ. rode to shoc-makcr's, Mr..
Acors, about one and halt miles from my house,
to get his shoes mende1, and remained away
about two hours while there, Mr.. E. Gravatt,
the owner of the place on which Mr.. Acors re-
sided, came in, and he had by some means,
obtained Richmond newspaper, and in this
paper it was stated that reward OF $50, 900
had been offered Tor the arrest Of the muir
dercr Of President Lincoln. At dinner, alter
his return, he stated that he had seen this pa
per and the statement about the reward The
man Boyd looked at him, and said he should
not have been surprised if a reward Of $780,
900 had been offered, but that he had heard u
day or so before that the murderer had been
arrested between Baltimore and Philadelphia.
I asked him ii he had ever seen Booth, the
rcputed murderer, and if he was an elderly
man? lie said he had seen him once in Rich
mond, about the time Of the John Brown raid,
and that he thought he was rather a young
man. / thought at the time the murderer was
Mr.. Edwin Booth, Dcver having heard OF any
other Booth, as al actor. | was not mach
with the man during the day, as WAS attend
ing to my laborcrs he seemed to be restless,
and my family Informed me that he spent the
in the front yard. After / got my dinner, J.
went to where my laborcrs were at work, and
some time after, two men on horseback, with
third man riding behind one of them, rode
to my gate on the main road, aud the man that
was riding behind one OF the others, got down
and came to the house. The other two rode
off towards Port Royal. When this man came
to the house, the man that was here introduced
this one to my son John NJ. as his cousin
Boyd The man that came asked my son to-
let him spend the night. My son told him his
father was not at the house, and he was not IN
the habit Of granting permission to persons to
remain at night, and rather objected. The
man seemed to be anxious to remain, and said
he would wait until his father came to the
house. These two men then walked together
some $50 yards in front Of the house, and
seemed to be in earnest conversation for some
fifteen minutes, when they returned 10 the
yard. About this time the two men that had
ridden to Port Royal came back, riding very
fast, and said to the two men that we're here,
Yankee Calvary are crossing at Port Royal, and
you must take care of yourselves the best way
you can; and then .rodo off again rapidly to-
wards Port Royal. My son recognized one OF
these men as being one OF the men that came
to my house the. evening before with Boyd
The men that were here seemed to be very
much excited as [ was informed by my family,
and Boyd demanded Of my son John NJ, to go
the room in which he had slept and bring him
his pistols, which he did the other man had
brought with him a carbinc. My son said to
them, that he til ought it very probable that this
calvary were in pursuit of them, and if they
had done anything to cause pursuit, they must
leave here at once, as they would not only en-
danger themselves, but US also; they said they
had done nothing to cause pursuit, but would
leave the yard. About this time, one of my
children came to where [ was at work and told
me that Yankee calvary we're crossing at Port
Royal. | Immediately started to the house,
and when getting near to it, l. saw two men 60
ing from the house towards the woods, the
foremost one I recognized as Boyd; he
was one hundred yards in advance of the
other. Soon after got to the house, the latter
man returned to the yard [ told him [ did
not wish him to remain there that he would
cndangcr us as. we'll himself, if the cavalry
were in pursuit Of them. He said he had heard
that several horses belonging to the Federal
soldiers had been stolen the night before at
The Trap, place between this and Bowling
Green, and he expected these were cavalry