The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-02-19

cd out OF the pacnydermatous Edwin Al. stan
ton. the place, time and circumstances OF the
burial Of the man wno killed Abraham Lincoln,
and the secret Of the grave OF John Wilkes
Booth became known not only tor tho first
tlme to the country, but for tiia first time to
his relatives who are few, and 70 his friends
who are many. Since then the secluded room
in the first OF tine warehouses i'll the military
buildings on the old arsenal ground has boon
visited by many hundreds OF peoelo, actuatcd
by all the mingled motives which run between
and connect curiosity and Affection. To-day,
on the 18Th OF February, the body OF Booth
was nuly taken up by order OF the President
OF the United States, and the order reads as
follows:
WAR DEPARTMENT. WAsH1NaroN.(
ebruars Is. 1867. 3 f.. NJ.
To sr,gadfer-G General Ramsey. Commanding at ar
1ho President directs that you give over the bo "
of John Wilkes Eo1th TO The bearer, Mr.. John Fl
Weaver, sexton of Christs Church, Baltimore, to be
Py s% n IN enge f
tSignedl 81. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adju.ant- General.
This order was issued by the deputy at P.
NJ; the order of Mr.. Johnson, onaHhch it was
based, was issued at P. NJ; at p. NJ Mr..
Weaver, and AIessrs. Mari u Harvey, under
takers Of this CITY, drove iuto the Arsenal
grounds; and at P. M. the little onc-horse ex-
press wagon they came in bore Ont white pine
case smelling of earth and covetea with a COM
mon stable blanket. In that casS,was the body
Of Booth, and with it tile men drove to alarr &,
Harvey's place Oh F-sreet. There tho pine box
was encased in another larger lnie box, and to-
nightit efG under charge Of Mr. Weaver in the
train for 3altim ore. He has beAn instructed
by Edwi Booth, now playing in his own thea
tire IN New York to keep the body in his (Wea-
ver's) house, No. "a Fayette- strest, Baltimore
during tonight, 20 place the rem ains in il rose
WOOD coffin, aud With entire privacy to bury
them alongside of his father, .Jnnius Beutus
Booth. in Greenmount CenctGry tomorrow,
at II o'clock. Ii is haIdly necessary to narrate
NrNF1 mid
hight burial. Briefly, he was inferred with a
secrecy winch smacked Of the Inquistion, at
the dead of night, under the flgstone floor OF
room IN the. warehouse on the arsenal
grounds Only Stanton, Holt and Baker were
present in addition to the file Of soldiers who
dug tho grave. Runlor has it that these SOL
diers. only dug tho grave and were then
marched off, and that the hands or Stanton
the victim OF Boston Corbett, shovelled
In and levelled down the earth, and re-
piacea the stone flooring. However this may
be, 1T Is certain that the ale of SosilerS were at
once exchanged iuto u regiment on duty on
the plains, and that many and very strong rea-
sons ~cre gwen to those men TO suppress the
scene at which tue Secretary of War o...ciated
as head sexton upon the remlanS of q man
hunted to Virginia barn burnt.ssu OF it as ~
rat, aud shot by II crazy religio manlc in tho
spinal chord. Since than no direct effort has
been made till last week bytle Bo2th family to
get the body or the youlgss thoagh believe
requests we're made and barearously refused
to give over TO Edwin Booth the shirts shoes
ana stockings which Stanton held, siil Grant
went into the War Department., dd saieres,
whom the trunk was handed over. Onlast
FRIDAY John. y. w Weaver presented a-,etfor fro n
IsJ1s;i y dse;g Jalflsos sim re-
guessing the custody Or nsse brother's body.
aud IL was grated. as De.ore told, to-
day, and the expedition with WHICH the
order was Elected has ben already indicated.
was present this afternoon at the arsenal,
with Mess 8. Weaver, Mari, and Harvey and
the events which occurred were SO briot and
purely official that it required the associations
OF the time AID place. an the memory OF al
the tragedies there eliminating 10 enforce the
sugSestiveness If not tho historical lmportan 70
OF the scene even Oh the most impressible
mind As SAID, the gentlemen entrusted with
the reception Of the remains arrived ut the ar-
senal yard at P. NJ, MIR. Weaver bearing the
order to General Ramsey, delivered it to Uan-
tain +. II Phipps, OF the ordnance Corps, Off
Ger OF the day in charge. MIR. Weaver's inter-
view with Captain Palpps lasted some fifteen
minutes in the latter's Office. At the end of
appeared. The rest or the party, including
your correspondent, followed them to two
ponderous iron doors. which dovetailed on
one another, and which w-re opened by
tho warehouse. Tho doors wore exactly
as those OF a vault. Entering into tie
warehouse, we found that before the varied
contents of the long room stretching ahead
could be scunned, q short turn to the cf5
brought us to the side room under the floor
OF which WIS first buried Booth, and subse-
quently tho rest ot tue con .nira. ors, as they
are called, and vet mora subsequently, Captain
W'rz, the Andersoavile jailor. The room is q
rectangle. about forty by twenty feet, and
about twenty feet high also. T. is lined with
shelves running up aud across so as to form
very. many square pigeon holes, which are
filled with boxes, bottles, tools and other odds
ana ends Including pieces OF rope, small
nrrIn Rffrnt in fl,n
centre OF the room tne ordinary fl ,gstone floor
ing had been taken up, aud the gaps left by
tho dlslnterment of Mrs. Surratt on Monday
last, and Of Harold 90 Sunday night, had not
botii sid S. Tho Popularity OF the graves is,
that they are no graves. A single trench live
feet deep fifaeon feet 10 ng, aud six feet wide
has he'd the u@ly boxes which contained in Or
der tho bodies OF Mrs. Surratt, Captain Wirz
Lewis Payne alias Pow ell George A. Az erodt
David e. Harold, and John Wilkes Booth.
Mrs. SnrratD's ulSn erment left he boxes hold
ing Wnz, and Payne, aud AzLerodt quite yisi-
bic. Harolds exhunlation last night, OF which
hereafter, would have revealed the box holding
Booth, had not the latter been covered up I'M
medlateiy af6erwar0. In this sort Of extra
importance was gwen to the lea ler. His
trends romans were left for the time exposed.
His were earthed over as quickly as the sue
coeding dlsln6orlnSnts revealed then, until the
word came to have himself borne 10 consecrat-
ed ground. The party once in the room. Cap-
tain Pnipns courteously and quietly informed
us OF the relative position Of the remains Of
each OF tue dead. The spectators were only
three unuergakers, o military officer and a
Journalist, but d spite tho hardness which the
familiarity with catasirophes aud death may be
supposed TO work upon such minds, there was q
something ofsolemhity, and sadness, and aw ul-
ness at those graves which toned The voice to
low utterance, induced each man to remove his
hat, and made conversation begin with and end
on the inerest neces sites Of the case. AS
much OF respect as could be was paid to the
presence OF tic dead. In five minutes file Of
soldiers came in, and, in response to an order
Of Captain Phipps, fell to work at the unburiul.
Both lay astAof the series OF victims, To
pursued ut its existing opening, TO take up-At.
zerudt aud Payns. That was tried. but the
woik it was soon found would exhaust the day
light, and the soldiers we're ordereCt to come out
OF the grave, throw back the right ha9ti pile OF
the earth upon the cofi0s, so-calIed, OF Atzerodt
and Wrz, just Visible, and to opep tho trench
from its fafthercnd 30 as oreach Booth dirsct-
~. The, work thus tar had been USE
less, and had consumed an honr OF very
preclous time. Tho soldi ia. v iiaSaYer with o