The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1869-02-26
THE LASTOF THE LINCOLN TRAG-
EDY,
The Rem aims of Booth, Harold and
Atzerodt, Delivered Up.
Washington Correspondence of the N.
World

Lincoln died. On the 18th OF August,
1867, public sentiment extorted out of the
pachydermatous Edwin NJ Stanton, the
place, time and circumstances of the burl
al of the man who killed Abraham Lin
coin, and the secret of the grave of John
Wilkes Booth became known not only for
the first time to the country, but for the
first tiw,e to his relatives who are few, and
to his friends who are many. Since then
the secluded room in the first of the ware
houses in the military buildings on the old
arsenal ground has been visited by many
hundreds Of people, actuated by all the
feelings which run between and connect
curiosity and affection. To-day. on the
18th OF February, the body of Booth was
finally taken up by order OF the president
of the United States, and the order read
as follows
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, |
February Is, 1869, P. NJ,
To Erigadier Gen. Ramsey, Commanding
at ArSenGl
The president directs that you give over
the body Of Mr.. John Wilkes Booth to the
bearer, Mr.. John I'll. Weaver, sexton Of
Christ Church Baltimore, to be by him
taken in charge for proper re e-interment.
Please report the execution of this order.
(Signed) Z. d. TOWNSEND,
Assist. Adjt General.
This order was issued by the deputy at 8
p NJ the order of Mr.. johnson On which
it was based was issued at p. NJ; Mr..
Weaver and Messrs. Mari and Harvey,
undertakers Of this city, drove into the ar
senal grounds and at 8 P. NJ. the little
one horse express wagon they came in and
bore out white pine case smelling of earth
and covered with common stable blanket
In that case was the body of Booth, aud
with it the men drove away to Mari i
Haryey's place On Z street. There the
pine box was encased in another larger
pine box, and to>night it left under the
charge of Mr.. Weaver in the train for Bal
timore. He has been instructed by Ed
win Booth, now playing In his own theatre
in New York, to keep the body in his,
Weaver's, house, % Fayette street, Balti-
more, during the night, to place the re-
mains in a rosewood coffin, and with entire
privacy to bury them alonside OF his faith
e., Junius Brutus Booth in Greenmount
Cemetery to morrow at ii o'clock. 1t
would be only reproduction to narrate the
mode, time, and manner OF Booths mid
night burial Briefly he was interreed,
with secrecy which smacked of the inqui
sition, ut the dead Of night, under the flag
stone floor Of a warehouse on the arsenal
grounds Only Stanton, Holt, and Baker
were present in addition to the file of sol
diers who dug the grave aud were then
marched off, and the hands of Stanton.
Holt and Baker bore in the body of the vic
tim of Boston Corbett, shoveled in and
ieveled down the earth, and replaced the
stone flooring However this may be, it is
certain that the file of soldiers were ex-
changed into a regiment on duty on the
plains, and that many and very strong rea-
sons were given to these men to suppress
the scene at which the secretary OF war of
hciated as head sexton upon the remains oi
a man hunted to Virginia barn, burnt out Of
it as rat, and shot by a crazy relgiomasi-
ac in the spinal chord. Since then no di
rect effort has been made till last week by
the Booth family to get the body Of the
youngest, though | believe the request was
made and barbarousy refused to give ovel
to Edwin Booth the shirts, shoes, ant
stockings which Stanton held. till Grant
went into the war department, I'D interina
when the trunk was handed over On last
Friday, John I'll. WeaS er presented let
ter irc m Edwin Booth to Andrew John
son, simply requesting the custody of his
brothers body, and 1t was granted, as be
fore told, to day, and the expedition witt
which the order was effected has already
been Indicated | was present this after
| noon at the arsenal with Messrs Weaver
Mari and Harvey, and the events which
occurred were SO brief and purely officia
| that it required the association of time ant
| place, and the me-. y Of all the tragedies
| there cuipinatlng, ~ enforce the suggest
iveness if not the historical Importance o
the scene even on the most impressibi,
mind. As said the gentlemen entrusted
with the reception of the remains arrived
at the arsenal yard at 4 P. NJ, Mr.. Weaver
bearing the order to General Ramsey de-
livered it to the Captain +. FL. Phipps, Of
the ordnance crops, officer of the day il
charge. Mr.. Weaver's interview with
Captain Phipps lasted some fifteen min
utes in the latter office. At the end oI
that time the captain and Mr.. Weaver re
appeared. TIE rest of the party, includ
ing your correspondent, followed them &c
two ponderous iron doors, which doyetaied
on one another, and which were opened 10y
Mr.. Tapso, the civilian superintendent oi
the warehouse. The doors were exactly a.
those of vault Entering into the ware
house, we found that before the varied con
tents of the long room stretching ahead
could be scanned, short turn to the left
brought us TO the side door under the floor
of which was first buried Booth, and sub,
sequently the rest of the conspirators, as
they are called, and yet more subsequently
Captain Wirz, the Andersonvile jailor
The room is rectangle, about forty by
twenty feet, and about twenty feet high al
so. 1t is lined with shelves running VI
and across so as to form very many square
pigeon holes, which are filled with boxes,
bottles, tools and othe. odds and ends, in.
Guiding pieces of rope, small chains and
many other articles Right in the centre
of the room the ordinary hagstono flooring
had been taken up, and the gaps left by
the disinterment Of Mrs. Suratt, on Mon
day last, and of Harold on Saturday night
had ho. been filed up. The earth was
heaped high on both sides. The peculiar
ity ofthe graves is, that tLey are no graves.
4 single trench, FIVE feet high, fifteen feet
long, and six feet wide, has held the ugly
boxes which contained in order the bod les
of Mrs. Surratt, Captain Wiz, Lewis
Payne alias Powell, George A. A'zerodt,
David L. Harold, and John Wilkes Booth.
Mrs. Surratt's disintermeEt left the boxes
holding Wiiz and Payne and Alzerodt,