Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-04

Or. Mudd's Account of Booth, the As.
sassin, at HIS House.


A correspondent of the New
York Herald hunted up rr. Mudd
at his home in Maryland. The
Doctor was scared when told his
visitor was reporter, and did not
want to say anything, but talked a
little. We quote the correspond
ence:
"Above the middle height, with reds
dish moustaehs and chin whisker, high
forehead and attenuated nose. His ap-
pearance indicates a man Of calm and
slow reflection, gentle in manner and of
a very domestic turn. He says he was
born within few miles Of this house,
and has lived all his life in the country.
His whole desire now is to be allowed to
spend the balance of his days quietly in
the bosom Of his family. In his sunken,
lusterlets eye, pallid lips and cold, ashy
complexion, one can read the words
Dry Tortugls' with a terrible sig
niicance. In the prime Of his
years, looking prematurely cid and care
worn, the e are few, indeed, who could
gaze on the wreck and the ravages in
the face of this man before them with
out feeling sentiment Of sympathy and
eOmmiserati0n. 4 have come home
said the Doctor, sorrowfully, to find
nothing left me but my house and family.
No money, no provisions, no crops in the
ground, and no clear way before me
whence to derive means Of support in my
present enieebled condition. There was
no deception here In the scanty furni.
ture of the house, and in the pale, sad
countenance of the speaker, there was
evidence enough of poor and altered for
tune. 1t was now evening, and growing
rapidly dark A big fire blazed on the
ample hearth, aud Mrs Mudd, an INTEL
ligent and handsome lady, with one of
her children, Joined the Doctor and our
selves in the conversation over the events
of that memorable April morning after
the assassination.
did you see Both, Mrs. MuddY we
inquired, with a feeling of intense inter-
osito hear her reply.
Yes, she replied, Il saw himself and
Harold after they entered this parlor.
Booth stretched himself out on that sofa
there, and Harold stopped down to whiss
per something to him.
How did Booth look?
every bad. He seemed as though he
had been drinking very hard his eyes
were red and swollen, and his hair in
dis order
did he appear to suffer much2
mot after he laid down on the sofa
In fact, it seemed as if hardly anything
was wrong with him then
"'What kind of fracture did Booth
sustain ? we inquired, addressing the
doctor
well said he after be was laid down
on the sofa and having told me that his
leg was fractured by his horse falling on
him during his journey up from Rich
mond, took knife and split the leg
of his boot down to the instep, slipped it
off and the sock with it; then felt cares
fully with both hands down along his
leg, but at first could could discover moth
ing like crepitation until, after a second
investigation, found on the outside,
near the ankle, something that felt like
indurated flesh, and then for the first
time | concluded it was a direct and
clean fraction Of the boae. then impro-
Vised out of pastetOard sort of boot
that adhered close enough to the leg to
keep it rigidly straigh below the knee,
without at all interfering with the fexion
of the leg. A low. cut shoe was substi-
tuted for leather boot, and between 5
and o'clock in the morning Booth and
his companions started of for a point ON
the river below.
"'How did Booth horse loo K after his
long Iiley We inquired.
- THE boy, after putting him up in the
stable, the Doctor replied, reported that
his back underneath the forward part of
the saddle was raw and bloody This
circumstance tailed with Booths &C.
count that he had been riding all day
previous from Richmond, and no suspi-
ciOn arose in my mind for one instant
that the man whose leg | was attending
to was anything more than what he rep~
resented HIMSELF"