Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1872-06-21
Last Hours of wilkes Booth.

Letter from Richard II. Garrett in N. Y. Herald J
TO the Editor of the Herald Il saw
it stated in Washington paper, upon
the presentation of my petition by John
7. Lewis to Congress for payment Of my
losses sustained in the burning of my to-
bacco-house and contents by the orders
of Col. Conger, who commanded the
forces that were endeavoring to capture
j. Wilkes Booth and ID. G. Harold, in
April, 1865, 4" that it would be recollect-
ed that Booth and Harold we're conceal
ed in this house, and it had to be burned
to capture them," leaving the inference it
appears to me, that Booth and Harold
were concealed in this house by me or
some of my family. If this inference is
intended to be made by the editor ofsaid
paper, there is nothing more erroneous,
and to set the matter right and show
that neither l nor any of my family in
tended in any way to conceal them or
was at all apprised or had any suspicion
of who these men were, / will make
true statement of the whole transaction
from the time Booth was brought to my
house to the time of his being shot by
one of the soldiers when the house was
on fire. On Monday, the oath of April,
1865, about o'clock P. NJ, three men
rode up to my yard, and when | went
out to them l found they were all st ang-
ers to me. The one in front introduced
himself as Captain Scott; he then intro
duced the two others to me-one as
Lieutenant Ruggles and the other as his
friend, Mr.. Boyd. He stated that Mr..
Boyd was a wounded confederate sol
dier that he belonged to the former COM
mand of Gen. A. P. Hill, and that he
was wounded before Petersburg just be-
fore the close of the war that he and
Lieutenant Ruggles were going Gas he
expressed iD ON a little scout toward
Richmond, and asked me to keep and
take care of his friend Boyd until the
next Wednesday morning, as he was suf-
fering too much to travel with them, and
that they would call for him at that
/ time.
As it had always been one principle of
my religion "to entertain strangers, es-
peciallY any that seemed to be suffering"
| consented that he should remain and |
would take as good care of him as l
could. did not promise this because
he was confederate soldier, but because
he seemed to be suffering. / had before
this administered to the wants of about
II wounded federal soldiers, who had
been captured and brought to my neigh
borhood in suffering state, and it was
comforting to my feelings to see the graf
itude expressed by them to me, and to
feel that l had helped to relieve the
wants of some of my fellow creatures.
Never shall l forget this circumstance /;
1t is craven deep upon my heart. This
man, whom l and all my family looked
upon as Mr.. Boyd, wounded confeder-
ate soldier, was taken at once into my
house; he supped with my family, and
slept that night in one of my upper
rooms, in which my sons, John NJ and
William H., and two smaller children
slept. He breakfasted with my family
the next morning and remained in the
house and yard, most of the time reclin-
ing upon the grass in the yard, my little
children being often with him. He had
very little to say and seemed to be suffer
ing, we thought, from his wound. After
breakfast that morning, my eldest son,
John NJ, rode to a shoemaker's about
one mile from my house, to have his
boots repaired, and while there he met
with gentleman of the neighborhood
who had gotten by private means news
spaper from Richmond (there being no
mails to our section), and this paper had
in it an advertisement offering large re-
ward (S150,000, think for the capture
of Booth, the murderer of President
Lincoln. After my sons return, and
while at the dinner BILE, he spoke of
having seen this paper containing the
advertisement. This man, who was at
the table, remarked that he would not
have been surprised if S500,000 had
been offered, but he had heard that the
man that committed the act had been
arrested between Baltimore and Phila-
deIphia and was now in Washington.
He having before this told me that he
was native of Maryland, 1 then asked
him if he had ever seen the man Booth
who was charged with the offense. He
said he had seen him once. He saw him
in Richmond about the time of the John
Brown raid. / asked him if be was an
old or young man; he said he was
rather a young man.
! | had never heard of but one Booth
as an actor, and thought it was Mr.. Ed
win Booth. My youngest son, who was
mere youth, remarked, al wish he