Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1873-07-03
Vol. XIX. Ellls NJ. 962 NJ. 27.

that It made me- sAudder. Yet my name
| was foreign one, and he q stranger to
me. Had he ever seen DR.. Verdi be-
fore? No. Such was the assassin Payne:
Q head and face thatexpressed a prepon-
derattng criminal element. There was
q vacancy In that face, amounting al
mostt 10 inbecility. His answer bespoke
only light degree OF fear, not of intell:-
gence. His physiqne was herculean;
he was purely brute an. instrument
well adapted for the use of refined
brain like Booth's.
Booth, egoestical in his plot, wanted
no intelligence 10 share the honors of his
self-impOsed heroism. He only wanted
blind instruments to aid him in his dia-
bolical scheme. All his accomplices
were Of that character.
True to his nature, Booth had prepar-
ed means Of escape for himself. Payne,
a stranger in these parts, had been left
ignorant of the topography of the coun-
try, and even without means of susten-
ance. Booth had taught him well the
habits Of Mr.. Seward; he had taught
him the physicians name that was to
bring him to Mr.. Stewards couch, but
had not taught him how to escape from
the avenging hand of justice, and Payne
fell victim to his own ignorance and to
his masters satanic egotism.
For three DAYS Payne roamed about
the country, in the vain attempt to con-
ceal himself. Hungered, friendless, rest
less, he wandered back to the only one
who could and should offer him aid and
comfort-he returned to Mrs. Surratt's.
"A mysterious power was dragging him
there. This criminal, whom man did
not know was lead by necessity to the
honse OF Mrs. Surratt at the very mo-
ment that the functionaries of the law
were apprehending his accomplices.
Useless were then the reiterations of in
nocence. There they stood self-accused.
An illustrative instance of this mans
insensibility was related to me by Major
Ooster, one OF his attorneys in the trial:
One night Frederick Seward had had
one of those terrible hemorrhages from
his wounds that several times had SO
threatened his life. Major Doster visit,
Ing Payne the following morning, said
Payne, your case is getting desperate;
1t is feared that Frederick Seward may
die at any moment; he has had another
hemorrhagc.'
Payne remained silent for moment,
then made this remark: Il think | owe
Frederick Seward an apology
Mr., Seward lay PROSTATE his wound
ed cheek had tumefied and infiamed.
his nervous system had received such
shock that, even without that excessive
loss OF blood, had diminished the nat
ural resorces for reaction. His sleep
was restless and interrupted by terrible
dreams. We feared that even his strong
constitution would finally yield. But
no, his power of resistance was truly ex-
traordinary; it was principally due to
his mental strength. This man, so foul
ly dealt with, would struggle and con-
qucr in adversely. He treated his case
from high stand point Of philosophy.
lie spoke of it as of an historical fact,
avoiding individualism, and treated il
as another instance OF the madness that
overcomes weak minds in great nation
al commissions. 1t was sublime to hear
this stricken down man, with Jaws screw
ed together by surgical art, speaking
through hole made in the apparatus
that held his mouth fast, not word for
himself, but the words of sound phil
osopher who will not despise human
nature for the act of madman. With
nothing but misery, suffering agony, and
with death staring him in the face,
he was calm, submissive, even forbear-
ing. All his solcitude was about his
son. OF the calamity to his fellow
colaborer. Mr.. Lincoln, he knew moth
ing for several days.
The wounds of Frederick excited the
greatest sOlicitude. The brain was ex-
posed In both places in the anterior one
fully square inch of the membranes OF
the brain was exposed to view. A lacer-
atcd vessel on the interior surface of the
cranium would from time to time bleed
so protusely as to put his life in immi-
nent jeopardy, and yet it could not be
reached for a ligature. We were con.
stahtly kept in fearful apprehension OF
these hemorrhages.
With noble fortitudc did the family
bear the anxieties and the fatigucs of
this long and sad period. Mrs. Seward,
50 delicate in frame, so feeble in health,
increasingly supervised all the nursing
that required such fine Judgment and
unremittiEg care.
Human endurance, however, has its
limits, and Mrs. Seward finally sue
The little flame that lighted
that body expired on the 2lst of June
Like her life, her death was the calm
ness of Heaven-born spirit.
Overcome by these multiplied trials, her
daughter at length sank into nervous
fever that consumed her. Her body
could not bear what her soul had borne,
and in years time she added one more
to the number of victims to the teri ible
plot of Booth and Surratt.
The secretary himself is now dead.
After completing the history of his trav
els around the world, at the age OF
with only few days i'll
ness, his mind unimpaired, he peace
fully breathed his last in his own home,
at Auburn, on the 10th of October, 1872.