The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-05-04
WHY LINCOLN WAS ASSASSINATED.
How John wilkes Booth Avenged the
Execution OF His Friend.

taint of frenzy under excitement that
was cOusin-german to insanity. This
Booth was a reckless, handsome fell
low, whose delight was to dress well,
feed upon female hearts, and in mimic
ry mouth the utterance of men OF
creative genius. His blood was hot and
passions quick to kindle. In his loves
and friendships he was erratic and pc
culiar. He did not try to study himself,
and grew up wild and tumultuous.
Among the chosen friends of his boy
hood was a dashing, chivalrOus young
man named John Y. Beal, whose home
was in the beautiful Shenandoah Val
ley not far from Winchester, as we
know from having been there. Damon
and Pythias were not more attached to
each other than were Booth and Beal.
They rode, walked, dined, drank, and
intrigued together. Beal was Southern
in his sympathies, and was to certain
extent as much martyr as was erratic
John Brown, who was taken in a raid,
hung in the jail-yard at Charleston, Va,
by order of Governor Wise, and whose
scafIOld, as we write this, is now in our
office. Beal planned raids on North
ern cities, and at last was captured at
or near Buffalo, tried for piracy on
Northern lakes, and sentenced to be
hung on Bedloe's Island in the harbOr
of New York. In prison, waiting his
doom, we leave him for a time.
One afternoon, in the City of Wash
inetOn, while Beal was under sentence
of death, there alighted from carriage
two men, who walked into the room oc-
cupied by Washington Mclean, of Gin
cinnati, who was at the time in Wash
ington in the interest of his business.
These men who called were Senator
Hale, of New Hampshire, and John
Wilkes Booth, with whom, through the
Morgans, of Kentucky, Mclean had be-
come quite well acquainted.
Their errand was briefly told. Booth
was anxious to save the life of Beal, his
chum and confidential personal friend.
He had interested Mr. Hale in his be-
half, who, from his former Identification
of the political movement that had
grown into the elevation of Lincoln to
the Presidency, had come to ask of the
Executive the favor of mercy for brave
enemy, who had, in defense of his
friends in the South, done no more than
the people in the North applauded their
scouts and adventurers for doing or at
tempting.
They impOrtuned Mclean to 90 with
them to the President, as a Democrat
as friend of BOOth-aS u man who had
much influence with Mr.. Lincoln, and
to vouch with Mr.. Hale for any promises
Booth might make in return for this
great favor to him. After protracted
interview Mclean accompanied Hale
and Booth in a carriage to the residence
of John w. Forney, who was then in
bed, the hour being late. Forney was
awakened from his sleep and told the
object of his call His sympathies were
enlisted, as he was always ready to
serve his friends.
1t was an hour or more past mid
night when Hale, Forney, Mclean, and
Booth were driven to the White House.
The guard, at the request of FOrney,
admitted the carriage to the grounds.
Mr.. Lincoln was called from his sleep,
and there, in the dead Of night, he sat
and listened to the prayers of Booth and
the Endorsements of those who came
with him to ask the favor of Executive
clemeney.
This interview lasted till four O'Clock
in the morning. 1t was one of tears,
prayer, and petition. There was not a
dry eye in the room as Booth knelt at the
feet of Lincoln, clasped his knees with
his hands, and begged him to spare the
life of one mana personal friend who,
in serving the ones he loved, had come
to the door of death.
Booth told all. He told how, long
before, in a fit of passion to do some
bold deed, he had joined i'll a conspiracy
to abduct the President and to hold him
as a hostage for the release of certain
military prisoners who were Booths
friends, and who, it was thought, were
to be shot. He told of the meetings they
had held ut the house of Mrs. Surratt,
and that all of that plan had fallen to
the ground long before.
He offered his services at any time
and in any place or capacity, free OF
cost or fearless of consequences. The
eminent gentlemen who were there with
him joined in the request that the prayer
of Booth be granted, and that Beal
should be pardoned.
At last President Lincoln, with the
tears streaming down his face, took
Booth by the hands, bade him rise and
stand like a man, and gave him his
promise that Beal should be pardoned.
He asked the party to depart that he
might gain rest for the work of the
morrow, and said that the official docu-
ment they asked for should be forward
ed at once to United States Marshal
Robert Murray, in New York, and
through him to the officers charged
with the execution of Beal.
After breakfast Lincoln informed
Seward, Secretary of State, what he had
done or promised to do. Seward said ii
must not be; that public sentiment in
the North demanded that Beal should
be hung. He declared that to pardon
Beal would discourage enlistments,
lengthen the war, and insult the senti-
ment that called for blood. He chided
Lincoln for making such promises with
Ollb luO itlNlOC VI HIS SebbluCO, VI
advising with himself, Seward, on State
policy. As the arguments grew con-
teRtiOus, Seward declared that if the
conduct of the war was to be trifled
with by appeals for humanity he should
90 out of the Cabinet and use his infu-
ence against the President, and should
charge him with being in sympathy
with the South. Lincoln yielded and
Beal was executed. The reaction to
Lincoln's nervous system was such that
for days be was far from well.
The effect on Booth was terrible. He
raved like a madman, and in his frenzy
swore that Lincoln and Seward should
both pay for the grief and agony he had
been put to. From the death of Beal
Booth brooded vengeance for that which
he considered a personal affront. His
rage took in Seward, and he engaged
Harold, Azterodt, and others to avenge
Beal's death by killing Seward, while
he, Booth, wreaked human vengeance
on the President.
At last came the hour. Both killed
Lincoln. His friends and the relative:
or avengers of Beal tried their best tC
kill Seward, and when they left hin
! stabbed, bleeding, and limp as a cloth