Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-03-24

moment on the railing, leaps below to
the stage Ga distance of perhaps ii or
10 feet, falls out of position, catching
his boot heel in the copious drapery (the
American fag), falls on one knee, quick.
ly RECEIVERS himself, rises as if nothing
had happened Che really sprained his
ankle, but unfelt then )--and so the fig
ure Booth, the murderer, dressed in plain,
black broadcloth, bare headed, with a
full head of glossy, raven hair, and his
eyes, like some mad animals, flashing
with light and resolution, yet with GER
tain strange calmness, holds aloft in one
hand large knife-walks along not
much back from the footlights-turns
fully towards the audience his face of
statuesque beauty, lit by those basilisk
eyes, flashing with desperation, perhaps
insanity-launches out in firm and
steady voice the words, Sic semper tyr
annis land then walks With neither
slow nor very rapid pace diagonally
across to the back of the stage, and dis.
appears, Had not all this terrible scene
making the mimic ones preposterous
had it not all been released, in blank
by Booth, beforehand ,
A moments hush, incredulous. a
scream, the cry of murder, Mrs. Lincoln
leaning out of the box, with ashy cheeks
and lips, with involuntary cry, pointing
to the retreating figure; g he has killed
the president" And still a moments
strange, incredulous suspense-and then
the deluge then that mixture of hor-
ror, noises, uncertainty-(the sound,
somewhere back, of horses hoofs clat-
tering with speed)-the people burst
through. chairs and railings, and break
them up-that noise adds to the queer
ness of the scene there is inextricable
confusion and terror-women faint, quite
feeble persons fall, and are trampled on
many cries of agony are heard-the
broad stage suddenly fills to suffocation
with dense and motley crowd. like
some horrible carnival-the audience
rush generally upon it-at least the
strong men do-the actors and actresses
are still there in their play costumes and
painted faces, with mortal fright showing
through the rouge, some trembling
some in tears the screams and calls.
confused talk redoubled, trebled two
or three manage to pass up water from
the stage to the presidents box-others
try to Chamber up-etc., etc.
In the midst of this the soldiers of the
presidents guard, with others suddenly
drawn to the scene, burst in-some 200
altogether-they storm the house, through
all the tiers, especially the upper ones
infamed with fury, literally charging
the audience with fixed bayonets, mus
kets and pistols, shouting Clear out
clear out you sons of b-l" Such
the wild scene, or a suggestion of it rath-
er, inside the play house, that night
Outside, too, in the atmosphere of
shock and craze, crowds of people, filled
with frenzy, ready to seize any outlet for
1t, came near committing murder sever
al times on innocent individuals. One
such case was especially exciting, The
infuriated crowd, through some chance.
got started against one man, either for
words he uttered, or perhaps without any
cause at all, and were proceeding at once
to actually hang him on neighboring
lamp-post, when he was rescued by few
heroic policemen, who placed him in
their midst and fought their way slowly
and amid great peril toward the station
house. 1t was fitting episode of the
whole affair. The crowd rushing and
eddying to and fro-the night, the yells,
the pale faces, many frightened people
trying in vain to extricate themselves -
the attacked man, not yet freed from the
jaws of death, looking like a corpse
the silent, resolute half dozen policemen,
with no weapons but their little clubs,
yet stern and steady through all those
eddying swarms-made indeed fitting
side scene to the grand tragedy of the
murder. They gained the station house
with the protected man, whom they
placed in security for the night, and dis
charged him in the morning.
And in the midst of that night pan
demonium of senseless hate, infuriated
soldiers. the audience, aud the crowd
the stage and all its actors and actresses,
its paint pots, spangles and gaslights =
the life blood from those veins, the best
and sweetest of the land, drips slowly
down, and deaths ooze already begins
its little bubbles on the lips.
Such, hurriedly sketehed, were the ac-
of the death of president
Lincoln. So suddenly, and in murder
and horror unsurpassed, he was taken
from us. But his death was painless.