Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-02-16
The Last Hours If John Wilkes Booth.

+; l have been requested by several Of you
readers to write for your paper a descrip
ton of the death of John Wilkes Booth
the slayer Of Abraham Lincoln. Thougl
many years have passed since then, anc
%thoughyour correspondent was but Child
the incidents connected with his death are
as fresh in my memory as if they had just
occurred. 10 comprehend fully the de-
tails of his capture, l will have to give
short description Of my fathers house and
farm where he was shot.
Our farm is situated in Caroline county
Va. a little more than two miles from the
little village of Port Royal, on the Kappa
hammock river. Our house is on the right
of the stage road leading from Port Royal
to Bowling Green, the county seat, ard
about a quarter of a mile from the road.
1t was aons the afternoon of Monday.
April 18th, 1865, that Booth came to my
fathers house. He was brought there by
Two ex~-Confederste soldiers, Willie Jet
! and Lieut.. Ruggles, and introduced to my
father IS James w. Boyd, a Confederate
soldier, who had been wounded at the
battle of Petersburg. 1t will be remember
ed that Mr.. Booth had broken his leg in
jumping to the stage of the theatre in
Washington after shooting the President.
Mr.. Jet asked my father if he could ac-
commodate Mr.. Boyd for a few days until
he got better and could travel. You know
a true V%irginian never resists an appeal
like that, and of course Mr. Boyd was well
coined at once, Messrs. Jett and Ruggles
then rode away towards Bowling Green.
Mr.. Boyd and my two brothers (who had
just returned from Appomattox), remained
on the porch talking until supper was
nounced. After supper Mr.. Boyd COM
planned of his wound; said that riding had
Jared it.
He retired early. I slept in the same
room with him that night, and noticed
that he had two handsome %revolvers, al!da
! dirk with a pearl handle. The latter he
said was the gift of a friend. He slept
soundly, and whenI arose in the morning
he was still sleeping. I remember looking
| at him as / left the room, and I thought
that / had never seen a finer specimen of
manly beauty, and I still think that lie was
the handsomeSt man I ever NV. He was
very fair, and his jet black curls were
brushed back from a forehead, rather low,
but very broad.-His glossy black NOUS
tache shaded a mouth as soft and tender
as a woman's, while his square chin told
of a resolute will.
DE DIT T ON, Iirroccsp~ from rou cJ1hionf
Nothing of interest occurred during the
forenoon Of the next day Tuesday. My
brothers went away in the morning and
did not return until dinner. After dim
ner they amused themselves firing at a
post in front Of the house with PISTOLS
Mr.. Boyd surprised us all, for he would
sstrike~the~maEks OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the
middle Of the afternoon another mai came,
whom Mr.. Boyd called Dayy.-This man
was Harold, who attempted to kill Stan
ton. They then asked my brothers if they
could hire horses to g to Milford Station,
on the r. F. u T. Railroad, the next day.
My brothers replied that they could net
spare their horses, but that there was a
colored man, who lived near, who would
take them. They went to see this man
and engaged him to take them away early
the next morning. He did so; but he only
took the bleeding corpse of one, and the
mangled wretch who was so soon to ex-
plate his crime upon the gallows.
That night (Tuesday,) Booth and Har-
old proposed to sleep in the barn, as they
wanted to make IN early start, and did not
wish to disturb the family. My brothers,
fearful of losing their horses, slept in an
adjoining barn. About 2 O'Clock on the
morning of the Goth, my father was
awakened by a noise at the door, and on
going to answer the knock was confronted
by a man who placed a cooked revolver at
his head and led him into the yard, where
he was greeted with cries of "Hang the
id rebel y Hang him here is a rope,''
&c. The whole premises were surrounded
by a horde Of excited men. searching in
every house and corner. They soon found
out that there were men in the barn, upon
which they surrounded it, not forgetting
to leave my poor old father in the yard in
his night-clothes guarded by two men who
even refused to let him put on a coat, but
kept him in the chill night air, old and
feeble as he was, without anything to pro-
tect him from the cold.
At the Darn more than fifty men were
engaged in trying to persuade one man to
surrender. Failing in this they resorted
to the idea of burning him out.
The barn was fired, and then they seemed
no nearer their object than before, until at
last one man, more humane than the rest,
walked up to the side of the barn, put his
| pistol through a crack and fired. Then
my brother and a soldier rushed in and
dragged him from the flames that were al
most upon him, took him out and laid him
upon the grass in the yard. Finding that
life still remained, they brought him on
| the porch, when a mattress was spread for
him.
A man was despatched for a doctor. who
soon arrived, but too late-for human skill
could not avail where death had already
set his seal. The glazing eyes, the clammy
brow now wet with the cold dews of death,
told US that the fatal bullet had but too
surely done it's work. Reviving for a mo-
ment, he asked to see his hands. T. ey
were shown him. He Looked at them for
a while. and, murmurlng "Useless, use
less, :" fell back upon the pillow. The thread
of life that remained was parting very
| gently. A few strands yet remained, but
the tension was increasing. Again he re-
vived, and whispered, "Tell my mother I
died-for my country, I did-what--|
thought-was-best." A gasp-a SILVER, :
and the erring soul was before its Judge.
The poor bleeding clay was cold in death.