Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-19
ABKAHAM LINCOLN.
The True story of the Assassination.
as Told for the First Time by the
Manager of the Theater.

Baltimore special to the Cincinnati En-
| qnirer: The impression has long prevailed
that MIR. John I. Ford, who was manager o.
Ford's theater at the time the Rooth-Llncolr
| assassination occurred, was familiar with
facts in connection with the matter that had
never appeared IN print, and he was ap
| preached by Gazette reporter and asked i
such was the case. Mr.. Ford remarked thai
he had frequently been requested to give ex.
| preston to his views on the subject, but had
declined. A general conversation on the sub
ject, however, ensued, the substance of which,
with Mr. Ford's permission, we print. Itsheds
some light on the great tragedy. Mr. Ford
said: John Wilkes Booth was trained FROM
earliest infancy to consider the almost deifed
assassin "Brutus" just as Shakespeare immor-
talized him. His father was named "Junius
Brutus.' HIS brother is now the bearer Of
that surname. The great Booth frequently
appeared in the play of Julius Cesar, and
not later than 1864 three of his sons acted
| the three leading characters of the play to an
audience that applauded the sentimeaks oil
"Brutus" t. the echo. Now trace the assas-
| sination of Lincoln: On the morning. OF
| April IA, 1865, Booth, who had conspir ed fer
six months previous to abduct President Lin
| coin and convey him prisoner to the south,
i was the last guest at breakfast at the National
hotel in Washington. The surrender at APP
pomattox had ended all chance for him to
carry out his original conspiracy. He left
4 the hotel after eleven O'Clock that morning
| and walked up Sixth street to Ii, and stopped
| at the Surratt house, where he met the widow
| who kept 1t returning from the religious SER
| vices of Good Friday, and then in the act of
going to her former country place-the v,shi-
! Gle to convey her already at the door-to col
lect some money due her, so as to pay what
| was due by her to the Calvert estate. Booth,
when informed of her intended visit, requested
her to get some articles belonging to him
that he had left at the country tavern, and
then, bidding her adieu. he walked up FL
street to Tenth and down Tenth to the theater.
When he reached there it was about, or
probably little later than twelve o clock
midday. There he heard for the first time that
both President Lincoln and General Grant
were to visit the theatec that night. The
private box was In process of decoration.
The White House messenger had been there
an hour before to secure its use. | believe,
and all reliable written or oral testimony con-
firms that belief, that then and there the ter
rlole thought of the ASSASSINATION first sug-
gested itself. 1t came like this: ''If | failed
to serve the SOUTH 10 my conspiracy to abduct,
| can now be her 'Brutus This thought
fastened on his brain, and led him to go from
the theater toward the Kirkwood house to
have conference with some of his
old consplratOrs. john Surratt was
away, OLaughlin was In Baltimore,
and Arnold was in a suffers store at Fort |
ress Monroe. They knew the abduction con-
spiracy had been abandoned, but Payne, AL |
zerodt and Herold were In Washington. |
These latter he got together, and conspired |
with them to kill the President, the vIctori-
ous general and some of the cabinet. He |
must have written. between the time when |
he parted with his co-conspiratorS and the
hour he again appeared at the theater. a
lengthy statement for publication, excusing
his intended crime by Roman precedent.
When dying he referred to it for his justi6ca-
ton. He gave on the evening of the four
teenth a package to an actor, directing It's
delivery the next day to the National Intel
igsncer:: The, actor Sconfesses, that
ran ran broke the SEAL I read cad the he
inclosed matter, and at midnight burnt it.
If that package had been preserved it would
have revealed the declaration that until noon
that its writer had not premeditated murder;
but, feeling deeply the humiliation of the
south. to the people Of which he bore all the love
that ''Brutus'' ever bore for Rome, he would
strike down that night the leading men of
the victorious hosts, who were then shouting
their peans of triumph. When dying, with
mis- face lit up with the blaze of the burning
barn upon the Garrett farm, just at the break
Oath he muttered some words. A soldier
bent over him and caught them
from his fast ebbing breath. First mes
sage for his mother: Tell her l did it, as
thought, for the best" And then he said:
''Fell others that the communication wrote
addressed to the National Intelligencer will
explain why | did what [ did, During the
conspiracy trial at the arsenal Hon Joseph
Holt, the judge-adyocate, called John +.
Coyle, then the publisher of the National In
teltgencer, and asked If that communication
had ever been received. His reply was NO" |
1t was, continued Mr.. Ford, burnt in the CRATE
of a chamber of clearinghouse, and Cath |
ole priest, now living in Wa ;hlngton, had
the fact confessed to him soon afterward.
| had the occurrence revealed t. me, with
the added information OF the confession by the |
party who was the custodian of the package.
This fully sustains my theory that John
Booth had not contemplated the assassina-
ton of President Lincoln when he met Mrs. |
Surratt at midday, and he never again met
her. In order to demonstrate that his brain |
was turned by the poetic and dramatic
glamour that transmitted the story of the |
Roman assassination" said Mr.. Ford, sit is |
but Just to describe him at this time. In
person he was remarkably handsome, with !
a face Of singular manly beauty, In perfect
health, less than twenty-six years of age, and
almost idolized by his friends. As as actor |
he could earn at least ten thousand dollars
per aDnum. He was so popular In Boston {
that during an engagement at the Museum ;
hundreds of ladies have waited to see him |
leave the stage to go to his hotel. The
facts and opinions will, l think, show the !
great danger OF glor1fylng ASSASSINATION
under any circumstances. Julius Cesar"
was to Rome the union of the scholar,
soldier and gentleman. Mighty Caesar" ,
All Rome did love him once, not without
cause. Yet "Cassius" did say, "How many :
ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted
over in States unborn and accents I'M 9
known?" "Was this" added Mr. Ford, in
closing the interview, 1.-THE incarnation of I
dramatic prophecy, suggesting the crime
that occurred nineteen hundred and nine
years after, sin States unborn and accents I'M ;
known when Cesar died?"