Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-23

dOlc " tdlCu just Nudl sue sdku. w lln z
quick, nervous, deprecatory motion of his
hands he waved her off, saying, No! no! not
now, Be quiet | will see you shortly. G6
away now, go away! ! will let you know,
| will let You know. Whereupon the woman
lett. OF course | knew not what this strange
Conduct meant, aud before | had time to ar
rive at any satisfactory conclusion as TO MS
strange actions Mr.. Lincoln stepped upon the
Yeranda, the crowd cheered, and my thoughts
were FOR the time benz distracted from the
subject. | remarked to Mr.. Booth, There Is
the great aud good man. and he rel 1ined,
Yes; hope he will make Us a good speech
Don you think MIR. Lincoln looks pale and
haggard aad much worm queried. Yes,
be does, replied Booth.
AN ALARMING MANIFESTATION.
~ noticed, after that remark, that Booth
looked at the President with = fixed, intense
gaze, and with one of the most demoniacal
expressions | have ever seen on the face OF
mortal on OF off the stage. Way, his face
was the very embodiment Of tragedy, every
feature being distorted with devIlIsh malg-
nifty. He stood there with that fearful and
horrible expression on his Countenance for
some i've minutes, the spectators near by
gazing with wonder upon the man. thought
he was merely trying to impress upon the
crowd the fact that he was an actor, and was
merely giving a free exhibition of the case
with which ne could transform his
"
mon. Alarmed at this surprising man-
Hesitation, / accosted him once or twice,
but he did not seem to hear me, and did not
answer me. l stepped aside for short time
and on returning found hun still leaning
against the lamp post In a tragic attitude and
with the same tragic expression on mis- face
Shortly after, the flags were delivered, the
speeches ended, and Mr.. Lincoln came down
to his carriage, the police again separating
the crowd, and Booth trying to follow the
carriage, but failing in his attempt. | think
this was the day On which the abduc-
ton of the President was to have been made;
but the conspirators' plans were ioiled. The
next day | met Booth and chat'ed with him,
as was the case every day up 20 the time of
the assassination. / was then In the Penn
sylvania Central railroad office, under the
National hotel, and Booth used to drop in
there every day. | also met him outside OF
the Office with Mr.. A. X. Cszaurao, an au-
thor, a Journalist and llnguist, who was then
attached to Colonel Forney's paper, after
ward on the Brooklyn Eagle, and now q
translator Of the foreign PLAYS produced at
the Union Square theater in New York. AT
that time Mr.. CaZauran was trying to get
BootE to take part in play he had written,
based on events In the war: hut Booth said
he had gone into the oil business and did not
intend to go on the stage again, as he ex-
pected TO realize fortune In his new ven
ture.
THE HISTORIC NIGHT.
''On the night of the assassination Mr.
Cazauran and myself were standing in front
of the Metropolitan hotel at about eight
o'clock, when Mr.. Booth came along, and Mr..
Cdzauran again urged him to take part in his
play. 'Cazauran, dear boy said Mr.. Booth,
L wouidn ttouch theatricals again with for
ty-foot pole. am now In the oil business He
then asked Mir. CPzauran and myself to ac-
company him to Ford's Theater to see Laura
a,,lo, I IL L. I 1. i -
Oh, said he, you had better go. President
Lincoln, Secretary Seward, General Grant
and, in fact, all OF the cabinet are to be there
to night | still refused, and afterward
learned that Mr.. Cazauran went with him 10
the theater. Mr.. CaZauran was the first per
son in the theater who exclaimed, John
Wilkes Booth has shot the President That
is the last time | ever saw Wilkes Booth.
Had | gone to the thea.er with him, it is
very likely that | would have been arrested
as one OF the corspiratJrs, for | was with
him every day"
THE CoNsPIRAToRs
do you think, d" rq1ired The interviewer,
'that Wilkes b both ever gave the details of
the plot to assd-siaate the President to any
person, or that any other persons were pr1vy
to his plans before he bad fully conceived the
idea of assa sinatiOn?'
No, don'e b leve he gave the details of
his plans to any person except Payne, who
ScSIlS W nave ID - MS right maui man. ne
idea that any OF the Booth family had any
thing to do with the Irrang, ments for the as
sasSlnatlon Is simply prepoSterous. | knew
Junlus Brutus Booth, sr., and | know Edwin
Booth personally, and | must say that these
tive, with John Wilkes BoJth, have always
been the very p9rsonihcatOu of all that Is
great, good and noble In man. Junius Bru-
tus Booth, jr have met several times, but
| do no, know him personally. | remember
that once Wilkes Booth took me TO a room
In the Pennsylvania house, where these con-
spirators met, and introduced me to them as
some of his friends living down in the lower
counties, where he was accustomed TO fish
and hunt. Though some of them were very
rough and brutal looking, the same terms
cannot be applied to J. Wilkes Booth, for he
was always a kind-hearted man, and won
many friends by his uniform course of manly
action. have the highest regard for his
brother, Edwin Booth, who Is a kind father,
loving husband and perfect gentleman.
Manager Ford Is man OF the strIcteSt in
tegrity and honor, and one Of the ablest
managers we have In the country"
PROMPTED BY INSANITY.
'What cause do you assign, Colonel Rich
ardson,. for Mr.. Booths assassinatinU the
President ?"
81 think it was soma sudden freak of his
mind, which must have been in a disordered
condition ut the time of the murder
And now, what, in your opinion as a the
atrical manager, IS the true lnwardness' of
the interview with Manager Ford9''
It Is simply an advertising dodge, gotten
up to prepare the public for the production of
a play written by some lady or gentleman,
the subject matter of which will be the assas-
sination of President Lincoln. l must con-
Tess that l think the statement Of Manager
Ford very ill-tinled and iDjndlcious, and that
these sad events of the past should be left In
the grave in which they have been buried"