The Hickman courier., 1878-07-05
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The True story OF tine AssassinaIIon'
Told for the First Time by the Ha
ager of the Theafer.

Mr.. John Z. Ford, who was mansgeI "
Ford's Theater at the time the booIn e.
Lincoln Assassination occurred, was 10
miliar with facts in connection Win Iu0
matter that had never appeared IN PIlns'
and he was approached by Gazette -
porter and asked if such was the Case
Mr.. Ford remarked that he had freq uene-
ly been requested to give expression "
his views on the subject, but had Ge.
clined A general conversation on io Ilo
subject, however, ensued, the substance
of which, with Mr.. Ford's permissss4In5, sI5
we print. 1t threws some light on Ih0
great tragedy. Mr. Ford sal: :
John Wilkes Booth was trained Irol,
earliest infancy to consider the alInos'
deifed assassin Brutus Just as ShakspeSI99
immortalized him. His father was nanieu
''Junius Brutus." His brother is now tne
bearer of that surname. The great Booln
frequently appeared in the play U
" Julius Cesar" and not latter than
81 three of his sons acted the three
leading characters of the play to ah
audience that applauded the sentiments
OF @ B,utus" to the echo.
Now trace the assassination of Lincoln
On the morning of April Ii, 1865, Bootp'
who had cOnspired for six months pre-,
vious to abduct President Lincoln ana
convey him q prisoner to the south, was
the last guest at breakfast at the Ma
tional Hotel in Washington. The sur
render at AppOmatox had ended All
chance for him to carry out his original
conspiracy. He lett the hotel after Ii
o'clock that morning, and walked up
Sixth street TO II, and stopped at the
Surratt House, where he met the willow
who kept it returning from the religious
SERVICES of Good Friday, and thsE 10 ~
act OF going TO her former country piaes
(the vehicle to convey her already at the
doOr) to collect some money due her, SO
as to pay what was due by her 10 the
Calvert estate.
Booth, when informed of her intended
Wit, 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 II street to Tenth
and down Tenth 10 the theater.
When he reached there it was about
or probably a little later than twelve
O'Clock, midday. There heheard for the
/ irst tine that both President Lincoln
and General Grant were to visit the the
ather 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
/ confirms that belief that then and there
/ the terrible thought of the assassination
/ first suggested itself It came like this :
/ 'If failed TO serve the South in nv
conspiracy to abduct, / can now be her
Brutus"
This thought fastened on his brain.
and led him TO 90 from the theater to-
} ward the Kirkwood House to have a
conference with some OF his old conspira-
tors. John Surratt was away, O'Laugh-
I lin was in Baltimore, and Arnold was in
/ a sutler's store at Fortress Monroe. They
/ knew the abduction conspiracy had been
( abandoned, but Payne, Alzerodt ami
! HerOld were in Washington. These latN
/ ter ne got together, and conspired with
/ them to kill the President, the victorious
/ general, and some of the cabinet. He
must have written between the time
/ when he parted with his CO. c0nspiratOrs,
and the hour he again appeared at the
/ theater, lengthy statement for publica-
! tiOn, excusing his intended crime by
/ Roman precedent. When dying be re-
/ ferred to it for justification. He gave
/ on the evening OF the I4th package TO
an actor, directing its delivery the next
day TO the National Intelligencer.
The actor confesses that he, frightened
at the risk he ran, broke the seal, read
the enclosed matter, and at midnight
burnt it. If that package had been
/ preserved, it would reveal the declsis-
/ lion that until noon that day its writer
/ had not premeditated murder, but, feel
/ ing deeply the humiliation of the south,
! to the people OF which he bore all tie
love that Bruins ever bore for Rome, he
/ would strike down that night the leading
/ men of the victorious hosts, who were
/ then shouting their Paans of triumph
/ When dying, with his face lit up with
! the blaze Of the burning barn on the
Garrett farm, Just at the break of day
on the morning of the oath he mutteTed
some words A soldier bent over him
and caught them from mis- fast ebbing
breath. First a message for his mother
" Tell her / did it as | thought for the
best" And then he said: Tell others
that the communication l wrote ad.
dressed to the National Intelligencer will
explain why I did what | did"
During the conspiracy trial at the
arsenal, Hon. Joseph Holt, the judge
advocate, called John +. COyle. then the
publisher OF the National Intelligencer,
and asked if that communication had
ever been received? His reply was,
No" 1t was, continued Mr.. Ford,
burnt in the CRATE of clearinghouse.
and n Catholic priest, nOw living in
Washington, had the fact confessed to
him soon afterward. l had the occur
renee revealed to 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 Wilkes Booth had not con-
templsted the assassination OF President
Lincoln when he met Mrs. Surratt at
midday, and he never met her again.
In order to demonstrate that his brain
was turned by the poetic and dramatic
glamour which transmitted the story Of
the Roman assassination, said Mr.. Ford,
il is but Just to describe him at this
time: In person he was remarkably
handsome, with q face OF singular
manly beauty, in perfect health,
less than tWentysix years OF sge.
and almost idolized by his friends. As
an actor he could earn at least SO, 900
per annum. 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 90
to his hotel. The facts and opinions
will, I think. show the great danger of
gloryifying assassination under any cir
cumstances. Julius Cesar was to
Rome the union of the scholar, soldier
and gentleman Mighty "Ca:arp 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 unknown % 'Was this" added
Mr.. Ford, in closing the interview, the
incarnation of dramatic prophecy, sug
gesting the crime that occurred 1903
years after, in states unborn and accents
yet unknewn' when Caesar died =
II the English and the Russians in
their Asiatic quarrels should ever get
the Chinese stirred up and started on
the war path there is no telling when or
where or in what numbers these copper
colered Orientals would settle down
again. There are 100000, 900 of them,
swarnlinp on the land and water of the