The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-09-10
Capturing BOOTH.
Pursuit and discovery of the Assas

A reporter of the New Orleans Picaune
has recently intervied Captain Edward P.
Doherty, who commanded the detachment
tina. captured Booth and Harold after the
assassination of President Lincoln. The
story is told as follows
"After Garrett had designated the direc-
ton of the barn, Captain Doherty said to
Sergeant Boston Corbett: sDismount your
men, detail few to watch the house, and
bring the remainder here Captain Doher-
ty then surrounded the barn with his men,
and, going to the front door, placed lighted
candle, which he had held in his hand for
some time, near the front entrance of the
barn. Unlocking the door, Captain Doher
ty called upon those in the barn to come
out and surrender, but no answer was made
to this and subsequent frequent and
loud demands of like character. Captain
Doherty then passed around among
his sentinels who surrounded the barn,
when he was informed that whispering
and the moving of hay had been heard
from the inside
SEA tain Doherty then said: If you don't
come out I'll set fire to the building and
burn you out As there was no answer even
to this, Captain Doherty ordered Corporal
Newgarten to pile some shavings and hay in
the opening, and set fire to it. While he
was piling it up voice said to the corporal:
IF you come back there I'll put bullet
through YOU Captain Doherty. who was
standing near Newgarter, then quietly order
ed him to desist, and determined to wait till
daylight before making any further demon
STATIONS.
"At this time quite long conversation
took place between Captain Doherty and j.
Wilkes Booth. The former, after hearing
the threat of the latter, called again for q
surrender, when Booth replied: Who do
t,1-o g. h~l-
ed: 1T don't make any difference who take
you for, going to arrest you Then
Booth said: Boys, fetch me a stretcher.
Another stain in our glorious banner
"Walking around the barn and returning
near the door, Captain Doherty heard whis-
pering conversation between Booth and Har-
rold from the inside. Booth then said aloud:
4 am crippled and alone; give me chance
for my life; draw your men up at 25 PAGES
and will come out
Captain Doherty replied: L didn't come
here to fight but to capture you. / have sc
men here and can do it.
"In the meantime Harold had approached
the door, when Captain Doherty said to him,
Let me see your hands, when Harold put
both hands out through the door and Captain
Dohertv, Selling them, handed Harold over
to the corporal at the door.
while this conversation was going on,
and as Captain Doherty was in the act of
taking Harold out of the front door, the
barn had been fred in the rear. The flames
burst suddenly forth. Booth, who had left
his position in the barn to the right of the
opening referred to above, near the candle,
took position in the center of the barn fac
ing the door. and, raising his carbine pointed
it in the direction of Harold and Captain
Doherty, when Sergeant Corbett, who was
stationed at one of the openings in the barn
to the left of Booth, observing the move
ment, leveled large-sized Colts revolver at
Booth and fired, intending to hit him in the
arm for the purpose of disabling him, but
the ball entered his neck, about one inch
from the same point as Booth shot President
Lincoln
"On hearing the shot, and being at the time
Booth, Captain Dohety supposed that he had
shot himself rather than surrender, when the
officers rushed into the barn, and by the
light of the burning building saw Booth with
the carbine between his legs, one of his
crutches having dropped, and Booth in the
act of falling forward, when Captain Doherty
caught him with both arms around the body
and carried him outside of the barn, and laid
him down; but the heat becoming too intense,
Captain Doherty ordered him removed under
the veranda of the Garrett mansion.
"Soldiers were then dispatched in different
directions for doctors, but only one, DIR. Up
quart could be found, he arriving about 6
a. m, and, after probing the wound, pro-
nounced it fatal, the ball having ranged up
ward, cutting vital part.
"From the time that Booth was shot, s
o'clock, to the time he expired, two hours
later, he spoke but once, and that was to
Captain Doherty, shortly before 6
o'clock, when he said to him
Hands, Captain Doherty lifted up his
hands, when Booth looked at them for An in
slant, and, shaking his head, exclaimed,
Useless, useless A short time after this he
expired.
"Captain Doherty, after wrapping the
body of Booth in his saddle blanket, sewed
the blanket together with his own hands,
and, having placed the body on a cart
which was obtained from an old negro re-
siding about two miles distant, proceeded
with the body and the prisoner, Harold, to
Belle Plain, where the Ide was awaiting the
return of the command, which arrived at
P. NJ, when the Ide proceeded to Wash
ington, where the body of Booth and the
prisoner, Harold, were turned over to the
officers of the United States iron-clad moni-
tor Montauk, Captain Doherty having re-
ceived orders from the department COM
mander so to do. This was at o'clock on
the morning of the 9th.
I'm reference to the different statements
that Booth was never captured nor killed,
and that he is alive to-day, Captain Doherty
says it is the sheerest nonsense in the world, AS
in the first place, Captain Doherty knew j.
Wilkes Booth personally, and was in his
company at the National hotel in Washing
ton about two months previous to the assas-
sination. In the second place, at the post
norton examination, held on the 9th of
April, Booth was fully identified by
performed an operation upon his neck, and
nv Mr. Dawson nronriefor of tho National