The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-09-17
THE DEATH OF ]. WILKES BOOTH.
Story OF tho Man who Commanded at
Booths Capture-Boston Corbotts Shot
-Distribpting tho Reward.

| mount your men, QeCall lew 10 WdLcu
the house, and bring the remainder
here Captain Doherty then surrounded
the barn with his men, and, going to the
front door, placed a lighted candle,
which he had held in his hand for some
time, near the front entrance of the
barn and in the vicinity of a large crack
or opening. Unlocking the door, Cap
tain Doherty 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 a like
character. Captain Doherty then passed
around among his sentinels who sur
rounded the barn. when he was in
formed that whispering and the moving
of hay had been heard from the inside.
"Captain Doherty then said: If you
don't come out I'll set fire to the build
ing 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: IT
you come back there I'll put q bullet
through you.' Captain Doherty, who
was Standing near Newgarten, then
quietly ordered him to desist, and de-
termined to wait till daylight before
making any further demonstrations.
AT this time quite long converse
tion occurred between Captain Doherty
and J. Wilkes Booth. The former, after
hearing the threat of the latter, called
again for a surrender, when Booth re-
piled: who doyou take US for p Cap
tain Doherty responded: 1t don't make
any difference who take you for. I'm
going to arrest you.' Then Booth said:
Boys, fetch me stretcher; another
stain in our glorious banner
walking around the barn and re-
turning near the door, Captain Doherty
heard whispered conversation between
Booth and Harold from the inside:
Booth then said aloud: i am crippled
and alone, give me a chance for my life;
draw your men up at twenty-five PAGES
and will come out
Captain Doherty replied: L didn't
come here to fight, but to capture you.
I have fifty men here and can do it..
I'm the meantime Harold had ap-
preached the door. W hen Captain Do
herty said to him, Let me see your
hands, when Harold put both hands
out through the door, and Captain Do.
herty 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 fired 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 a position
in the center of the barn facing the
door, and raising his carbine, pointed 1t
in the direction Of Harold and Captain
Doherty, when Sergeant Corbett, who
was stationed ut one of the openings in
the barn to the left of Booth, observing
the movement, leveled large-sized
Colts revolver at Booth and fired, in
tending to hit h;m in the arm for the
purpose of disabling him, but the ball
entered his neck, about one inch from
the same point that Booth shot Presl-
dent Lincoln.
"On hearing the shot, and being at
the time ignorant of the movement or
intention of Booth, Captain Doherty
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 out
side 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. DR.. Urquart. could be found, ne
arriving about 6 A. NJ, and after problng7
the wound, pronounced it fatal, the bal!
having ranged upward, cutting vital
part.
From the time that Booth was shot,
five o'clock, to the time he expired, two
hours later, he spoke but once. and that
was to Capt. Doherty, shortly before six
o'clock, when he said to him. Hands.
Can't. Doherty lifted I'D his hands. when
Booth looked at them tor an instant,
and, shaking his head, exclaimed: Use
less, useless A short time after this ne
DeCdIlle uuCOuoClouos "nu w
until he expired. 49,
"Capt. 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 q
cart which was obtained from an ola
negro residing 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 8 P. NJ,
when the Ide proceeded to Washington,
where the body of Booth and the
prisoner, Harold, were turned over, to
tn. officers of the United States iron-clad
monitor Montauk, Captain Doherty nav
inp received orders from the department
commander so to do. This was at three
o'clock on the morning of the twenty
seventh.
"Tn reference to the different state
ments that Booth was never captured
nor killed, and that he is alive to-day,
Captain Doherty says that 1t IS the sheer-
est nonsense in the world, as, IN the hrst
place. Captain Doherty knew j.: Wilkes
Rooth personally, and was in his COM
pany at the National Hotel in Washing
ton about two months previous to the
assassination. In the second place. at
the post-mortem examination. held on
the twentv-seventh of April, Booth was
fully identified by DR.. May, his attend
ing physician, who had performed an
operation upon his neck, and by MIR;
Dawson, proprietor of the National
Hotel. where he boarded during his resi-
dence in Washington, and also by other
well known citizens, to the full satlstac-
ton of the government.
"In the third place, after the body Of
Booth was buried in cell in the peniten-
tiary at the Arsenal at Washington, the
re- ,lains were delivered over to his rel
atives four years later, upon application
to President johnson, and they now rest
in the family vault near Baltimore, Nd,
thus proving that the members OF his own
family recognize the fact that the body
living there is the last mortal remains OF
j. Wilkes Booth.
"Harrold was tried, convicted and
hanged with Payne, Atzerot and Mrs
Surratt in July, 1855.
"A total reward of s $50, 600 was offered
by the government, the city of Wash
ington. and the city of Baltimore. The
reward of 100000 offered by the Gov
ernment was paid, but those offered by
the cities of Washington and Baltimore
were repudiated. Capt. Doherty entered