Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-07-20
NO. "a
THE ONLY PARALLEL IN HIS
TORY
Walt Whitman's account of the As
sassindtiOn of Lincoln.

sassination of Lincoln.
Friday, April IA, 1865, seems to
have been a pleasant one throughout
the whole land-the moral atmosphere
pleasant too-the long storm, so dark,
so fratricidal, full of blood and doubt
and gloom, over and ended at last by
the sunrise of such an absolute Ma
tional victory, and utter breakdown OF
secession-we almost doubted our own
selvesl Early herbage, early flowers,
were out. 0 remember where l was
stopping at the time, the season being
advanced, there were lilacs in full
bloom. BY one of those caprices that
enter and give tinge to events without
being at all part of them, find my
self always reminded the great TRACE
dy of that day by the sight and odor of
these blossoms. Itnever fails)
But | must not dwell on this occa-
sion. The deed hastens. The popu-
lar afternoon paper of Washington, the
little Ecening Star, had spattered all
over its third page, divided among its
advertisements in q sensational manner
in a hundred different places. The
President and his lady will be at the
theatre this evening" Lincoln was
fond of the theatre. | have myself
seen him there several times. | re-
member thinking how funny it was
that he, in some respects the leading
actor in the stormiest drama known to
real history's stage through centuries,
should sit there and be SO completely
interested and absorbed in those human
jack-straws, moving about with their
silly little gestures, foreign spirit and
flatulent text.
On this occasion the theatre was
crowded, many ladies in rich and gay
costumes, officers in their uniforms,
many well-known citizens, young folks.
the usual magnetism of so many peo-
pie, cheerful, with perfumes, music of
violins and futes-and over all, and
saturating all, that vast vague wonder,
Victory, the Nations victory, the tri-
umph of the Union, filling the air, the
thought, the sense, with exhilaration
more than all music and perfumes.
The President came betimes, and,
with his wife, witnessed the play from
the large stage boxes of the second tier,
two thrown into one, and profusely
draped with the American flag. There
is scene in the play representing a
modern parlor, in which two unpre-
cedented English ladies are informed
by an impossible Yankee that he is not
a man of fortune, and therefore unde-
sirable for marriage-catching purposes;
after which, the comments being finish
ed, the dramatic trio makes exit, leav-
ing the stage clear for moment. At
this period came the murder of Abra-
ham Lincoln. Great as that was, with
all its manifold train, circling round it
and stretching into the future for many
a century, in the politics, history, art,
ETC., of the New World, in point of fact
the main thing, the actual murder,
with the quiet and simplici-
~ of any commonest occurrence
bursting of bud or pod in the growth
of vegetation, for instance Through
The general hum following the stage
pause; with the change of positions
came the muflled sound of pistol-shot,
which not one-hundredth part of the
audience heard at the time-and yet a
hush-somehow, surely q
vague, startled thrill-and then, through
he ornamented, draperied, starred and
striped spaceway of the Presidents box,
\ sudden figure, a man, raises himself
with hands and feet, stands moment
On the railing, leaps below to the stage
% distance Of perhaps fourteen or fir-
,een feet), falls out of his position,
catching his boot heel in n copious
lrapery (the American fag), falls on
,ne knee, quickly recovers himself,
Uses as if nothing had happened Che
.eally sprains his ankle, but unfelt
hen n)-and so the figure, Booth, the
dressed in plain black broad
10th, bareheaded, with full head of
glossy, raven hair, and his eyes like |
some mad animals, flashing with light |
md resolution, yet with certain calm |
less, holds aloft in one hand large
along not much back from
he ights-turns fully toward the
audience his face of statuesque beauty,
it by those basilisk eyes, flashing with
desperation, perhaps insanity-launch-
IS out in firm and steady voice the
words, Sic semper tyrannis and
hen walks with neither slow nor very
apid pace diagonally across to the
'ack of the stage and disappears Had
lot all this terrible scene-making the
mimic ones preposterous-had it not
ii been rehearsed, in blank by Booth,
,eforehan ?
A moments hush-a sore am-the
ry of murder-Mrs Lincoln, leaning
ut of the box, with ashy cheeks and
ips, with an involuntary cry, pointing
o the retreating figure: He has killed
he President! And still moments
TRANCE, incredulous suspense, and
hen the deluge then that mixture
f horror, noises, uncertainty-(the
ound, somewhere back, of horses
oofs Gathering with speed)-the peo-
lc DuTsI CirouSH CuaiTS anu ratings |
nd break them up; that noise adds to
he scene; there is inextricable confu-
ion and terror; women faint; quite
,eble persons fall and are trampled on;
,any cries of agony are heard; the
road stage suddenly fills to suffocation
nth dense and motley crowd, like
ONE horrible carnival, the audience
nsh generally upon it; at least the
trong men do; the actors and actresses
re all there in their play costumes and
ainted faces, with mortal fright show
,g through the rouge, some trembling,
ONE in tears; the screams and calls,
Onfused talk redoubled, trebled; two
r three manage to pass up water from
ne stage to the Presidents box. others