Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-01-12

scene is the same as that of thousands OF
other men who died in IT," war from gunshot
wounds. He suffered great deal. After his
death he was sewed in blanket, and they got
Ned Freeman, an old colored man, to draw
the body to Port Royal in his rickety old wag-
on. Brother Jack and myself were taken to
Washington and kept in prison thirty-one
days We were never called to testify, al
though our written statements were taken by
Colonel Baker the chief detective. have
always thought we were not called as witness
es by Baker for fear the authorities would
award US some portion Of the reward offered
for the capture of Booth. This is how it was
that our story has never before been told"
What difference between Booth and Gui-
teau. Were it not for the hideousness OF the
crime for which he died, there would be some
thing heroic in the way Booth met his death.
The first assassin was inspired by the example
of Brutus, whose memory he worshiped, and
whose spirit he invoked when he directed the
fatal bullet, and again when he met his death.
1t was the heroism of vanity yet more easy to
excuse than cringing cowardice.
SURROUNDED BY FIRE.
1t is easy to picture Booth in the burning
barn. He had determined never to surrender;
and when the blazing fodder suddenly lit up
his hiding place. soaring the sleeping swallows
llOll ucSGS GliC ldLVCAo, aiiu pihiS
ing each individual beam, girder and shingle
into bold relief, it only increased his purpose to
die game. There was no evidence Of fear eth
er in word or act. He stood in the centre of
the barn framed by sheet of fire, erect and
fearless, supported by his crutches, while he
vainly endeavored to get sight at his pursu-
ers that he might sell his life as dearly as pos
sible. The lurid glare of the leaping flames
which made him visible to them, drew an i'm
penetrable veil between his enemies and him.
When the fire drew so close about him that he
saw that he must either die by the flames or
the sword, he threw down his carbine, and,
with pistol in hand, started for the door. He
had made his choice; it was that he would die
in the fight rather than the fire. A dlsobedl-
ent soldier put bullet through his neck
What thoughts and purposes were in his mind
as he determined to face death in hand to
hand struggle with the soldiers, none will ever
know, but had he not been killed from behind,
it is evident from his every act, that his fight
for life would have been a desperate one.
There is something inspiring in courage even
though it be found in a murderer.
While Mr. William Garrett was recltlng tne
story of Booths last hours, his sister Kate
stood near, and when he had finished, said:
'When Captain Jett brought Booth to our
house, i thought he was the handsomest man
I had ever seen. Hehad the most magnificent
head and forehead ever saw upon man. He
also had fine face. He wore mustache,
and he evidently had not shaved for few days.
I got him his dinner, and as he sat down to eat
it, he said, Il am not very hungry and this
was about the only remark he made. he
seemed in deep thought, and spent most of his
time lounging in the front yard. Captain Jett
introduced him as James W. Boyd, a wounded
Confederate soldier. He had very rude pair
of crutches, but my brother had a very good
pair which he had used when wounded during
the war, and we gave them to Booth"
BOOTHS LAST WORDS.
''Did he ever speak about the assassina-
tion 20
'.No, sir he never seemed to take any inter-
est in anything. remember that on the even
ing before he was shot, Mr.. Bowie, who now
keeps the hotel at Port Royal, had called, and
we were all sitting on the porch, when the sub.
ject of the assassination came up. When we
began talking about it, Booth arose and went
and laid down upon the grass by himself.
was present when he died and helped my SIS
tiers to ease his last moments. The detectives
kept close to him, but they allowed my sister,
now Mrs Campbell, of Berkeley county, West
Virginia. to cut lock of hair from his head
after he died" ....... -
'sDid you hear anything he said as he lay on
the porch?"
''Ie attempted to speak several times but
could not utter many words. l remember
he held up his hands and looked at them say
ing as he did so:
"'Useless, useless These were the last
words Booth ever spoke.
The bolder and broader acts in the tragedy,
which began with the assassination Of Abra-
ham Lincoln, and ended with the execution OF
those engaged in the mighty crime, are famil-
lar history, but the scenes surrounding the
death of the principal character, and the i'm
preston they stamped upon the lives of those
who stood about him when he was hunted and
killed, are, for the first time, herein related.
In those days American journalism did not
follow current events with the same speed and
accuracy that it does now. 1t is no longer
content to record the news within easy grasp,
but reaches out and furnishes the most strl-
king points of modern history, and corrects
the mistakes the passionate historians have
made, and garnishes the dry and stubborn state
ments of facts with graphic personalities and
stirring details. have tried in this sketch to
give a few interesting points upon this absorb
ing subject, of which the complete and faitli-
full history will not be written for years.