Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-07-19

| and tried to nnd the door, but was
either too excited or too little acquaint
ed with the place to find it in the dark
The noise he made startled old Corder
into singing and shrieking. Powell
! did not know what to do. Another
/ fash and he saw the figure coming to.
wards him. He had lost his pistol in
the darkness. There was no time to
look for it. The maniac was advanc.
ing. Another flash of lightning and he
found himself in hand-to-hand en-
counter at midnight in deserted
church with a maniac The noise
made by Powell and old Corder, who
had wandered off in his night-elothes
and was having his 'devotions' all to
himself, aroused some of the neighbors,
who, on going to the church, found
that Powell had old Corder down and
was sitting on him, and would oc-
casionally give the old mans head a
bump on the floor to subdue him.
Powell was badly scratched and bitten,
but with the assistance of the neigh
bors, Powell succeeded in tying the
old man, and the next day he was de-
livered to the county authorities and
placed in jail at Warrenton.
During the cannonading of Jackson
and Banks across the Shenandoah
river shell entered the gable end of
house on the Valley pike, exploded,
struck bureau at which young lady
was dressing her hair in an upper room,
Clipped of a large wedge-shaped piece
of the bureau and drove it into her
back under the right shoulder blade.
The same day young Confederate
soldier was brought to the house by
some of his companions, shot through
the lungs. The name of the girl was
Lily Bowie; the name of the soldier
was Lewis Powell. Miss Bowl was
the daughter of a gentleman from Ala
bama, who had married Virginia
lady. Under these singular circum-
stances these two young Southern peo-
pile met in Virginia, wounded almost
unto death, and formed an attachment
for each other which only ended when
the one breathed out the last of life
upon the scaffold in Washington, and
the other returned broken hearted
woman to her far away home in the
South.
When Powell had recovered from
his wound he went to Richmond as
guard to some prisoners. While in
Richmond he attended the theatre for
the first time in his life. John Wilkes
Dooth xx,bo x,oc in Piabp,o OF fhof
time, appeared in the cast. Powell
was so delighted with Booths acting
that he sought his acquaintance and
gained it. At that time Booth was
engaged in his plan to abduct the Pres
ident of the United States and his
Cabinet He ss~ in Powell material
to be used in his plot. As Burr wound
himself into the open heart of the un-
fortunate Blennerhassett by the ele
gance of his manners, the beauty of his
conversation, and the power of his
eloquence, so Booth infused the venom
of his own ambition into the credulous
heart of his gawky and impressible
country boy and found him an easy
conquest. Suavity pretended friends
over flowing bowls, jellies, ices, and
champagnes have turned older heads
than Powell's, and if he had no strength
to resist the Establishments of John
Wilkes Booth he at least paid for his
weakness with his life Powell was
brave man, and it is pity he was not
brave enough to resist the wiles of his
evil genius But he was not; on the
contrary, from the hour he first met
Booth he was his, to do as he pleased
with. Leaving Richmond, Powell re-
turned to the Piedmont section chang
ed man.
Powell soon began to sell off his
horses and dispose of his effects, say
ing he would be gone for several
months on his Maryland expedition.
Among those who were to accompany
him were William Showers, John I'll.
Coke, and others, of Norfolk, but
when the time came to depart all OF
them backed down except Powell.
Whether these men knew anything as
to the nature of the expedition | will
not pretend to say. I do know they
were intimates with Powell, and that
l saw and overheard them talking
about their Maryland expedition"
Just before Powell left the Piedmont
section. Powell left Fauquier some
time in January, 1865. Miss Lily
Bowie quite naturally gives a feeling
description of her parting with Powell,
who promised to return in a few
months. She never saw him again.
The first intimation Miss Bowie had
that Powell was one of the Lincoln
conspirators was seeing his picture in
the illustrated report of the trial.
When we were told a man named
Payne had stabbed Seward, it nearly
frightened US to death. We all ex-
pected to be hanged Miss Bowie
went to Washington during the trial,
but did not succeed in obtaining an in
terview with Powell. She wrote to
him but does not believe her letters
were ever delivered, as she received
no response to her letters. She ap-
piled to Secretary Stanton, but he re-
fused her permission to visit the Jail,
and as the military commission by
which he was tried sat with closed
doors all efforts to see her lover
were in vain.
After leaving Fauquier, Powell
went to Nokesville, on the Virginia
Midland Railroad, where he lett his
horse and exchanged his uniform for a
suit of citizens clothes. He then pro-
ceeded to walk down the railroad to-
ward Alexandria. Near Alexandria
he met some Federal pickets, and rep
resenting himself as a refugee was
conveyed to Alexandra, where he
took the oath of allegiance the United
States Government as Lewis Payne,
of Fauquier county Virginia, '.and was