Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-03

States army, on the retired list. He cut
across the ream of emotional, and
moral, and reporlOrial questions with this
one.
Il wish to ask the spirit where his body
was buried?'
Instantly tipped out, amid GREATNESS
silence.
"Under the floor of the old arsenal, on
the is'and, 1t Washington"
Tn We're those present who knew
had never been in Washington, and there
| fore could not be aware of locality so
definitely given. There were those pres
ent intensely interested in the Ques-
ton of where Booth was buried,
/ Tor had made them interested in it. The
answer was plump, prompt and positive.
Other questions about who buried him.
who was buried with him, etc, were be-
/ yond my knowledge. The spirit, there
fore, parried them by an assurance that
such disclosures panied him to eXhaus-
ton, and it would be better to summon
TIE spirits of his comrades in the assassi-
| nation.
Curiously enough, all efforts to sum-
| mon any of them were unsuccessful.
There was general expression of regret
that the feelings of the contrite Booth had
been lacerated undulv. The Colonel, at
the last, expressed himself satisfied. He
SAID be mad been stationed at that arsenal
when he was subaltern. He described
the locality by saying that a canal, then
and now dry ditch, bad been built be-
tween one point on the upper Potomac
and another on the lower Potomac, max
ing the land between it and the river bank
an island On that land the old arsenal
was situated. 1t was approached by
road running out from Sixth street, nearly
opposite the National Hotel, on Pennsyl-
Yanla avenue.
The discussion in the press as to how
and where Booth was buried revived
about this time. Finally, after nearly
three months, Surgeon General Barnes
wrote an open letter to an inqul- NJ
! friend, saying that Booth was buried
''under the floor of the old arsenal, on the
island, in Washington" and giving gen.
orally the time and circumstances. That
was official.
My old friend the Colonel took immedi-
ate occasion in letter TO a Spirltualistic
! paper to declare that, while the tardy in
! formation of the Surgeon General was
correct, the Splritualists, or at least some
of them, had known the fact for some
! time, because the spirit OF Booth had,
/ while be the Colonel) was present, given
| distinctly the Information Of the place OF
his burial to a rising young journalist
| (anem!) VINO was one of the most care
| tul and impressiOnable mediums he had
| ever seen.
And to this letter the gallant Colonel
| signed his name, after l had with d I'll .u-
ty gotten him o leave my name out and
had suitably blushed a his characterize
ton OF me. My memory of and trust 10
what Baker had told NE. when he was
under an excess both of animal and of ar
dent spirits, stood me in good stead. They
who had been OF little faith on The WOTtd
" ere rebuked. / knew they were, though
they never said so.
In 1869 was sent to Washington as
correspondent Of the Wort and the Eagle.
In February OF the latter year began the
preparation OF an interview with Presi-
dent Andrew johnson, to be published on
March 4, 1869, as his farewell uiterance
as President, to the American people. 1t
required me to meet him very frequently,
question him very closely, and listen To
him very attentively. Then, as the diff
ferent chapters finished, he and | would
go over them carefully. At that time the
administration had given up to relatives
all the bodies of the conspiratOrs which
had been requested, except that of Booth
The disinterment of each bod, had
| been reported with a progressively
| increased sensationalism, which be-
came offensive to Mr.. johnson and Mr..
/ Seward. They considered the idea of
/ refusing the request OF Booths relatives
! for the remains of the actor, and gave out
in the press that they had refused the
request. At the same time the relatives
were notified that the request would be
granted if they could promise that the
disinterment should be conducted with
| absolute privacy. The officers concerned
were directed to observe the utmost
| secrecy. and to see that no publicity was
given to the fact OF disinterment.
Matters unnecessary to recall con-
WINGED me that this was the programme
and | resolved to get on to it, if possible.
The other correspondents cons idered that
the announcement of the refusal to give
up the remains OF Booth was genuine. |
believed it was nOt-and | waited and
watched. On an afternoon in mid Feb
ruary, 1863, was sitting with the PresI-
dent and working with him on the pro-
Iected farewell interview. Something
would happen. 1t was in the air. While
we were thus engaged long, quiet, thin,
solemn man was admitted, and he handed
Mr.. Johnson a paper, which the lat
ter signed. Then before returning it he
said very severely: You know, sir, that
It's my wish that this be done with the
utmost privacy and dispatch" The man
replied: "That is perfectly understood,
Mr. President. Your directions shall be
implicitly obeyed." Tnen he went out.
Quick as flash the conviction went
tn ough me, ''that man is an undertaken;
that paper is an order Tor Booth s DudN.N
dissem nled, for it was necessary TO do
so under the, searching eyes Of the keenly
observant President. Asking him to ex-
cuse me for a moment. / went out of the
room and down stairs in time to
see the man going toward the
War Department. Following him
in | saw him in conversation with
Acting Adit. Gen. Townsend, whom |
knew would have to countersign an order
of that kind. When | came out there was
long box wagon wiki a negro on the
seat standing in front. In the wagon
was long, white wooden box such as
they use to carry collins in. That was
evidence enough for me. The negro was
waiting to drive the man TO the sold
arsenal | at once walked to Wizards
Hotel rapidly, hired a carriage and made
it an object' to the driver TO get TO the old
arsenal as loon as possible. We arrived
there very quickly, aud / sent the car
riage back, preerring to ride back TO the
town with the undertaken.
In about eight minutes he came up with
his box wagon. | stopped HIM at the en-
trance by throwing up my hand and said
70 him very CURLY:
"Have YOU an order, sirP
He instantly replied very civilly: ayes,
sir, here 1t is" handing It TO me.
1t was in due form, directing the officer
in charge OF the arsenal to deliver 10 the
mar he was BaltimOrean and has name