Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-03-15

dertaKer; that paper Is an osdsr for Booths
| body dissembled, for it was necessary
to do 20 under the searching eyes of the
| keeniy observant president Asking him t.
excuse ne for a moment, went out Of the
room and down stairs IN time to see tho man
| long toward the war department. Follow
| iu, him in saw him in conversation with
Acting Adjutant General Townsend, whom
1 knew would have to countersign an order
Of that kind When / came cut
there vas a long box wagon with a
negro ON the seat, standing in front. In tie
wagon was a 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 -old
arsenal Isfonee walked to Willard he
tel rapidly, hired a carriage and made it an
object" TO TIE driver to get 10 the old arsenal
as soon as possible. We arrived there very
quickly and I sent the carriage back, Pre-.
ferring % ride bat K to the town with the un-
taksr.
IN about eight minutes be came up with
his box wagon. / topped him at the en-
trance by throwing up my hand and said to
very CURLY:
Have You an order sirr
He instantly replied very civilly: Yes,
sir. here 1t Is handing it TO me
Ii was in due form directing the officer III
charge o: the arsenal 10 deliver to the man
the was Ba!tmorean and his name as ]
Remember. WIS Weaver) the BODY OF John
Wilkes Booth. to be By him given u the lat
ter's relatives and duly receipced for. Ii
was signed by President johnson and c9un.
tersigned by Gen. Town-end.
locking at tie man with great solemnitp.
l said to him in a dry, official way:
mil hat is rIa
wish that tais be done with the utmost p1i
vacy AMI di-pa;chT
the Use Of thu very words spokon BY Mr..
johnson himself. not an hour before. s,artief
the man. He looked At me and said:
oh, recognize you now. You were with
the president when handed him the orderf7
Yes, / replied, -aDd I can assure you
that be is very much in earnest The ado
male over pre- vious Disbursements here has
greatly offended him"
There shall DO none made over this" mis-
takenly rejoined the mln Come with me
yourself and You will be able to report to
the president that his directions have been
implicitly followed" / accepted this kind
invitation and was not surprised, though !
was silent, VIXEN the undertaken told the
officer in charge o: the arsenal. up TO which
We drove from tie entrance, that Il was one
of the executive clerk, WIN WAS there to see
that everything was done with privacy and
Dispatch
On the floor OF the old arsenal on the
Island in Washington. We stood. The floor
was Of tagging; the tagging laid unevenly,
in consequence OF having been displacei tc
permit tic disinterment OF other bodiea
The earth had been put back. but had not
settled. Marines came in with spades. The
tagging above Booth was pried aside. Then
the men dug down to the coffin, which was
Of plain wood, ard it was lifted to the sur
face. At my suggestion and for purposes
Of Identification. it was opened. l made
mental inventory Of the appearances. To
one who had seen Booth On the stage there
conld lie no Coz of the remains. !
The dry, andy quality Of the soil
had preserved them wonderfully. There
was three weeks growth Of beard. |
There was q uniform Of IN infantry sol
der. There was woman's laced shoe on
the njured foot. off OF which DIR. Mudd La ! |
cut the boot and on which his kindly wife |
had put one Of her own shoes The features |
were a very little sunksn. and from them !
the flesh had not fallen. Tho EXPIRE sion was !
the calm ono of rest which think comes 10 |
all the dead. On exposure to the atmosphere
=
from tho rude inva.ion. but the hands and |
tho face reposed in complete quietude, and
although of the nine men present
seven wore the uniform OF the government
whose beloved chief that man had killed, all
barred their heads and talked in subdue tones
in unconsciously paying tribute to tie finest
spectacle Of manly. beauty any OF them had
ever seen, and in yielding even to that grave
and that corpse the respect death as a fact
always commands IN gentle minds
TIE coffin was reclosed. 1t was placed
within the box and that was placed within
the wagon. We drove to the depot. Tne
others went ON TO Baltimore and delivered
the remains 10 Edwin Booth and Junius
Brutus Booth, who placed them beside their
father in the cemetery in that city.
Thc World had an exclusive account the
next day. 1t ought to be found in that paper
Of Feb Is or IA. 1869
Two Gays afterward, when / thought il
safe TO revisit President johnson, he met Ine
with kind but grieved manner and said:
What made you do iti'
told him all the matters which l have
l;ere told you.
he said: Well, would rather you had
the reporting Of this than any one else. II
is perhaps as well that it came out as not
But can assure you, sir. that l have made
some people feel very unpleasant on your
account, and Mr.. Sewarl thinks your CON
duct objectionable q"
As a fact, however, Mr. Seward afterwarl
me on the success of the affair
AMI laughed heartily at the conjunction OF
in the history