The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-11-14


| in the baudages, be free of the bed-frame.*
Tho assassin. in the dim light, discovered his
victim. and drew his knife. His hat had fallen
of, and, as he bounded toward the bed, the sol
| diernurse interposed, and was felled to the floor
| by downward thrust of the knife in the scalp
and the daughter of Mr.. Seward also coming be-
| tween, Payne, with his left hand hurled her
| aside and threw himself across the bed. holding
| the sick man down with one hand and stabbing
him with the other
The elder sons interference had deranged the
| assassins sight or nerves, and, aiming cut Mr..
Stewards throat merely cut his cheek nearly off,
and wounded his neck. The bowie knife had an
upper edge and sharp upturned point. and has
| tening to complete his work, Payne drew it
backward and slashed the lower side Of the Sec
| retary's neck.
| AS Payne was about to complete his work the
soldier nurse, still suffering from battle wound
| In the leg, leaped upon his back in the bed and
| seized his appraised arm, while Miss Fanny Sew
ard cried, Don't let them carry father of" aud
and she threw up the side window overlooking
the near Presidents mansion and screamed
| 'Murderl"
The house was now alarmed, but not weapon
| was at hand for defense, while the murderer
| still had a revolver full of balls and his blood
| dyed knife. The colored boy had run down the
| two flights of stairs to hunt assistance at the
avenue; the eldest son lay insensible in his own
blood; three women were there. but Mr. Sew
ards wife, dangerously i'll, required the assist
| ance of the other two.
The Secretary's younger son, in deep sleep,
| CROPPED into the hall in his shirt and drawers
| Nothing meantime had saved the great Secre-
tarys life but the common soldier and his own
| astute action.
| Mr. Seward rolled himself up in the bed
clothes. dropped out on the further side. and
| rolled under the shelter of the bedstead.
| The soldier from the forests of Maine now
| erappled with the soldier from the forests of
| Florda-pine- against pine-the one ggan.
| tic, hardly of mans age armed, and IN a pre-
meditated task, to which his Seminole
| like temper had now fully aroused;t
| head, confused, unarmed and barely con-
valescent. Yet Robinson chung to Payne as if he
had been the last resistant in the last ditch of
| disunion. Both had been private soldiers, and
they fought with the desperation of an ordeal by
| single combat
| The Flordian-longer, stronger and padded in
| an overcoat-brought his knife right over his
shoulder blade, backward and drove it into pri-
| vate Robnsons shoulder twice, TO the bone.
| The man still held to Paynes arms, pulled him
| off the public mans bed and rolled with him on
| the floor. In the oversetting Payne slipped his
knife into his pocket gripped his heavy pistol |
there again by the barrel, and, with the frenzy
| of a tiger struck Robinson, with his right hand
released below the elbow, time and again under
| the left ear, the heavy pistol butt seeming to
| split the soldiers spinal column. But Payne
| could not shake the off, who chung to him
| like sheriff to a highwayman, and held him
closer, so that he could not fully command his |
weapons.
| The assassin then dropped his pistol which |
was found in pieces on the floor, the pine knot |
| Uranium of Maine having been too hard |
for it; but there was left the bloody knife and
this Payne produced again, and attempted the |
| favorte feat with bowieknlfe, OF dsemboweng |
his detaner they had both leaped to their feet.
| The agile soldier Rugged him from behind, |
| slipping sideways as the knife was pulled up |
ward, and also avoiding the lift-strokes against
| his breast-for the murderer, with lightning |
| like rapidity cut upward and downward, toward |
| groin and bowels below, and head and lungs |
above. In lodging these strokes, Robinson
| worked his way to the unknown maniac's front, |
and they clutched now, eye to eye, and only one |
| man armed
Robinson seized Paynes wrist. pinned the |
knife to his side. and streaming blood. while the |
other was uninjured even nbruised, tripped his
knee to throw him, Northern fashion, over his
| hip to the floor.
| The soldiers wounded leg would not support
| him in the effort to lift this gladiator, whose
| weight nearly two hundred pounds, and all
| of it Drawn; as he raised the great column UP,
| his leg began to give way.
"Tm mad I'm mad!" the assassin gasped be-
tween his teeth in the dim room, feeling that he
| was finding his match.
Both men now worked for each others throats, |
and Robinson was the quickest His idea was |
| to edge the man over the threshold and work |
him against the bansters of the stairs. and |
| throw him down the we'll thereof Intelligence, |
growing by steadiness and moral consciousness. |
was compromising for his loss of blood and many |
wounds, for this man had come from the land of |
wild beasts, and had fought the winter freezing |
at his vtas in the roaring torrents of the ARGOS
took. His alligator opponent was already slid |
ing out, worried and broken spirited, and his |
heart in his legs, when the fresh son of the Sec |
rotary, almost undressed, entered the room and |
took hold of the assassin.
Mai. Augustus Seward had leaped to the con- |
clusion that his father was deirious, seeing a |
man in the imperfect light firmly held by an |
other; but taking hold Of this former person. he |
hA0o caf-t AH
traordinary size. and his next idea was that it |
was the military nurse-a stranger to most of |
tho household-who had gone crazy and at
tackled his father; for the sick mans bed was |
empty.
"Tm mad! I'm mad!" repeated this stranger, in |
a low voice, as if by rote, the vehemence in it |
gone; and this suggestion he derived from Booth,
who had told him to pass for lunatic after be-
ginning the combat, and throw the sick mans |
attendants off their guard.
"Major for Gods sake let 60 of mel" said the |
nurse, all bloody. and now somewhat held, too,
by the son.
The major pushed both men toward the cham
Der door.
"Take his knife from this hand am holding
and cut his throat" the nearly breathless attend
ant said.
The Major still pushed the enclasped pair
toward the door, and there Payne let go of Rob
inson, and with his left fist knocked him down,
while drawing the released knife upon Major
Seward and cutting him with spent strength in
the forehead and hand.
The assassin now sprang with the terror
of death toward the stairs, and bounded |
down them. The whole combat, in all its
invoutions, had hardly occupied FIVE minutes.
AS he WAS going down he met a messenger of
the State Department escaping also. and Payne.
by forward blow. stabbed him between the
spine and the rib, and felled him there.
AT the street the dark brown horse was
just making off, Payne pursued him, and
mounted with the ease of one long in the
irregular cavalry. and plunged into the miry
ground of Vermont avenue. and disappeared in
the darkness of the scantily- settled suburbs
there. In mounting the horse he had dropped /
his bloody knife in the street.
He had wounded five men in that encounter,
but failed to take the life of any one, and they
all recovered, while his own sluggish yet torrid