Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-07-07

other means of cultivating a crop, they re-
Used to sell. Their going to the barn to
sleep aroused the apprehension of the two
young men, who thought their only object,
that they could possibly see, was to steal
their horses. So they locked the tobacco
house door, took the key to the house, gave
it to Miss H., and she hung it on a nail in
the mantelpiece of the chamber. The
young men, arming themselves, secreted
themselves in another outhouse, fronting
the barn door, to keep watch over their
| horses.
| 1t must have been that at their interview
Jett told Booth and Harold that they were
in danger, for Jett knew, as will be shown
This is why Booth did not want to remain
in the house with Mr.. Garrett's family.
About o'clock that night the squad of
United States troops, under command of
Lieut.. Dougherty, arrived at Mr.. Garrett's
They did not wait for the door to be open
ed, but knocked it open and entered Mr..
Garrett's chamber, where they found him
in bed. They ordered him out of bed, al
lowing him only to put on his pants, car
ried him into the yard, and fastened
him to block in his half nude condition,
and kept him there till A. M. From the
effects of this exposure and brutal treat
ment Mr.. Garrett never recovered, it bring
ing on disease which brought him to pre-
mature grave. After taking Mr.. Garrett to
the yard and making him secure to the
| block. the house was searched for the OBJ
jects Of their pursuit, and not finding them
demanded of Mr. Garrett where the men we're
he had been harboring. Mr. Garrett stam-
mered SO badly that it would take him sew
eral minutes to articulate word, and this
| very much angered the soldiers, and was the
occasion of much abuse and ill-treatment
to Mr.. Garrett. The old gentleman, not
being able to tell them where the men were,
one of his sons coming up, said: "Father
stammers badly. He is trying to tell you,
but cannot talk. If you are after the two
men who have been staying here can tell
you. They are yonder in the tobacco house
in the loft, and went there of their own ac-
cord for some reason last night to Sleep"
They ordered young Garrett to accompa-
ny them to the tobacco house, unlock it,
and made him 60 up to the loft to bring
Booth out Booth said to Garrett:
''Tell them I shall never surrender to
them-the word surrender is not in my vo-
cabulary."
They then began to pile pine brush from
turnip patch near the door of the tobacco
house, threatening to burn it down with
the two men in it. At this time Booth came
to crack in the house and said to the
men:
"Do not burn down the barn and destroy
the mans property. He is in no wise re-
sponsible or to blame for my being here
The owner of the property has no knowl-
edge of mo at all-who am or what am.
You can burn me alive, but I will never
surrender"
Miss 81. said Booth had four pistols and
could have killed twenty-four of the FEEDER
ais, but said to them:
Gentlemen, will not hurt a hair of
your heads, but if you are brave men, you
will give me chance for my life. l will
come out if you will give me ten steps,"
This being resfused, he said:
81 will do it if you will give me Ave steps
distance, and this is all the chance for my
life will ask you"
Both propositions were refused. Booth
then said:
tThere is man up here who wants to
surrender. Let him come down before you
fire the barn."
Harold then went down and surrender
ed to the officer in charge.
Just after this one of the men put fire to
a bundle of dry hay and threw it into the
loft, and this set fire to some loose hay and
other combustible material in the loft, aud
it was by the light of this fire that Boston
Corbett saw Booth through a crack and
fired, his unerring ball striking Booth just
under the left ear, penetrating the neck and
coming out on the right side. Booth fell,
and they supposed him dead. and they
forced one of Garrett's SONS to go up into
the loft, then in light blaze, and bring
Booth ont. In doing this the young man
was terribly burned. Booth was taken to
the porch Of Mr.. Garrett's house, supposed
to be dead, but was not. He opened his
eyes, and they proposed to put pillow un-
der his head, but he said: "No, let me die
here, just as I lie." They offered him
wine, but he refused it. They sent to
Port Royal for physician, hoping to revive
him. DR.. Urquahart came, but he was too
late.
After refusing the Wine Miss H. dipped
the end Of her handkerchief in a goblet of
fresh water, and put it to his lips. He
| sucked it, and opening his eyes said: ''Tell
my mother l died for my country and what
thought was best for it," He lived but a
short time. A little struggle, just as he
died, threw lock Of his jet black hair over
his marble white forehead, which DR.. Ur-
quahart clipped off at the request of Miss
H., she thinking it would be a sweet me-
mento to some friend or relation of his,
who might in time call to learn something
of the last scenes in the life and death of j.
Wilkes Booth, for then she and all the fam
lily had learned from the soldiers that it was
he, and the assassin of President Abraham
Lincoln.
J. Wilkes Booth died on the naked porch
floor of Mr. Richard Henry Garrett, of
Caroline county, Virginia. Lieut.. Baker
of the United States detective force, who
accompanied Lieut.. Dougherty, command
er of the squad, wrapped the body in an
old army blanket, and it was placed in an
ox-cart driven by Fred Freeman, a negro,
to the Rappahannock river. Its disposition
afterward, though for long time, and
with many is to this day, mystery, is we'll
known to the United States government
and the family of Mr.. Booth.
| Miss H. informed me that young Jett
betrayed the confidence reposed in him by
Harold in Port Royal, who told him and
Lieut.. Ruggles who Booth was, and his
secret, and that he placed him at Mr.. Gar
rett's in order to get time to inform the au-
thorities at Washington Of Booths where
abouts. This he did by telegraphing from
Milford's, a station on the Richmond, Fred
ericksburg and Potomac Railroad, twenty
miles south of Fredericksburg, Va, and
while waiting for the authorities to capture
him, he spent most of his time in Bowling
Green, Va, paying court to his lady love-
But young Jett never spent happy day
afterward. He had caused the death of
his fathers old friend. Mr.. Garrett, from
treatment received at the hands of federal
soldiers; had his two sons imprisoned for a
year or two, and brought pecuniary ruin
upon the entire family. These things
preyed upon his mind till reason was de-
throned, and he died early in lunatic asy-
lum, constantly muttering the prayer while
he lived: "Oh, Mr.. Garrett, forgive me for
having done you so much wrong"
Miss Fl. says the blood spot where Booth $
head lay on the porch at Mr.. Garrett's has
been visited by thousands of curiosity
seekers and lovers, and that large sum was
offered for the plank where the blood spot
was made. She gave me a part of the lock
of hair taken from Booths head, wrapped
in piece Of the black silk in which the
hair was wrapped when clipped. She has
given away nearly all of it, and said she
would not dispose of any more, as she
would like to keep a few hairs as a relic.-
| ef,