The Wilmingtonian., 1886-04-10

der light that played around the rugged
heights of his strong and noble nature. 1t
is small consolation that he dies at the NOM
ent of the war when he could best be spared
for no nation is ever ready for The loss Of
such friend. But it is something to remem-
ber that he lived to see the slow day break
ing. Like Moses he had arched with us
through the wilderness. FROM he height
of patriotic vision he beheld he golden
fields of the future waving in peace and plen-
ty out of sight. He beheld and blessed God,
but was not to enter in
In discourse delivered on Lincoln on the
23d of that month"; Henry Ward Beecher
said
'And now the martyr is moving in trium-
phal march, mightier than when alive. The
nation rises up at ever stage of his coming.
Cities and state are his pall-hearers, and the
cannon speaks the hours with solemn pro-
gression. Dead, dead he yet speaketh Is
| Washington dead? Is Hampden dead? Is
any man that was ever fit to live dead Dis
enthralled of flesh, risen todthe unobstructed
sphere where passion never comes, he begins
his illimitable work. His life is now grated
upon the infinite, and will 70 fruitful, as no
earthly life can be. Pass on, thou that hast
overcome Ye people, behold the martyr
whose blood, as SO many articulate words,
pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty"
1t was soon known that the murder of
Lincoln was one result of conspiracy, which
had for its victims Secretary Seward, and
|
Stanton, Gen. Grant and perhaps others.
Booth had left card on Mr. johnson the
day before, possibly with the intention of
killing him. Mr., Seward received wounds
from which he soon recovered. Grant, who
was to have accompanied Lincoln to the
theatre on the night of the assassination, and
did not, escaped unassailed. The general con-
spiracy was poorly planned and lamely exc
cuted 1t involved about twenty-five per-
sons. Mrs. Suratt David =. Harold, Lewis
Payne, Edward Spangler, Michael McLough-
lin, j. w. Atzerodt, Samuel Arnold, and DR..
Samuel Mudd, who set Booths leg, which
was dislocated by the fall from the stage
box, were among the number captured and
tried
After the assassination Booth escaped un.
molested from the theatre, mounted his
horse and rode away, accompanied by Har-
old, in Maryland. Cavalrymen scoursd the
country, and eleven days after the shooting
discovered them in a barn on Carrots farm,
near Port Royal ON the Rappahanock. The
soldiers surrounded the barn and demanded a
surrender. After the second demand Harold
: surrendered, under a shower of curses from
Booth, but Booth refused, declaring that he
would never be taken alivs. The captain Of
the squad then fired the barn. A correspond
ent thus describes the scene
"The blaze lit up the recesses of the great
: barn till every wasps nest and cobweb in the
: roof were luminous, flingiks steaks of red
q and violet across the tumbled farm gear in
{ the corner. They tinged the beams, the up
! right columns, the barrcades, where clover
/ and timothy piled high held toward the hot
| ipcendiary their separate 'straws for the fun
: eral pile. They bathed the murderer's re-
} treat in beautiful illumination and, while
} in bold outlines his figure stood revealed,
they rose like an impenetrabe wall to guard
from sight the hated enemy who lit them.
f Behind the blaze, with his eye to crack,
| Col Conger saw Wilkes Booth standing up
e right upon cruteh. AT the tue CLEAN OF
3 fire Booth dropped his crutch and carbine,
! and on both hands crept up to the slot to
espy the incendiary and shoot him dead. His
) eyes were lustrous with fever, and swelled
S and rolled in terrible beauty, while his teeth
S were fixed, and he wore the expression of one
| in the calmness before frenzy. In vain he
l. peered with vengeance in his look the blaze
. that made him visible concealed his enemy.
f A second he turned garing at the fire, as il
: to leap upon it and extinguish it, but it had
made such headway that he dismissed the
y thought. AS calmly as upon the battlefield
= a veteran stands amidst the hail of ball anc
d shell and plunging iron, Booth turned anG
n pushed for the door, carbine in poise, and
the last resolve of death, which we nam'
n despair, set on his high, bloodless fore
IS head"
.e Just then Sergt. Boston Corbit firet
n through crevice and shot Booth in til,
Is neck. He was carried ont Of the barn anC
e. laid upon the grass, and there died a6ou
T. four hours afterward. Before his misguided
l. soul passed into the silence of death h
ID whispered something which Lieut.. Bake
a bent down to hear, "Tell mother | die 70
Of my country, lie said, family. Reviving
v moment later he repeated the words, am
le added, ~ thought did for the best.
N Ills days of hiding and fleeing from hi
j. pursuers had left him pale, haggard, dirt
ef and unkempt. lie had cut off his mustach
IS and cropped his nair close to his head, and
j" and Harold both wore the Confederate gra
le uniform,
VI Booths body was taken to WaShingto
as and post mort, M examination of it held 0
he board the monitor Moutauk, and on th
night Of the 9Th of April it was given i
III charge cf two men in rowboat, who, it
by claimed, disposed of it in secresy-how non
ie but themselves know. Numerous storie
&C. have been told of the final resting place {
nd that hated dead man. Whoever knows I'll
ky truth of it tells it not.
Dis Booth was the brother Of the famous tragC
nv dian, Edwin Booth. He was only 26 yea
iii old when he figured as the. chief actor in th
ay horrible drama. He began his dramati
i'd career as John Wilkes, aud as stock acto
gained a fair reputation, but had not ache'
~ | al opy spaoioI Supnpss IIa had nlayp