News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-03-14
J. WILKES BOOTH.
DETAILS OF HIS DEATH NEVER
BEFORE PUBLISHED.
Lieutenant Baker, Who Led the Pur-
suing Party, Describes the Hunt
for Booth and the Death Scene.

suing Party, Describes the Hun
for Booth and the Death Scene.
Before the clerks desk in the office {
the Auditor General of Michigan. &
Lansing, sits the man who commando
the handful of cavalry that captured j
Wilkes Booth, saw him shot down j
the old Virginia barn, neard the las
words he ever uttered and lowered til
body into its grave.
Rather below medium height, bu
still straight as an arrow, he is nov
! aFa.y=haired and gray-bearded. In tn
museum of the State Agricultural Col
le4 is the figure of the war-horse h
roses during the pursuit. The sturd,
old horse was the playmate of Lansin.
children for years, and when he diet
recently full of years the college frater
nifty requested permission to have tn,
skin mounted and placed in the mus
cum.
The Lieutenant tells the story O
Booths capture wildly, and, as he wa.
with the murderer from his death tc
his burial, his narrative, as told to {
Chicago Tribune correspondent, contain.
great deal of valuable matter that has
never before been published.
AT the time of the assassination Lieu
tenant Baker was in the employ of the
War Departments Detective Bureau, al
the head of which was his cousin, Gen.
eral l.. G. Baker Ten days later, when
word was wired from Lower Maryland
that the first definite trace of the mur.
derer had been found-a negro stating
that two men answering the description
of Booth and the man Harold had
crossed the Potomac the Saturday night
before-the Chief Detective placed un-
der his command q squad of cavalry
and tersely directed him to run Booth
to earth. There were twenty-five cav
alrymen in the party, and to these, at
the Lleutenant's request, was added as
assistant and counselor his friend, Col
Onel Conger, a brother of the Ex-United
States Senator from Michigan.
A gun-boat conveyed the party down
the river to Belle Plain that night, and
the squad secured the surrounding
country until daybreak, Baker and Con-
ger, dressed as civilians, riding some
distance in advance. No clew was OBJ
tanned, and at daylight the party struck
directly across the country, arriving at
Port Conway late in the afternoon.
Here the jaded men dropped out of the
saddle, but their rest was of a decidedly
feeting nature. The restless little lieu
tenant soon found fisherman named
Rawlins, who had seen Booth and Har-
old Ill company with Captain Jett and
Lieutenant Bainbridge, two officers Just
mustered ont of Mosby's cavalry, cross
the Rappahannock the night before.
Did he know where they went? He i'm
agined they would push straight on to
Bowling Green, twenty-five miles south
west. RawliDs agreed to guide the
party to Bowling Green, but, at his own
was placed under arrest to
convey the impression that his service
was compulsory As they crossed the
ISer two mounted men watched them
from the brow of the hill
beyond. The cavalry galloped up the
slope in pursuit, but the two made
dash into the pine woods, and it was
deemed advisable to waste no time in
pursuit, but to head straight for Bow
ling Green. ''And these two men," said
Lieutenant Baker, with queer grimace
at the recollection, ''wera Harold and
Bainbridge, as we afterward learned,
and Booth was only half mile away at
the farmhouse of the Garrett brothers
Midnight and the party had reached
Bowling Green. The hotel to which
Rawlins believed Captain Jett would
take his friends was quietly surrounded,
and Captain Jett himself was reused
from his slumbers to find revolver
thrust in his face. He promised to tell
all he knew of the matter if shielded
from the charge of completely, and in
formed the Lieutenant that Booth had
stopped at the Garrett place. He was
shortly ordered to get out his horse and
accompany the party, and the men were
directed in his hearing to shoot him
down without halting if he attempted a
dash for liberty Back toward the Rap
pahannock painted the tired horses,
with their riders worn out, half asleep;
and nearly choked by the thick, slug
gish clouds of dust which the intense
darkness made it impossible to avoid
At half-past three o'clock they were at
the Garrett place, Jett and Rawlins
placed under n guard, and the house
surrounded. When old man Garrett
opened the door few inches in response
to a knock Baker stepped inside and
demanded:
"Where are the men who have been
staying with you during the last day or
twol"
The revolver was handy weapon for
Lieutenant Baker that night. This
time it was leveled at Garrett, and the
old man stammered: '"They have gone
to the woods"
"Don't you tell me that. They are
here "A" and the revolver moved few
inches c-cSer.
Young Garrett appeared just then,
and begged the detective not to shoot
his father. He explained that the men
went to the woods after the cavalry went
by, but soon came back. The sus-
picions of the family, however, had
been aroused by their actions, and they
refused to have them in the house
agsin, but finally gave them permission
to remain over night in the old tobacco
warehouse used as a barn. They had
been locked in to prevent their stealing
anything, young Garrett explained, and
his brother was staying in the corn
house to watch them.
The command was posted silently
about the old barn. There was nc
drowsiness now, no weariness. The all
was strangely still for even a southern
night The candle which Lieutenant
Baker carried in his hand as he walked
toward the barn did not flicker i'll the
least. To young Garrett, who was by
his side. he said
eve find these men in your custody.
You must go into the barn and induce
them to give themselves up. We don't
wish to shoot if it can be avoided, but
we want them, dead or alive, and must
have them"
Garrett demurred, but the revolver
again proved a potent argument. The
officer unlocked the door and the young
man stepped inside. Baker heard q
rustling among the corn leaves and q
moments low conversation. Then the
voice of Booth rose sharply: "You have
betrayed mel Get ont of here or will
shoot your
eve have sent in this young man in
whose custody We find you" said Baker
through the door, his words sounding
with startling distinctness in the ears
of the watching cavalrymen. "Give him
your arms and surrender, or we shall
burn the barn, have bonfire and q
shooting match"
The command was useless, and mo-
ment later ly-frightened young
man was pounding on the door and
begging to be let out. Lieutenant
Baker was still holding the candle in
his hand when Garrett, with face pale
with terror, stepped outside. "Put thai
ont " he said hulI-iedly. cor he will