The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1889-03-28

crutch he limped with the other toward the door
| AZ ABOUT the center of the barn he stopped and
fractured in his jump to the stage after the
assassination of the President WAS foreot+en
ana Booth stood before his solitary watcher
| erect and defiant. His hat was Off and his dark
| hair pushed back from his high, white forehead,
he held his carbine in one hand and a revolver
| in the other. In his belt was another pistol ana
q bowie knife. His lips were COMPRESSED his
features fierce, and his full, dark eyes were roll
ing and glittering with excitement The flames
! swept up to the roof, rolled across and to the
! floor below. He was O. picture of ApolIo in .
frame of fire. He stood under an arch of f1eme
ieaplng, rolling and kissing, in mockery Of
| ais misery.
! His only hope now was to make dash for the
doors and run the gauntlet of the Gordon
/ of soldiers. Suddenly he dropped his remain
ing crutch, threw down the carbine, and
| sprang forward. Then sounded the pistol
of Boston Corbett, the man President Lin
| coin had pardoned when once sentenced to-
be shot for rem1ssness in guard duty and Booth
1eu forward ON his face. Lieut.. Baker sprang
| upon him and caught the nerveless arms 1t,
| was unnecessary. The shot had paralvzed him,
below the wound. and all save the fertile brain
and f1uttering heart and lungs We're already dead
The assassin was carried from the barn and laid
under an apple tree out of reach of the flames
Presently he opened his eyes and appeared to-
realize his condition. In painful whisper he
| said
Tell mother. Tell mother"
Inen he became unconscious again. The heat,
| OF the burning barn grew intolerable under the
/
wet with brandy and water was placed between
| his lips, and at length he revived again His
| eyes looked with dumb appeal into the faces of
/ those about me. 90 kill me; kill me quick he
| whispered bitterly
Another lapse into unconsciousness. and it,
/ seemed impossible that he could revive again
but just before sunrise there was g last bright
enlng OF the stunned brain. AS he revived he p;Itl
out his tongue, and Lieut.. Baker, thinking he
wanted to know if there was blood in his mouth,
| told him there none
Tell mother / die for NV co0otrr Ropt1N
gasped to the officer. Il did what thought was
Baker lifted one of the nerveless hands. tt.
| Tell back by his side again. Useless, useless"
murmured Booth.
These We're the last words
Col Conger had been sent on to Washington
twenty minutes before the death of Booth.
ana, after a hurried breakfast, Lieut.
Baker started after him with the body. tt
| was wrapped in @ blanket that had been used as
saddle cloth, and after the blanket had been
| hrnly sewed together placed in rickety
market wagon. An old negro supposed to be
thoroughly familiar with the country, acted as
| Qrlver. Baker directed the cavalrymen to follow
MIN as soon as they had breakfasted and with a.
single corporal by his side departed for Belle
Plain Landing, thirty miles away
The story of that days ride has never appeared
in print Mile after mile was passed over but.
the cavalry did not rejoin them, although The.
| negro driver assured him that they were on the
shortest road to the landing The officer finally
became alarmed for the safety of his command
and sent the corporal back with orders to the
squad to push forward with the utmost haste,
The corporal did not return, nor did the cavalry
men appear One officer was alone with the
negro Ill hostile country and with the body Of
the murderer Of the hated Lincoln in his possess
| sion.
The road grew forbidding The day be-
| came hot and sultry Baker began to meet
| struggling groups of Confederate soldiers who
glanced carelessly at the burden in the ricketv
wagon anC said: What hev you there-dead
| Yank 2"
There has been no other day in Lieut. Bakers
lie that proved so heavy drain upon his physi-
| cal and mental strength. Exhausted by thirty
SIX hours of hard riding in the saddle he was.
required to be constantly on the alerJ III antici-
patton of an attack from every ravine. Hungry
and THIRSTY, he dared not stop for food or drink
Now the kingbolt broke and the front end of the.
wagon box dropped down. The '~orpse slipped
forward and blood from the wound tricklel
down upon the axle and reach and smeeGed the
hands Of the old negro as he bent under the.
wagon to repair the damage. The old MAI cried
out in terror.
Stop your noise" sternly commanded tie Of
flcer; 1T will wash off. :"
1T will nebber, nebber wash off, w1iled the,
negro, in horror. ut is the blood Of q muir
derer."
Up hills almost without end threading num-
berless ravines, the two plodded along finally
reaching the Potomac in the evening, only TO
find themselves three-foUrths Of mile aBove
the landing. The negro had taken the old road,
while Lieut.. Bakers command had returned on
the newer and better road constructed by the
Government during the war. When the cor
poral reached his company the officer il
1nand, jealous that a mere detective had been
placed III authority above him, refused 20 follow
Baker, and said shortly:
IF he wants to go off on the wrong road he.
must take the consequences
Baker and the negro made the best of the
situation by carrying Booths body To the,
river and hiding il under .clump OF willows,
after which the former rode TWO miles around g.
bluff and found his command and gunb0at at
the Government landing. He pulled back
with two to the old landing, secured the.
body and when it swung board the gun
boat he dropped exhausted on the deck and lay
there until the boat had steamed half way to-
Washington.
The next day he gave the Secretary Of
War a detailed account OF the tragedy.
Stanton had Booths carbine, and il was
found that the cartridge was out OF position ana
could not be exploded It's appearance showed
that number of efforts had been made TO dis
charge the weapon, and it is probable that Booth
| snapped it repeatedly at Baker the latter
stood before the OLD barn with the candle in his
| hand.
The administration was in quandary regard
| ing the disposal of the assassins BODY which
| was still on board the gunboat. The second day
| after Lieut. Bakers return Gen. Baker came TO
him, and said stanton wants me to dispose
! of Booths body. He doesn't care where it is
put, only so it will not be found until Gabriel
blows his trumpet. I want you to so with me-"
The two started for the navy yard, stopping on
the way for moments conversation with the
officer in charge of the old penitentiary then
used as an arsenal. AT the navy yard the two
cousins dropped into O. rowboat, the body was
| conspicuously placed in the boat. 1t was then
late in the afternoon Crowds OF people lined the
river and followed the rowDoat as tar down the
stream as the marshes would permit.
The story spran9 from lip to lip that the body
was to be weighted down with ball and chain
and sunk in midstream. For several days there
| after searching parties dragged the stream, and
| the next issue of Frank Leslie'5 newspaper con-
| tanned a singularly accurate full-page picture,
| showing the Bakers in the act OF showing the
| body into the river.
| Two miles below the city the boat halted in b
| little cove near the grounds where condemned
| warehouses; We're slaughtered, and remained until
| darkness had settled down. Then it was pulled
| slowly back to the old penitentiary. door at
| the waters edge opened and the corpse car
ried to criminal cell where the stone slab that
| covered the floor had been removed and g. grave
| dug in the earth beneath. Into that black hole,
| with only the United States blanket Us q wind
| ing sheet, was lowered the body OF J. Wilkes
| Booth and the stone slab replaced above it.
Col. Conger afterward insisted that the COM
| mand of the capturing party was turned over TO
| him in Virginia, and claimed the lion S share Of
| the reward. All the foundation there for
i this claim was that Conger informed Baker
| during the search that he knew the lay of the
| land well, and the latter replied: We'll, if you
! are familiar with the country, go ahead" How
| ever, Conger induced g. corporal of the guard to
| testify that Baker had really turned over the
| command. and by shrewd engineering eventually
| secured $40 600 as the commander Of the party,
| Lieut.. Baker receiving only s., 600.
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