Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-04-14
IN MtMORtAM.


was assassina,ed by John wilkes
Booth In Ford's thestcr, Washington
ID. @. He died the following morn
log.
A great deal has been spoken and
said ofthe murdered President thai II
fuisome and maudlln, thus subvetiing
to a great extent the dignity which
should surround the subject The
plain facts in relation To him contain
enough that IL Instructive, historic
and pathetic. He was typical west
ern man, OF gigantic stature but raw
boned, angular and awkward in his
movements; his o1untenanco was
slngularly homely but always present.
cd an appearance Of goodness and
moekness strongly allied to firmness OF
the most decided type. His education
was neither g)oI nor bai-not good M
rel ties to the classics aud the higher
branches OF modern study, AMI not
had as regards complete famil.
iirlty with tho ordinary lines OF
sch lasiic training and ths, wider and
mjre Comprehensive Department Of
mental acgulrements--in inlclligent
comprehension OF su6lvc,, aud thing
with which he came In contact. Hts
advancement from tho humblest Of
stations to the highest was not rapid;
It was impossible that It should DO, for
he had no pride Of ancrstry, no inii1.
initial relatives or friends, and scarcely
ever more than dollar In money ut n
time; adj TO these drawbacks the
harder one that as soon rs hi, ability
bsysn TO receive the attention 1t
m ,ritei he was brought Toto oompe.
tltlon with some Of the greatest men of
his day, prominent among them being
the voritablo "little giant" Stephen
A. Douglas, aud We eau then under.
stsnd how difficult and trying
was the path along which he ploddeI.
But nothing could hold him back.
Apparently at the zenith OF his career,
he was beaten for the United States
Senate by Douglas, only TO defeat
and utterly destroy him politically
few years later-this, too, after wrest-
Ing the presidential palm from the
empire state represented by the then
foremost statesman in his party-wil-
liam II. Seward.
The contrast between Lincoln and
his assassin In point OF personal appear.
ance was 30 great as TO be almos
phenomenal. One homely, old.
fashioned and lanky, the other the
Apollo Belvidere In real life, hand.
some as dream and graceful as q
gazelIe. Booth was somewhat tainted
with hereditary insanity, greatly In.
creased by brooding over what he
considered the wrongs done the South,
whose people he loved TO q degree
amounting to frenzy. The final sur-
render OF the war and the head OF the
nation making merry at a playhouse
decided him at once; and with the
shout Of $50 senper tyranHis thus be
II ever with tyranisl. the South is
avenged" tho assassin few from
late that woul have been m9re terri
BILE than that OF his victim, to meet
one few days later fully as terrible.
Never were words more inaptiy
applied than were those OF Booth.
The South had all the revenge which
people engaged In cause that was
wrong were entitled to, In accordance
with any code known to man. Great
heaps Of the invaders' slain on n hun.
dred bloOd.soaked battle fields, hospi.
tails throughout the land filled with the
manned and slowly dying, n vast hos.
Il wailing widows and weeping
orphans, n debt beyond the ability Of
generation to pay-all this inflicted
upon thu North bee iuse seeking by the
only eifectual means at their com.
mand TO hold the nation together un.
polluted by the curse OF human
slavery! And Lincoln was AZ far from
being tyrant as any man that every
lived. He was rigid IN the proseuu.
ton of the war, hut was ever roady TO
adopt any proposition looking to peace
with honor and union; and hls gentle
heart was wtung more severely and
more times than any OF us will ever
know at the carnage and destruction
that was going on.
In accordance with alrlot definitions,
Lincoln was not martyr but
when we consider the awful trials, the
bitter experiences and tho inIesorlbl.
BILE anguish Of soul through which he
passed for four long aud cruel years,
giving up his life becau,e he would
not falter In unfolding the nag with
all lts stars until at last the work was
done, we can scarcely accord him any
other position or give him any other
name 70 fitting. He sealed his work
with his blood. After the battle.
clouds had cleared away and the din
Of strife hld ceased 10 reverberate
throughout the land, those whl hal
opposed him and his cause with force
and arms, began to realize that what
was proclaimed by the assassin as an
act for them anu theirs, was only a
misfortune measured by many years
Of SORROW and regret. More; they
had learned to love him for himself; the
icales OF prejudice anu bigotry had
H.tI L.. a