The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-02-13
DIR farnilp 9torp.
E MAN In A BUGGY
Incident Of the Lincoln Tragedy
Never Before Published.

10 uudt TdSSu IOOh pldC5, " uOTSC
Il buggy were driven rapidly out of
Q alley back of Ford's Theatre, turn
down Tenth street to the avenue,
d then disappeared, going easterly
wards the capitol. A few moments
ter the greatest crime ever commit
d In America paralyzed for a mo-
emit the audience and held the whole
ountry spell-bound with horror.
Booths leap to the stage, his dramatic
speech, and remarkable escape passed
like u dream before the audience. But
then came the awakening, and fast
upOn the heels of the assassin came
the vengeance Of an outraged people.
Who the assasSins were, how many
were involved in the plot, how large
its manifestations, were unknown. Every
clue was seized upon, every person
over whom hung the slightest suspi-
cion, was immediately arrested. A
reign of terror followed among all the
Southern sympathizers in the city and
the country round. For the people in
their anger were not very particular
who suffered for the crime, provided
tho principals were caught and pun
ished.
The disappearance of that horse and
buggy q short time before the tragedy
was soon brought to light. and was
eagerly seized upon as q clue. that
might lead to important results. Sew
oral companies of cavalry were imme-
dtately ordered to follow and overtake
the buggy, to arrest the driver, and
bring him back to the old Capitol
prilon. They took up the trail at Penn
'yivania avenue, and followed it
through the eastern part of the city
until they came to the old Washington
Pike, and then to Bladensburg where
they were told by the guard that a man
in a buggy had passed a short time
before. They put spurs to their horses
and followed the pike for a long dis
lance, besides securing the by-roads Of
all the surrounding country: But not
d trace could they find OF the man in
the buggy he had disappeared, and
though every effort was made to un-
ravel the disappearance, the Govern.
ment authorities were never able to do
&so. Time passed. The trials for the
ASSASSINATION were over, public interest
died down, and the incident was for
gotten amid the stirring events that
oon followed.
r. was my good fortune a short time
ago to con- ross an explanation of
this incident in fact, it was explained
to mc by the man in the buggy. l had
received a cordial invitation from an
ol{ fgentleman who lived about fifteen
miles off in the upper part of Prince
Georges County, to join in u fox hunt,
which was to take place during Christ
mas week. 1t was to be the event of
the season. as everybody had plenty of
time at that season ofthe year. 1t was
one of those delightful winter days
which are so common in Maryland,
just cold enough to keep the ground
from being tooN soft, and yet warm
enough to make riding pleasant with
F.. out being overburdened with a heavy
coat. The country was low and rolling,
covered with woods, which nave taken
abe place of old worn-out tobacco patch
es, and great dark brown fields, stretch
ing away on either side, frightened
occasionally by the light brown of the
sedge grass, which waved and rustled
in the breeze, almost like fields of
ripened wheat.
AS l rode up to Mr.. Ms house, | was
greeted by the combined rush and
chorus of his pack of fox hounds, whose
noisy welcome takes the place of door
bells in the homes Of southern Mary
land. A noted Confederate scout once
told me that, when he was scouting
through this part of Maryland during
the war, he always felt safe when he
rode up to a house if he was greeted by
fox hounds, as it was invariably o sign
that the owner was q Southern sympa-
IilLcI, HlOSI VI VIC l~Of-nunUlnS SSnUry
being of that persuasion. The house
itself was one of those great square.
red brick houses, with a long wide
porch In front, sc common in this part
of Maryland, set in the usual cluster of
old oaks and elms, with tho Negro
quarters and the stables several hun
dred yards distant in the rear. 1t had
been built in the latter part of the
last century, when the planters made
enormous fortunes from tobacco, which,
however, SO impoverished the soil as
to make it almost worthless in Il great
many instances.
i was met by MIR. NJ, O striking look
ing man, six feet in height, with a
magnificent head and u long white
beard. He had been through many
adventures when u young man. and
during the period of the war, when he
had many narrow escapes in forward
ing dispatches and assisting scouts
through the lines. Once, for instance,
he Government was very anxious to
capture q well-known scout, who was
escaped and made his way to Mr.. Ms
house, whore he lay hid for the night.
Next day there happened to be a
primary meeting at Bladensburg,
where a very large force of Union
troops were stationed. The people
generally went to the primaries in the
morning and returned in the evening
after having IL Publication. Mr.. Nj.
took advantage of this, went to the
primaries in the morning with the
scout, took a drink with the provost
marshal, passed out on the other side
Of Bladensburg with some friends re-
turning to their homes in the lower
part of the county, and reached Pisca-
taway in safety. Here the scout hid
with some friends until he could cross
the Potomac, which was not difficult,
AZ there was Il great deal of blockade
running done in that quiet little coun-
try town, overlooked on account of its |
inslgnificance.
1t is needless to say that | was well
coined in the true Maryland style.
After dinner we were assembled round
a large open fire, which sent a glow
tn trough the old hall. The fireplace
was 80 large that. instead of cutting
the cord-wOod in half, as is usually the
case, they used it just as it came from
the woods, four feet long. The hall it.
self extended through the house from
front to rear, and was the favorite loaf
ing-place of two or three old hounds,
had been famOus in the hunting
field in their youth. We had been talk
ing about narrow scapes in the hunt
ing field, when MI. M. said
Have | ever told you how [ came
near being hung for the murder of Lin
coin pD |