Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-14

II ton, who know the
" y murder of President
Lincoln only as his
tory, the accounting
to which the chief conspirators were called
brings the whole tragedy to a satisfactory
conclusion. Their elders, who retain still
in detail the impressions made upon their
minds at the time, feel that the dignity OF
justice was sacrificed to dramatic effect
when Booth was permitted to die In so
picturesque a fashion, instead of being cap
tured alive. tried by court and hanged
like a common felon. 1t is not generally
known that but for a single hitch at the
outset of his pursuit he would probably
have shared the gallows with his fellow
plotters.
James A. McDevitt, the well-known Wash
ington detective. was in those days a men,
Der of the public detective force with an
office at police headquarters. on 10th street.
only about a hundred yards sway from
Ford's Theater.
That was a night of horrors" said he
the other day. recalling the assassination.
in conversation with a friend; but in view
Of the pitch to which public excitement was
wrought up. 1t is wonderful that there were
not more bloody scenes enacted. / was en-
gagged at my usual work at headquarters
when Maj. Richards. then superintendent
of the metropolitan police. suddenly rushed
in. making a straight line for one of our
two telegraph Instruments. Take the other
instrument. quick! he called to me. The
President has been shot. We must send
out a general alarm" / ran to the second
instrument, and We soon had the news
flashing in every direction through the city.
The detectives were sent out to find per-
nn,,l6 orsx- inf .ssa,,
pointing to the identity or whereabouts OF
| the assassin. As fast as We could find a
man who had seen the shooting or had had
! a good look at the face OF the murderer. or
| who knew anything whatever about the sf-
fair, We would bring him in and make him
| tell what he could. Meanwhile a crowd
! gathered in front OF headquarters. A large
part OF II was composed OF soldiers-odds
and ends of the army who were hanging
| about Washington. They were wildly ex-
| cited over the murder, and eager to get
| hold OF anybody concerned in IL. You know
| what a false notion outsiders sometimes
have Of any one who is seen in the hands
! OF the police? Well, these soldiers saw us
| bringing In one man after another and
jumped to the conclusion that each one was
conspirator. They wanted TO storm the
building. carry off these people and hang
them to the trees In the street. The uproar
was reaching dangerous height, and
made up my mind something must be done
/ or We should be unable to protect our
charges. l went out on the steps, there
| fore, begged the crowd for a brief hearing
and made little off-hand appeal to them
You are the friends of the President
said i, and so are We You are anxious to
see justice done to the perpetrators of this
crime, but your anxiety is no greater than
ours. If you will help instead of hindering
us we shall be able to do our work. These
people who are coming TO headquarters
with us are not criminals. They are friends
of the President, too. They are coming
here to tell us what they know, so that we
fpFa
assassin
A Hint Given.
| The crowd acted very well. indeed They
received my speech in good faith and made
way for us thereafter. as we came and
went with our witnesses. / was out on
one OF these scouting expeditions when 1
| met a man whose face seemed very famil-
lar. He was evidently an actor whom had
seen on the stage. and the impression left
| on my mind was that il was John McCul-
| Tough, the afterward famous tragedian. I
| do not want to speak positively on this
point, for have never ascertained whether
| Mccullough was In Washington at that
| time or not. At any rate, the man stopped
me. called me by name and gave me this
| startling hint:
IF you want to find out all about this
desperate business. keep an eye on Mrs.
| Surrratts house In II street
| Mark you, this was the first intimation
| given or received by any one as to where
| the plot was Matched. / acted on IL with
out delay. With some other detectives 1
| visited Mrs. Surratts house and searched
| 1t; We then turned II over to the military
| to watch. and IL was they who captured
| Payne as he was returning to the house
| disguised a laboring man, with a pick
| on his shoulder. 1 found there a Young
| man named Wickham. who proved so USE
full that kept him under arrest for some
| time. not letting him out OF my sight
| even taking him home with me for his
/ of rl,,v
| learned from him that I made an es-
petition to Canada in search of the trail
Of John H. Surratt, and. armed with the
| commission Of a post Office Inspector trav-
| eled on a mail car from Montreal to New
| York In company with a letter which had
| been addressed to Surratt and mailed in
the Montreal post office But all that II
another story.
Delay That Was Fatal.
ITO come back to Washington and the
assassination. 1t may interest you to know
how near We came to catching Booth the
very night Of his flight. We traced him
from the stage door Of Ford's Theater up
through the alley and into street and
then eastward to the Anacostia bridge. One
of the bridge tenders described a horseman
| who had crossed the bridge at just about
the time when Booth. at the gait at
| which he was moving, could have reached
1t from the theater. We FASTENED back
1
| made request of the military authori-
ties for a few cavalry horses to mount a
picked body Of our men and a cavalry
| escort for the party, who were to strik e
| at full speed for Charles county, Nd, to-
| ward which We believed Booth headed
Had the request been granted / have no
doubt We should have caught up with him
at his first halting place. But It was re-
fused. and he obtained a good start In
consequence, and was not found for nearly
| two weeks"
MIR. DagEett's Recollections.
1t has doubtless passed out Of most per-
sons minds that Albert Daggett, the con-
tractor. was private secretary to Secretary
Seward at the time Of President Lincoln's
| assassination.
II was at Fords Theater on that men,
orable Good Friday evening" he said to the
writer the other day. "A friend and my
self had our attention attracted by great
placard hung out at the theater door, an
nouncing that Gen. Grant was to be pres
emit at the evening performance. and, as
We had never seen the general, we bought
uckstA We were disappointed, however.