The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-03-08
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the Potomac. which was not difficult
as there was great deal of blockade
! running done N that quiet little coun
! try town, overlooked on account of its
/ lnslgniticance. &"
1t Is needless to say that | was wei
coined IN the true Maryland style
After dinner we were assembled round
a large open fire. which sent a glow
through the old hall. The fireplace
was SO large that, instead of cutting
/ the cord wood in half. as is usually
the case, they used it as it came from
the woods, four feet long The hal
itself extended through the house
from front to rear, and was the favor
lte lOating place of two or three old
hounds, who had been famous in the
hunting field in their youth. We had
| been talking about narrow escapes In
the hunting field, when Mr. NJ said:
Have | ever told you how [ came
near being hung for the murder OF
Lincoln?"
A chorus of noes and a demand for
the story brought the following ac-
count:
''On the day that Lincoln was muir
dered, L had driven into town and put
up my horse at the stables of Or. -,
an old friend of mine, immediately in
the rear of Ford's theater 1t was
rather late when 1 returned to get my
horse, after attending to the business
| was on. Indeed, | afterward learn
ed. 1t was very short time before
Lincoln was killed. As [ drove out of
the alley | noticed a horse standing
behind the theater, no doubt the one
on which Booth escaped. l drove
down the avenue and finally succeed
ed III passing both the Washington
plckets and those at Bladensburg, the
last line of the defenses of Washing
ton. A short distance out of Bladens-
burg the country becomes heavily
wooded, and continues so until you
reach my place. Instead of running
in straight line the pike makes a
kind OF curve, but there is a pri-
vate road, kind of ut-off, which saves
considerable distance to those who
know of its existence. [ had just
turned into this road, and had gotten
under the shadow of the trees, when [
heard the cianking of the sabers of a
body of cavalry. l stopped my horse
to let them pass without hearing me-
because cavalrymen in those days
very often fired and cried Halt The
whole neighborhood was known to
have strong Southern feelings, and a
dead rebel more or less did not amount
to much. L had the same experience
twice again, as [ crossed by-roads, but
each time | was fortunate enough to
hear the cavalry coming, and so laid
low as the darkies have it.
Il. of course, knew something was
wrong exactly what [ had no idea.
There was no danger of Southern
rebels, as the sun Of the South had
just gone down behind the hills at
Appomattox, and what had started a
large body of Union cavalry racing
through the country roads was more
than l could account for, not dreaming
for an instant that they were after me.
l finally reached home without meet
ing any more cavalry. Next morning,
while we We're at breakfast. a negro
boy named Tom came to the'door, with
a scared look on his face.
"'W hats the matter Tom?
"'Mars Abe was shot last night
down in Washington
"'Shot. impossible
Deed, though, it's true, Mars
William
Just then [ heard somebody ride
rapidly up to the house and looking
out of the window saw a neighbor of
ours.
Have you heard the news?' he
asked.
"'No.'
"'Lincoln was killed last night by
Booth at Ford's theater.'
1T flashed upon me in an instant,
the meaning of all that cavalry swarm
ing through the country the night be
fore, and l came to the conclusihn that
L was the man they We're after. You
can depend upon it, | kept pretty
quiet. L did not care about feeling
the moose around my neck like Mrs.
Surratt, whom [ knew well, or Ian
gushing on the Dry Tortugas like nv
fIiend Dr. Mudd. There was enough
evidence against me to hang half a
dozen men in the then state of public
opinion. l was confirmed in this
opinion few year later when [ hap
pened to meet an officer of the United
States army, who told me incidentally
that he had ridden through this part
of the country on the night of Lincoln's
murder, looking for one of the con-
spirators, who had escaped in buggy,
though they had ridden after him as
far as Eldridge, some thirty miles
from Washington"
HolIO GorJo,,