The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-05-20
%Booth.Lincoln Relics.

Wednesday last in the little house on
Tenth street, opposite Ford's Theatre,
where he had been shot the night be.
fore by John Wilkes Booth. Many of
the visitors to the city have remem-
bered, or have had recalled to them, the
anniversary of the tragedy, and have
thronged the house and stopped in the
room in which Lincoln died, to hear
again the story of his assassination.
Some interest has been aroused in the
building by the recent action of the
House in appropriating money to pur-
chase it, which will give the govern
ment the opportunity to preserve it, as
it cannot be maintained by the Lincoln
Memorial Society, which rented it and
fitted it up for public inspev tion: The
small fee asked to enter would be
enough in some seasons to pay the
rent demanded by the owner, who,
strangely enough, is the NAL who de-
Tended Captain Wirz, who was hanged
for brutal treatment of Union prison
ers. Up at the War Department a
few persons have looked at ONE rel
les of Lincoln that would probably
be in this Lincoln museum if they
could be deposited there with any as
surance that they would be secure.
Secretary Lamont has shown these
objects to some friends within a few
days. They have a fascinating inter
est TO those who are at all familiar
withsthe circumstances of the murder
of Lincoln. He has the pane Of glass,
taken from a Pennsylvania tavern,
upon which Booth cut with a diamond
an epitaph predicting the death by
poison, in August, 1864, of "Abe'
Lincoln. Then there is in the collec-
ton the little Derringer with which
Booth shot Lincoln, and the fattened
bullet that was taken from Lincoln's
neck after death. Under a glass disk
are e some fragments of bone re-
moved from Lincoln to reach and ex-
tract the bullet. In the box Of relics
is also the dirk which Booth brandish-
ed as be leaped from the private box,
to the stage, and which he used to cut
himself free after he had caught in the
drapery of the private box and fallen,
breaking his leg. 1t is still a glitter
ing blade, keen Of edge, and free from
tarnish, and it is in a common paste
| board scabbard with line Of gilt along
the edges.
Perhaps n Of the most interesting
of all the objects kept in this box pre-
served by the Judge Advocate Gener-
ais Office is the notebook taken from
Booth after his capture in CARROTS
barn, over in Virginia, at the end of
his fight through Maryland and his
attempt to find a way South by cross
ing into Virginia and seeking refuge
in the homes Of Southern %sympathiz-
ers. The notebook is an old calendar,
with a day to a page. It evidently
had not been kept up as a diary, but
entries had been made in it, and all
the pages prior to June l had been
cut out when he began his diary Of
the assassination. It,is not supposed
that he made the dates marked down,
but the first entry is dated April IA,
the day of tn assassination, and con-
sists not so UGH of narrative as of
reflection u.,Sn the crime and the eff
feet it would have upon the perpetra-
tor of it. Booth was not a good wri-
ter, and the lines revealing the opera
tions of his mind a day or two after
the assassination are set down in pen
Gil in obscure characters, sometimes
plain and oftener difficult to decipher.
They have all been studied out and
printed, but are not remarkable In any
respect except to show that the MUIR
der was contemplated and the wrath
Of the people anticipated. Along with
the other articles is the navy revolver
found on Booth when he was taken
from the Garrett barn, with Boston
Corbett' s carbine bullet in his neck,
about at the place where he put a ball
into the neck of the President. 1t is
still in good condition, barring a rust
ing of the lock. In the pocket of the
notebook are several photographs of
ladies, with the names of Boston,
Richmond, Washington and Balti-
more photographers on the backs.
These pictures have never been given
to the press for reproduction, it being
understood at tn" time of the assassi-
nation that they were portraits of
members Of families with whom Booth
enjoyed acquaintance, and that there
was NO reason why they should be
brought into disagreeable publicity
because Of the fact that they had
known Booth. The book also contains
a little bronze medallion of the Socie-
ty of the Immaculate Conception,
about as large as a copper cent.
Particularly interesting, as showing
how carefully the judicial officers of
the army collected all the material
bearing upon the murder of Lincoln,
is the bar of wood taken from the pri-
vate box at Ford's Theatre after the
assassination. Booth expected to be
hard pressed after he had shot the
| President, for he took with him a
stout bar Of wood, sharpened at one
end, and about four feet in length.
1t was somewhat longer than the pri-
vate box door, soft is plain that it was
selected with reference to the use to
which he put it. After he had enter
ed the private box, he braced the door
on the inside by means Of this bar,
and then advanced to shoot the Presi-
dent before his companion, Major
Ratebone, could interfere. When the
excited persons in the audience tried
to enter the box, this bar kept them
out until some one climbed in over
the front of the boz and removed the
bar. 1t is as strong a proof OF the de-
liberate intention of the murderer as
the pistol itself. These relics, with
the flag which covered the coffin of
Lincoln during the funeral trip from
Washington to Springfield, now in
closed in a glass case and exhibited
over the mantel in the Office of the
Secretary of War, at the south side of
the room, will gain in sacred interest
from year to year. Similarly interest
ing are the things in a safe in the Sec
rotary office, the waterproof cloak
and shawl under which Jefferson Da-
Wis vainly %endeavored to escape the
- W;1so, ,nd which