The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-08
JOHN WILKES BOOTH A COMMON ASSASSIN
NO HEItOISM IN HIS DEED.
Henry WnttcrSOn Talks With In
tercst about the Slayer OF Lincoln
lie Has No Doubt that Booth \yns
Killed.
Smith Clayton in Atlanta Journal.

| y DO you think that in the coming
generation the descendants Of the men
| VINO now c&Gcrate the memory Of
Abraham Lincoln will look upon John
Wilkes Booth as Il Brutus :"
" Nvvrr,' said he, "thcrC was moth
| ing OF tho BruJus about Booth He
was sLi olllng player, who became
| worked up Lhc Lord only knows why,
ana brooded over matters until in u
| m0mCnt Of desperation he killed Lin
| cola"
Booth" continued he, "was moth
ing but Il common assassin. He be-
longs to the class Of assassIns, to which
lt,vall.ac, who killed urury the y of
, /. nee, the nun who killed tho Duke
dc Berri in Paris, and Guitrau, who
killed Garfield, belonged"
"Icu on'toLhink, thcr, that Booths
motive was patriotism, as he under
elOuu it ,"
"Oh, no, do not. l think that he
was incapable Of rising to that height.
lie was morbid. He may have thought
that the killing OF Lincoln would do
the South good, but | doubt even if
That strongly influenced him. AS II
matter Of fact the killing Of Lincoln
hcnchtcd nobody, nor any section. 1t
WAS The work OF man, incapable of
rcaiiHlng the cnormity OF the crime
VIII ch he had set out TO commit"
Booth did not know what he WAS
doing thcn?'
On, don't say that. He evidently
knew that he was killing Il mun--kncw
that that man WAS President Lincoln
what mean TO say is, that he had
no clear conception Of his tremendous
| act-n0 conception, whatever Of whal
might be tho awful consequences OF
that act"
He had weighed il, had he not ?"
Well, he had broOdcd over it in a
morbiu way. His head was full Of the
idea OF kllllng Lincoln, but the cond-
tion OF h:s brain ON tho subject was
confused, mixed"
How do yuu account for tho way in
which he did it-thc, dramatic feu-
turc?"
AS l have said, Booth was stroll
| ling player. He had tho dr.muLic in
s.inct. 1t WAS natural for him to be
showy in anything he did, after the
manner OF his profession. This,
think, accounts ior the time and oc-
casion selected for tho assination
the clrcum ttnccs surrounding it,"
DidnL he show bravery -
No, not bravery-but desperation
1T WAS not the cool, deliberate act OF 1.
brave tnan. 1t WAS the act of Il man
made desperate by bruoding over i'm
agined wrongs. Lincoln had done
| nothing 70 deserve death At Booths
| hands-but in his foolish desperation.
| Booth imag incd that Lincoln was play
| ing the tyrant-but, no matter Of fact,
| no chaia actcr in history was further
from tyranny than Lincoln.
He was the friend OF the very Sec
tlon, tho SuuCh, which Booth fancicd
That he represented when he killed
n .,n
could have been committed for the
South.
Booth could not see this-anu his
io'iy brought sunaring on the people
VINO would never have indurseu such IL
caua,l - killing"
! "Booth had nothing personal against
| Lincoln -
Nothing that have ever heard y
TIC must have had Il motvc-what
was 1T -
" He had no motive. He simply i'm
aglhrd that nc had motive. That is
| my vIeW.'
| 'lllS mind was not sound then ?"
think not. He WAS insane on tho
subject Of killing Lincoln. | think
thaL he inherited this mental infirmiLy
from his father, Junius Brutls Booth.
Lie was not always At himself"
| 1T lS SAID thai he imag incd at times
| that he was Richard tho Third-buL |
have never heard that he was ~ crazy
man ~
"NO-not exactly lunatic--but un-
sound in IL certain dircctiUn-his mind
was SUI Ct 10 alteration, which uu-
balanced it for the time. ] think that
Jonn Wilkes Booth inherited this
mental pocuilarity from his father
and that his mind was not altOgcthcr
| sound whCn he killed Lincoln"
"If that be true, Booth was not re-
sponsjhle ;or his act ?"
Perhaps nOt--but nothing could
have saved nun, imagine, 80 Wrought
up WAS the public mind against him.
Though If he bad been captured, in
| stead OF killed, we don't know what
| would have been done with him."
"Tho chances arc that, like Guitcau,
be would have been hanged 2"
/" suppose So"
Many people think Booth is still
! living-dO you :"
why, no, | have never had the
! slightest doubt that he was killed.
! Doctor May, who know Booth from his
hoy mood up-kncw him Intimately
examined the body most niin,,i,-y
aItr it Wa brought to Washington.
| tn, conclusion was, This is John
| Wilkes BoOtn.'
IhitO, IN itself, was enough to con-
vince me and everybody else that
Booth was killed. But let me give
you anotncr strong and interesting
reason for thinking him dead.
John Surratt," be continued, "a
country boy, was sitting in q restau
rant in-not tochcstcr--what's that
other place up that way"
"SyraCu,' ~
"Yos, Syracuse, New York. John
Surratt was sitting in there eating his
breakfast. He picked up paper and
there was an account OF the asssassina
tiOn Of Lrnuoln.
"'This is no place for me- exclaimed
| Surratt.
He took the train and it was no.
long before he was in Canada. Ht
crossed the ocean as soon as he c0u ID
catch av"ss' and went to Rome whcr,