The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-16
THE LAST ACT OF LINCOLN
AN HOUR BEFORE HIS ASSASSINA- TION HE PARDONED VAUGHAN.


 Vaughan Was In the Confederate Army
 Wont Home on Furlough and Was Arr
 rested as a spy--Court- M artialed and
 Found Guilty.
 Marysville, Mo-, April 1.-The last of- ficial act of President Abraham Lincoln was to pardon George S. E. Vaughan of this place, who was then under sen tence of death charged with being Confederate spy. The arrest, sentence to death three times, and final pardon only an hour before the latter was as- sassinated by J. Wilkes Booth is one of the most interesting of the hitherto unwritten chapters of the civil war.
 Before the war George s. F. Vau- ghan lived in Canton, Lewis county,
 Mo. He had a wife and seven chill dren and was one of the prominent men of the village. One Of his intimate friends was Mark F. Green, who had already begun to attain prominence as democrat of the proslavery type and who afterward became a major-general in the Confederate army On the out break of hostilities Green raised Con- federate regiment and received 8 com- mission as it's colonel. The Vaughan family, like thousands of others, was divided on the war issues. George s. F. Vaughan enlisted in Greens regi- ment while his brother, Allmon, who
 was a captain in the state militia, stuck to the Union, George Vaughan followed Colonel Green through his campaign in Missouri and was one of
 his most trusted friends and advisers.
 The battle of Athens was one of the
 engagements in which he served under
 him. Here John R. Musick's statement that "brother grappled brother was
 literally true, for George s. E. Vaughan followed the banner of the Confedera
 cy, while his brother fought under the flag of the Union.
 After a number of engagements in
 Missouri among them the battle of
 Wilson's Creek. Green and his men,
 who were in Price and Van Dorns
 command, were transferred to Arkan-
 sas. After the battle of Shiloh, in
 which they participated, they went
 south with the other shattered forces
 of the Confederacy and camped near
 Tupelo, Miss, where they remained in-
 active for some time. Vaughan had by
 this time been made forage master,
 with the rank of captain Becoming
 tired of camp life, he induced General | ~ tr F; .1n toJ ytth h
 the understanding that while he was
 home he would see the generals wife
 and deliver message to her from him,
 His narrative of what followed is in
 teresting.
 T was told by the general and the
 other boys" he says, that I would
 never get home; that I would be killed
 or fall into the hands of the Yankees. But I started, with man by the name
 of George Yates, who lived near St.
 Louis, as my only companion. We de-
 termined from the first that we would ] go along like ordinary citizens, that we would talk as little as possible without exciting suspicion. and that we would
 avoid meeting people as far as we
 could. Until we got to Missouri we were in country that was held by our friends, and we got along without be-
 ing bothered until we reached St. Lou is, after having walked several hun dred miles. At St. Louis we separated with the understanding that whatever happened afterward we would not , know each other. On inquiry l learned : there was boat on the wharf that would leave for Keokuk in a short , time. All the boats were staked in by , Union soldiers, who were constantly on , guard, and did not attempt to go up town, but went in at once, purchased a ticket, and asked the clerk if he had 2 any objections to my staying aboard } until we started He said, No and : stayed To prevent my identity being 1 discovered, I had grown a mustache
 and blackened it, and carried my head } down all the time. So perfect was my ) disguise that a man who had been 3 raised near me, and who went up on } the boat, did not recognize me.
 : "When we neared Canton, Mo-, which was my home, learned they were go ], ing to stop few moments to take or a small cargo, and when we reached the wharf, without saying word tt ally OHe, 4 lGdped oil III tiiC Ne~AhiS 2 and went home. Tn a few days I go f horse and rode out to Genera g Greens house, where I delivered hi
 message to his wife, and received ont a to deliver to him in return.
 After I had been at home few r weeks I learned that a man named
 Carmon, a captain in our command who also was home on a furlough, wa! I preparing to go back to join his regi f ment. I went to see him, and we de r cided to try to get through together The first night after we started WI < camped in a thicket about mile yves : of La Grange. We had been seen t = pass through that place, and in som ? way our presence excited the suspi
 cions of the Union people. As a resul :. a Captain Lewis, who, with smal . company of men, was then in tn ', town, set out after us late in the even U ing. They followed us so closely tha they easily discovered our place O 5 hiding, and Captain Lewis slipped Ill
 close to us and listened to our conver :, sation, which, naturally enough, wa u on the subject then uppermost in tn :. minds of the people. After satisfying himself as to who we were, he closed in around us with his soldiers ant U made us prisoners. We were takel I | to a