The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-19
LINCOLN.
Eyewitness Tells of
His Death.
DRAMATIC SCENES.
Story Of the Stolen Gold
Pieces Disposed of.
(From the New York Times.)

L was one OF the few eye witnesses.
There are. some few things about that
time which I should like to see
Strengthened out, especially many mis-
statements that have been made.
I was attending a meeting of an
organization known as the Mosaic
that evening, at the house of Philip Y.
Kendall, in Judiciary square Reginald
fendall entered the house and said to
me, as the first person he met, in a
low, excited tone: The president is
shot,
How much shot?' 1 asked. I re-
member the quick, awkward express
| sion l used.
Killed probably" he answered.
he did not intend to be overheard,
put those near caught his words, there
was lhuch excitement and the company
/ p f up Immediately, and 1 started
Ior nome The streets were filled with
people, some talking in loud tones and
others Whispering together.
When L came to my street at the
corner of the block below the house
| where | lived l found a Gordon of SOL
ulers, and it was with some difficulty
mat L obtained permission to pass
! When L came to the mouse, which was
Just opposite FordS Theatre, / 4ound
the stoop in possession of an officer
and a guard of soldiers, who refused
TO allow me to pass | was endea-
Yorlng to make them understand that
| L lived there when Henry S. Stafford,
! VINO occupied suite of rooms with me
! ny the house, came to the door and told
me to be quiet, as the president was
inside. That was the first 1 knew of
It, That also established my identity,
and L was allowed to enter.
The president was on the bed in a
small room on the first floor at the
end of the hall. | went down through
the basement and through a back door
INTO the yard and up pair of rear
! stairs and tn Iugh a small room in the
back of the house over the extension,
and entered by the rear door of the
room in which the president was ly-
| ing.
1T was a small bed, too short for
| SO tall man, and he was lying cross
wise, with his head at the front toward
the door. IIe was lying on his right
side with the wound in his head in full
| view, and the surgeon was probing it
| with his finger when l entered. The
room was almost if not entirely filled
| with prominent men of the nation
| Charles Sumner stood at the head of
the bed with Robert Lincoln leaning
on his shoulder weeping. Mr.. Welles,
the secretary of the navy, sat in a
rocking chair, and when ! came in he
was asleep. He was an old man, there
had been a great deal of excitement
and | suppose he was worn out. There
were Stafford, the Ulker brothers, and
| other inmates of the house standing
| in the doorway.
/ Mr.. Stanton, who came into the
room at intervals during the night, was
| busy in the back parlor receiving dis
patches and debating answers to
stenographer. That stenographer was
the man since so we'll known as Cor
poral Tanner. He then lived next door,
and Stafford, who knew every one, had
recommended him as stenographer.
Mrs. Lincoln, laboring under great
stress of emotion, was brought in two
or three times after l came in, by
two ladies who were with her. She re-
manned only short time, calling to her
husband to speak to her and then was
taken away up stairs again. The la
dies spent the night in the suite of
rooms belonging to Stafford and myself.
with the exception of d short time
when / went into a rear room and lay
down for half an hour l was in the
| room with the president all night.
was there when the breathing which
had been so labored that it could be
heard through the house, gradually
modulated, and in the morning, when
| the physician, who had his finger on
the pulse, said: The pulse has ceased
to beat
AN interesting but untrue story
about the gold pieces that were placed
on the presidents eyes and afterward
stolen, has been written by a promi
nent man. | know the story of those
or I
ceased to breathe, the doctor put his
hand in his pocket and brought out
four new, shiny two-cent pieces. Two
of these he put on each of the eyes 10
close them. Every one left the room
then except two attendants, and afte,
time the coins We're removed and
placed carelessly on a table near the
half Whlch mad been cut from the pres
i,ent's head around the wound
After the body had been taken away
took the four coins. which We're blood
stained, from the fingers of the nhvsi-
clan; the hair, which gathered together
made a good-sized lock, and one Of tba
blood-stained pillow slips from the hnd
one of the coins | gave to Stafford an.
other to William T. Clark, another oc-
cupdlI OF lne mouse, in whose room and
on whose ped the president died 7@a
had CHANGED to be absent Thai niaht
The other two coins, the most stai5a5
| kept myself '''i"eu'
Ihat dlsposes Of the question of tt,o
stolen gold pieces. The story ,,,,s ~ cue
sensical on its face, for every one i WIZ
knew the times, knows that tbe da ',o
TOR would not be likely to carry e,oI5
pieces around IN his pockets that fbal,
We're only to be seen as crrioei+ioI"e y
brokers windows. NV two r0i ,I''e IN IN
eventually lost, l don't know bo,,, @Gle
stains wore off and thev ,1a," Inc
peen spent or l may have threw, taNe
az something. | Gid use ro,ns 't Iltt
W. trequef tly. We GiCn't thin M rn
81 d lracIona! copper currency in t+IL,Cn
the streets P'0N il up on
II was a prominent official =, -.
lngton, who, writing of I,inroI,,. ASH
said: He died in the houso mr ueath
febel who stole the gold ,iao%S ofold
ms eyes. l must have been tbat rom
repei VINO took the two-cent aoIuld
me politics of poor old NJ, 81.
SON VINO owned the house, cons,st,g5' er-
Tat, li,seiiSe summation for Andre.
Johnson. Peterson was ~ 1u4rew
tailor, and johnson used 4" merchant
ms place to see the men w0rl, ~ INTO
ABOUT MS own experiences a, anu ,ell
because he had been a toiIo" " tailor
rsen to high position. Patl,,,a.lu mad
siaered him great man. rbnt con
ABOUT sI,t all the politics he had nat was
mere nave been various storios t,,s
also TO me effect that the room in ,e t. t3la
Sis E s heo9 3o qieq had been occupied ei b1
tine s ,yor J 10 nv Wilkes Booth, for SONY
been occupied by Mr. CIar,, iS eor had
months. know him we'll a, t9r many
a friend OF Mr.. safrord's Rafo ne was
the room had been occupied hy re mat
or named Matthews, and if i. S an act
that Booth might have visited 90Ss bin1