The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-10
VICTIMSOF THEASSASSIN
M'KINLEY THE THIRD PRESIDENT
TO FALL UNDER THE BULLET.
The killing of Lincoln and Garfield
RecaIIed-DetaiIs of Their Taking
Of-OId World Crimes.
Washington Times.


Lincoln and James A Garfield died from
their dastardly inflicted wounds, and have
their names inscribed upon the national
calendar of martyrs. The sad details OF
the fatal shooting of each of these rulers
of the country have been wildly recalled
by the terrible crime at Buffalo, and it
may be worth while to narrate again the
main facts concerning those past presi-
Dental assassinations.
The shooting of Lincoln by John Wilkes
Booth was the more sensational, in view
of the troubled state of the government
at Washington, and was highly dramatic
in manner of accomplishment The addi-
tional feature that Booth was the head
of sort of conspiracy gave to the mar
tyrdom of Lincoln a peculiar political sig
nificance which most assassinations of
modern history have lacked. When Lin
coin went to Washington to take the oath
of office as President the air was rife with
fears of an attempted assassination of
the negro's friend" But Honest Abe
passed through the grim ordeal of the civil
war without an attempt on his life, and
fell a victim to the assassin in the very
hour of seeming triumph and restored
peace. On April IL, 1865, General Anderson
had raised over Fort Sumter the tattered
flag he had hauled down just four years
before. The North was rejoicing that the
war was over, when suddenly, the news
flashed throughout the land that Lincoln
had been murdered.
WHEN LINCOLN WAS STRICKEN.
On the night of that same April IA the
wearied President had sought a slight di-
version from the burdens of his office in at
tending Fords Theater, on Tenth street,
near f, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln and
two friends-MaJor Henry Rathbone and a
daughter of Senator Ira Harris. The bill
| was Our American Cousin with Laura
| Keene in the cast. Miss Keene was await
/ ing one of her cues in the side-wing and the
| audience was eagerly watching the play,
when the report OF pistol startled every
| body. a man was seen to leap from the
| Presidents box TO the stage, brandshing a
dagger and shouting Sic semper tyrannisi
The South is avenged His foot caught in
/ the folds of a flag and he fell, breaking his
! leg, but regaining his feet he managed TO
| escape to side alley, where he leaped upon
| a horse that had been kept saddled there
and fed from the city. The audience was
! seized with panic. Laura Keene, running
| into the Presidents box, held Lincoln
| bleeding head on her lap, and the robes Of
| comedy were becrimsoned with the blood of
| this terrible tragedy.
BOOTHS ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE.
John Wilkes Booths bullet had entered
one of LincOln's temples. After shooting
the President the half-demented actor
|
President was carried to a small house
| opposite the theater, where, surrounded
by his family and the principal officers of
| the government, he breathed his last at
| Z o'clock on the morning of April Is in
the third month of his hfty-seventh year.
| The joy over the return of peace was
| eclipsed everywhere by this bloody event
The body lay in state at the Capitol on
| April 20 and was viewed by a grand con-
| course OF mourning people. The next day
| the funeral train set out for Springfield,
| Ill: The cortege halted at all the princi-
| pal cities on the way, and was greeted
| everywhere with extraordinary demonstra-
| lions OF grief for the dead leader. The
! remains were finally laid TO rest at Oak
/ Ridge. near Springfield, May A. and
white marble monument, by the sculptor
/ Larkln e. Mead now marks the cOnse-
| Grated ground. The expressions of sor-
! row and coincidence that were sent to the
world were afterward published by the
| State Department in a quarto volume of
nearly thousand pages, called THE
Tribute of the Nations TO Abraham Lin
John Wilkes Booth, the ASSASSINATION.
succeeded in eluding capture for twelve
| back to a farm about thirty-five miles from
| Washington, he lay for six days in the
| woods. Then he secretly crossed both the
| Potomac and the Rappahannock and took
| refuge in barn on a farm near Bowling
! Green. To this hiding place a squadron
| of United States troops tracked him The
/ sisting arrest, was shot dead by a soldier
! named Boston COrbett. Thus misera Div
perlshed the murderer OF Lincoln who
/ was a son of the noted actor, Junius Bru-
| tus Booth, and whose gifts had seemed to
destine him TO a noble career. He had
| been born a Belair Md. i'm 1898 and
| was only twenty-seven years old His
| deed brought for a time an unmerited
| pubic contempt for the actors profession.
| the hagstOnes Of the arsenal warehouse
| at Washington. Two years later how
| ever, his brother, Edwin Booth. had the
| remains Inferred in the family plot i'm the
| cemetery at Baltimore
BOOTHS HALLUCINATION
Booth undoubtedly labored under the hal
| lucination that he was revenging Southern
wrongs and sufferings in Staying Lincoln.
| The actor was at the head OF a small con-
| spiracy, and on the same evening that he
| shot the President a fellow-consplrator
! gained access TO the home of Secretary of
State William II. Seward, where Seward
| lay on a couch with fractured arm and
| jaw, and stabbed the secretary several
| times IN the lace and neck Stewards son
| was also struck down. After severe suffer
| ings both OF the attacked men recovered
| from their knife wounds Later the CON
| spiracy was unearthed, four of the CON
| spirators were hanged, three We're impris-
| oned for life and one was sentenced for a
term OF years Andrew Johnson succeeded
/ TO the presidency and to the tremendous
/ problem of federal reconstruction which ne
! so signaily failed 10 cope with in the mas
| tery style of "A Lincoln
The assassination Of President Garfield
| had no such peculiar significance a. that
! of Lincoln. Garfield was laid low by the
| bullet OF "A hair-brained individual who had
I come to Washington for a political Office
| and who had been disappointed To be
| sure. the division OF the Republican camp
/ into ''Stalwarts' and 'Half-breeds'' may
| have contributed TO inspire Charles Jules
| Guiteau with the desire Of killing the Presi-
/ dent whom Roscoe ConISIing had so savage
| ~ denounced as a party traitor
PRESIDENT GARFIELD'S FATE
1t was on July .. ISL. only four months
after his inauguration. that Garfield LEFT
l the White House 20 attend commencement
at his alma mater. Williams College. lie
! had lust entered the Pennsylvania Station
/ i'm this city, when he was shot i'm the back
| or Guiteau. Gulteau promptly cap
| tured and for a time there was hope OF
! Car6eld's recovery. But after enduring
| great suffering with notable fortitude Car
! ned passed away AT Eiberon. y. j.. on
! Sept TO- eighty DAYS after the shooting
| lie was In his hftieth year. His public ca
resr had not been without political scan