The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-11-17

Had Nothing to do With II What
ever.
Christian Observer.
''In this country the assassination Of
Abraham Lincoln, one OF the purest, the
most generous, and the ablest ruler that
ever lived, was the result of American
slavery. 1t was slavery's attempt, in
it's death struggle to deal a stunning
blow to the head OF the nation that was
crushing out it's life-a blow dealt in a
desperate revenge for it's having been
compelled to submit to the triumph OF
liberty. 1t was slavery in its dying
throes, administering to itself it's own
scorpion sting, thereby rendering its own
character doubly despicable, and its own
death more certain and everlasting
Hence, the cause (slavery) Of Lincoln's
assassination being forever annihilated
no such despicable crime can again spring
from that source
Such paragraphs as the above,
which is taken from the Religious
Telescope, of Dayton, Ohio. have. re-
peatedly appeared in Northern re-
ligious papers. They do Southern
people great injustice. No citizen OF
the Southern Confederacy had any
thing to do with the assassination OF
Mr.. Lincoln; nor was slavery in any |
way responsible for it, except i'll 50
far us slavery was an occasion OF the
Civil War. These writer's have evil
IDENTIFY forgotten the actual facts
which led to the commission OF this
crime-facts which are not stated in
many histories.
John Wilkes Booth, who assassi-
mated Mr. Lincoln, was a citizen OF
the United Statesmen of the Con-
federate States. He was at no time
resident of any of the seeded
States. His Southern sympathies
did not lead him to come to the
South and make common cause with
the South. It was not an ardent
love of the South, or of the Southern
cause, that prompted Mr.. BOOTHS
crime; but rather a spirit of revenge
for the personal wrong that Mr.. Lin
coin had done in having Capt. John
Young Beall, one of Booths friends,
executed unjustly.
The editor of the Christian Observer
was acquainted with Capt. Beall.
He was a native of Virginia, mem
Der OF good family, a college grad
uate, q brave young man Of attrac-
tive personality. In Richmond, Va,
we boarded at the same house, ate at
the same table, and we learned to
appreciate his sterling worth. He
possessed traits similar to those
which during the Spanish-American
war, made Richmond Pearson Hob
son the idol of the American people.
And when, in the fall of 1864, a man
was wanted to lead hazardous en-
terprise and make a diversion on
Lake Erie, he promptly responded to
the call of his government. With a
handful of brave seamen he seized a
steamboat on Lake Erie, made its
crew prisoners, converted it into a
war vessel, captured or sank one or
more other boats, terrorized the com.
meroe of the Great Lakes, produced
panic in Buffalo and the cities Oh
the Lakes, and thoroughly alarmed
the Northern people. In due time he
was captured. He was tried by G
cOurt-martial and sentenced to deatt
as pirate.
John Wilkes Booth interested him
self in his behalf, obtained from th'
Confederate government at Rich
mond, va, the evidence that he wal
a commissioned officer of the Confed
crate Navy; he obtained also evi
dence that his acts were only those O
, legitimate warfare, and that he wa
acting under specific instruction
from the Confederate government
Booth went to Washington arme'
, with these documents and secures
from President Lincoln the promis
that Capt. Beall should not be pu
to death, but should be treated as
} prisoner of war. This promise c
, Mr.. Lincoln gave offense to Secretar
W. Seward, who persuaded him, in tn
face OF it, to sanction Bealls exect
y ton. And Capt. Beall was hange
at Governors Island, \. Y, on Eel
oath, 1865.
John Wilkes Booth was not we
balanced man at his best. Doubtle'
he inherited u streak Of insanit
L. which his father, though Il grea
actor, was from time to time affiicte'
Be that as it may, he was fearful
~. wrought up by the death OF h
. friend. under such circumstances. /
denounced the killing in cold bloc
n of a prisoner OF war after he had su
rendered. as "murder;" and the doir
/, it after the President had given h
IL. word that it should not be done ,
"falsehood' and ''treachery, al
vowed vengeance against theautho
of this wrong.
L. 1a1 n n,s1cyairn,
for the assassination oil Preside
Lincoln and Secretary Seward; Ill
on the night of the 14th of Apr
1S65, only seven weeks after Cal
Beall was hanged, the plot was e,
- cuted. Booth shot Mr.. Lincoln
Ford's Theatre, Washington,
claiming: ".Sic semper tyraDnis. a
We on the same night, Paine, one OF
fellow-conspirations, inflicted serIo
but not mortal wounds, on ".
u. Seward, Secretary OF State.
The United States was feariu
ic aroused by the assassination OF
President. At first it was suspect
that the crime had been instiga'
= by Confederates. Many promin'
0k, citizens of the Confederacy were
WV rested. The most thorough
searching examination was ma
f,+ And it was conclusively proved Il
'"' no representative of the Confeder
government and no one in the Sou
ern Coniederacy had any part in
.~o 1t was as sincerely regretted and
IkSs seyerely condemned throughout
south as i'm the North. Mr.. Line
was killed, not by citizen OF
Confederate States, but by q cit
of the United States-a partially
Dc ranged man, to avenge the wron'
claimed had been suffered by
fr;opd Of Mr. Tincoln's hands