The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-11-09

poASoSJ Wv tAOoS EShNASoS1 eN ~~S
ablest rulers that ever lived, was the
result of American slavery. It was
slayery's attempt, in its death strug.
gle, to deal stunning blow to the
head Of .he nation that was crush
ing 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 its own
scorpion sting, thereby rendering its
own character doubly despicable, and
It's own death more certain and ever
lasting. Hence, The cause (slavery)
of Lincoln's assassination being for
ever 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 reli
gious papers. They do the Southern
people great injustice. No citizen of
the Southern COME deracy had any
thing to do with the assassination of
Mr.. Lincoln; nor was slavery in any
way responsible for it, except in SO far
as slavery was an occasion Of the Civil
war. These writer's have evidently
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 citizen of
the United States-not 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 Sou th or
of the Southern cause that prompted
Mr.. Booths crime, but rather a spirit
OF revenge for the personal wrong that
Mr.. Lincoln had done in having Capt.
Young Beall, one of Booths friends,
executed unjustly.
The editor Of the Christian Observer
was acquainted with Capt. Beall. He
was q native Of Virginia, member
of a good family, college graduate,
brave young Liam of attractive per-
sonality. In Richmond, Va, we
boarded at the same house, ate at the
same table, and we learned to appre-
ciate his sterling worth. He possessed
traits similar to those which during
the Spanish American war made Rich
mond Pearson Robson the idol of the
American people. And when, in the
fall of 1864, man was wanted to lead
a hazardous enterprise and make
diversion on Lake Erie he promptly
responded to the call of the Govern.
ment. With q handful Of brave sea-.
men, ne seized a. steamboat on Lake
Erie, made its crew prisoners, con-
verted it into war vessel, captured
or sank one or more other boats, ter
rorized the commerce Of the Great
Lakes, produced o panic in Buffalo
and the cities on the Lakes, and
thoroughly alarmed the Northern peo-
pie. In due time he was captured.
he was tried by Court-martiaI and
sentenced to death as pirate.
John Wilkes Booth interested him
self in his behalf, obtained from the
Confederate Government ct Rich
mond, Va, the evidence that he was
commissioned officer in the Ceaeed-
crate navy; he obtained also evidence
that his acts were only those Of lsgiti-
mate warfare, aud that he was acting
under specific instructions from the
Confederate Government. Booth
went 20 Washington armed with these
documents and secured fF3m President
Lincoln the promise that Capt. Beall
should not be put to death, but should
be treatod as prisoner of war. This
promise Of Mr.. Lincoln gave offence
to Secretary Seward, who persuaded
him, in the face of il, to sanction
/ Beall's execution. And Capt. Beall
was hanged ct Governors Island, New
York, on February "a. 1865.
John Wilkes Booth wes not we'll
balanced man at his best. Doubtless
he inherited astreak Of the insanity
with which his father. though great
actor. mas frese .:..s .Ss e sss;;Rs afiici-
ed. Be that e is may, he was fear
fully wrought ap By tia death 81 his:
friend, ID sueh circumstances. He
denouncsd stho killing in. cold blood
Of . prisoner os war, after he had sur
rendered, 90 murder and the doing