The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-11-02
IIECoIH's pREnoH1rIoN OF DEATH.

President Lincoln's personal body
guard, William H. Crook. tells for
the first time, in Hazpe,'s MOnkhLy
for September, of conversation with
the martyred President on April I4th,
1865. the day on which he was shot
by Booth. Lincoln's expression of a
premonition of his death has never
before been related, and this revela-
ton will prove of interest to his
biographers.
Because of the general joyousness,
was surprised when, late in the
afternoon of the I4th, I accompanied
Mr.. Lincoln on hurried visit to the
war department, I found that the
President was more depressed than !
had ever seen him, and his step un-
usually slow. Afterward Mrs. Lin
coin told rue that when he drove with
her to the Soldiers Home earlier il
! the afternoon he had been extremely.
cheerful even bouyant. She said
that he had talked of the calm future
that was in store for them. of the ease
which they had never known, when,
his term over, they would go back to
their home in Illinois. He longed, a
little wistfuily, for that time to come
with its promise of peace.
The depression I noticed may have
been due to one of the sudden changes
of mood to which have been told the
President was subject. / had heard
of the transitions from almost wild
spirits to abject melancholy which
marked him. / had never seen any
thing of the sort, and had concluded
that all this must have belonged to
his earlier days. In the time when
II knew him his mood, when there
was no outside sorrow to disturb him,
WAS one Of settled calm. wondered
lat him that day and felt uneasy.
In crossing over to the war depart
|ment, we passed some drunken men.
Possibly their violence suggested the
Thought to the President. After we
|had passed them, Mr.. Lincoln said to
'me:
"Crook, do you know, / believe
there are men who want to take my
|life :" Then. after pause, he said,
half to himself, "And / have no
doubt they will do it."
The conviction with which he spoke
dismayed me. I wanted to protest,
but his tone had been so calm and sure
that l found myself saying instead,
why do you think so, Mr.. Presi-
dent -
"Other men have been assassina-
ted," was his reply, still in that man
ner of stating something to himself.
All / could say was, IT hope you
are mistaken, Mr.. President"
We walked for a few PAGES in
silence. Then he said, in a more
ordinary tone:
II have perfect confidence in those
who are around me, in every one of
you men. / know no one could do 1t
and escape alive. But if it is to be
done, it is impossible to prevent it."
BY this time we were at the war
department, and he went in to his
conference with Secretary Stanton.
He came out of the secretary's
Office in a short time. Then I saw
that every trace of the depression, or
perhaps / should say intense serious
ness, which had surprised me before.
had vanished. He talked to me as
usual He said that Mrs. Lincoln
and he, with party, were going to
the theatre to see "Our American
Cousin"
"It has been advertised that we
will be there he said, land I can
not disappoint the people. Other
wise / would not co.
/ remember particularly that he
said this, because it surprised me.
The Presidents love for the theatre
was we'll known. He went often
when it was announced that he would
be there but more often he would
slip away, alone or with aid, unob-
served if he could, watch the play
from the back of the house for short
time, and then go back to his work.
Mr.. Buckingham, the doorkeeper of
Ford's theatre, used to say that he
went in just to "take laugh" So
it seemed unusual to hear him say he
did not want to go.
When he had reached the White
House and he had climbed the steps
he turned and stood there a moment
before he went in. Then he said,
Goodbye, Crook"
1t startled me. As far as remem-
Der, he had never said anything but
Good night, Crook" before. I
remember distinctively the shock of
surprise and the impression, at the
time, that he had never said it before.