The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-01
HOW LINCOLN CAME TO DIE
By RENE sAcHE

 mac, in pursuit of the assassin, a num- Der of days elapsed before he was finally run down. on a farm not far from the Rappahannock river. The barn in which he had taken refuge was set on fire. and, after Herold had come out and sur rendered himself, Booth, who declared his intention to fight to the last, was shot, through crack in the building, by a sergeant named Boston Corbett.
 Corbett received a great deal of ap- plause for this act, for which he claimed and received part of the reward which had been offered for Booth dead or alive. As matter of fact, however it was very unfortunate that the matter should have terminated in such way. If Booth had been captured, instead of being killed the lives of two persons, after ward hanged, though almost undoubtedly innocent, might have been saved through his testimony.
 There never was adequate evidence to show that young Herold was implicated in the conspiracy or concerned in the crime Of Mrs. Surratt the same thing might be said. But public sentiment was passionately inhamed as was natural un- der the circumstances. and demanded victims Consequently, Mrs Surratt and the half7witted youth perished on the scaffold with Payne and Atzerott.
 The bullet fired by Boston Corbett struck Booth in the neck, severed the spinal cord and killed him instantly His body was put aboard little steamer and carried up the Potomac to the Washing ton navy yard, where it was transferred to the monitor Montauk at night What became of 1t from that time on is mora or less of a mystery. The understanding is that it was removed from the monitor and buried under the old penitentiary at the Washington arsenal. But official rec ords on the subject are surprisingly in- complete, and even to this day the final disposition of the assassin's remains is a carefully kept secret, known only by very few persons.
 A story has often been published to the effect that Booths body about four years after it's burial in the manner described, was dug up and transferred by friends to a cemetery in Baltimore. There is not the slightest truth in such statement, however, the fact being that the skeleton, strung together with wires. is still pre- served and in the possession of the gov- ernment, though hidden from public view. The War department could tell where it now is, if it chose.
 The body never underwent any proper identification, and there are not a few persons today who actually believe that it was not Wilkes Booth who was shot to death in the barn, but some other man. Published reports in the newspapers have even gone so far as to identify one individual or another as the assassin, who, according to the theory thus promul- gated, made his escape and lived for many years, under an assumed name. in this or that part of the country. There Is no reasonable doubt however, that such notions are utterly without basis in fact.
 MT. Lincoln died at 7:2O o'clock on the morning after he was shot, in a small brick house directly opposite Fords The atre. to which he was carried. This house is now a Lincoln museum, filled with me- morials of the martyr President, includ- ing the tall silk hat which he wore on the fatal night, the chair In which he sat when the bullet was fired, lock of his hair, the cradle in which he was rocked as an infant, wreath from his coffin, a rail of his own splitting, and a great variety of other such objects.
 Most interesting of all are photographs of the execution of Payne, Atzerott, Her old and Mrs. Surratt, in the yard of tho penitentiary. The first picture in the series shows the reading of the death warrant, while friendly persons shelter Mrs. Surratt from the sun with umbrel- las-the day being frightfully hot. In the second photograph the executioners are putting black caps on the doomed pris- oners, and in the third the latter are seen swinging from the gallows, while soldiers ranged along the walls of the prison yard look down upon the dismal spectacle--the final termination of wretched and horrifying tragedy.