Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-02-05
CAPT. CATCH, FIRST TO ENEER
BOX AFTER MARTYR FELL,
WILL ATTEND CENTENARY
CELEBRATION IN CINCINNATI.

! CINCINNATI, GA man who. saw
Abraham Lincoln fall from the assassin's
shot will attend the Lincoln centenary
celebration in this city, February 18th.
He is Captain Oliver c. Catch, now in
his I'D year, retired farmer, whose
home is near this city. He was the first
man to enter Lincoln's box in Fords the
atre after John Wilkes Booth had fired
the bullet that stilled the heart of the
great emancipator.
} Until recently Captain Catch has been
reticent upon the subject With even his
closest friends he refused to discuss the
great tragedy. Recently, however, he was
prevailed upon to give an account Of the
shooting and the history-maklng event he
witnessed on the fatal night. To CORE
spondent of The Journal he talked for
an hour, repeating and simplifying the
story recently told by him.
Captain Catch and his brother, DR..
Charles Catch, now dead, left Washing
ton during the excitement following the
assassination of Lincoln without giving
their names to the authorities, and 1t
never occurred to them that their testi-
mony was wanted. cit wasn't necessary"
says Captain Catch.
Captain Catch, while hardly more than
a boy, enlisted in the army, and was
imprisoned until March, 1864 when he es-
capped from his captors and returned to
his home, which. was. then at Milford,
near here There he met his brother, DR..
Catch Together they went to Washing
ton on official business. On Friday night,
April IA, 1S65-Good Friday-they went to
Fords theatre, attracted thither by the
announcement that President Lincoln was
to be a guest.
"Our seats were in the balcony, and
had we desired we could have touched
the sentry stationed at the entry Of the
box to be occupied by the president"
Catch declares. I'm fact, we were so
close to the presidents box that we
could hear him chuclkle at the jokes of
the play, but we couldn't see him."
During an intermission in the play,
which was the elder Sothers great sue
cess, THE American Cousin" Captain
Catch and his brother, cramped from
sitting in one posture, stretched them
selves. AS they did so they noticed a
handsome young man watching the show
from a position against the wall near
Lincolns box. 1t was John Wilkes Booth,
who murdered Lincoln.
IT saw him edge toward the box, "
Captain Catch says" Suddenly he enter
ed the passageway. A few seconds later
we neard ShOt Bedlan TelSLeu III TIC
audience.
"A man-Major Rathborne, Lincoln's
guest, it was-rushed from the presidents
box and shouted: Get a DOCTOR My
brother said he was a physician, and he
and 1 were dragged into the president
box. My brother raised Lincoln's head to
probe for the bullet, and the index finger
of his left hand came in contact with a
jagged hole at the back of Mr.. Lincoln's
head. When he withdrew his hand it was
filled with the presidents brain, which
was oozing out at the CHASTITY hole"
Captain Gatchs brother told those in
the box that the wound was fatal, and
advised that the president be taken to a
private residence near the theatre, and
not to the white house, as was suggested.
A shutter was hastily secured as a
stretcher, and Captain Catch and his