The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-01
nh ERE comes the handsomest
 man in the United States!' 4 4 Younp Harry Ford who

pleasant word with Harry, asking him if there was anything new. Harry could not think of anything particular, eX- eept that President Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln were coming to see the show that night A messenger had arrived only few minutes earlier with a request that box be reserved for the White House party. They were to have the upper box on the right of the stage. s~.
 The colloquy between the two young men lasted only a minute or two. Then Booth went into the theatre, got his let ters, came out, sat down on the steps, read his mail and remained there for a little while, apparently thinking. Finally he rose to his feet and walked down the street again, in the direction from which he had come.
 Nobody will ever know what were the thoughts that passed through the mind of the actor as he sat there on the steps after putting his letters in his pocket. But there seems to be good reason to be- lieve that during those moments the plan to assassinate the President was first formed. Here was tempting opportunity to avenge at one blow the fancied wrongs of the South, and an insane impulse bade him seize it.
 conspiracy against MT. Lincoln. in which Booth, Payne, Atzerott and a number of others were engaged, had al- ready been on foot for quite a while. Those in the plot had met repeatedly for the purpose of talking it over, at the Kirkwood House (where the Raleigh Ho- tel now stands) and other places But the plan in view was not to kill the President. He was to be kidnapped car ried south to Richmond, and there kept as a hostage, in order to compel the Federal government to come to terms; especially with regard to an exchange of prisoners.
 It is not unlikely that this extraordi- nary project about which there was more than dash of the theatrical originated in the imaginative mind of Booth him. self. But circumstances did not work out favorably. There was one occasion on which it might possibly have been car- ried through--when, as had been an- nounced MT. Lincoln was going to be present at an entertainment at the Sol- diers' Home, just outside of Washing ton. An attempt was to be made to seize him, either on the way thither or com ing back. But, at the last moment im- portant business intervened, and Secre- tary Chase was sent instead.
 This failure, when the scheme seemed actually on the verge of fruition so dis heartened the plotters that most of them backed out, abandoning the conspiracy. Such, in fact, was the situation that had arrived on the fatal morning of April 14, when Wilkes Booth came to Ford's Theatre to get his mail, and learned, in cidentally, that the President was to see the play-"Our American Cousin" with Laura Keene-that evening.
 It was about half an hour after noon when the young actor, getting up from the steps of the theatre on Tenth street, licked a few particles of dust from his irreproachable pantaloons, and walked away. Nobody knows what he did during the afternoon; but early in the evening he met Payne and Atzerott at the Claren- don Hotel, on the southwest corner of Ninth and F streets-a site now occupied by a huge granite office building. By this time he had fully matured his plan to kill MT. Lincoln, and he unfolded 1t to his fellow-conspirators Payne agreed to undertake the part of the scheme al- lotted to him, which was to murder MT. Seward the Secretary of State-a prof ect which was afterward carried out almost with success. Atzerott, however,
 refused to have anything to do with the business. He said that he had been per fectly willing to try to kidnap the Presi- dent but he drew the line at shedding blood. At the same time he made no attempt to interfere, and, as if to wash his hands of the whole affair." imme- diatey left the city by train
 What followed is matter of familiar
 history. Booth went to the theatre about | 10 o'clock in the evening, mounted to | the gallery, and, watching for favora-
 ble opportunity, stole along the passage way that gave entrance to the Presidents
 box. In those days the chief magistrate
 of the nation was not guarded by detec- tives, as is now the case, and it was | easy for the assassin to enter the box
 from the rear and shoot MT. Lincoln in | 1 the back of the head.
 | Of course there was tremendous excite
 ment and confusion, during which the
 assassin leaped over the rail of the box I to the stage Catching his foot in the | flag that trapped the box, he fell upon l the stage in such a manner as to break
 his ankle. Then, addressing to the audi ence the words, "Sic semper tyrannisl" | with theatrical gesture, he turned and fled.
 1 Though the play at the moment was in | the midst of its performance, nobody had | the presence of mind to try to stop him,
 and he succeeded in reaching the alley | alongside the theatre and mounting his horse which he had left there in charge | of boy. Before the hue and cry was fairly on foot he was well on his way | toward Surratsvlle (now Clnton). Md, | crossing the eastern branch of the Po- l tomac by the navy yard bridge.
 The story of the man-hunt that foi- l lowed has been too often told to be worth | reciting here. Riding southward, Booth paused at the house of a physician' Dr, | Mudd. about 36 miles from Washinston' | to have his ankle set. Meanwhile, on the | road to Surratsville, he was joined py a | voune man named Herold-a half-witted l fellow who had been a sort Of hanger | on at Ford's Theatre, and, as was nat | ural a great admirer of Booth. lie was | afterward hanged, together with Payne' | Atzerott. and Mrs. Surratt but persons l hacf onn