The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1910-02-11
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& PYxYM%8 which was a private.
was detailed N
bodysuard of Presi- III
dent Lincoln and continued In that ca IN
pacity until his assassination In the NX
spring Of 1865 During the three years NJ
of my stay in Washington the most q
critical period OF the nations history I lk
saw and heard many things that have lk2I
found their way into the public WI
prints. Some Of the bodyguard were
constantly with the president and his
family, whether at fashionable levees
receptions to foreign legations or pri-
vats interviews At all such functions
We we're silent spectators Of all that took
place. We we're always treated with the high
est respect by the Lincoln family who re-
garded Us as = part of the household. Every
private of the guard received tho Same atten-
tions Of courtesy the most famous states
man or diplomat at the capital We all formed
. strong personal attachment for the presi-
dent and when the grand old man laid down
his life in behalf Of the cause that had been
his life work felt as II We had lost the
dearest friend We ever had
During the first two years of term Of
service the most rigid discipline was enforced.
Sometimes would be ordered to
traordinary vigilance and to let no one enter
tho grounds Of the White House without the
proper passes and to be very particular As to
who approached the president. Often the
der would come for the guards duty to
be doubled. 1t was seldom that he knew the
direct cause Of these extra precautions. but
We supposed that tho officers of the secret
service were in possession Of information Of
some plot that brooded harm to the presi
dent
Up to 1854. owing TO our vigilance and tho
protecting hand Of Providence, our beloved
had hA M
back of the confederacy was broken, a good
feeling pervaded all Washington and conse-
Quently the strict wstchfulness that had pre-
vailed grew into laxity This was the fatal
period, for 1t was at this time that conspira-
cies we're hatched and confederates overran
the city. comparatively unmolested. The pres
ident and family spent the summer at the sol
dier's home, situated about three miles north
Of tho city. and thither the bodyguard always
accompanied them.
1t was in the summer Of 1864. while We
were up at the home, that incident hap
pened that came very near eliminating in
Just such an awful tragedy az followed only a
few months later at Fords theater II was
the custom Of the president to remain late at
the war department when anything Of great
importance was happening In the army con-
sulting with the secretary of war and trans
mitting and receiving dispatches and after
his work was finished he would ride out to
the soldiers home. That summer he had per
sistenty refused an escort, imagining himself
perfectly secure.
One night about tie middle OF August !
doing sentry duty at the large gate
through which entrance was had into the
grounds at the home The place Is situated
about a quarter of q mile of the Bladensburg
road and Is reached by a devious driveway.
About one o'clock heard rife shot In the
direction Of the city and shortly afterward
could hear approaching hoofbeats In two or
three minutes the horse came near enough so
that In the dim moonlight recognized the
rider - the belatsd president. The horse. q