The Washington herald., 1915-04-19

When John Wilkes Booth and his
companion and guide. David +. Herold
on the afternoon OF April Is. 1865. rode
away from the home of DR.. Samuel A.
Mudd. in Charles County. Md, where
| that morning they had found shelter and
medical aid for the assassin, their trail
which by this time had been taken up
| by pursuing cavalry. ended as completely
as footsteps in water.
1t was near nightfall when they left
DR.. Mudd's house. taking an obscure road
| into the wilds of the Zekiah swamp to
the westward. on their way toward the
Potomac. Darkness overlook them as
they rode slowly in this wild region.
Booth suffered great pain from his
broken leg. The road was bad, and they
| finally lost their way. west of the village
of Bryantown, which was four miles
south of DR.. Mudd's. Hating at lonely
wayside building. negro church called
Brice's Chapel. they held conference.
Herold decided to push on in search of
a road or a guide. Leaving Booth alone
| by the little church. the younger man
rode westward a mile and half to a
| house-the shanty of a negro. one Os-
valid Swami. Herold aroused the negro,
and with the promise OF money pursuaded
| him to go to where Booth was and act
as their guide to the home of Col. Samuel
COX, d man 10 WHOSE hno"H Souihcih
sympathies Booth felt he could appeal
successfully for shelter and concealment.
| Col Cox lived fourteen miles west of
| DIR. Mudd, and was his friend. He had
known something Of Booths earlier wild
plan to kidnap Lincoln. and doubtless
| had countcnanced it as war enter
prise.
About o'clock in the morning OF
| Easter Sunday. April 16, Col. Cox was
| aroused by a knock at his door lie
found there a young man, and saw in
| the moonlight a little way from the gate
! a man on horseback. They requested that
he take them in. He told them that I'M
less they could identify themselves to
| his satisfaction he could not give then;
shelter. The President had been assas-
sinated and he could entertain no strang-
ers. He then closed the door and re-
turned to his bed.
Befriended by Col. Cox.
With this rebuff from the door of a
Southern man, Booth had the first evil
dence OF the worlds adherence of his
crime. There in the moonlight, in the
yard of DR.. CoX's home he held another
conference with the weak youth who
was now his only reliance. Then paying
the negro and dismissing him. Booth
| rode slowly to the shelter of a gully half
q mile from the IOS nome. ne hiit" VI
| no other place to go and his physical
suffering from his broken leg was almost
more than he could bear. In the gully
the two men dsmounted and threw
themselves on the ground to rest.
In the early morning, being disturbed
| in his mind by the midnight call and be-
| iieving that the men were concealed near
his house. Col. Cox rode out and searched
for them. He soon found them in some
pines, and although they were armed.
they made no effort to prevent his APP
| proach.
Booth. always able to play upon the
sympathy of man or woman. begged Col.
Cox to aid him, and having won his
! promise. revealed himself as the assas-
| sin OF Lincoln. To prove his identity he
showed Cox his initials. ]. w. b., in
India ink on his right wrist. Cox. though
he now knew what already he must have
| suspected. was so filled with compassion
for Booth that he resolved to aid him to
escape.
Jones, the "Blockade Runner"
The only person Col. Cox knew who
could help the two fugitives across the