The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-08
LINCOLN AND BOOTH
The Inner Story of the Great Tragedy
of Fifty Years Ago
Years Ago
By WINFIELD M. THOMPSON.

I fitting knit shirt. He wore no coat nor
| shoes. On his thick dark hair was a
straw hat. His manner was composed.
| his eyes fearless. There was something
| suggesting an Indian in his indifference
| to death.
| At the scaffoId steps Mrs Surratt' :
strength nearly failed her. She was
aided up the steps and sank limp and
saspns into the chair assigned her Oc-
caSionally her lips moved and she made
| a moaning sound.
Each of the condemned being seated.
| Gen. Hartranft. in clear tones. read the
| order for their hanging. Then a clergy
man stepped to the front of the plat
form. expressing the thanks of Payne
for considerate treatment by his keepers.
He then prayed. briefly and eIoquently.
| Payne followed the words dumbly with
| his lips and tears stood in his eyes. 1t
was his only show of emotion in his trial
| Of death.
The Closing Scene.
One of the clergymen attending Herold
next spoke. offering the prisoner thanks
and a prayer. Another did the same for
Atzerodt. The spiritual advisers of Mrs.
Surratt spoke no words beyond their
prayers.
Then came the final scene of prcpara-
ton. The prisoners were ordered to
stand up. Mrs Surratt. who had moaned
in her chair like a person in desperate
: illness. was assisted to her feet and men
prepared to bind her Her body seemed
to swoon as she stood on the pinnacle Of
infamy. while her skirts were gathered
a bout her and her limbs were pinioned.
| Don't let me fall" she gasped weakly.
| The words were the last she spoke. The
hansman's cap Of white cotton was soon
Placed over her head. and the moose ad
justed on her neck.
She trembled and shrank. hut the
soothing tones Of tn" priests reclting
words of spiritual consolation seemed
| to sustain her.
| When the moose was placed around
the neck of PAYNE the youth revea ed
/ his courage again by directing how il
should be adjusted. No friendly voice
had said farewell to him. no friendly
hand had pressed his. and now he had
no parting words to speak.
Herold wept and said word they
! bound him but AtzerOdt ba billed in ter
ror and attempted a farewell. speech
His adopted tongue failed him in this
elemental crisis. Take ware" he said
meaning perhaps that those who heard
him should beware of tho things that
/ had brought him there. Then making
fresh start. he said: "Shentemen. who
are before me. we may all meet in an
Other world
! As the hangman's zap was placed over
his head he said: Don't choke me"
These words were his last. He went to
his death weeping and whimperine
The End of Four Lives.
When all was ready and the prisoners
stod bound hand and foot with the light
Of day shut from their eyes by the caps
there was solemn pause The people
who had heen near the condemned step
ped hack from the drops.
All being ready. an officer gave a sig
nal and men on the ground raised two
beams in their hands and thrust them
against the wooden props that held the
hinged platforms of the drops.
In an instant the four bodies dropped
and snapped at the end of the four ropes.
Then twirlinE erratiCally the four vic
Tins swung in the agony of brutal death.
Payne drew up his great chest near to
his chin. and died with his muscles tense
and his veins black and near bursting.
Herold also died hard. Mrs. Surratt and
Atzerodt mercifully suffered relatively
little.
The drop fell at lbs At ! so the bodies
were cut down. They were placed in the
collins, to lie under the sward OF the old
prison yard until delivered when the
whole bitter traGerv was a memory, to
These were the only lives. besides that
of Booth. taken to satisfy the public cry
for vengeance on the assassin and his
associates. Four men, Arnold. 0'Lough-
lin Or Mudd and SpanGler. were trans
ported to the Dry TortuCas. the first three
under life sentences. the last for sin
wears
Yet these condemnatinns did not salts
fy the laws demands in full. for while
scaffold and prison took their toll. Booths
most trusted agent in the kidnapping plot.
which had preceded his pan Of assassl-
nation. was a free man. This was John
H. Surratt. who. though he had no part
in the assa ssination. was destined to h.
tried AS Booths aid in the Crime-and TO
go free.
TomOrrOw-The trial Of John II.
Surratt.