Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-04-14
RICHMOND MAN
SAW MARTYRED
LINCOLN SHOT
Harry Hoover Last. Survivor
Of 16 Union Vets Who
Witnessed Tragedy.
VIVID MEMORY STORY
Special 10 The Times.

Special 10 The Times
RICHMOND, Ind. April Hilary
Hoover. of this city, believes he is the
only survivor of the sixteen Union
soldiers in Ford's theater, Washington,
on April IA, 1865, when Abraham
Lincoln was shot Hoover was passing
down the aisle at the moment Booth
shot the Emancipator. He was one OF
the first to clear a path through the
crowd so that President Lincoln's body
could be carried across the street to the
house in which he died.
Hoover is a printer by trade and at
one time was part owner Of a news
paper in Indiana.
The events Of that memorable evening
are fresh IN the memorey today, Mr..
Hoover declares. His story Of that eve
ming is as follows:
president and Mrs. Lincoln and
General Grant had been invited by Laura
Keane, who was playing "Our Ameri-
can Cousin" General Grant was called
away that evening which fact probably
saved his life.
The theater was beautifully decorated
for the occasion and a large audience
was present. Our patrol guard, con-
sistng of sixteen members, was just
passing down the aisle Of the theater
when the fatal shot was heard. We
! heard the screams OF Mrs. Lincoln and
saw John Wilkes Booth jump from the
private. box to the stage. We witnessed
his escape behind the scenery.
1.-THE play was stopped The word that
Lincoln was shot threw the great crowd
into a pandemonium of excitement and
it was all the guards could do to form a
passage way to get Lincoln's body out
Of the theater and across the street to
the Peterson house, where he died at Z: %
o'clock on April Is.
That night was the most terrible
night that the guards ever endured.
Thousands of excited people gathered
I around that little building and we had to
use our bayonets to keep them from
crowding into the house. The crowd lin
gered until Lincolns body was taken to
the White House.
"In the morning cavalry troops were
sent in pursuit Of the assassin. Soldiers
were put on patrol duty in the city with
instructions to shoot every one who
/ talked Unexpectedly Of the martyred
President. i am happy that I heard Of
no fatalities. Every one felt keen sor-
| row on account of the tragedy. I felt
that our Government was gone, but
thank God, it still exists, and we have
another Abraham Lincoln In the pers1n
/ Of President Harding.
/ In a few days Booth had been cap
tured. He had gone TO Dr.. Mudd in
Maryland. The doctor would not permit
him 70 stay in his house, but allowed
him to occupy the haymow over his
stable. Our cavalry found him there
and demanded his surrender Booth re-
| fused to surrender. A torch was applied
| to the stable and as the assassin at
! tempted to escape from the flames he was
/ shot and killed by J. Boston Corbett,
! who afterward died in an insane asylum.
Booths body was taken to Washing
( ton and placed in boat on the Potomac
river at the wharf Of the Government
prison After that I was one Of the de-
! tail of soldiers which guarded the con-
/ spirators, Mrs. Surrat, Atzerott, Mudd.
Harold and Payne.
/ zone night while On guard at the
prison Of Mrs. Surrat I saw workmen
take up a marble slab in the court Of
| the prison, dig a grave and deposit
therein a body that l always have be-
lieved to be that Of Booth. Captain
Rathbone, who had charge of the prison
and who executed the condemned con-
spirators, died some years ago. On his
death bed he said: We buried the body
of Booth at the hour Of midnight in the
court of the military prison at Wash
ington. Therefore, 1 was present att
Booths burial.
Mrs. Surrat kept q rooning house on
H street The blinds and shutters were
always closed. No one ever came out
Of or entered the house. A trap door
was discovered in an alley back Of her
house which led into the residence by aa
underground passage. Here is where
Booth. Harold, Payne and Atzerott
planned to assassinate the great leader,
and Secretary Seward. Mrs. Surrat v--e
executed because she harbored the con-
spirators.
A beautiful silk flag, presented By the
women of Indianapolis, to our State
sanitary agent, W. H. De Mott, had been
loaned to Fords theater for use as
| decoration for the presidential box.
When Lincoln was shot a stream Of his
blood ran down the white stripe of the
flag That flag was kept by the govern
ment and is now IN the tomb of the
Great EmancipatOr at Springfield, Ill