Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
WILLIS REVSITS
SCENE OF TRAGEDY
Washington Man Recalls See
ING Booth Shoot Lincoln
at Old Theater.

The grim specter of John wilkes
Booth shortly before he killed Presi-
dent Ltncoln-the dramatic. hushed
scene in the old Ford Theater as the
assassin leaped to the stage, dagger
in hand, and then disappeared with
no mans hand raised to stop him
these rose from the distant past for
Charles s. Willis, only surviving WASH
ington witness of the assassination,
when he revisited the scene last week
to see the changes being wrought in
the vicinity as a result of the Govern
ment's building program.
Mr.. Willis, who resides at willard
Courts, examined the ruins of the old
decentralization next door tc tine
theater He recalled that he saw the
assassin leave this little place and enter
the Ford Theater before the murder.
Recognized Booth Easily.
Standing on the recently cleared site
Of the Instrumentation, Willis SAID
he had never been in the place. He
was not drinking man.
Booth must have taken a stiff drink
here, to brace him for the deed" he
said. 1T saw him leave the restaurant,
60 out on the sidewalk, and then come
in the front door of the theater. 1
knew him by sight because, as / re-
mSmOCI,
in the same theater not long before the
ASSASSINATION. He was q good actor,
and he was easily recognized. He was
standing there in the lobby talking
to q friend of mine, and passed as
close as am to you.
The tradition of Booth taking
drink before he aSSaSSinated the Presl-
dent also clings to another place, across
the street from the theater. The place,
changed several times since it evidently
once was saloon, was resurrected
recently from used-fuTnlture store
and entirely reconstructed inside, but
an old iron pillar in the center of the
store was left untouched. In the midst
Of the present new store, this post has
been repainted about half way up. But
twining about the pillar about Z feet
from the floor is an deliberately de-
signed inscription to the effect that 1t
was here that John Wilkes Booth took
his last drink.
shown Where Lincoln Sat.
Mr.. willis moving through the gaunt
old theater which re-echoed to his
voice, was shown by o. o. Dillon, guard
Of the building, where the presidential
box had been.
IT was sitting in about the seventh
or eighth row. about here" said Mr..
Willis, land I could look up easily into
the Presidents box and see him there.
We heard a shot, which we knew was
not supposed to be on the stage. Then
somebody shouted that the President
had been shot. I saw Booth leap
from the edge of the box there. a few
feet onto the stage and Stagger a bit.
He had a dagger in his hand and he
said so we all could hear 1t plainly,
sic Semper tyrannis.' Then he went
across the stage and disappeared out
the door. No one tried to stop him.
Asked il there was an uproar in the
theater, Mr. Willis said that, contrary
to many published reports he had read,
he remembered distinctly that the
crowd appeared to be too overawed to
make q noise Everybody rose to their
feet, said Mr.. Willis, explaining, Il was
standing about here. and people were
talking all around in low voices, but
they were too shocked, too much in awe
TO do much Of anything"
Saw Lincoln Carried Out.
Going out with the crowd, Willis
said he went across the street and was
standing on some steps in front of a
house. watching the crowd and the
theater opposite, when somebody told
him to step aside. It was the group
carrying the martyred President into
the house where he died. Willis
stepped aside, he said, and the sorrow
ful men, with the unconscious Lincoln,
passed up the stairs on which he had
been standing and into the house.
The next morning at the Government
Printing Once. where he was employed
rs an apprentice boy in the bindery. he
said, he was so upset that he asked to
be let on for the day, which was grant,
ed. Relating that he walked through a
drizzle up F street to Tenth street, Mr..
Willis said he remembers with peculiar
surprise that there was no great crowd
about. Only Q few people were in the
vicinity, he recalled. why if that had
been today" he remarked, there would
have been an immense mob milling
about"
Favors Restoration Of Theater.
Mr.. Willis spent some time in gloomy
recesses of the old theater looking about,
recalling the things he had seen on that
fateful night of April IA, 1865. He is
convinced 1t should be restored to its
original condition as a theater and the
splendid collection of relics now housed
across the street be brought there and
installed as in a museum.
Well preserved and at the age Of 80.
Mr.. Willis takes a lively interest not
only in the past, but also in the pres
ert. He and Mrs. Willis celebrated their
golden wedding anniversary October
2, 1928, and say today they are hap
pier than ever. They have three chill
dren: Mrs william z. Richardson, 17l9
Lamont street: Stanley D. Willis, at
torney, who resides at 1923 Varnum
street, and Newton P. Willis, cashier Of
the First National Bank of Windham,
NY. He was retired from Government
service in the Government Printing
Once in 1920.
What will become of the old theater
Is still a moot question. Its only occu-
pant today Is the Waterman, o. O..
Dillon, who, as an ardent admirer of
Lincoln, takes pleasure in talking with
visitors. The building was bought by
the Government not long after the as
sassination.
Legislation to restore it was pro-
posed by Representative Rathbone Of
Illinois, whose bill for purchase Of the
Oldroyd collection of Lincoln relics was
enacted. Mr. Rathbone died, however,
before the bill was enacted.