Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-04-16
Lincoln's Last Night
BY LEWIS GARDNER REYNOLDS
Custodian, Lincoln Relics Museum.

L6llS, 1lCIlCC CdxlkkOJ dll NC 4l81ts lax
excitement of the tragic moments
for the conflicting stories Of the events
of the night. Men. and women too
who were present at the time saw the
same thing differently, and what they
saw became impressed upon their sew
eral minds and were related subse-
quently.
A noted jurist once said that he con-
sidered logical and clearcut circumstan-
tial evidence far more reliable than the
individual testimony Of eyewitnesses
He said, further, Il have known of SC
many cases where two, three or even
more witnesses had actually seen a
crime committed, but when they came
to the witness stand their several
stories differed in many essential de-
tails"
with that judicial thought In mind
the writer Of this article. after q care
full study of the circumstances. and in
innate association with the house in
which the President died and the de-
tails Of the whole story, attempts to
nearly as may be, a logical version OF
that tragic night, voiding as far as pos
sible any grave contradictions Of other
stories that have been told In good
faith.
Assassin's Entire Perfect.
John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, be-
ing a stock actor at Ford's, had perfect
entire to the theater. to come and go
as he pleased. It was not an unusual
occurrence-in fact. almost his daily
and nightly habit-to step In and look
over the audience. That is just what
he did the night Of the tragedy, which
he had well planned during the after
noon.
After several drinks Of brandy to
nerve him for the deed, he entered one
of the front doors, sauntered around
the back of the parquet, then assembled
the stairway to the balcony, walking
cony seats Ushers and attaches paid
no particular attention to him because
he had done that same thing before.
The President and his party were in
the upper tier of boxes. and no en-
trance to them except from the level
of the balcony floor. Booth sauntered
around until he was close to the box:
leaned nonchalantly against the wall
and awaited favorable opportunity to
enter. That moment came when Lin
coins sole guard stepped out into the
balcony to better observe what was be-
ing enacted on the stage. Booth quiet
ly stepped in, adjusted stick so that
the door could not be quickly or easily
opened from the outside-the work of
an instant-fired the bullet into the
back Of the Presidents head, and then
leaped over the rail of the box onto
the stage. In doing this. spur that
he were on his boot the planned to
mount a horse which was awaiting
him in the alley at the rear of the
theater, and make his escape, hence
was booted and spurred) entangled in
a fold of one Of the flags that draped
the Presidents box and tripped him,
so that when landing on the stage he
did so in such manner that he broke
a small bone CT his left ankle.
A rather dramatic incident that the
flag of the nation should have leaped
forward in a mute attempt at capture,
thus making the final capture, twelve
days later, much easier.
Mai. Rathbone SIashed.
Maj. Henry R. Rathbone, who was
present in the box, made an unsuc-
cessful attempt to grapple with Booth
and prevent his escape, but the as
sassin. armed as he was with a dagger.
slashed the major in the arm and
bcdy-not fatally, but enough to stop
any further interference.
William Withers, jr., leader of the
orchestra, leaped upon the stage and
undertook to intercept Booth as he
1imped across to the left of the set
scenery to back-stage, but Booth
slashed him with the same dagger
with which he had disarmed Maj.
Rathbone.
Up to this point all of the several
versions seem to agree, substantially.
When Mrs. Lincoln leaned over the
rail Of the box, and cried frantically
for a surgeon or doctor, q man in
uniform, who had occupied a near
front seat in the orchestra, leaped
upon the stage and was boosted" to
the upper box. From the rail of the
lower box to the floor extension of the
upper box. could not have been more
than six or seven feet, so it was not
a difficult matter to push the officer
up to where he could Chamber into the
Presidents box. This man was, I'M
doubleday, Surg. Gen. Charles S. Taft.
Whether or not the first surgeon or
dents side was Charles S. Taft, or
some one who had entered through the
door from the balcony. Is one Of the
mooted questions that may never be
answered. At best it was merely q
matter Of a few seconds. As the time
required to remove the bar which
Booth had fixed securely ON the door,
and no man in the box except the in
jured Maj. Rathbone. some few pre-
cious moments must have been lost
Therefore, the logical and "circum-
stantial evidence" seems to this writer
to be in favor Of Surg Taft, who
took charge Of the case, and ordered
that the injured President be carried
out into the air. It is a small mat
ter anyhow, and scarcely worthy of
contention, as to who reached the
President first.
Removal From Box.
The task of carrying the injured
Lincoln out of the theater and into the
air was accomplished as quickly as
possible. One account has it that the
rear row Of balony seats had to be
removed to provide room, but the &C
curacy Of this account has been ques-
toned. It was doubtless necessary to
remove several of the seats-those near
est the door of the box, and that gave
rise to the story that the entire rear
row was removed. It would have re-
quired considerable time to tear out Is
or 30 chairs-and time was the supreme
element at that moment.
At any rate the unconscious man was
carried out as speedily as
possible and the elapsed time until he
was laid upon bed in the Petersen
house indicated that no unnecessary
were wasted In the theater
building.
The street and sidewalks in front Of
methods of attracting players to buy
supplies and to take lessons from their