Glacier County chief., 1940-04-12
BY ERIC THANE

Horrible Assassination Of Pres
= ident Lincoln and Secretary Sew
q Montana Post, printed In Virginia
q City during the days when Alder
y Gulch was the richest placer on
- earth and $1,000 men had come
i there in hopes of making a for
= tune.
Montana Post, four-page newssheet,
Twas published by D. w. Tilton g. Com
apany, edited by D. w. Tilton. Tilton
was republican,, which Is to say he
sympathized with the north in the
war of the rebellion. Alder Gulch was
ern sympathizers, a large number Of
them fugitives from the armies of both
. factions but nevertheless enthusiastic
about their respective sides. Arguments
4 between men as they panned gold were
frequent; some of them were fatal, for
it was easy for tempers to run high
and fury to flare.
Upon this particular day April %,
1865, the six front page columns of
the Post had two devoted to the death
Of Lincoln. A black border was around
them. Horrible Assassination of Pres
ident Lincoln and Secretary Seward.
vas set in the largest type the Post
had underneath in smaller letters were
the words The Son of the Secretary
Dangerously Wounded"
Continuing: Intelligence the most
painful has flashed along the tele-
graphic wires to us this morning
news that is so fraught with horror
that we can scarcely persuade ourselves
but we are victims of some hideous
dream. President Lincoln and Secretary
Seward have been aSSassinated and the
son OF the secretary Is supposed to be
mortally wounded. The details which
We present to our readers in this extra
constitute a chapter of horrors that
neither history nor fiction can parallel.
The murder of Caesar by BrutuS, the
ASSASSINATION of Henry the Fourth by
Ravaignac sink into insignificance
when compared with the terrible dar-
ing and fearful GOODNESS WHICH char
acterized the preparation OF this deed.
AT the very moment when the chal-
ice Of victory was being placed to his
lips" -,
The story of Lincoln's death is well
known-how Booth crept behind him,
shot him, jumped to the stage OF Ford S
theater in Washington. fled with a
broken leg. was surrounded later. The
Post carried the story. with several
inaccurate details. under the dateline Of
April IA, II o'clock. Lincoln had not
yet then died Below the u o'clock
dateline appeared another dispatch,
April is. stating that President Lincoln
had died at $50 that morning; Seward
at 9 a. m.
Ford's theater had been closed, the
Post reported, by the following notice:
'sThe management regarding the mel
.ncholy news of the assassination Of
the president of the United States and
the secretary of state as great ma
tional calamity and sincerity participant
ing in the sadness and deep gloom now
pervading the community, beg to an
nounce that there will be no perform
ance at the theater this evening. The
performance announced for this eve
ming will begin Monday. Tickets pur-
Monday night"
Dead President Eulogized
The Post carried an editorial in that
extra which announced Lincoln's death.
In the exaggerated but nevertheless
sincere fashion of the period it began:
The sable borders of our columns re-
call to our mind the dread fact we
would so willingly disbelieve . :"
There followed lengthy review Of
Lincoln's deeds, his goodness. his con-
Germ for the Union. 1.-THE noblest work
Of God-an honest man-was Abraham