The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth | Page 4

with the Alley. D Only alley outlet to F street. E Bank. X Restaurant. G
Newspaper Office. H Model House. I House to which the President was
taken. K Alley through which the Murderer escaped.]
The movements of the assassin were from henceforth quick as the
lightning, he dropped his pistol on the floor, and drawing a bowie-knife,
struck Major Rathbone, who opposed him, ripping through his coat
from the shoulder down, and inflicting a severe flesh wound in his arm.
He leaped then upon the velvet covered balustrade at the front of the
box, between Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris, and, parting with both
hands the flags that drooped on either side, dropped to the stage
beneath. Arising and turning full upon the audience, with the knife

lifted in his right hand above his head, he shouted "Sic, semper
tyrannis--Virginia is avenged!" Another instant he had fled across the
stage and behind the scenes. Colonel J. B. Stewart, the only person in
the audience who seemed to comprehend the deed he had committed,
climbed from his seat near the orchestra to the stage, and followed
close behind. The assassin was too fleet and too desperate, that fury
incarnate, meeting Mr. Withers, the leader of the orchestra, just behind
the scenes, had stricken him aside with a blow that fortunately was not
a wound; overturning Miss Jenny Gourlay, an actress, who came next
in his path, he gained, without further hindrance, the back door
previously left open at the rear of the theater; rushed through it; leaped
upon the horse held by Mr. Spangler, and without vouchsafing that
person a word of information, rode out through the alley leading into F
street, and thence rapidly away. His horse's hoofs might almost have
been heard amid the silence that for a few seconds dwelt in the interior
of the theater.
[Illustration: A Miss Laura Keene's Position. D Movable partition wall
not in place on Friday. P Position of the President. X Flats. B Dark
Passage-way--Position of Sentry. E Exit, or Stage Door. MM Entrance
to Box. CCC Entrance to Dress Circle, H Position of Booth's Horse.]
Then Mrs. Lincoln screamed, Miss Harris cried for water, and the full
ghastly truth broke upon all--"The President is murdered!" The scene
that ensued was as tumultuous and terrible as one of Dante's pictures of
hell. Some women fainted, others uttered piercing shrieks, and cries for
vengeance and unmeaning shouts for help burst from the mouths of
men. Miss Laura Keene, the actress, proved herself in this awful time
as equal to sustain a part in real tragedy as to interpret that of the stage.
Pausing one moment before the footlights to entreat the audience to be
calm, she ascended the stairs in the rear of Mr. Lincoln's box, entered it,
took the dying President's head in her lap, bathed it with the water she
had brought, and endeavoured to force some of the liquid through the
insensible lips. The locality of the wound was at first supposed to be in
the breast. It was not until after the neck and shoulders had been bared
and no mark discovered, that the dress of Miss Keene, stained with
blood, revealed where the ball had penetrated.

This moment gave the most impressive episode in the history of the
Continent.
The Chief Magistrate of thirty, millions of people--beloved, honored,
revered,--lay in the pent up closet of a play-house, dabbling with his
sacred blood the robes of an actress.
As soon as the confusion and crowd was partially overcome, the form
of the President was conveyed from the theater to the residence of Mr.
Peterson, on the opposite side of Tenth street. Here upon a bed, in a
little hastily prepared chamber, it was laid and attended by
Surgeon-General Barnes and other physicians, speedily summoned.
In the meanwhile the news spread through the capital, as if borne on
tongues of flame. Senator Sumner, hearing at his residence, of the affair
took a carriage and drove at a gallop to the White House, when he
heard where it had taken place, to find Robert Lincoln and other
members of the household still unaware of it. Both drove to Ford's
Theater, and were soon at the President's bedside. Secretary Stanton
and the other members of the cabinet were at hand almost as soon. A
vast crowd, surging up Pennsylvania avenue toward Willard's Hotel,
cried, "The President is shot!" "President Lincoln is murdered."
Another crowd sweeping down the avenue met the first with the tidings,
"Secretary Seward has been assassinated in bed." Instantly a wild
apprehension of an organized conspiracy and of other murders took
possession of the people. The shout "to arms!" was mingled with the
expressions of sorrow and rage that everywhere filled the air. "Where is
General Grant?" or "where is