Show seventy five years ago this month i the whole world was in mourning for america s first martyred Marty red president it g r C W 4 x r iwo r M r V J an 77 2 N R mr i STOP THAT john wilkes booth bees across the stage of fords theater in washington after firing the shot which ended the life of abraham lincoln from a drawing which appeared in harpers weekly april 29 1865 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper union TT IS the evening of april IT 14 1865 good friday i on the stage of fords theater in washington the famous actress laura keene is playing in a delightful comedy our american cousin joining in the laughter that sweeps through the audience from time to time is a gaunt sad asad faced man sitting at ease in a high backed satin up holstered rocking chair in an upper stage box abraham lincoln is forgetting for a jew few minutes the crushing responsibilities which he as chief executive of a nation torn asunder in civil war has been bearing for four long years the third act of the play begins the president leans over to whisper something to mrs lincoln who sits beside him neither the Lincol ns nor maj harry R rathbone and a miss harris who accompanied them to the theater notice that a dark moustached young hian man has slipped through the door at the rear of the box and is now standing behind the president the next moment there is the muffled sound of a shot it is unnoticed by the players on the stage or the audience still chuckling over the last funny line they have heard buethe but the presidents president Is head drops forward on his breast startled major rathbone looks around through the smoke he sees the dark young man with a pistol in his hand an and d hears him mutter something which sounds like freedom I 1 the major leaps to his feet and grapples with the intruder who slashes at him with a knife tears loose from the officers grasp and springs to the front of the box As he vaults over the railing his spur catches in an american flag which drapes the front of the box he drops heavily to the stage with one leg doubled under him then scrambles to his feet with blood streaming from his wounded arms rathbone rushes to the front of the box stop that danl man stop himl he shouts the president has been shot I 1 but everyone is too stunned to move for a moment the young man waving aloft the bloody knife drags himself across the stage and disappears in the wings but before he does so the startled actors recognize in the white face and the black eyes blazing with fanatical hatred the familiar features 0 one of their own profession john wilkes booth AU ali this has ha taken place in less time than it takes to tell it the next moment fords theater is a pandemonium of screaming women and shouting men shoving pushing breaking chairs crashing through railings failings rai lings and trampling upon each other as they surge burge toward the stage or try to climb up to the box where the moaning mrs lincolnia Lincol nis supporting her strick fi lis bifid and ma jor rathbone is trying vainly to open the door which ach the assassin had barred from the inside now the soldiers of the presidents guard come bursting into the theater and with fixed bayonets und drawn pistols they charge 77 7 0 7 x IN springfield outside the old globe tavern where abraham lincoln and mary todd spent their honeymoon members of the martyred marty red presidents cabinet and other dignitaries awaited the arrival ol of the funeral train in Lincol ns home town the milling crowd their hoarse shouts of clear out clear out you yoa sons of belll rise above the tumult as they drive the half crazed audience out of the theater meanwhile rathbone has succeeded in un barring the door to the box and several people among them a surgeon rush in they see the tall form of the president slumped forward in his chair his sad eyes closed never to open again someone brings a I 1 shutter torn from a building near by and they lay his gaunt form upon it they carry him out of the theater to the house of charles peterson across the street fords theater is emp empty ty deserted now its curtain has been rung down upon the comedy our american cousin and upon one of the greatest tragedies in american history death at A M the next morning washington newspapers carried this story the body of president lincoln who died from an assassins bullet at 0 clock this morning was removed from the peterson residence opposite fords theater to the executive mansion in a hearse and wrapped in the american flag it was escorted by a small squad of cavalry and by gen augur and other military officials on foot A dense crowd accompanied the remains to the white house where a military guard excluded the people allowing none but persons of the household and personal friends of the deceased to enter gen grant arrived here at 2 in a special train from philadelphia his presence tends somewhat to allay the excitement leaf through the pages of james G blaines twenty years in in congress published in 1886 and read there this description of the events which followed the lemkins of the late pre president si lay in state at the executive mansion for four days the entire city seemed as a house of mourning the martial music which had been resounding in glad celebration of the national triumph had ceased cea sed public edifice and private mansion were alike draped with the insignia of grief funeral services sery ices conducted by the leading clergymen of the city were held in the east room on wednesday the of april amid the solemn tolling of church bells and the still more solemn thundering of minute guns from the vast line of fortifications which had protected washington the body escorted by an imps ing military and civic was transferred to the rotunda of the capitol the day was observed throughout the union as one of fasting and prayer services in the churches throughout the land were held in unison with the services at the executive mansion and were everywhere attended with exhibition of profound personal grief the south in sorrow in all the cities of canada business was suspended public meetings of condolence with a kindred people were held and prayers were read in the churches throughout the confederate states where war had ceased but peace had not yet come the people joined in significant expressions of sorrow over the death of him whose very name they had been taught to execrate early in the morning of the the body was removed from the capitol and placed on the funeral car which was to transport it to its final resting place in illinois the train which moved from the national capital was attended on its course by extraordinary manifestations of grief on the martof part of the people As for the story of that sorrowful journey westward no one has ever told it better than carl sandburg poet and lincoln biographer the closing words of his masterpiece abraham lincoln the war years published this year by harcourt brace and company words whose stark simplicity remind one of such writings as the gettysburg address are these there was a funeral it took long to pass its many given points many millions of of people saw it the line of march ran seventeen hundred miles yes there was a funeral from his white house in washington where it began they carried his coffin and followed it nights and days tor for twelve days bells tolling bells sobbing the requiem the salute guns cannon rumbling their inarticulate thunder to springfield illinois the old home to town wn the sangamon nearby the new salem hilltop nearby for the final rest of the cherished dust and the night came with great quiet and there was rest the prairie years the war years were over |