Show wa A D cl ev W 4 01 qa 7 7 wi X K N N L MEN IN guzu I 1 tt A BOUT the middle f kwal OG august pany IC ot tho co 11 hundred id 4 andew and I 1 TW Z n 1 penn pennsylvania abla anla lulu L w ulu bird knon Buck B buckhall uck tall regiment of which awas I 1 was p a prIVA fe was deta detailed lied as a bodyguard ot at ap akis dent lincoln and continued q that CA cm opacity until his assassination in the tha spring ot of 1865 1866 during the theo years ot of my stay in washington the tha most critical period ot oi the history I 1 saw and beard many things that have hava never found their way into the public prints some borne of the bodyguard were constantly with fth the president arid and his bis family faintly whether at fashionable levees receptions to foreign legations or private interviews at all such functions wo we were wera silent spectators of fill all that took place we were always treated with the highest respect by the lincoln family who regarded us ua as a part of the household every private of the guard received the same attentions of courtesy as the most famous statesman or diplomat at the capital we all formed a strong personal attachment for the president and when the grand brand old man laid down his bis life in behalf of the cause that had bad been his life work we felt as it if we had lost the dearest friend we ever had during the first two years ot of our term ot of service the roost most rigid discipline was enforced sometimes ive we would be ordered to use extraordinary tra vigilance and to let no on one e enter the grounds of the white house without the proper passes and to be very particular as to who president often the or bi der would come for or the guards on duty to be doubled it was seldom that ho ha knew the direct aube of these extra precautions but we supposed that the he officers of the secret service ervice were in possession or of information of some orn e plot that brog brogden ded harm barm to the president up to ta 1864 owing to our Nig vigilance ilance pro protecting teching hand of providence Providenc 6 our beloved chief had bad escaped the hand of violence the back of alo confederacy was broken a rood good feeling pervaded all washington and consequently the strict watchfulness that had pro prevailed grew into laxity tills this was the catal tatal period for it was at this time that conspiracies wire hatched and confederates overran the city comparatively unmolested th president and family spent the summer bummer lit at the lie soldiers diers home homes situated about tarde miles north of the city and thither the bodyguard always accompanied them it was in the summer of 1864 while we were up at the home that an incident happened that came very pear near culminating in just suh an awful tragedy as followed only a few later at fords theater it was the custom of the president to remain late at the war department when anything of great importance was happening jn in the army consulting with the secretary of war and transmitting and receiving dispatches and after his big work woric was finished he would ride out soldiers home that summer cummer he had bad persistently refused an escort imagining bim himself self perfectly secure one night about the middle of august I 1 was waa doing sentry duty at the larga gate through gli which entrance was bad into the ground at the home the place Is situated about it quarter of a mile off the bladensburg road and la 14 reached bya by a devious driveway about one I 1 beard a rifle shot in the direction of the city and shortly afterward could hr approaching hoof hoot beats in two or three the horsa camo came near enough so that I 1 in h the dim moonlight I 1 recognized the rider ca as the belated president the horse a 4 N 0 o 5 1 t Y if agry spirited one belonging to larnin the marsdal of the district of cogul bla was mr lin 0 oens favorite sad N dle animal and r when he was in the white house ta 1 t bles he always at 4 chose him 4 I 1 As horse and rid ak er approached the A kz gate I 1 noticed that the president was bareheaded after I 1 had bad assalti him in checking his bis steed tho the preil dent sald said to rod its he came pretty near getting away with me lie he lie ile took in his alg teeth before I 1 could draw the reins I 1 I 1 then lien asked him film where his list hat was and he replied that somebody had fired a gun gull off down at the toot foot of the hill which beamed his bis boree and the lurch of 0 the animal toppled his big hat bat off I 1 led the horse to the cottage where tho the president and his family was staying there he dismounted and went in thinking tho the proceeding n 0 little strange a corporal and I 1 started in the direction from which tho the report of 0 the gun had been heard beard to investigate when we came ta t the tha place where the driveway meets tho the main road we found the tha presidents hat a plain silk ellk hat and on examining it found a bullet hole through the corner of 0 the crown the shot had been fired upward and it wis was evident that tha the person who had fired it had secreted bitne elf close to the roadside we listened and searched tho the locality thoroughly but to no avail the nest day I 1 gave mj alt lincoln hla his hat flat and called his it attention to the bullet hole lie he unconcernedly cern edly remarked that it was put there by some foolish kunner gunner and was not intended for hinl him he said however that he wanted the tha matter kept quiet and admonished us ua to say nothing about it the next fall after we had taken up our winter quarters nt at the white house a conspiracy to kidnap the president was waa unknowingly frustrated by us had the truth of the affair leaked out at the time it doubt doubtless lege would have created great excitement our quarters were immediately in front of the south porch of the executive mansion a position which placed us at about equal distance dl stanca from houi the treasury building on the east and the war and navy guilding on the west for reasons at the time binic unknown to us ua we were ordered to move our guard tent and place it at the west end of the gravel walk alk directly in jio ae rear of the war department while we stayed there nothing coth liiK occurred to arauso suspicion shortly afterward we WB learned however that on 01 the very night after we bad moved the tent the confederates had bad a plan laid to capture the tha president tho the conspirators were to hide la in the shrubbery and when the president came along the walk they were to seize gag and carry him across the into virginia thence lie he was to be taken to or some gome other confederate stronghold where he be was waa to bo be held as a ho costake stake the members of the bodyguard always supposed Mip posed that the conspirators worn were fright frightened enel away when they saw our guard tent and abandoned t the io plan of kidnapping not long after the attempted kidnapping another episode took place which afterward was found to have hate been planned by a band of assassins who mado made their headquarters in the city bourke the ho yet veteran oran coach coa clunan inan who had served at the white house through pierces and duchan nna administrations and thus tar far into I 1 Lincol ns was taken sick and compelled to be oft off duty immediately a stranger who represented bilm belt as an experienced coachman from baltimore applied at the white house and was employed as ag coachman from the first lie he was domineering and after a few feeks became so go important that ho be was nas discharged and bourke reinstated one night shortly afterward just about dusk the discharged coachman was seen sneaking around the stables by some of the guard the stables had been locked for the night anait and it was not supposed that he could do any damage and consequently the men who saw him did not go to the stables presently the whole interior of the barns was found to be on an lire fire the guard was called out abid by dint of great exertion we saved elved the presidents coach and team but tod tad Lincol ns ponies and col hays carriage team perished in the harnes flames the plan was to have this man fire the stables and thus to distract our attention during the excitement some come of the conspirators were ready to rush into the white house houie and murder the president but of remaining in the house mr lincoln ran out nut among us and thus in all probability 1 inist rated another attempt at what makes this appear more likely now Is the fact that after the incendiary was arrested he produced several witnesses who later found employment at fords theater to testify tant he was down in the city during the whole of the evening these were the persons person who doubtless planned the final conspiracy that brought the great benefactor to the grave crave |