The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth

The Life, Crime and Capture of
John Wilkes
by George Alfred
Townsend

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Title: The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth
Author: George Alfred Townsend
Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6628] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 5,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN
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THE LIFE, CRIME, AND CAPTURE
OF
JOHN WILKES BOOTH,
WITH A FULL SKETCH OF THE
Conspiracy of which he was the Leader,
AND THE
PURSUIT, TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF HIS ACCOMPLICES.
BY GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND,

A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.

[Illustration: THE LIFE, CRIME, AND CAPTURE OF John Wilkes
Booth AND THE PURSUIT, TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF HIS
ACCOMPLICES.]

EXPLANATORY.
One year ago the writer of the letters which follow, visited the Battle
Field of Waterloo. In looking over many relics of the combat preserved
in the Museum there, he was particularly interested in the files of
journals contemporary with the action. These contained the Duke of
Wellington's first despatch announcing the victory, the reports of the
subordinate commanders, and the current gossip as to the episodes and
hazards of the day.
The time will come when remarkable incidents of these our times will
be a staple of as great curiosity as the issue of Waterloo. It is an
incident without a precedent on this side of the globe, and never to be
repeated.
Assassination has made its last effort to become indigenous here. The
public sentiment of Loyalist and Rebel has denounced it: the world has
remarked it with uplifted hands and words of execration. Therefore, as
long as history shall hold good, the murder of the President will be a
theme for poesy, romance and tragedy. We who live in this consecrated
time keep the sacred souvenirs of Mr. Lincoln's death in our possession;
and the best of these are the news letters descriptive of his apotheosis,
and the fate of the conspirators who slew him.
I represented the World newspaper at Washington during the whole of
those exciting weeks, and wrote their occurrences fresh from the
mouths of the actors. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year
1865,

By DICK & FITZGERALD,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.

PREFATORY.
It has seemed fitting to Messrs. DICK & FITZGERALD to reproduce
the World letters, as a keepsake for the many who received them kindly.
The Sketches appended were conscientiously written, and whatever
embellishments they may seem to have grew out of the stirring
events,--not out of my fancy.
Subsequent investigation has confirmed the veracity even of their
speculations. I have arranged them, but have not altered them; if they
represent nothing else, they do carry with them the fever and spirit of
the time. But they do not assume to be literal history: We live too close
to the events related to decide positively upon them. As a brochure of
the day,--nothing more,--I give these Sketches of a Correspondent to
the public.
G. A. T.

THE LIFE, CRIME, AND CAPTURE
OF
JOHN WILKES BOOTH.

LETTER I.
THE MURDER.
Washington, April 17.

Some very deliberate and extraordinary movements were made by a
handsome and extremely well-dressed young man in the city of
Washington last Friday. At about half-past eleven o'clock A. M., this
person, whose name is J. Wilkes Booth, by profession an actor, and
recently engaged in oil speculations, sauntered into Ford's Theater, on
Tenth, between E and F streets, and exchanged greetings with the man
at the box-office. In the conversation which ensued, the ticket agent
informed Booth that a box was taken for Mr. Lincoln