The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth | Page 2

and General
Grant, who were expected to visit the theater, and contribute to the
benefit of Miss Laura Keene, and satisfy the curiosity of a large
audience. Mr. Booth went away with a jest, and a lightly-spoken "Good
afternoon." Strolling down to Pumphreys' stable, on C street, in the rear
of the National Hotel, he engaged a saddle horse, a high-strung, fast,
beautiful bay mare, telling Mr. Pumphreys that he should call for her in
the middle of the afternoon.
From here he went to the Kirkwood Hotel, on the corner of
Pennsylvania avenue and Twelfth street, where, calling for a card and a
sheet of notepaper, he sat down and wrote upon the first as follows:
For Mr. Andrew Johnson:--
I don't wish to disturb you; are you at home?
J. W. Booth.
To this message, which was sent up by the obliging clerk, Mr. Johnson
responded that he was very busily engaged. Mr. Booth smiled, and
turning to his sheet of note-paper, wrote on it. The fact, if fact it is, that
he had been disappointed in not obtaining an examination of the
Vice-President's apartment and a knowledge of the Vice-President's
probable whereabouts the ensuing evening, in no way affected his
composure. The note, the contents of which are unknown, was signed
and sealed within a few moments. Booth arose, bowed to an
acquaintance, and passed into the street. His elegant person was seen on
the avenue a few minutes, and was withdrawn into the Metropolitan
Hotel.

At 4 P. M., he again appeared at Pumphreys' livery stable, mounted the
mare he had engaged, rode leisurely up F street, turned into an alley
between Ninth And Tenth streets, and thence into an alley reloading to
the rear of Ford's Theater, which fronts on Tenth street, between E and
F streets. Here he alighted and deposited the mare in a small stable off
the alley, which he had hired sometime before for the accommodation
of a saddle-horse which he had recently sold. Mr. Booth soon afterward
retired from the stable, and is supposed to have refreshed himself at a
neighboring bar-room.
At 8 o'clock the same evening, President Lincoln and Speaker Colfax
sat together in a private room at the White House, pleasantly
conversing. General Grant, with whom the President had engaged to
attend Ford's Theater that evening, had left with his wife for Burlington,
New-Jersey, in the 6 o'clock train. After this departure Mr. Lincoln
rather reluctantly determined to keep his part of the engagement, rather
than to disappoint his friends and the audience. Mrs. Lincoln, entering
the room and turning to Mr. Colfax, said, in a half laughing, half
serious way, "Well, Mr. Lincoln, are you going to the theater with me
or not?" "I suppose I shall have to go, Colfax," said the President, and
the Speaker took his leave in company with Major Rathbone, of the
Provost-Marshal General's office, who escorted Miss Harris, daughter
of Senator Harris, of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln reached Ford's
Theater at twenty minutes before 9 o'clock.
The house was filled in every part with a large and brilliantly attired
audience. As the presidential party ascended the stairs, and passed
behind the dress circle to the entrance of the private box reserved for
them, the whole assemblage, having in mind the recent Union victories,
arose, cheered, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and manifesting every
other accustomed sign of enthusiasm. The President, last to enter the
box, turned before doing so, and bowed a courteous acknowledgment
of his reception--At the moment of the President's arrival, Mr. Hawks,
one of the actors, performing the well-known part of Dundreary, had
exclaimed: "This reminds me of a story, as Mr. Lincoln says." The
audience forced him, after the interruption, to tell the story over again.
It evidently pleased Mr. Lincoln, who turned laughingly to his wife and

made a remark which was not overheard.
[Illustration: Scene of the Assassination.
X President's Position. A The course of the Assassin after the Murder.
BB Movable partition not in use on the night of the Assassination. D
Door through which the Assassin looked in taking aim. C Closed door
through which pistol ball was fired.]
The box in which the President sat consisted of two boxes turned into
one, the middle partition being removed, as on all occasions when a
state party visited the theater. The box was on a level with the dress
circle; about twelve feet above the stage. There were two entrances--the
door nearest to the wall having been closed and locked; the door
nearest the balustrades of the dress circle, and at right angles with it,
being open and left open, after the visitors had entered. The interior
was carpeted, lined with crimson paper, and furnished with a sofa
covered with crimson velvet, three arm