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once went to bim and communicated what had occurred, and we started together for the scene of the tragedy.

“ We found the streets already crowded with excited masses of people, and when we reached the theatre there was a very large assemblage in front of it, as well as of the opposite house, belonging to Mr. Peterson, into which the President had been conveyed. The people around the theatre related to us substantially the general facts connected with the assassination which have since been communicated to the public. The impression was prevalent, however, at that time, that the President had been shot in the breast, about the region of the heart, and that the wound might not prove fatal. After a few minutes we crossed the street and endeavored to gain admission into the house where Mr. Lincoln lay. This I effected with some little difficulty.

“ The first person whom I met in the ball was Miss Harris, daughter of U. S. Senator Ira Harris, of New York, who had been at the theatre with the Presidential party. She informed me that the President was dying, but desired me not to communicate the fact to Mrs. Lincoln, who was in the front parlor. Several other persons who were there confirmed the statement as to Mr. Lincoln's condition. I then entered the front-parlor, where I found Mrs. Lincoln in a state of indescribable agitation. She repeated over and over again, · Why didn't he kill me? Why didn't he kill me?'

“ I asked if there was any service I could render her, and she requested me to go for Dr. Stone, or some other eminent physician. Both Dr. Stone and Surgeon-General Barnes had been already sent for, but neither had yet arrived. On my way out I met Major T. T. Eckert, of the War Department, who told me that he was bimself going for Dr. Stone. I then went for Dr. Hall, one of the most distinguished surgeons in the District. I found him at home, and he at once accompanied me. When we again reached the neighborhood of the house access had become very difficult, guards having been stationed on every side.

“After much effort I was enabled to obtain admission for Dr. Hall, but was not at that time permitted to enter myself ; accordingly, I returned to Willard's. The whole population of the city was by this time out, and all kinds of conflicting stories were being circulated. At three or four o'clock I again started for Mr. Peterson's house. This time I was admitted without difficulty. I proceeded at once to the room in which the President was dying. It was a small chamber, in an extension or ba building, on the level with the first or parlor floor. The President was lying on his back, diagonally across a low double bedstead, his head supported by two pillows on the outer side of the bed,

The persons in the room were the Secretaries McCulloch, Stanton, Welles, and Harlan, Postmaster-General Dennison, the Attorney-General, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior,

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Senator Sumner of Massachusetts, General Halleck, General Augur, General Meigs, General J. F. Farnsworth of Illinois, General Todd of Dacotah, the President's Assistant Private Secretary, Major Hay, the medical gentlemen, and perhaps two or three others. Dr. Stone was sitting on the foot of the bed. An army surgeon was sitting opposite the President's head, occasionally feeling his pulse, and applying his fingers to the arteries of the neck and the beart.

Mr. Lincoln seemed to be divested of all clothing except the bed coverings. His eyes were closed, and the lids and sur. rounding parts so injected with blood as to present the apu pearance of having been bruised. He was evidently totally unconscious, and was breathing regularly but heavily, and with an occasional sigh escaping with the breath.

There was scarcely a dry eye in the room, and the scene was the most solemn and impressive one I ever witnessed. After a while, Captain Robert Lincoln, of General Grant's staff

, and eldest son of the President, entered the chamber, and stood at the headboard, leaning over his father.

“For a time his grief completely overpowered him, but he soon recovered himself and behaved in the most manly manner until the closing of the scene. As the morning wore on, the condition of the President remained unchanged until about seven o'clock. In the meantime, it came on to rain heavily and the scene from the windows was in dreary sympathy with that which was going on within. Just before this, Mrs. Lincoln had been supported into the chamber, and had thrown herself moaning upon her husband's body. She was permitted to remain but a few minutes, when she was carried out in an almost insensible condition.

“At about seven o'clock, the President's breathing changed in a manner to indicate that death was rapidly approaching. It became low and fitful, with frequent interruptions. Several times I thought that all was over, until the feeble respiration was resumed. At last, at just cwenty-two minutes past seven o'clock, without a struggle, without a convulsive movement, without a tremor, he ceased breathing-and was no more.

“Thus died this great, pure, kind-hearted man, who never willingly injured a human being—the greatest martyr to liberty the world has ever seen.

“Shortly after his death, finding that his eyes were not entirely closed, I placed my hands upon them. One of the attendant surgeons first put nickel cents upon them, and then substituted silver half dollars. It was twenty minutes or half an hour before the body commenced to grow cold. The lower jaw began to fall slightly, and the lower teeth were exposed. One of the medical gentlemen bound up the jaw with a pocket handkerchief. Mr. Stanton threw down the window-shades, and I left the Chamber of Death. Immediately after the

decease, the Rev. Dr. Gurley had offered up a fervent and affecting prayer in the room, interrupted only by the sobs of those present.

“When I left the room he was again praying in the front parlor. Poor Mrs. Lincoln's moans were distressing to listen to. After the prayer was over I entered the parlor, and found Mrs. Lincoln supported in the arms of her son Robert. She was soon taken to her carriage. As she reached the front door she glanced at the theatre opposite, and exclaimed several times, • Oh, that dreadful house ! That dreadful house!' Immediately thereafter guards were stationed at the door of the room in which the President's body lay. In a few minutes I left myself. It is hoped that some historical painter will be found capable of portraying that momentous death-scene.”

MAJOR RATHBONE'S STATEMENT. In connection with the murder of Mr. Lincoln, we give the statements of Major RATHBONE and Miss HARRIS, who were in the President's box at the time. Being the only persons, except Mrs. LINCOLN, who were present when Booth executed his foul purpose, their statements are of great interest, delineating as they do the scenes which immediately transpired. Major RATHBONE appeared before the investigating Magistrate, and testified as follows:

That on the 14th April, 1865, at about twenty minutes past eight o'clock in the evening, he, with Miss Clara H. Harris, left his residence, at the corner of Fifteenth and

streets, and joined the President and Mrs. Lincoln, and went with them in their carriage to Ford's Theatre, in Tenth street. The box assigned to the President is in the second tier, on the righthand side of the audience, and was occupied by the President and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris, and the deponent—and by no other person. The box is entered by passing from the front of the building, in the rear of the dress-circle, to a small entry or passage-way about eight feet in length and four feet in width.

“ This passage-way is entered by a door which opens on the inner side. The door is so placed as to make an acute angle between it and the wall behind it on the inner side. At the inner end of this passage-way is another door standing squarely across, and opening into the box. On the left-hand side of the passage-way, and very near the inner end, is a third door, which also opens into the box. This latter door was closed. The party entered the box through the door at the end of the passage-way. The box is so constructed that it may be divided into two by a movable partition, one of the doors described opening into each. The front of the box is about ten or twelve feet in length, and in the centre of the railing is a small pillar overhung with a curtain. The depth of the box from front to rear is about nine feet. The elevation of the box above the stage, including the railing, is about ten or twelve feet.

"When the party entered the box, a cushioned arm-chair was standing at the end of the box furthest from the stage and nearest the audience. This was also the nearest point to the door by which the box is entered. The President seated himself in this chair-and except that he once left the chair for the purpose of putting on his overcoat, remained so seated until he was shot. Mrs. Lincoln was seated in a chair between the President and the pillar in the centre above described. At the opposite end of the box—that nearest the end of the stagewere two chairs. In one of these, standing in the corner, Miss Harris was seated. At her left hand, and along the wall running from that end of the box to the rear, stood a small sofa. At the end of this sofa, next to Miss Harris, this deponent was seated. The distance between this deponent and the President, as they were sitting, was about seven or eight feet; and the distance between this deponent and the door was about the same.

“The distance between the President, as he sat, and the door, was about four or five feet. The door, according to the recol. lection of this deponent, was not closed during the evening. When the second scene of the third act was being performed, and while this deponent was intently observing the proceedings upon the stage, with his back towards the door, he heard the discharge of a pistol behind him, and looking around, saw, through the smoke, a man between the door and the President. At the same time deponent heard him shout some word, which deponent thinks was Freedom! This deponent instantly

• ' sprang towards him and seized him; he wrested himself from the grasp and made

a violent thrust at the breast of deponent with a large knife. Deponent parried the blow by striking it up, and received a wound several inches deep in his left arm, between the elbow and the shoulder. The orifice of the wound is about an inch and a half in length, and extends upwards towards the shoulder several inches. The man rushed to the front of the box, and deponent endeavored to seize him again, but only caught his clothes as he was leaping over the railing of the box. The clothes, as deponent believes, were torn in this attempt to seize him.

“As he went over upon the stage, deponent cried out with a loud voice:- Stop that man!' Deponent then turned to the President; his position was not changed ; his head was slightly bent forward, and his eyes were closed. Deponent saw that he was unconscious, and supposing him mortally wounded, rushed to the door for the purpose of calling medical aid. On reaching the outer door of the passage-way as above described, deponent found it barred by a heavy piece of plank, one end of which was secured in the wall, and the other resting against the door. It had been so securely fastened that it required considerable force to remove it. This wedge or bar was about four feet from the floor, Persons upon the outside were beating against the door for the purpose of entering. Deponent removed the bar, and the door was opened.

“Several persons who represented themselves to be surgeons were allowed to enter. Deponent saw there Colonel Crawford, and requested him to prevent other persons from entering the box. Deponent then returned to the box, and found the surgeons examining the President's person. They had not yet dis covered the wound. As soon as it was discovered it was determined to remove him from the theatre. He was carried out, and this deponent then proceeded to assist Mrs. Lincoln, who was intensely excited, to leave the theatre. On reaching the head of the stairs, deponent requested Major Potter to aid him in assisting Mrs. Lincoln across the street to the house to which the President was being conveyed.

The wound which deponent had received had been bleeding very profusely, and on reaching the house, feeling very faint from the loss of blood, he seated himself in the hall, and soon after fainted away, and was laid upon the floor. Upon the return of consciousness, deponent was taken in a carriage to his residence.

In the review of the transaction, it is the confident belief of this deponent that the time which elapsed between the discharge of the pistol and the time when the assassin leaped from the box, did not exceed thirty seconds. Neither Mrs. Lincoln nor Miss Harris had left their seats.

“ H. R. RATHBONE. “Subscribed and sworn before me this 17th day of April, 1865.

“A. B. OLIN, Justice Supreme Court, D. C.

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AFFIDAVIT OF MISS HARRIS. District of Columbia, City of Washington, ss. :-CLARA H. HARRIS, being duly sworn, says that she has read the foregoing affidavit of Major Rathbone, and knows the contents thereof; that she was present at Ford's Theatre with the President, and Mrs. Lincoln, and Major Rathbone on the evening of the 14th of April instant; that at the time she heard the discharge of the pistol she was attentively engaged in observing what was transpiring upon the stage, and looking round she saw Major Rathbone spring from his seat and advance to the opposite side of the bux ; that she saw him engaged as if in a struggle with another man, but the smoke with which he was en veloped prevented this deponent from seeing distinctly the other man ; that the first time she saw him distinctly was when he leaped from the box upon the stage; that she then heard Major Rathbone cry out,

Stop that man ! and this deponent then immediately repeated the cry, “Stop that man! Won't somebody stop that man ?? A moment after some one from the stage asked, "What is it ?'

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