THE FLIGHT AND DEATH OF THE ASSASSIN OF LINCOLN.

Evening Post, Issue 144, 25 July 1865, Page 2

THE FLIGHT AND DEATH OF THE ASSASSIN OF LINCOLN.

The energy displayed by the authorities in the pursuit of the murderer was speedily rewarded by success. The New York correspondent of the Morning Herald supplies the following details : — For the time public attention is attracted from th<} progress of the corpse of the President on its way to its final resting place, to the intensely thrilling history of Booth's flight and death. With a broken leg — the bone, we are told, protruding from the flesh and chafing against his saddle — he ride's out of Washington on that bloody night, and pushes for the swamps of St. Mary's County, Maryland. Ilia accomplice, Harrold, rides by his side. After hours of terrible travel they find a surgeon — one Dr. Mudgc — and this man sets the broken limb. Whether he knew the character of his patient or not is yet to be determined. Near the house of this Mudge, Booth and Harrold lie concealed for three days. From their hiding place in the thickets they see the squads of Federal horsemen thundering up and ' down the dusty roads ; the country about them is full of pursuers ; the hot breath of a terrible vengeance scorches their haggard ' faces. They finally creep from the bushes, and by stealth, and in the darkness, they work their way to the Potomac. The surface of the river is by night ablaze with light : fleets of gunboats patrol its waters incessantly ; there are no skiffs, scows, or canoes to be found — every vessel of the sort has been destroyed by the Federal forces. Every ford is guarded. The negroes are stimulated, by special appeals, to hunt down the assassins ; and they cannot safely trust any white man. A reward ¦of 150,000 dollars is ready for the man who shall lay his hand upon them. Finally, after a week of what must have been intolerable agony, they are set across the river. A Confederate captain pilots them to a point near Port Royal, informing all persons that they are Confederates returning from Maryland to the South. For the remainder of the narative we turn to other sources of information :—: — It having been ascertained that the two men had crossed the Potomac, a force of cavalry at once started in pursuit. On the night of the .26th April the fugitives were discovered in a barn and immediately surrounded. Lieutenant Baker called on them to surrender, or in five minutes he would burn the barn. Booth : Who are you, and what do you want ? Baker : We want you s and intend to take you. Booth : I am a cripple with one leg, but give me a chance of my life. Withdraw your men a hundred yards from the barn and I will come out and fight. Baker ; You must give up your arms and surrender. Booth : I could pick off a dozen of you while you are talking, but I do not wish to kill anybody. I will never be taken alive. Baker": Then we will fire the barn. Booth : Well, my brave boys, prepare a stretcher for me. A conversation took place inside between Bootli and Harrold, when Booth said, " You — coward, will you leave me now ? But go— go, I don't want you to stay with me." He then addressed

the party outside, and said, " n^^^^H[ here who wants to come out." Baker replied that he should hancSHHHp arms and come out. Another tallPrrere occurred between Booth aid Harrold, in which it appeared that the latter was begging' to be allowed to take out some arms with him, and Bootli was heard to say, " Go away from me. I don't want anything more to do with you." Harrold then came to the^ door, and asked to be let out. Lieutenant Baker said, " No, hand out your arms." Harrold replied " I have none." Lieut. Baker : "Yes, you have ; you carried a carbine when you came here. You must hand it out." Booth :" He has no arms. They are all mine. Upon my word as a gentleman, he has no arms. All that are here belong to me." Lieutenant Baker then approached the door. Harrold thrust out his hands and was pulled from the door, tied, and placed in charge of a guard. All this took place in the dark, the night being cloudy. Colonel Conger, in command of the cavalry, being satisfied that further parley was useless, set fire to the hay through the orevices of the barn, and the building was soon in flames. What followed is thus narrated by Sergeant Corbett, one of the soldiers' present, -from whom, as will be seen,* Booth received his death wound :— "Before the flames were kindled, Booth had the advantage of us, as he could see us, but we could not see him ; but after that the tables were turned against him, we could Bee him plainly, but could not be seen by him. The flames' appeared to confuse him, and he made a spring towards the door, as if to force his way out. As he passed by one of the crevices in the barn I fired at him, the ball striking him in the head, just below the right ear, passing through, and coming out about an inch above the left ear. He said, ' You have finished me.' When he fell he had in his hand a six barrelled revolver, and at his feet was lyine a seven-shooter, which he dropped after he was wounded. Two other revolvers were also near him, which he^said belonged to him, and that Harrold had not anything to do with the murder. When the doctor arrived Booth was dying ; he said, 'I die for my country,' and asked those standing by to tell his mother .so.". Harrold, tlie accomplice, heavily ironed, was led away by a rope round about his neck, and thus conveyed to Washington. The corpse of Booth was interred — where (adds the account) but two men know."