Lincoln's yarns and stories : $b A complete collection of the funny and witty anecdotes that made Lincoln famous as America's greatest story tellerMcClure, Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly)
History
Lincoln's yarns and stories : $b A complete collection of the funny and witty anecdotes that made Lincoln famous as America's greatest story teller
McClure, Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Anecdotes
Mr. Lincoln turned to Mr. Usher and said: “Usher, this boy is a
monomaniac on the subject of my safety. I can hear him or hear of
his being around at all times in the night, to prevent somebody from
murdering me. He thinks I shall be killed, and we think he is going
crazy. What does any one want to assassinate me for? If any one wants to
do so, he can do it any day or night if he is ready to give his life for
mine. It is nonsense.”
Mr. Usher said to Mr. Lincoln that it was well to heed Lamon’s warning,
as he was thrown among people from whom he had better opportunities to
know about such matters than almost any one.
“Well,” said Mr. Lincoln to Lamon, “I promise to do the best I can
toward it.”
HOW LINCOLN WAS MURDERED.
The assassination of President Lincoln was most carefully planned, even
to the smallest detail. The box set apart for the President’s party was
a double one in the second tier at the left of the stage. The box had
two doors with spring locks, but Booth had loosened the screws with
which they were fastened so that it was impossible to secure them from
the inside. In one door he had bored a hole with a gimlet, so that he
could see what was going on inside the box.
An employee of the theatre by the name of Spangler, who was an
accomplice of the assassin, had even arranged the seats in the box to
suit the purposes of Booth.
On the fateful night the theatre was packed. The Presidential party
arrived a few minutes after nine o’clock, and consisted of the President
and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson
of Senator Harris of New York. The immense audience rose to its feet and
cheered the President as he passed to his box.
Booth came into the theatre about ten o’clock. He had not only, planned
to kill the President, but he had also planned to escape into Maryland,
and a swift horse, saddled and ready for the journey, was tied in the
rear of the theatre. For a few minutes he pretended to be interested in
the performance, and then gradually made his way back to the door of the
President’s box.
Before reaching there, however, he was confronted by one of the
President’s messengers, who had been stationed at the end of the passage
leading to the boxes to prevent any one from intruding. To this man
Booth handed a card saying that the President had sent for him, and was
permitted to enter.
Once inside the hallway leading to the boxes, he closed the hall door
and fastened it by a bar prepared for the occasion, so that it was
impossible to open it from without. Then he quickly entered the box
through the right-hand door. The President was sitting in an easy
armchair in the left-hand corner of the box nearest the audience. He
was leaning on one hand and with the other had hold of a portion of the
drapery. There was a smile on his face. The other members of the party
were intently watching the performance on the stage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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