The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes BoothTownsend, George Alfred
History
The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth
Townsend, George Alfred
Assassins -- United States -- Biography; Booth, John Wilkes, 1838-1865; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Assassination
A beam running overhead divides the court lengthwise in half, and as the
prisoners sit at the end of the court, the German Atzerott, or Adzerota,
has a place just beneath the beam. This is very ominous for Atzerott.
The filthiness of this man denies him sympathy. He is a disgusting
little groveler of dry, sandy hair, oval head, ears set so close to the
chin that one would think his sense of hearing limited to his jaws, and
a complexion so yellow that the uncropped brownness of his beard does
not materially darken it. He wears a grayish coat, low grimy shirt, and
the usual carpet slippers of threadbare red over his shifting and
shiftless feet. His head is bent forward, and seems to be anxiously
trying to catch the tenor of the trial. Many persons outside of the
court, Atzerott, are equally puzzled!
From as much examination of this man as his insignificance permits, I
should call him a "gabby" fellow--loud of resolution, ignoble of effort.
Over his lager no man would be braver. His face is familiar to me from a
review of those detective cabinets usually called "Rogues' Galleries."
As a "sneak thief" or "bagman," I should convict him by his face; the
same indictment would make me acquit him instantly of assassination. In
this estimate I rely upon evidence as well as upon appearance. Atzerott
swaggered about Kirk wood's Hotel asking for the Vice-President's room;
Payne or Booth would have done the murder silently. Nobody pities a
dirty man. The same arts of dress and cleanliness which please ladies
influence juries.
Next to Atzerott sits a soldier--a very jolly and smooth faced
soldier--who at one time hears a witness say something laughable. The
soldier immediately grins to the farthest point of his scalp. But he is
chagrined to find that the joke is too trivial to admit of a laugh of
duration. Very few jokes before the present court do so. But this
soldier being of long charity and excellent patience, awaits the next
joke like a veteran under orders, and reposes his chin upon the dock as
if aware that between jokes there was ample time for a nap.
The next prisoner to the right is O'Laughlin. He is a small man, about
twenty-eight years of age, attired in a fine, soiled coat, but without
white linen upon either his bosom or neck, and handcuffs rest hugely
upon his mediocrity. His moustache, eye-brows, and hair are regular and
very black. He does not look unlike Booth, though he seems to have
little bodily power, and he is very anxious, as if more earnest than any
of the rest, to have a fair lease upon life. His countenance is not
prepossessing, though he might be considered passably good looking in a
mixed company.
Between O'Laughlin and the next prisoner, Spangler, sits a soldier in
ultramarine--a discontented soldier, a moody, dissatisfied, and
arbitrary soldier. His definition of military justice is like the boy's
answer at school to the familiar question upon the Constitution of the
United States:
"What rights do accused persons enjoy ?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account