an oriental monarch, fearing that in the plenitude of his power he might forget the common fate, engaged a trusted attendant from time to time to remind him of his mortality.
abraham lincoln needed no such reminder. before his first inauguration, and at intervals during his official life, he received frequent threatening letters, menacing him with death. these he kept in a package by themselves. though he never permitted them to influence his action, they had their natural effect upon a mind and temperament subject to despondency, and not free from superstition. mr. lincoln had a strong impression that he would not live through his term of office. when, however, he was inaugurated for a second time, amid the plaudits of the nation,{278} and the clouds of civil war seemed lifting to reveal a brighter future, his spirits, too, became buoyant, and he permitted himself to believe that all would end well, and he would be permitted to reconcile the disaffected states, and bring them back into the national fold. his heart was full of tenderness and magnanimity toward the states in rebellion. his large heart was incapable of harboring malice, or thirsting for revenge.
but he was only to come in sight of the promised land. it was for another leader to finish his weary and protracted task, and reap where he had sown.
on the evening of the fourteenth of april, 1865, president lincoln and wife with two friends occupied a box at ford’s theatre, by invitation of the manager, to witness a performance of tom taylor’s “american cousin.” they arrived late, and their entrance was greeted with enthusiasm, the large audience rising to their feet and cheering.
not long afterward, john wilkes booth, a young actor, who, throughout the war, had made no secret of his sympathy with the confederate cause, entered the theatre, and, not without difficulty,{279} made his way through the crowded dress circle to the back of the box in which the president’s party were seated.
“the president has sent for me,” he said to the servant, showing his card, and thus he gained admission.
standing in the door-way, after a hasty glance at the interior, he took a small derringer pistol in one hand, holding at the same time a double-edged dagger in the other, he aimed deliberately at mr. lincoln, who sat in an arm-chair, with his back to him. there was a quick report, and the fatal bullet had entered mr. lincoln’s brain. major rathbone, the only other gentleman present in the box, quickly comprehending the truth, tried to seize the assassin, but he was too quick for him. striking at him with his dagger, he sprang to the front of the box, leaped upon the stage, crying in a theatrical tone, “sic semper tyrannis!” and “the south is avenged!” and, favored by his knowledge of the stage, escaped at the rear before the actors and audience, stupefied by the suddenness of his act, could arrest his flight.
too well had the assassin done his work! the{280} president never spoke, or recovered consciousness. he was carried from the theatre to a house near at hand, where, at twenty-two minutes past seven the next morning, he expired, with his mourning friends around him.
on the same evening another tragedy came near being enacted in another part of the city—a branch, no doubt, of the same wicked conspiracy. mr. seward, secretary of state, lay sick at his house, having been thrown from his carriage and severely injured a few days before. a man, who proved to be lewis payne powell, gained admission by a subterfuge, and, though warned by the servant that no one was admitted to see mr. seward, pushed past him into the secretary’s chamber. at the entrance the secretary’s son, mr. frederick seward, forbade him to enter, but powell struck him upon the forehead with the butt of a pistol, and, rushing to the bed, stabbed the helpless secretary three times, and would have killed him but for his nurse, a soldier named robinson, who grappled with him, receiving severe blows in the struggle. powell escaped from the house, after stabbing no less than five persons.
to describe the grief, anger, and consternation{281} which these two tragedies produced throughout the country, would be well-nigh impossible. then, for the first time, it became apparent how dear to the popular heart was the plain, honest, untiring man who, for more than four dark and gloomy years, had borne the national burden, and labored as best he might to restore peace and harmony to a distracted land.
the conspirators had been only too successful, but they had not accomplished all they had in view. it had been expected that general grant would form one of the president’s party; fortunately, he had excused himself, and left the city. could he, too, have fallen a victim, dark indeed would have been the dawning of the next day, and the wide-spread feeling of horror would have been deepened.
in a recent conversation general grant thus speaks of this sad time: “the darkest day of my life was the day i heard of lincoln’s assassination. i did not know what it meant. here was the rebellion put down in the field, and starting up again in the gutters; we had fought it as war, now we had to fight it as assassination. lincoln was killed on the 14th of april. i was busy{282} sending out orders to stop recruiting, the purchase of supplies, and to muster out the army. lincoln had promised to go to the theatre, and wanted me to go with him. while i was with the president a letter came from mrs. grant, saying that she must leave washington that night. she wanted to go to burlington to see her children. some incident of a trifling nature had made her resolve to leave that evening. i was glad to have it so, as i did not want to go to the theatre. so i made my excuse to lincoln, and, at the proper hour, we started for the train. as we were driving along pennsylvania avenue, a horseman rode past us on a gallop, and back again around our carriage, looking into it.
“mrs. grant said: ‘there is the man who sat near us at lunch to-day with some other men, and tried to overhear our conversation. he was so rude that we left the dining-room. here he is now, riding after us.’
“i thought it was only curiosity, but learned afterwards that the horseman was booth. it seemed that i was to have been attacked, and mrs. grant’s sudden resolve to leave changed the plan. a few days after i received an anonymous{283} letter from a man, saying that he had been detailed to kill me; that he rode on my train as far as havre de grace, and as my car was locked he failed to get in. he thanked god that he had failed. i remembered that the conductor had locked the car, but how true the letter was i can not say. i learned of the assassination as i was passing through philadelphia. i turned around, took a special train, and came on to washington. it was the gloomiest day of my life.”
of the imposing funeral ceremonies, and the manifestations of deep grief throughout the nation, i need not speak. as dr. holland well says: “millions felt that they had lost a brother, or a father, or a dear personal friend. it was a grief that brought the nation more into family sympathy than it had been since the days of the revolution. men came together in public meetings, to give expression to their grief.... there were men engaged in the rebellion who turned from the deed with horror. many of these had learned something of the magnanimity of mr. lincoln’s character; and they felt that the time would come when the south would need his friendship.”{284}
there is no reason to believe that the southern leaders countenanced or instigated this atrocious deed. it was the act of a half-crazed political fanatic, and the few who were in sympathy with him, and cognizant of his plans, were men of like character. justice overtook them in the end, as might have been expected, but they had wrought irreparable mischief, and plunged a whole people into mourning.