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So he attended the theatre, without taking precautions against the assassin who came, all unannounced, to his unguarded victim. "The play was 'Our American Cousin.' While all were intent upon its representation, the report of a pistol first announced the presence of the assassin,* who uttered the word "Freedom!" and advanced toward the front. Major Rathbone having discerned the murderer through the smoke, and grappled with him, the latter dropped his pistol, and aimed with a knife at the breast of his antagonist, who caught the blow on the upper part of his left arm, but was unable to detain the desperado, though he immediately seized him again. The villain, however, leaped some twelve feet down upon the open stage, tangling his spur in the draped flag below the box, and stumbling in his fall.

"Recovering himself immediately, he flourished his dagger, shouted' Sic semper tyrannis!' and 'The South is avenged!' then retreated successfully through the labyrinth of the theatre - perfectly familiar to him—to his horse in waiting below. Between the deed of blood and the escape, there was not the lapse of a minute. The hour was about half-past ten. There was but one pursuer, and he from the audience; but he was outstripped.

"The meaning of the pistol-shot was soon ascertained. Mr. Lincoln had been shot in the back of the head, behind the left ear, the ball traversing an oblique line to the right ear. He was rendered instantly unconscious, and never knew friends or pain again. Having been conveyed as soon as possible to a house opposite the theatre, he expired there the next morning at twenty-two minutes past seven o'clock, attended by the principal members

J. Wilkes Booth.

of his cabinet, and other friends; from all of whom the heart-rending spectacle drew copious tears of sorrow. Mrs. Lincoln and her son Robert were in an adjoining apartment; the former bowed down with anguish, the

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latter strong enough to sustain and console her. Soon after nine o'clock, the body was removed to the White House under military escort."

There the body was embalmed, and prepared for the grave. The paraphernalia of mourning, in this case no heartless display, filled the house. In the east room, the solemn funeral services were first performed. "Near the centre of the room stood the grand catafalque, upon which rested the mortal remains of the illustrious dead, enclosed in a beautiful mahogany coffin lined with lead, and with a white satin covering over the metal. It was finished in the most elaborate style, with four silver handles on each side, stars glistening between the han dles, and a vein of silver winding around the whole case in a serpentine form. To the edges of the lid hung a

nice silver tassel, making a chaste and elaborate fringe to the whole case. The silver plate bore the simple in scription:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Born February 12, 1809;

Died April 15, 1865.

"The catafalque stood lengthwise to the room, or north and south, and immediately in front of the double doors which lead to the side hall. The floor of the catafalque was about four feet in height, and approached by one step on all sides, making it easy to view the face of the honored dead. Above this was a canopy, in an arched form, lined on the under-side with white fluted satin, covered otherwise with black velvet and crape. This was supported by four posts, heavily incased with the emblem of mourning. The canopy, the posts, and the main body of the catafalque, were festooned with crape, and fastened at each fold with rosettes of black satin.

"On the top of the coffin lay three wreaths of moss and evergreen, with white plumes and lilies intermingled. At the head of the coffin, standing upon the floor of the catafalque, and leaning against the metallic case, stood a beautiful cross, made of japonicas, lilies, and other white flowers, as bright and blooming as though they were still on their parent-stem, and had not been plucked to adorn the house of the dead; its pure and immaculate white furnishing a strong contrast with the deep black on all sides. On the foot of the coffin lay an anchor of flowers. Encircling the coffin, in a serpentine form, was a vine of evergreens studded with pure white flowers; and within its meandering folds were deposited several wreaths of the same material. These

had all been brought by some friendly hands, the tokens of love and affection, and deposited around and near the case that contained the mortal remains of the man who had been near and dear to them. Here, then, were the emblems of the dead, the marks of rank, the tokens of grief, deep and sorrowful, and happiness hereafter, as well as hope and immortality in the future. Surely the scene in honor to the illustrious dead was a worthy exhibition of the love, esteem, and pride of a free people in their fallen chief,- fallen, too, in the midst of his usefulness, and just when his greatness and goodness were being recognized by all.”*

A newspaper, speaking of those present at his funeralservice, says, "Close by the corpse sat the relatives of the deceased, -- plain, honest, hardy people, typical as much of the simplicity of our institutions as of Mr. Lincoln's self-made eminence. No blood-relatives of Mr. Lincoln were to be found. It is a singular evidence of the poverty of his origin, and therefore of his exceeding good report, that, excepting his immediate family, none answering to his name could be discovered. Mrs. Lincoln's relations were present, however, in some force: Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd, Gen. John B. S. Todd, C. M. Smith, Esq., and Mr. N. W. Edwards, the late President's brother-in-law. Plain, self-made people were here, and were sincerely affected. Capt. Robert Lincoln sat during the services with his face in his handkerchief, weeping quietly; and little Tad, his face red and heated, cried as if his heart would break. Mrs. Lincoln, weak now, and nervous, did not enter the east room, nor follow the remains. She was the Chief Magistrate's lady yesterday; to-day, a widow bearing only an immortal name."

"Lincoln Memorial."

Clergymen of different religious denominations, as was eminently fitting, took part in the funeral exercises. Rev. Dr. Hall, of the Episcopal Church in Washington, opened the services by reading the beautiful service of his church for the burial of the dead. Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist-Episcopal Church of Illinois, then of fered prayer. The funeral oration was next delivered by Rev. P. D. Gurley, D.D., a Presbyterian pastor, of Washington, in whose church the President and family were accustomed to worship. The services closed with a prayer by Dr. Gray, chaplain of the United-States Senate. In his oration, whose text was, "Have faith in God" (Mark xi. 22), Dr. Gurley said,

"As we stand here to-day, mourners around this coffin and around the lifeless remains of our beloved Chief Magistrate, we recognize and we adore the sovereignty of God. . . . It was a cruel, cruel hand, that dark hand of the assassin, which smote our honored, wise, and noble President, and filled the land with sorrow. But above and beyond that hand there is another which we must see and acknowledge, -it is the chastening hand of a wise and a faithful Father."

After continuing for some time in this strain, endeavor. ing to comfort the mourners gathered there, he spoke of the departed thus: "The people confided in the late lamerted President with a full and loving confidence. Probably no man since the days of Washington was ever so deeply and firmly embedded and enshrined in the very hearts of the people as Abraham Lincoln. Nor was it a mistaken confidence and love. He deserved it, deserved it well, deserved it all. He merited it by his character, by his acts, and by the whole tenor and tone and spirit of his life. He was simple and sincere, plain and honest, truthful and just, benevolent and kind. His

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