The life, crime, and capture of John Wilkes Booth,: with a full sketch of the conspiracy of which he was the leader, and the pursuit, trial and execution of his accomplices./ By George Alfred Townsend.

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per,urbble, id rebuked her girls for weeping, and would have gone to
i11 like a statue, but that in her extremity, Payne knooked at her door.
.11 had come, he said, to dig a ditch for Mrs. Surratt, whom he very well
knew. But Mrs. Surratt protested that she had ever seen the man at all,
and had no ditch to clean.
"How fortunate, girls," she said, "that these officers are here; this
man might have murdered us all."
Her effrontery stamps her as worthy of companionship with Booth.
Payne has been identified by a lodger of Mrs. Surratt's, as having twice
visited the house under the name of Wood. The girls will render valuable testimony in the trial. If John Surratt were in custody the links would
be complete.
Atzerott had a room almost directly over Vice-PresidentJohnson's. He
had all the materials to do murder, but lost spirit or opportunity. He rn
away so80 hastily that all his arms.and bagcgage were discovered; a tremendous bowie-knife and a Colt's cavalry revolver were fouand between the
mattresses of his bed. Booth's coat was also found there, showing conspired flight in company, and in it three boxes of cartridges, a map of
Maryland, gauntlel- for riding, a spur and a handkerchief marked with the
name of Booth's mother-a mother's souvenir for a murderer's pocket!
Atzerott fled alone, and was found at the house of his uncle in Montgomery county. I do not know that any instrument of murder has ever made
me thrill as when I drew this terrible bowie-knife from its sheath. Major
O'Bierno, of New-York, was the instigator of Atzerott's discovery and
arrest.
I come now to the ride-out of the city by the chief assassin and his dupe.
Harold met Booth immediately after the crime in the next street, and
they rode at a gallop past the Patent Office and ever Capitol Hill.
As they crossed the Eastern branch at Uniontown, Booth gave his propel
name to the officer at the bridge. This, which would seem to have been
foolish, was, in reality, very shrewd. The officers believed that one of
Booth's accomplices had given this name in order to put them out of the
real Booth's track. So they made efforts elsewhere, and so Booth got a
stark At midnight, precisely, the two horsemen stopped at Surrattsville,
Booth remaining on his nag while Harold descended and knocked lustily at
the door. Lloyd, the landlord, came down at once, when Harold pushed
past him into the bar, and obtained a bottle of whiskey, some of which he
gave to Booth immediately. While Booth was drinking, Harold went up
stairs and brought down one of the carbines. Lloyd started to get the
other, but Harold said:
"We don't want it; Booth has broken his leg and can't carry. it."
So the second carbine remained in the hall, where the officers afterward
found it.
As the two horsemen started to go off, Booth cried out to Lloyd:
"Do you want to hear some news I"
"I don't care much about it," cried Lloyd, by his own aount.
"We have murdered," said Booth, "the Pres:dent and Secretary ot
State!"'
And with this horrible confession, Booth and Har)old dashed away in the
midnight, across Prince George's county.
On Saturday, before sunrise, Booth and Harold, who had ridden all night
without stopping elsewhere, reached the house of Dr. Mudd, three miles
from Bryantow. They contracted with him for twenty-five dollars in
greenbacks to set the broken leg. Harold, wh~ know Dr. Mudd, intrc.
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