placed the wooden bar, for the reception of which he had previously prepared, across the door of this hallway, thus effectually shutting out the servant and all others, and preventing chance intrusion. He then stepped into the box. He was at once confronted by Major Rathbone, who said, "Do you know upon whom you are intruding, sir?" Bowing gracefully, he retired, stepping back to the outer door of the box. Standing in this doorway, concealed from the audience, and unnoticed by the Presidential party, who supposed that he had entirely withdrawn, he discharged a pistol with his left hand, and without taking aim across the barrel. The ball from this pistol passed through the closed inner door of the box, the door nearest the stage, and in a direct line with that in which Booth stood, and struck Mr Lincoln on the left side of the head behind, on a line with and three inches from the left ear. The President's head immediately dropped forward a little, the eyes closed, and he became at once unconscious. Booth sprang into the box, and as he did so, Major Rathbone grappled with him. The assassin immediately struck him with a knife, ripping open his right arm from elbow to shoulder. Dashing Rathbone aside, as he released his hold, Booth, with one leap, mounted the outer railing of the box, passing between Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris. With another leap he cleared the box and struck the floor of the stage. As he sprang from the box, his spurred heel caught

a fold in one of the canopying flags, by means of which the spur was wrenched off, and dropped on the floor beneath. The distance from the railing of the box to the floor of the stage is nine feet. As Booth struck the floor the shock was such as to throw him into a crouching position, from which, however, he at once recovered himself. Swinging around, so as to confront the audience, he shouted out, "sic semper tyrannis," and dashed across the stage to the passage way on the right, thence to the rear behind the scenes, overturning an actor and actress in his course, and thence through what is known as the stage-door to the alley in the rear of the theatre. From the box to the stage-door the distance is just 64 feet; and it is estimated that not 30 seconds elapsed between the time of the firing of the shot and the time at which Booth reached the alley. Rushing into this alley, which runs at right angles with that in which is situated the stable, whence he had left his horse, he took the animal from the boy in whose charge he had but a few minutes previously left it, and, mounting it, dashed off into the darkness. From that moment to the present no trace of him has been found, so far as the public can discover.

For a full minute after the firing of the shot, silence reigned in the house. Those who saw the sudden dash of the assassin, and heard his exclamation, supposed it, at first, either a part of the play or the antic of a drunken man. But the

screams of Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris, and the cries of Major Rathbone for assistance, announced the fatal truth that the President of the United States had been murdered. Then a general rush to the doors took place; but when the pursuers reached the rear of the theatre, Booth had disappeared, and not even the sound of his retreating horse's hoofs struck upon their ears. The excitement which sprang up there surged over the whole continent before daybreak, and the scene in Washington during the remainder of that bloody night was indescribably fearful. With regard to that matter, however, it is not necessary to speak at present.

The "leading lady" of the theatre, Miss Laura Keene, who stood at the side of the stage when Booth sprang from the box, as soon as the awful fact made itself known, proceeded to the fatal box, and endeavoured in vain to restore consciousness

to the dying President. It was a strange spec

tacle the head and the ruler of 30 millions of people lying insensible in the lap of an actress, the mingled brain and blood oozing out and staining her gaudy robe. In a few minutes Mr. Lincoln's unconscious form was removed to a house across the street, and here the soul of the President took its final departure. The room to which Mr. Lincoln was taken is fifteen feet square, ordinarily furnished, the walls being hung with a few cheap lithographs and photographs. In an

adjoining room the members of Mr. Lincoln's family were in a short time gathered, and from time to time they passed into the death chamber to look upon the distorted features of the husband and father. Mrs. Lincoln several times fainted, and was borne out. Once she approached the bedside, and, embracing the insensible form of her husband exclaimed, "Live! live! if but for a moment to bless your children." Again, she accused herself of having tempted him to attend the theatre. Her agony was overpowering, and most distressing to the sympathizing friends gathered in that solemn chamber. No one in the room but showed the deepest signs of emotion; the stern Secretary of war sobbed like a child, Cabinet Ministers and governors, generals, and secretaries wept in concert no one found it possible to restrain tears at the woeful spectacle. During the whole night the intimate friends of the President were gathered about his bedside, and the attendant minister offered up frequent prayers for the dying man and the afflicted relatives. 22 minutes past seven the President breathed his last. At this moment were gathered about the blood-stained bed Captain Robert Lincoln, Secretaries Stanton, Usher, and Welles; Attorney General Speed; Postmaster General Dennison; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Field; Judge Otto, General Meigs, General Halleck, Senator Sumner, Governor Oglesby, Mrs. and Miss Harris, and

At

several other well-known or official persons.

At

nine o'clock in the morning the remains were taken to the White House.

LETTER FROM THE ASSASSIN OF MR. LINCOLN.

The following letter from Wilkes Booth has been discovered. It was doubtless written sometime in the month of January last, and carefully sealed up in an envelope, directed thus-"J. Wilkes Booth." This package Booth left with his brother-in-law, Mr. J. S. Clarke, a resident of Philadelphia, asking Mr. Clarke to take good care of it, as it contained valuable oil stocks and bonds. The envelope has remained since January in the possession of Mr. Clarke, unopened, until the fearful tragedy had occurred in Washington. The brother-in-law of Mr. Booth then opened the package, in which he found some United States bonds, oil stocks, and this letter. Mr. Clarke gave the letter to the United States' Marshal Millward, who furnished a copy to the Philadelphia Press. It is as follows:

1864.

My dear Sir,-You may use this as you think best. But as some may wish to know when, who, and why, and as I know not how to direct, I give it (in the words of your master)