without even entering the rebel Capital he had conquered, forgetful of himself, and eager only to secure to the country the best fruits of the victory he had achieved. At this meeting the policy to be adopted towards the rebel States was freely canvassed-all the leading points, submitted by the President, commanded the hearty acquiescence of the Cabinet and of General Grant, and, as the result of the interview, Secretary Stanton says he felt that the Government was stronger than at any previous period since the rebellion began. After the meeting was over, President Lincoln arranged to attend the theatre in the evening, expecting to be accompanied by General Grant, and sent his messenger to Ford's Theatre to engage a box. In the afternoon he received and conversed for a long time with several public men from his own State, and in the early evening had an interview with Speaker Colfax and Hon. George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, for whom, as an old friend, he had a warm regard. The conversation fell upon the apprehension widely felt for his life during his visit to Richmond, and he said that he should have felt the same fears concerning any one else under the same circumstances, but he could not feel that he himself was in any danger whatever. He afterwards gave Mr. Ashmun a card, directing his immediate admission the next morning, when Mr. Ashmun wished to see him upon business-and, turning to Mr. Colfax, said, "You are going to the theatre with Mrs. Lincoln and me, are you not?" Mr. Colfax, however, had other engagements for the evening, and could not go. Mr. Lincoln told him he would be glad to stay at home, but the people expected both General Grant and himself, and as General Grant had left town, he did not like to disappoint them altogether. He then again urged both Mr. Ashmun and Mr. Colfax to accompany him, but they both excused themselves on the score of previous engagements. At a little af ter eight o'clock the President, with Mrs. Lincoln, entered their carriage, and halting at the residence of Senator Harris, where they were joined by Major H. R. Rathbone, the step-son, and by Miss Clara W. Harris, the daughter,

of the Senator, they proceeded to Ford's Theatre, in Tenth Street, and immediately entered the box prepared for their reception.

This box was on the second floor of the theatre, looking down upon the stage, and on its right as the spectator enters the building. A narrow passage-way from the front behind the dress-circle leads to a door, which opens inwardly into an entry about eight feet long and four feet wide; from which, at its farther end, another door opens directly into the box. The President, passing through these doors, seated himself in a high-backed rocking-chair, placed for him at the corner of the box nearest the audience, Mrs. Lincoln sitting next to him on his right, Miss Harris sitting next, in the corner of the box farthest from the audience, and Major Rathbone sitting on a sofa just behind Miss Harris. The box was a double one, with a front of about ten feet looking upon the stage, a small pillar rising from the centre of the railing to the ceiling above. An American flag had been hung in front, in honor of the Presi dent's attendance. The door which entered the box was directly behind the President, and about five feet from his chair; it was left standing open during the evening.

The play for that evening was the "American Cousin." During the performance the attendant of the President came out from the box and sat a few feet from the outer door leading to it. At about nine o'clock a man came to the vicinity, with a large official envelope in his hand, addressed, as is believed, to General Grant, and inquired for the President's messenger, to whom he exhibited the envelope, and of whom he made some inquiry, and then went away. At fifteen minutes after ten, John Wilkes Booth, an actor by profession, passed along the passage behind the spectators in the dress-circle, showed a card to the President's messenger, and stood for two or three minutes looking down upon the stage and the orchestra below. He then entered the vestibule of the President's box, closed the door behind him, and fastened it by bracing a short plank against it from the wall, so that it could not be opened from the outside. He then drew a small

Entered according to Art of Congress, in the year 1865, by DERBY & MILLER. in the Clerk's Offic of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

silver-mounted Derringer pistol, which he carried in his right hand, holding a long double-edged dagger in his left. All in the box were intent on the proceedings upon the stage; but President Lincoln was leaning forward, holding aside the curtain of the box with his left hand, and looking, with his head slightly turned, towards the audience. Booth stepped within the inner door into the box, directly behind the President, and, holding the pistol just over the back of the chair in which he sat, shot him through the back of the head. Mr. Lincoln's head fell slightly forward, and his eyes closed, but in every other respect his attitude remained unchanged.

The report of the pistol startled those in the box, and Major Rathbone, turning his eyes from the stage, saw, through the smoke which filled the box, a man standing between him and the President. He instantly sprang towards him and seized him; but Booth wrested himself from his grasp, and dropping the pistol, struck at him with the dagger, inflicting a severe wound upon his left arm, near the shoulder. Booth then rushed to the front of the box-shouted "Sic semper tyrannis!"-put his hand upon the railing in front of the box, and leaped over it upon the stage below. As he went over his spur caught in the flag which draped the front, and he fell; but recovering himself immediately, he rose, brandished the dagger, and facing the audience, shouted "The South is avenged!" He then rushed across the stage towards the passage which led to the stage-door in the rear of the theatre. An actor named Hawke was the only person on the stage when Booth leaped upon it, and seeing Booth coming towards him with the dagger in his hand, he ran off the stage and up a flight of stairs. Booth ran through the passage-way beside the scenes, meeting one or two persons only, whom he struck from his path, went out at the door which stood open, and which he closed behind him, and mounting a horse which he had brought there, and which a lad was holding for him, he rode over the Anacosta bridge, across the east branch of the Potomac, giving his real name to the guard who challenged