AMERICA.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 68, 27 July 1865, Page 6

AMERICA.

The Assassination l of th:e .President; The Attempted Mtirder of tlie Secretary. The details of the tragedy announced in our last are now before the world, and hot only in America, but througho ut^Europe, men's minds are absorbed by them. From all countries expressions of profound sympathy have been tendered to the mourning people who have been thus suddenly deprived of their beloved chief; acd it/sympathy could alleviate sorrow, the tears of the great republic would have ceased to flow. The Queen of England and the Empress Eugenic have written autograph letters of condolence to Mrs. Lincoln, and addesses of a similar nature have been forwarded to the American authorities from most of the legislatures and public bodies of Europe. In England the manifestation of grief and horror has been universal. We will.endeayonr to follow the narratile of events' as nearly as possible as they were reported in the pubic journals, in chronological order. From the varioiis accounts furnished are gathered these particulars of the assassination : — It having been publicly announced that the President and General Grant would attend Eord's Theatre on the fatal evening, anid General Grant being absent^ Mr. Lincoln, in order that the public, might not be disappointed, went accompanied, by his wife and youngest son, a daughter of Senator Harris and Major Rathburn. The play was 'Our American Cousin.' About half- past 9 o'clock a man who ; according to some accounts, had been seen for some time loitering about the passages, ap peared at the door of the box occupied by the President, and passing the guard by stating that he • was a senator and had been sent for by Mr. Lincoln, entered the box. Major Rathburn arose and asked — 'Do you know, sir, upon whom you are intruding? this is the President's box.' The person accosted muttered some inaudible reply, and reluctantly left the box, his eyes fastened upon the President. The door of the box had scarcely been closed when the shot was fifed throug-h an aperture that bad evidently been previously cut for the purpose in the sash of the door. The assassin at once sprang into the box, striking at, and wounding with a dagger, Major Rathburn, who opposed him^ he sprang from the box down upon thzj^ge. His spurs catchiug in the folds of a**' flag draping the front of the box, threw him at length upon the stage. Recovering himself instantly, he rushed across the stage, pausing an instant to shout • sic semper tyrannis' and to brandish his dirk. He disappeared behind the scenes, struck at several who happened to be in his way, and escaped from the building by a door leading into an alley, where he mounted a horse and fled j since when no trace of him has been found. He is said to have crossed the lonof bridge, or to have taken a road leading northwardly out of the city. The whole evidence points unmistakably to John Wilkes Booth, the actor, as the assassin. Every exertion was being made to capture him. The pursuit was not, however, commenced until about i 1 o'clock ; but it was thought that Booth could aot escape. Cavalry was sent into the country in -all directions, and. every house in and around the city in which it was possible that the assassin could have been secreced was placed under guard and was searched. A number of arrests were made of persons whose evidence was considered valuable, andevery possible measure was adopted to secure the capture of the murderer. Booth is about 26 years of age, of medium height; and is represented' as a handsome. man, but of desperate character and dissolute habits. He has been heard to say ' the man who killed Lincoln would be for ever known tp fame/

The whole affair so astonished the audience that it was some time before the terrible fact could be realised. It was announced jfrom the stage that the President ' had been: shot, and great ; excitement - en- : sued—the/ crowd j being ..i * with difficulty pushed aside in order to remove the sense-: less; form; of the "chief magistrate. The I K .//pite'oiis cries of Mrs. Lincoln ancl her son^ Wnd the loud imprecations heaped upon the murderer, added to the; terrors ; of the scene. Mr Lincoln was! at once removed to the house of a Mr Patterson, opposite the Theatre^ and here he remained during the night, and until after his death, the body being then taken to the Presidential mansion, where it was laid butin state. The death-bed, of the President presented a peculiarly painful*scene, the grief of his wife , and tw,o sons being almost uncontrollable. Mr Lincoln was utterly unconscious from the time of receiving the fatal shot until hft expired. He appeared to suffer no pain, and his death was unaccompanied by the slightest struggle. The 'ball was found embedded in the brain, having entered the head about two-and-a-hali inches back of the left ear.. : : , When the excitement at the theatre was at its wildest height, reports were circulated that Secretary Seward had also been assassinated. On reaching- this gentleman's a crowd and a military guard were found at the door, and on entering it was also ascertained that the Teports were based on truth. ■''■' Everybody there was so excited that scarcely an intelligible word could be gathered; but the facts are substantially as follows : — Abont 10 o'clock a man rang the bell, and the call having been answered by a . colored servant, he said he had come from Dr. Verdi, Secretary Se ward's family physician, with a prescription, at the same time holding in his hand a small piece of paper, and saying, in answer to a refusal, that he must see the Scretary, as he was entrusted with particular directions concerning the meaicine. He still insisted on going up although repeatedly informed that no one could enter the chamber. The manthen pushed the servant aside and walked heavily towards the Secretary's room, and was then met by Mr. Freak. Seward, of whom the man demanded to. see the Secretery, making the same representations whicd he did to the servant. . What further passed in the way of colloquy is not known, but the man struck him on the head with a billy, severly injuring his skull, and felled him almost senseless. The assassin 'then pushed into the chamber, and attacked Major Seward, paymaster of the United' State's Army,and Mr : Hansell, a messenger of the State Depart, ment, and two male nurses, disabling them all. He -then urshed upon the Secretary, who was lying in bed in the same room, and inflicted three stabs in the neck, but severing, it is hoped nc arteries, though he bled profusly. The assassin then rushed- down stairs, mounted his horse at the door, and rode off before an alarm could be sounded, and in the same manner >---',8s the assassin of the President. n?P* The attacks both at the theatre and at Secretary SewardV house took place at about the same hour (10 o'clock) thus showing a preconcerted plan to assassinate these gentlemen. : The funeral of Mr. Lincoln followed close upon his death. It was a great national act of mourning. The body lay in state first in Washington, under the dome of the Capitol, where it was visited by thousands. It was then removed in a. solemn state procession through Philadelphia, and New York, and Albany, and all the chief towns of the Union, to its final resting-place in Springfield, Illinois, lying in state in each town, and thus literally attended to the grave by the whole people. There never was conceived a more touching tribute to the memory of a popular chief magistrate.