The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (7 page)

After Lincoln had died his body was removed to the White House and preparations were made to swear in Vice President Johnson, thus releasing Stanton from his temporary presidential duties, to
concentrate on Booth. He released a cable at 3 a.m., naming Booth as the assassin and effectively put all authorities on alert.

The opportunity to catch Booth within an hour of the attack had come and gone. Booth had ridden his horse hard towards the Navy Yard Bridge arriving at around 10.45 p.m. The bridge had normally
operated a curfew which prevented anyone crossing after 9 p.m. but with the war over this rule had been relaxed. When Booth reached the bridge he slowed to a stop, allowing the sentries to question
him. Amazingly Booth gave his correct name and even told the two sentries that he was heading towards south Maryland. Not knowing the events that had unfolded in Washington they allowed Booth to
continue on his way. A short time afterward the sentries allowed David Herold to cross the bridge, having enquired of him only briefly.

Ten minutes after Herold crossed the Navy Yard Bridge he caught up with Booth whose lower leg was causing him severe pain. The pair swapped horses as Herold’s had an easier gate and they
rode on towards Surrattsville and the tavern owned by Mary Surratt. Here they collected the guns they had shipped out earlier with Mrs Surratt, drank some whiskey and set off again heading
south-east. Before they departed they told John Lloyd, the operator of the tavern, that they were pretty sure they had killed the President and Secretary Seward.

With Booth’s leg causing him severe pain the pair headed to Bryan town and the home of Dr Samuel Mudd, where Booth had previously spent a night. At 4 a.m. Mudd was awakened by the sound of
approaching horses and opened his door to find two men standing there, later testifying that he did not recognize Booth from his previous encounter, although many years later he changed his story
to say he did recognize Booth but was not aware that he was a fugitive.

Dr Mudd prepared a splint for Booth’s leg, put him to bed for the evening and retired once more for the night himself. Mudd did not sleep well and rose early the following morning
preparing breakfast for Booth and Herold, most of which Booth could not face because of the searing pain he was still experiencing in his lower leg. As soon as the pair were up they enquired with
Mudd as to the fastest route to the Potomac River. Mudd pointed out an old cart track which led directly into the Zekiah Swamp, a forbidding wilderness of bog land and dense undergrowth, swarming
with flies, lizards and bugs.

That afternoon the two men set off into the swamp and were soon miserably lost. At 9 p.m., tired and disorientated, they came across the log cabin of black tobacco farmer, Oswell Swann, to whom
they offered $12 if he would guide them out of the swamp and to the home of Samuel Cox, a wealthy farmer and known Confederate sympathizer. Oswell accepted the offer and they set off through the
wilderness, often ending up in thick undergrowth with no apparent way out, but finally they emerged and were thankfully just across the fields from Cox’s farmhouse; it was late but they hoped
for a warm welcome.

Booth identified himself as Lincoln’s assassin and requested that Cox help him across the Potomac and away to the South. Cox, Confederate though he was, decided that he could not provide a
comfortable bed for the night and instead had them sleep in a dense thicket about two miles from the farmhouse. The next day he despatched his adopted son to fetch a Confederate agent named Thomas
A. Jones. A daring and resourceful man, Jones had helped couriers across the Potomac many times and knew the shoreline well.

When Jones arrived at the thicket he gave a small whistle and announced that he had been sent by Cox to help. By now federal agents were swarming all over the area and Jones knew it would be
difficult to get the two men across the river. Booth had given away his route and now he was being pursued day by day, while the rest of his accomplices had already been rounded up and were
spilling the beans on the brains behind the plot.

The press had announced to the world the murder of Lincoln, but unlike modern assassinations, the population were split on the news. So soon after the fall of the Confederacy many of those in
the South still resented their loss and downfall after the civil war. In the North though, the citizens were baying for Booth’s blood and also that of his band of murderous helpers.
Washington prepared itself for revenge; the trial would be just a precursor to the main event. In the hours following the assassination the police had already gathered the names of those involved:
John Surratt, George Atzerodt, David Herold and Ned Spangler. Atzerodt had been easily detected. When a detective named John Lee visited Kirkwood House where Vice President Johnson had been
staying, dropping by the bar he was told of a suspicious person who had been drinking there that night having booked into one of the rooms the previous day. Lee broke down the door to
Atzerodt’s bedroom and soon found incriminating evidence of the crime. Amongst the guns, cartridges and a knife, Lee found a Montreal bank book made out in the name of J. Wilkes Booth. From
here the connection from one suspect to the next unfolded easily. Booth’s known relationship with John Surratt led a police squad to Mrs Surratt’s boarding house where she and Louis
Weichmann were hauled in for questioning. During questioning Weichmann revealed all he knew about the Surratt house, its visitors and the comings and goings of John Wilkes Booth. At the time of the
assassination John Surratt had been in New York and was astounded when he became aware of a $25,000 dollar bounty on his head. He quickly headed north over the border into Canada where he remained
hidden for the next two years. His absence would have a great impact on the fate of his mother, who was now considered to be heavily implicated in the plot.

In another twist to this saga and one bordering on the ridiculous, another chance arrest was made at Mrs Surratt’s boarding house. During the police search a large man with a pick axe over
his shoulder called at the house and claimed he had been employed by Mrs Surratt to dig some drains. Mrs Surratt claimed she had never seen the man before let alone hired him to do a job for her.
As a precaution the police arrested him and took him in for questioning. The man later confessed to being Lewis Paine and was eventually identified as the man who had attempted to kill Secretary
Seward. He had been in hiding for three days near the Navy Yard Bridge and had been forced out through desperation and hunger.

Booth and Herold were still hiding in the thicket near the home of Samuel Cox, Thomas Jones regularly supplying them with food and brandy. After a long wait, news that the search for Booth and
Herold had moved further away arrived and it seemed time to make a move. Jones had secured them a small boat hidden on the shores of the Potomac and now guided them through the final stretch of
undergrowth, he walking ahead and whistling to confirm that the way was clear. The two men climbed in the boat and rowed away from the shore, until Jones vanished out of sight. Herold kept rowing
all through the night until finally at daybreak the reality of their bid for freedom became obvious. Not only had the incoming tide carried them several miles back up the river but they were also
still on the Maryland side. Tired, hungry and disappointed they brought the boat back into the shore and headed once more into the foliage, this time heading for the farm of Perigrinne Davis,
another Confederate sympathiser. Hoping to gather provisions and then move on again the two men were forced to lay low again as they found themselves back in the heart of the search zone with
hundreds of officers scouring the land and surrounding countryside.

Eventually the two men made another attempt to cross the Potomac and were this time successful, landing at Gambo Creek. Their hope however of finding refuge in the bosom of their Confederate
allies was not one they would realise. Virginia had now been taken over by Federal troops and there were few now brave enough or stupid enough to aid the President’s assassin. Fleeing from
place to place they were occasionally given food and drink but never refuge, no one wanting to be the harbourers of the two most wanted men in America. Anyone who did consider it had only to read
the newspapers to catch the mood of those back in Washington and the fate of anyone caught assisting the villains.

Deciding that they needed to move on again the two men made their way to the Rappahannock River where they planned to cross into West Virginia and put even more distance between them and
Washington. Arriving at the jetty they found that the ferry was on the other side and so were forced to wait. Herold manage to get into conversation with a number of Confederate soldiers who were
returning home and asked for their assistance, admitting that he and his friend were the ones responsible for the President’s death. It was a risky and foolhardy admission but one that paid
off. The two men were asked to share the cavalrymen’s horses and were escorted across the river to Port Royal, from where the two men made their way to the farm of Richard Garrett, another
man who had total loyalty to the Confederacy. They were offered food and shelter under assumed names and for a while were able to relax, more comfortable than they had been since they had gone on
the run.

Not long after the cavalrymen had departed they returned with awful news, Federal soldiers had crossed the Rappahannock River to Port Royal and were heading towards them. Wishing the two men
luck the cavalrymen rode off again towards the town of Bowling Green.

Booth and Herold considered their next move but were soon forced to hide at the sound of approaching horses. Luckily the troop went straight past; they too were heading for Bowling Green. They
decided that they would stay at Garrett’s ranch another night and made themselves comfortable in the barn, planning to make their escape the following morning. Unfortunately for them both,
the Federal troops were hot on the trail of the cavalrymen who had been identified by someone when they themselves had docked at Port Royal. When the cavalrymen were finally tracked down they
immediately gave the game away. Tired but determined the troops turned around and headed back to Garrett’s ranch, arriving there at 2 a.m. Their hope of arriving undetected were dashed when
Garrett’s dogs started barking, drawing Garrett from his slumber.

When Garret denied any knowledge of the two men the troops threatened to hang him there and then, a threat which encouraged Garrett’s son to blurt out that the wanted men were asleep in
the barn. The soldiers surrounded the building and ordered the two men to surrender themselves, at which they heard then arguing – Herold clearly wanted to surrender but Booth was not of the
same opinion. After a while the troops shouted in again at which point the barn door opened and David Herold emerged empty handed, his hands above his head. Booth, having previously called Herold a
coward and a traitor, now shouted, “There is a man here who wants to surrender awful bad; he is innocent of any crime whatever.”

The gibbering Herold was tied to a tree as the soldiers turned their attention back to the barn. Booth now offered to face the entire troop in a shoot-off, an offer the troop declined. One of
the officers now went to the rear of the barn and lit some hay, throwing it through one of the larger gaps in the wooden building. Soon the barn was ablaze and the troops could see Booth’s
silhouette against the dancing flames. Booth started to head towards the barn door where upon one of the troops fired a shot through another gap in the wood which floored Booth. He was pulled from
the blazing structure and laid out on Garrett’s porch. A gaping wound in his neck had caused severe damage and injured Booth’s spine and he lay paralysed on the floor.

Panic now spread among the troops who had been instructed to capture Booth – Washington wanted a public trial but now it looked like that opportunity had passed. During the night
Booth’s condition, just like the President before him, worsened and he eventually died at 7 a.m. in the morning.

Disappointment spread as the press confirmed that the President’s assassin was dead. They would be denied the trial and the satisfaction of passing the death penalty, so in Booth’s
absence attention now turned to those who had collaborated with Booth.

Lincoln’s death triggered an outpouring of public emotion beyond anything America had ever seen. Within hours of the news of his death being known Washington was shrouded in black. On 18
April 25,000 people filed through the White House where Lincoln’s body lay in state. The next day the body was taken to the Capitol Rotunda under escort. Minute guns boomed as the procession
travelled up Pennsylvania Avenue, past 40,000 mourners. On 21 April Lincoln and the remains of his disinterred son Willie, who had died in 1862 at the age of 12, began their journey back to
Illinois. Each city the train passed through on the 1,700 mile journey held its own public salute. By 4 May, when Lincoln and his son were entombed near his Springfield home, more than seven
million people had shared in the emotional goodbye.

All of those who had been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the conspiracy of murder were now being held in the most atrocious conditions aboard two prison ships. Kept in stifling holds
the male prisoners were manacled with cuffs connected by a 14-inch long iron bar, intended to impede movement of the hands and arms. Their feet were chained and the chain anchored to 75-pound iron
balls. For the purpose of preventing communication between the prisoners they had also been forced to wear a canvas hood with thick padding intended to block out noise. The hood had a small opening
for the mouth, through which food could be eaten, but that was all – no eye holes and the whole thing tied at the neck. These tortuous hoods were worn day and night; removal even for the
purpose of having a wash was not permitted. Mrs Surratt faced slightly less arduous conditions; spared the discomfort of the hood and wrist manacles she did however wear ankle chains.

With the conspirators now firmly under lock and key, Secretary Stanton now focused his attention on the trials. Like the modern-day media the papers of the day were highly demanding in terms of
representing what they perceived to be the public’s desire for justice and vengeance. The headlines screamed out for punishment and with Booth, the main perpetrator, now dead, it must be the
others who should pay the price.