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1865
May 10
had hidden themselves in the woods the day before their seizure hearing of the approach of our soldiers but had returned at night to sleep in the barn of their host.  The cavalry surrounded the barn about daylight & called upon the miscreants surrender.  Harold Booth's companion consented to do so but the assassin evinced his determination to resist to the last extremity.  The barn was fired & as the flames rose to the roof lighting up every corner of the building his form was distinctly visible to those outside.  As he stood in the centre of the floor with his arms folded as the grew hotter he approached the door perhaps with the intention of cutting his way through the guard when one of the soldiers fired upon him and he fell mortally wounded.  The shot entered his neck and for several hours he lay in great agony his limbs being paralysed and his breathing extremely difficult.  The only intelligible words he said were "Tell my mother I died for my country
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[[underlined]] 1865 [[underlined]]
May 10
I thought I did for the best.  He asked to have his hands lifted & when he saw them exclaimed "they are useless now they are useless now."
He seems to have been a reckless enthusiast totally unprincipaled but with a certain kind of fascination which won him friends.  The one bright spot in his character appears to have been his love for his mother & sister.  A number of persons have been arrested as accomplices in the murder who are now confined in the penitentiary near the arsenal.  Jef. Davis Thompson, the former Sec. & other distinguished southerners are accused of instigating the deed and a large price has been placed upon their heads.  The trial of the assassins commenced to day  The court is not open to the public who awaits with intense interest the results of their examination.  Judge Holt is the presiding officer.
The President was interred in Springfield last Thursday.
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