Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1881 — Incident of Lincoln’s Murder. [ARTICLE]

Incident of Lincoln’s Murder.

“Those are not cheerful-looking things, are they ?” said Counselor M. A. McDonald, as he sauntered into the office of the United States Marshal, and pointed to a pair of handcuffs which were lying upon the table. “Not especially enlivening,” replied a deputy, picking up the rogue’s bracelets and examining them thoughtfully. “There was a timq jwhffn-,1: thought they were the most cheerless and terrible things in the world. ” The deputy looked up in surprise. “ Yes,” continued Mr. McDonald, “I had them both on my hands and feet at once for a number of hours. I assure you they are not pleasant things to wear. ” “ Were they put on to keep you a prisoner ?” queried the deputy, wondering if his friend could have done anything criminal. ” • “ You would have thought so had you been in my place. I was arrested by officers who thought I was J. Wilkes Booth.” “No!” ejaculated the deputy, more as an expression of surprise than an intentional reflection upon the veracity of Mr. McDonald. “It came about in this way,” began the lawyer, whose dark hair and eyes,even now that sixteen years have passed, bear a striking resemblance to the assassin of Lincoln : “ Lincoln had been murdered but a few days, and the entire country, plunged in grief, was wild with desire for revenge upon the murderer. My home was in Titusville, Pa., and I was on the way to it from Washington, where my father was then a Government contractor. The route was by way of Erie. The train had left Eno and gone perhaps a dozen miles, when a couple of officers surprised me by putting me under arrest and clapping handcuffs on my feet. In vain I protested. They would not believe that 1 was not Wilkqs Booth. To add to the unpleasantness of the thing, and a fact which also gave color to the belief that I was the President’s assassin, it was well knowp that Booth had interests in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, and had been there a number of times. The men who arrested me did so upon the strength of my great resemblance 'to a picture of Booth which they had in their possession. When it became known on the train that the assassin of Lincoln hud been arrested and was on that very train, the excitement was intense. The officers who were guarding me had all they could do to prevent the infuriated passengers from doing me bodily harm. It had been telegraphed along the line of the road that Lincoln’s murderer was under arrest, and would pass through on his way to Titusville. At every station the train was met by infuriated men who climbed upon woodpiles to get a glimpse of me, and many tunes on that journey I feared that the mpb would get possession of me. When the train reached Curry there was a man boarded the train who knew me. > But the officers would hot*listen to.him, and it was not until Titusville was reached, where every man, wbman and child knew me, that the handcuffs and manacles were removed Jrom my wrists and "ankles, and I was allowed my liberty. I have the photograph which furnished the clew to the officers who arrested me in my possession now.”-— Denver Tribune.