There were no persons
living to whom Booth would have been less willing to minister
gratification than to these men. Their new President, it is true, soon
disappointed them bitterly, but for the moment his accession was
generally regarded as a gain for their party.
Late on April 25 a squad of cavalry traced Booth to a barn in Virginia;
they surrounded it, but he refused to come out; thereupon they set fire
to it, and then one of them, Boston Corbett, contrary to orders, thrust
his musket through a crevice and fired at Booth. Probably he hit his
mark, though some think that the hunted wretch at this last desperate
moment shot himself with his own revolver. Be this as it may, the
assassin was brought forth having a bullet in the base of his brain, and
with his body below the wound paralyzed. He died on the morning of April
26.
While the result of Booth's shot secured for him that notoriety which he
loved, the enterprise was in fact by no means wholly his own. A
conspiracy involving many active members, and known also to others, had
been long in existence. For months plans had been laid and changed, and
opportunities had been awaited and lost. Had the plot not been thus
delayed, its success might have done more practical mischief. Now, in
addition to what the plotters lost by reason of this delay, only a part
of their whole great scheme was carried out. At the same time that the
tragedy was enacting at Ford's Theatre an assault was perpetrated upon
Mr.
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