Assassination of Abe Lincoln
...eyes bent upon the stage, and enjoying a hearty laugh. Miss Harris, who was in the box with the President, makes the following statement: Nearly an hour before the commission of the dead, the assassin came to the door of the box and looked in, to take a survey of the position of its occupants. It was supposed at the time that it was either a mistake, or the exercise of impertinent curiosity. The circumstance attracted no particular attention at the time. Upon his entering the box again, Major Rathbun rose and asked the intruder his business. He rushed past the Major without making any reply, and, placing his pistol close to the back of the President's head, actually in contact with it, fired, and instantly sprung upon the box, when he made a backward plunge with his knife, aimed at the face or breast of Mr. Lincoln. Major Rathbun springing forward to protect the President, received a stab in his arm. The murderer...