Lincoln, the unknown

210 • LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNat the close of his second term. First, they would take a longrest in either Europe or California; and when they returned, hemight open a law office in Chicago, or drift back to Springfieldand spend his remaining years riding over the prairie circuitthat he loved so well. Some old friends that he had known inIllinois had called at the White House, that same afternoon, andhe had been so elated telling jokes that Mrs. Lincoln couldhardly get him to dinner.The night before, he had had a strange dream. He had toldthe members of his Cabinet about it that morning: "I seemedto be in a singular and indescribable vessel," he said, "that wasmoving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore.I have had this extraordinary dream before great events, beforevictories. I had it preceding Antietam, Stone River, Gettysburg,Vicksburg."He believed that this dream was a good omen, that it foretoldgood news, that something beautiful was going to happen.At ten minutes past ten Booth, inflamed with whisky, anddressed in dark riding-breeches, boots, and spurs, entered thetheater for the last time in his life—and noted the position ofthe President. With a black slouch hat in his hand, he mountedthe stairs leading to the dress-circle, and edged his way downan aisle choked with chairs, until he came to the corridor leadingto the boxes.Halted by one of the President's guards, Booth handed himhis personal card with confidence and bravado, saying that thePresident wished to see him; and, without waiting for permission,pushed in and closed the corridor door behind him,wedging it shut with a wooden upright from a music-stand.Peeping through the gimlet-hole that he had bored in thedoor behind the President, he gaged the distance, and quietlyswung the door open. Shoving the muzzle of his high-caliberedderringer close to his victim's head, he pulled the trigger andquickly leaped to the stage below.Lincoln's head fell forward and then sidewise as he slumpedin his chair.He uttered no sound whatever.For an instant the audience thought that the pistol-shot andthe leap to the stage were a part of the play. No one, not eventhe actors themselves, suspected that the President had beenharmed.