Lincoln, the unknown

LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN• 231As the end drew near, he asked to have his hands raised sohe could look at them; but they were totally paralyzed, and hemuttered:"Useless! Useless!"They were his last words.He died just as the sun was rising above the tops of thevenerable locust trees in the Garrett yard. His "jaw drew spasmodicallyand obliquely downward, his eyeballs rolled toward hisfeet and began to swell . . . and with a sort of gurgle, andsudden check, he stretched his feet and threw back his head."It was the end.It was seven o'clock. He had died within twenty-two minutesof the time of day Lincoln had died; and "Boston" Corbett'sbullet had struck Booth in the back of the head, about an inchbelow the spot where he himself had wounded Lincoln.The doctor cut off a curl of Booth's hair, and gave it toMiss Halloway. She kept the lock of hair and the bloody pillowslipon which his head had lain—kept them and cherished themuntil, finally, in later years, poverty overtook her and she wasobliged to trade half of the stained pillow-slip for a barrel offlour.