WASHINGTON CITY,
No. 458
Tenth Street, April 15, 1865
— 4.10 a.m.
(Sent 4.44 a.m.)
Major-General DIX:
The President continues insensible and is sinking. Secretary
Seward remains without change. Frederick Seward's skull is fractured in two
places, besides a severe cut upon the head. The attendant is still alive, but
hopeless. Major Seward's wounds are not dangerous. It is now ascertained with
reasonable certainty that two assassins were engaged in the horrible crime,
Wilkes Booth being the one that shot the President, the other a companion of
his whose name is not known, but whose description is so clear that he can
hardly escape. It appears from a letter found in Booth's trunk that the murder
was planned before the 4th of March, but fell through then because the
accomplice backed out until “Richmond could be heard from.” Booth and his accomplice
were at the livery stable at 6 this evening, and left there with their horses
about 10 o'clock, or shortly before that hour. It would seem that they had for
several days been seeking their chance, but for some unknown reason it was not
carried into effect until last night. One of them has evidently made his way to
Baltimore, the other has not yet been traced.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I Volume
46, Part 3 (Serial No. 97), p. 781
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