Abraham Lincoln Author:William Hayes Ward Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE STORY OF THE ASSASSINATION. TOLD BY ONE ON THE STAGE —HOW WILKES BOOTH ESCAPED —THE CHAMBER OF DEATH. BY W. J. FERGUSON, One or The Players At Ford's ... more »Theatre. Only four actors are now alive who performed in the play of "Our American Cousin," which President Lincoln was witnessing on the night when he was so cruelly assassinated. These actors are Harry Hawke, E. A. Emerson, John Matthews and myself. The play referred to is a comedy-drama, and was written by the late l)ion Boucicault. The leading male character, Lord Dundreary, is an English dude, whose peculiarities are a drawling accent and great intellectual vacuity. This character, on the occasion referred to, was played by Mr. Emerson, who afterward retired from the stage, and who for years has been a cotton planter near Richmond, Va. He has always refused to say anything on the subject of the assassination. Just before this presentation of the play it may be interesting to note that it was presented in other cities, and the character of Dundreary was successfully portrayed by Commissioner W. S. Andrews, of New York, who was at one time a member of Edwin Booth's company. The second leading character, Asa Treuchard, a straightforward, honest Yankee, was played by Harry Hawke, who is still in the profession, and is located somewhere in the West. This character has been made famous by Mr. Joseph Jefferson, who has played it many times. Mr. Matthews, who played a subordinate character, is in New York, no longer playing, but connected in an official capacity with the benevolent organization known as " The Actors' Fund of America." I was a very young man, almost a boy, at the time of this national tragedy about which I have often refused to speak. I will, however, break silence on this occasion for a great weekly jo...« less