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The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth | George Alfred Townsend | |
Letter VIII: The Trial |
Page 7 of 8 |
The next prisoner to the right is O'Laughlin. He is a small man, about twenty-eight years of age, attired in a fine, soiled coat, but without white linen upon either his bosom or neck, and handcuffs rest hugely upon his mediocrity. His moustache, eye-brows, and hair are regular and very black. He does not look unlike Booth, though he seems to have little bodily power, and he is very anxious, as if more earnest than any of the rest, to have a fair lease upon life. His countenance is not prepossessing, though he might be considered passably good looking in a mixed company. Between O'Laughlin and the next prisoner, Spangler, sits a soldier in ultramarine--a discontented soldier, a moody, dissatisfied, and arbitrary soldier. His definition of military justice is like the boy's answer at school to the familiar question upon the Constitution of the United States: "What rights do accused persons enjoy ?" The boy wrote out, very carefully, this answer: "Death by hanging." The boy would have been correct had the question applied to accused persons before a court-martial. |
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The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth George Alfred Townsend |
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