Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 32.djvu/113

 Why Sooth Shot Lincoln. 101

one of his co-conspirators, inflicted severe but not mortal wounds on William H. Sevvard, Secretary of State.

" The United States was fearfully aroused by the assassination of the President. At first it was suspected that the crime had been instigated by Confederates. Many prominent citizens of the Con- federacy were arrested. The most thorough and searching exam- ination was made, and it was conclusively proved that no represen- tative of the Southern Confederacy had any hand in it. It was as sincerely regretted and as severely condemned through the South as in the North. Mr. Lincoln was killed not by a citizen of the Confederate States, but by a citizen of the United States a par- tially deranged man, to avenge the wrong he claimed had been suffered by his friend at Mr. Lincoln's hands."