him time and again, and provided suitable body-guards to
attend him. But Mr. Lincoln would often give the guards the slip, and,
mounting his favorite riding horse, "Old Abe," would set out alone after
dark from the White House for the Soldiers' Home.

While riding to the Home one night, he was fired upon by some one in
ambush, the bullet passing through his high hat. Mr. Lincoln would not
admit that the man who fired the shot had tried to kill him. He always
attributed it to an accident, and begged his friends to say nothing
about it.

Now that all the circumstances of the assassination are known, it is
plain that there was a deep-laid and well-conceived plot to kill Mr.
Lincoln long before the crime was actually committed. When Mr. Lincoln
was delivering his second inaugural address on the steps of the Capitol,
an excited individual tried to force his way through the guards in the
building to get on the platform with Mr. Lincoln.

It was afterward learned that this man was John Wilkes Booth, who
afterwards assassinated Mr. Lincoln in Ford's Theatre, on the night of
the 14th of April.

LINCOLN AT THE THEATRE.

The manager of the theatre had invited the President to witness a
performance of a new play known as "Our American Cousin," in which the
famous actress, Laura Keane, was playing. Mr. Lincoln was particularly
fond of the theatre. He loved Shakespeare's plays above all others and
never missed a chance to see the leading Shakespearean actors.

As "Our American Cousin" was a new play, the President did not care
particularly to see it, but as Mrs. Lincoln was anxious to go, he
consented and accepted the invitation.

General Grant was in Washington at the time, and as he was extremely
anxious about the personal safety of the President, he reported every
day regularly at the White House. Mr. Lincoln invited General Grant and
his wife to accompany him and Mrs. Lincoln to the theatre on the night
of the assassination, and the general accepted, but while they were
talking he received a note from Mrs. Grant saying that she wished to
leave Washington that evening to visit her daughter in Burlington.
General Grant made his excuses to the President and left to accompany
Mrs. Grant to the railway station. It afterwards became known that it
was also a part of the plot to assassinate General Grant, and only Mrs.
Grant's departure from Washington that evening prevented the attempt
from being made.

General Grant af