A CHAPTER OF HISTORY: THE ATTEMPT TO KILL THE SEWARDS
"A Detailed Narration by Mr. Seward's Medical Attendant in Washington"
“On the 5th of April, 1865, the Secretary and Frederick Seward rode out to pay official visit to one of the foreign ministers. As the carriage stopped in front of the house the driver descended from his box to open the carriage door, from some or other, probably from an unconscious pull at the reins, the horses started, dragging the driver. They soon became unmanageable, and flew off at a frightful speed. Both Mr. Seward and Frederick, seeing the danger, jumped from the carriage. Frederick was unhurt, but, Mr. Seward could not rise; people rushed to his assistance, and found that he was seriously injured, the blood streaming from his mouth, and his right arm lying powerless at his side. He was immediately picked up and carried to his house, not a block distant.
“I found him in his bed, his face frightfully bruised, his lower jaw completely fractured on both side, his right arm fractured, also, near the shoulder. He was in great pain, and it was with difficulty that he could be relieved. His condition, considering his age, was perilous in the extreme. Suffusion soon took place, his right eye closed, and the right side of his faced became blue from the contusion. His lower jaw was hanging down, and being fractured on both sides, he could not raise it for mastication. The right side of the jaw, upon which he evidently fell, became greatly tumefied and inflamed, so much so that he could not bear the slight bandage. His sufferings became intense, and a high fever arose, which greatly aggravated his condition.
“Mrs. Seward and Fanny, after recovering from the shock that this new misfortune caused them, were unremitting in their attentions; every caprice that a feverish imagination would excite was promptly gratified by those tender and loving hands.
“His nights became so restless that he required a constant watch. His jaw was in such a condition that it was a difficult problem for surgeons to decide how it could be kept in coaptation; so as to favor ossification and the knitting together of the broken ends. He took his food through a tube and with great difficulty. His right arm was in splints, and Mr. Seward lay helpless on a bed of agony.
. . .
“On the 14th of April Mr. Lincoln was to receive an ovation from the people at the theatre. Plans were made on a large scale for this soulful reception by the people for their President. At 9 o’clock I went to make my evening visit to the Secretary, and found that his condition was ameliorating sensibility; I staid half an hour with him; then bidding him good night, left him with Mr. Robinson, the night watch. From there I returned to my house, and half an hour had not elapsed when I heard a person running, who suddenly stopped to give an extraordinary pull at my bell. I went to the door myself, and there met William, Mr. Seward’s colored waiter, who, with a frightened look, and in the most excited manner, said, “Oh come, doctor, Mr. Seward is killed!”
The Attempted Assassination.
“Hardly comprehending the import of so sudden an announcement, I grasped my surgical case, and, hatless, ran with him to the house. There were only two blocks between my house and Mr. Seward’s. While running I asked the boy what he meant; “how was Mr. Seward killed?’ “Oh!” he exclaimed, “a man came to the door and asked admittance in your name. I let him in; he went up to Mr. Seward’s room and killed him.”
“I was amazed! “How, who, in my name? It was all I could utter. “Who for what, did a man go in my name?” were the unanswered questions that flashed through my mind in this short time. So great is the power of imagination, I thought of a man who begged me to recommend him to Mr. Seward for a Consulship; that I had done so, but Mr. Seward, not having the place vacant, would not gratify the office seeker. Now this man, mad with disappointment, has surely gone to assassinate the Secretary. These thought had hardly crossed my mind when I reach the door of Mr. Seward’s house. I ascended quickly, and when I got upstairs I met the blanched face of Mrs. Seward, who in an agonized tone, said, “Look to Mr. Seward.”
“Mr. Seward lay on his bed, with pallid face and half closed eyes; he looked like an exsanguinated corpse. In approaching him my feet went deep in blood. Blood was streaming from an extensive gash in his swollen cheek; the cheek was not laid open, and the flap hung loose on his neck. With proper applications of iced water I checked the hemorrhage, and then examined the extent of the wound. The gash extended from the high check bone down to the neck, in a semi-circular form, towards the mouth. It was probably five inches long and two inches deep. It was a frightful wound. It seemed as if the jugular vein or the carotid artery must be wounded, so great was the loss of blood. I was greatly relieved to find that they were not.
“Mrs. Seward and her daughter, almost paralyzed, were waiting and watching for my first word. Relieved to see that they Secretary had so miraculously escaped the severing of those two vital vessels, I said, “Mr. Seward, even in your misfortune, I must congratulate you, the assassin as failed, and your life is not in danger.”
“He could not speak, but he made a sign with his hand for his wife and daughter to approach, took hold of their hands, and his eyes only spoke and bid them hope.
“I had hardly sponged the face from the bloody stains and replaced the flap, when Mrs. Seward, with an intense look, called me to her. “Come and see Frederick,” she said.
“Somewhat surprised, I said, “What is the matter with Frederick?” In a painful whisper she muttered, “He is badly wounded.”
“Without adding another word, I followed her to the next room, where I found Frederick bleeding profusely from the head. He had a ghastly appearance, was unable to articulate, gave me a smile of recognition and pointed to his head. There I found a large wound a little above the median line, and another further back on the same side. The cranium had been crushed in both places, and the brain was exposed.
“The wounds were bleeding profusely, but the application of cold water pledgets soon stopped the hemorrhage. I feared these would prove fatal.
“Mr. Seward was again hunting me with that intense look of silent anxiety. I gave her words of encouragement; I feared they were unmeaning words.” Again she drew me to her with that look I had seen in the other room. As I approached, almost bewildered, she said, “Come and see Augustus.”
“For heavens sake, Mrs. Seward, what does this all mean?”
“I followed her into another room, on the same floor, and there found Augustus, with two cuts on his forehead and one on his right hand. They were superficial.
“As I turned to Mrs. Seward to say a word of comfort, she said: “Come and see Mr. Robinson.”
“I ceased wondering; my mind became as if paralyzed; mechanically I followed her and examined Mr. Robinson. He had found or five cuts on his shoulders. They, too, were superficial.
“Again I turned to Mrs. Seward as if asking, “Any more?” yet unbelieving that any more could be wounded. She answered my look, “Yes, one more.”
“In another room I found Mr. Hansell, piteously groaning on the bed. He said he was wounded in the back. I stripped him, and found a deep gash just above the small of the back, near the spine. I thrust my finger in the wound, evidently made by a large bladed knife, and found that it followed a rib, but had not penetrated the viscera. Here was another miraculous escape. Even here I was glad to be able to give a word of comfort.
“And all this word of one man—yes, of one man!
“No one in that house knew then that at that very moment a more fatal, if not so extensive a tragedy, was being perpetrated in that theatre where we thought people were rejoicing.”