Countdown to July 7

[RJNorton]

Here is what Christian Rath thought:

"There was a mystery about Payne. He was a great big fellow, and as brave as a lion. One day General Hartranft said to me: 'There is a colored woman here who comes from Florida and claims she knows Payne; and she says his name is Powell, and that his father is a Baptist minister there. I will seat her in the court-room, and you bring Payne up and perhaps we can identify him.' When I took Payne upstairs, the old woman, who had been a slave, was sitting in the center of the room. As soon as she saw the prisoner, she ran to him, embracing him and calling him by endearing names. But he repulsed her, looked at her with a stolid look, and said: 'I don't know you, woman; go away.' She wept and crooned over him, and there was no doubt in my mind that he really was Powell."

"Payne never complained — no matter what you did to him, he never said a word; and I grew fond of the fellow, and was sorry for his predicament. He had been a Confederate soldier, and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, taken prisoner on the field, and sent to the hospital at Washington. When he became convalescent, he was paroled—-upon taking an oath that he would never bear arms against the Union again. He loafed around the city, and finally fell in with Booth, being willing to do anything for the sake of the cause which he loved and believed in."

"Payne had a grim sense of humor. One day we were discussing our nerve, and afterward I threw myself on the bed for a little sleep. Suddenly I awakened, feeling as if an icy hand had gripped my heart. There was Payne looking down at me, with an ugly expression on his face. I wondered how he had got out of his cell, and just then saw Lieutenant-Colonel McCall in a corner, laughing. Payne laughed, and I knew they were only trying my nerve. I was not afraid, though I was startled for a time."