Dr. Octavious Yates of West Paris was in Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865. He wrote a firsthand account of what it was like to witness the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

WEST PARIS — Octavious “O.K.” Yates (1833-1879) of West Paris was in Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865, the night President Abraham Lincoln was shot.

Yates became an eyewitness of the assassination.

The book “A Distant War Comes Home: Maine in the Civil War Era,” authored by Charles G. Waugh, Donald A. Beattie and Rodney Cole, has a chapter devoted to Yates, who recounted, “I was in Washington at the close of the late War of the Rebellion, and everybody was rejoicing at the close of the war, bands were playing and excitement ran high, and right here let me note a little instance.

“A crowd of enthusiasts gathered in front of the White House and loud calls were made for President Lincoln. When the President appeared on the balcony, deafening shouts of applause greeted him while bands were playing stirring patriotic music.

“After a brief characteristic speech of congratulation of the close of the war, he remarked that our friends down South at the commencement of the war captured a piece of music and appropriated it to their own recently. We had recaptured it and it was now legally ours. That was ‘Dixie.’ The remarks were greeted with loud applause and every band commenced playing ‘Dixie,’ which would have caused a riot a few moments before.”

THE PLAY

“It was announced on the morning of that fatal day, April 14, that the President, his cabinet and Gen. Grant would attend Ford’s Theatre that evening to witness the play, ‘Our American Cousin.’ Feeling a great desire to see the assemblage of the distinguished dignitaries of our nation, I felt I would like to go to the theatre,” he said.

Yates recounted that because he and his friend were at Ford’s Theatre an hour before the doors opened, they had their choice of seats and chose two on the left side.

“As we entered the theatre at the front door, exactly opposite of President Lincoln’s box, we could see everything going on in that box,” said Yates, who added that the theatre soon filled to capacity.

“Soon after the house was filled and quiet restored, President Lincoln, his wife, his niece and Maj. Rathbone entered the theatre. He was met with wild applause. I shall never forget his appearance. He was tall, lank and angular in form and apparently had no personal grace of bearing as he bowed his acknowledgement to the enthusiastic audience.”

After he was seated, the curtain was raised and the show began.

“As the play advanced we noticed that the President was deeply interested and laughed heartily at some portions of the play. Somewhere near ten o’clock I noticed a stranger with a military cloak and a soft hat walking toward the President’s box and when near the box seemed to stand with his hat in his hand looking down upon the stage.”

Yates asked his friend who the distinctive looking man was but his friend did not reply. Yates said stage manager Laura Keene was onstage at the time, and seemed to notice the man at the same time. “I saw a look of anxiety sweep across her face as she suddenly turned and beckoned to some of the actors who were at the rear of the stage.

“Before they had time to step forward, I saw the stranger who afterward proved to be (John Wilkes) Booth, enter the President’s box and a moment later saw the flash and heard the report of the deadly pistol and heard Mrs. Lincoln scream. I saw Lincoln pitch forward. His face turned deathly pale and there was an expression of agony on his features which plainly told that he had been mortally wounded.”

THE AFTERMATH

“Booth attempted to spring over the balustrade in front of the President’s box, but Maj. Rathbone caught him, and then I saw him swing a knife back to free himself from Maj. Rathbone’s grip. In this he succeeded, and went over the balustrade and fell upon the floor of the stage and made his way off at the rear of the stage the best he could,” recounted Yates, who went on to describe the confusion that ensued. He too, sprang to the stage, but Booth had disappeared before he could catch him. He said he knew Booth had struck the stage heavily and felt he could not go far with what was likely a broken leg.”

Yates, too, was injured, having sprained his ankle.

“As soon as I could walk across the stage I found some water in a dish which I took up to the President’s box. There I found Lincoln had been fatally shot. He was breathing very heavily. Laura Keene was there and was holding President Lincoln’s head in her lap. She wore a magnificent white robe, and it was completely covered and stained with blood so that she presented a ghastly sight.”

Yates said when he returned to the stage he met with a, “fury of people who were leaving the theatre … Everyone was trying to get outdoors and the scene was simply indescribable. Men were cursing and the cries of ‘conspiracy’ could be heard on every side.”

Once outside, he learned that Lincoln was being carried to the building across the street. In the street, the air was stifling, he said. “Reports of other murders — that Seward, Grant and other members of the cabinet had been assassinated — were coming from all quarters. The excitement all around was something absolutely fearful.

“It was a night of terror such as I never want to experience again,” finished Yates.

WEST PARIS

According to his family record, Octavius King Kingsbury Yates was born Sept. 25, 1833, in Greenwood. He was the son of James and Emma (Cole) Yates. He attended various schools in the Greenwood area and graduated from Bethel High School. According to “Biographical Review,” a book published in 1897 by the Biographical Review Publishing Co. in Boston, Yates became interested in medicine when he went to board with a doctor in Bethel.

According to the book “William Yates and his Descendants,” by E. Yates, he married Elizabeth Felt, daughter of Artemas and Desire (Stevens) Felt of Greenwood on July 25, 1852. Of their four children, just one, Myrtle (Yates) Wheeler lived to adulthood.

When war broke out and Lincoln made his first call for 75,000 recruits to serve for three months, Yates was one of the first to enlist in the Auburn Artillery. Yates worked as a recruiting officer and detective during the Civil War. Just prior to the assassination, he was assigned as a government detective in Washington.

After the assassination, he went to Bothwell, Ontario, where he worked in the oil business, became a subject of Queen Victoria, and held local office.

Yates sold real estate and finally raised enough money to enter the medical field. He graduated from Medical School of Maine at Bowdoin College in 1870 and practiced medicine in Portland under a Dr. Tewksbury, eventually returning to West Paris with his family to practice medicine for many years.

He became widely known for his skill as a physician, practicing for 33 years in West Paris.