-Caveat Lector-
Author below gives good background on the mystery of John
Wilkes Booth, but I don't agree with his conclusion at
the end that "Booth" was really Booth -- Izola Forrester's
book, which he mentions briefly but fails to rebut, offers
too much evidence that the real Booth lived on, past 1865.
The Postmortem Career
of John Wilkes Booth
[LINK]
By R. J. Brown
Editor-in-Chief
Most historians allege that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham
Lincoln, was killed in Garrett's barn on April 26, 1865. Because there
was so much mystery surrounding the autopsy and subsequent burial of
Booth, some held the belief that Booth didn't really die that night.
Some claimed that Booth had actually escaped and that the man shot in
the barn wasn�t really Booth. They further believe that when officials
in the American government discovered that they had the wrong man, to
escape embarrassment, the matter was quickly covered up. The
controversy settled down by the time that the onspirators' trial was
over. There were a few brief rumbles again in 1867 with the John
Surratt trial but they too quickly ended. In the Spring of 1898 there
was much newspaper coverage relating that Booth had escaped death in
the burning barn in 1865 and made his way to South America. It wasn't
until 1903 that the question of Booth's escape surfaced again.
On January 13, 1903 a man in Enid, Oklahoma, by the name of David E.
George died. in his last dying statement, the man confessed to his
landlord, Mrs. Harper, that he was in fact John Wilkes Booth. This was
soon the topic of discussion around town. The January 22, 1903 Enid
Wave bore the following article banked with headlines:
WAS IT BOOTH?
The Impression Growing, From Evidence,
Circumstantial and Otherwise, that
the Supposed Remains of
David E. George are None
Other Than the Remains of
JOHN WILKES BOOTH!
From the first the Wave has not believed that it is probable that
David E. George... was John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham
Lincoln, however, it is possible. The evidence of Mrs. Harper as to
the fact George confessed to her... that he was none other than
Booth, the assassin, in connection with the striking likeness to
the assassin and the general demeanor of the man in producing parts
of Shakespeares' plays and songs around the saloons leads to a
possibility in this case...
The most remarkable circumstance surrounding the dead man, as links
to the fact that his right leg was broken just above the ankle,
years ago,... Besides these lines, comes to the fact that J. Wilkes
Booth was born in 1839 and was twenty-six years of age when the
assassination took place and sixty-three years old in 1902, if
living, which is the exact age of George as found in his papers...
One thing is certain, the remains now lying embalmed in the
Pennimann Undertaking Rooms should not be buried until the identity
is made more clear..."
The remains of David E. George's body were mummified and kept on
display at the undertakers' for many months. Shortly thereafter, Finis
L. Bates, a Memphis Lawyer, bought the mummy and began presenting it
on the circus side show circuit. Such were the beginnings of a second
career for John Wilkes Booth.
THE CURSE
The postmortem career of John Wilkes Booth, whether it belongs to true
history or folklore, none-the-less provides a fascinating story. The
mummy scattered ill-luck around almost as freely as Tutankhamen is
alleged to have done. Nearly every showman who exhibited the mummy was
subsequently ruined financially. Eight people were killed in the wreck
of a circus train in 1902 on which the mummy was traveling. Bill
Evans, a wealthy carnival king, who bought the exhibit in later years
was financially ruined by continual strokes of bad luck after the
purchase. Finis L. Bates, the original owner, wrote a book in 1908
entitled "The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth" which attempted
to prove that the mummy was in fact John Wilkes Booth. he suffered
much ridicule because of that book and died penniless in 1923. Perhaps
the only person to sponsor the mummy and not suffer strokes of
financial bad luck was Reverend True Wilson. It must be pointed out
that Wilson was largely responsible for originally getting the
prohibition law passed. However, shortly after Wilson bought the
mummy, the repeal of the prohibition law was made official. (Let each
reader make their own determination as to whether this was a
cause-effect in this case or not.)
A MOST UNUSUAL AUTOPSY
In 1931, at the urging of a showman that owned the mummy, the remains
were X-Rayed, operated on, and otherwise examined by a group of
medical men and criminalists in Chicago, Illinois. It was claimed that
the fractured leg, the broken thumb, and the scar on the neck were all
verified. The panel was convinced that they had proven that the mummy
was in fact the remains of John Wilkes Booth. Despite the fact that
the panel consisted of recognized experts in their field, the
investigation failed to gain wide publicity. A few pulp magazines and
otherwise "tabloid" newspapers were the only ones to carry the story.
This, combined with the fact that a showman brought about the
investigation, tended to take credibility away from the conclusions of
the panel.
The mummy had a strange knock-about existence. It had been bought and
sold, held under bond, sized for debt, repeatedly chased out of town
by local authorities for not having a license or for violating other
ordinances, been threatened by indignant Grand Army of the Republic
(Civil War) veterans, and, at least one time, kidnapped. (Ads in
certain 1928 issues of "Billboard" offer a $1000 reward for its safe
return.) Until 1937 the mummy had been a constant money-loser.
PAY DIRT AT LAST!
1937 saw several events that helped to make the financial turn-a-round
for the seemingly ill-fated mummy. This was the year that Otto
Eisenschimil released his book "Why Was Lincoln Murdered?" This author
produced a vast amount of documentation that suggested that Secretary
of War Edwin Stanton was the ringleader of the plot to kill Lincoln
and that Stanton arranged to facilitate the escape of Booth. This
book, while not exactly expounding on the possibility for Booth's
escape, none-the-less made it seem feasible. Another historical volume
published in that year was "This One Mad Act" by Izola Forrester, a
great-daughter of John Wilkes Booth. This book presented evidence that
members of her family were in personal contact with the assassin for a
generation after 1865. As a result of these two books, 1937 saw much
newspaper coverage of the controversy of the Lincoln assassination in
general.
Wide-spread newspaper coverage of the topic certainly helped make more
people aware that there were still some unsolved mysteries surrounding
Lincoln�s assassination.
As an interesting side point here, I have conducted extensive research
and discovered that in the height of his career John Wilkes Booth
earned about $20,000 a year. (This was both by acting fees and profits
from investments.) In 1937, the mummified remains of the alleged John
Wilkes Booth earned in excess of $100,000.
Mr. and Mrs. John Harkin owned the mummy from 1937 until at least
1942. (Mr. Harkin had been the former tattooed man for the
Wallace-Hagenbeck Circus.) They toured the country with the Jay Gould
Million-Dollar Shows for several seasons. After that point in time, I
have lost track of just whom owned the mummy or where it went.
HOW THE STORY OF THE MUMMY BEING
J. WILKES BOOTH GOT STARTED
In 1903 when Finis L. Bates (mentioned earlier) read the news
concerning the death of David E. George in Enid, Oklahoma, he rushed
to Enid to check it out. Bates, in the early 1870's, in Texas, had
been a close friend with a man going by the name John St. Helen. When
St. Helen became very ill he confided to Bates (he thought he was on
his death-bed) that HE was John Wilkes Booth. St. Helen recovered.
Later, when Bates asked St. Helen about the confession, St. Helen
denied he ever said it. When Bates read the news of David E. George,
nearly 30 years later, claiming to have been John Wilkes Booth, Bates
became curious. he wondered if John St. Helen and David E. George were
one in the same person.
Upon arriving in Enid, Bates headed to the Pennimann Undertakers Rooms
to see the body of David E. George. Yes! This was the man he had known
as John St. Helen. Bates secretly bought the mummy and took it back to
Memphis. He spent five years conducting what he called research to
prepare a book about this matter. (He hid the mummy in his garage
during this time!) In 1908, Bates released his book. According to his
book, the main plot goes something like this:
One the afternoon of April 25, 1865, Booth remembered that he had left
his diary, wallet and other personal effects in the marsh a few miles
from the Garrett farm. He asked a man by the name of Ruddy, who was
caretaker at the Garrett farm, to retrieve them for him. Ruddy left to
get them. Meanwhile, Booth got wind that government agents were
closing in on him so he took off on his own leaving Herold behind.
When Ruddy returned with Booth�s personal items he found that Booth
was gone. Expecting him to return, Ruddy kept the personal items on
his own person. Herold and Ruddy slept in the barn that night. When
the government agents arrived this is why the man in the barn denied
he was Booth. This is also why Booth's personal belongings were found
on the body of the man shot in the barn. Lastly, Bates made the claim
that no reward money was ever actually paid to anyone for the capture
of Booth but yet rewards were paid for the capture of Atzerodt and
Payne. Therefore, this proved that the government knew they had the
wrong man and that Booth was never caught.
WAS THE MUMMY REALLY JOHN WILKES BOOTH?
Transcripts of the trial of the conspirators relate the following as
to how the body taken from the Garrett farm was identified. Colonel
Everton J. Conger was present at the Garrett farm for the entire
ordeal. he testified at the trial the he had met John Wilkes Booth in
Washington on several occasions prior to the incident at the Garrett
farm. he further stated that both men were the same. Also on the
witness stand were L. B. Baker, Lt. Doherty, and several others. Each
told of how they knew the body was that of Booth.
At the Surratt trial in 1867, a new piece of information became known.
Lt. Luther Byron Baker testified that "there was a pin which Colonel
Conger took off his undershirt after we tore open the collar." Baker
then identified the pin which had been taken from Booth�s body. Conger
then took the stand and testified that after Booth was shot and before
he died, he took a stone set in jet from Booths' person on which was
engraved "Dan Bryant to J. W. Booth." (Bryant was an actor and friend
of the Booth family. I have found two independent sources from prior
to the assassination that confirm that Bryant did in fact give Booth
such a pin and that he kept it pinned to his undershirt.)
While Booth, as Mr. Bates' book suggests, might have left his personal
belongings in the marsh and that a man, under instructions from Booth,
go to retrieve them, it strains the probabilities to expect the pin
belonging to Booth to also be fastened to his undershirt where John
Wilkes Booth kept it. The fact that he even had a pin and that he kept
it fastened to his undershirt was not public knowledge at the time.
In the matter of the unclaimed reward money, one only need look in the
National Archives in Washington, D. C. to see the original signed
receipts. In addition, the Congressional Globe (Part 5, 1st session,
39th Congress), made their report on July 26, 1866 and appropriation
was made by the acts of July 28, 1866. (14 stat, 341.)
In 1869, when the body was finally turned over to the Booth family, to
make absolutely certain that the body was really Booth, they had the
family dentist examine the remains. Edwin Booth, brother of John
Wilkes, represented that the family dentist identified the body as
that of John Wilkes Booth by a close examination of the skeletons'
teeth. The dental work corresponded. Edwin and the rest of the family
were satisfied that they body was really that of John Wilkes Booth.
To lay the matter to rest (pun intended), yes there was a mummy that
its owners represented to have been the remains of John Wilkes Booth.
No, the remains were not those of John Wilkes Booth. Rather, they were
those of David E. George -- a man unknown in life that became famous
in death.
_________________________________________________________________
[LINK]
Artist rendering of "Booth the Mummy" 1922 sideshow display
Photo of "Booth the Mummy" taken in 1931
_________________________________________________________________
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