  thomas p. "boston" corbett (1832 â presumed dead september 1, 1894) was a union army soldier who shot and killed president abraham lincoln's assassin, john wilkes booth. he disappeared after 1888, but circumstantial evidence suggests that he died in the great hinckley fire in 1894, although this remains impossible to substantiate. ==early life== corbett was born in london, england and emigrated with his family to new york city in 1839. corbett's family moved often before eventually settling in troy, new york. as a young man, corbett began training to be a hatter, a profession that he would hold intermittently throughout his life. corbett was regularly exposed to the fumes of the mercury compound mercury(ii) nitrate, then used in the treatment of fur to produce felt used on hats. excessive exposure to the compound can lead to hallucinations, psychosis and twitching (know as the "hatter's shakes"). historians have theorized that the mental issues corbett exhibited both before and after the civil war may have been caused by this exposure. ===family and "rebirth"=== after working as a hatter in troy, corbett returned to new york city. he later married, but his wife and child died in childbirth. f
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