New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-16

u the question were asked, is John H. Surratt
nt sun aave there are very few people who would
my t ee to declare their belief in the arms-
Wilkes Booth is deads -
was thought that none Of the assassin ,ation
tainip ia asoss could escape. Yet one Of them scr
",y S.a a.a escape-and why not more than ore 2
snrratfr man well known in Waahington- n--she..
yer known than Booth-a man QUALIFIED hu neitha =
e na.nre e. nor training in the arts Of disguise ied
trace of his whereabouts or the areet;c ~ n'sss ~
flight, (that is positively known to be tracea has W.
been discovered. Might not Booth escape as
easily as s1rrat h;. The Intellectual superiority
sination plot. would also be the most likely to en-
able him, above all conspirators, to devise m.
cessfnily the means Of his own escape a
His theatrical profession was en- important aid.
Skilled not only in the arts Of adventitious dis
guise, but also in the methods of changing his peE-
sonal identity to that Of an individuality not hf,
own, no man was better qualified to cheat the
senses even Of those who thought they knew him
best Logically, the chances of his escape were
greater than Surratts, and greater than those Of
any Of his coIfreres. E5S
Twice since bis supposed death, the assertion
mas "a been made that Wilkes Booth did not die BY
the bullet Of Boston CoFbett. First by d man who
puoiisned statement over his own name, declar-
ing mat he saw him, recognized him. spoke to him
sua Mss Tas recognized BY him in turn This event Il
Of which have iorgottsnl on tha eastern shnre
| OF Maryland, where Booth was about roino IN
Doafd vessel bound to Cuoa The statement har
have though, 4 wo,,s sMoggh probably few people
The secondFstatementis made by man named
Sterling King, At present an inmata AZ tha C;ts,
Prison: at Louisville. This person asserts that
Lincoln; that Booth. who was in the blot ~. X a.
that moment behind the theater with Tie horses. J.
that from Washington they escaped to Canaia
and thence to the island of Cuba. There are come
remarkable features about this mans story, -
well as about the man himself. 4gis 49, S
He details circumstances that are wonderfully
opposite to previously known facts, ard gives at
least an air Of rrdisenaace to his narrative that
is really surprising. What he says about going to
Cuba corresponds in the essential point with the
statement previously mentioned, and with the
author of which it is not probable he could have
had any colusion. The military authorities in
Kentucky do not seem to regard his statements as
utterly unworthy OF credence, for they have taken
the trouble to write them down from his lips and
forward them to the authorities at Washington.
We do not attach to this story the slightest i'm
portance. 1t is probably a sheer fabrication, IN
tended to further some scheme for escape from
punishment for horse stealing, the crime for which
the prisoner is incarcerated Its strange consists
ency may excite q Suspicion that the man King
had guilty knowledge of the assassination plot,
and may know something of the present wherea-
bouts OF Booth and surratt; but that Booth and
not King was the assassin of Abraham Lincoln ad-
mits of no reasonable doubt. w
That Wilkes Booth was the man killed in barn
at midnight, by the light of burning hay, us not,
however as well established. The whole country
was surprised when that event was announced,
that a man with the mental resources of Wilkes
Bpoth should have adopted so ''lame and impo-
tent method OF escape as the chase and cap
ture revealed.
But the body was identified. So it has been
printed. All who have ever had occasion to,
identify dead human body know with what feel
ings OF uncertainty the mind Is impressed, unless
there are well-known physical marks that the eye
eau recognize. DEATH has stolen away the ex-
preston of life and the beholde feels for the first
time that it was the soul looking ont from living
face that he knew, and not the shape Of clay now
before him.
s Dead men are like statues made BY unskilfuI
artists, mere caryatides to adorn the house that
lasts till doomsday, aud distingnishable from each
other only by some pecnliarity Of the carving.
Hundreds and perhaps thousands of mistaken
ndentifcations have occurred during tile war,
even when the body sought for was that of a near
and familiar friend. In a neighboring city, not
long ago, father identified the body of his daugh-
ter who had taken her own life.
Deep and terrible was the anguish which thus
ieli upon worthy family but in the midst of it,
the daughter entered the house. The moist, un-
pleasant bodyh that had been fshed out of the
river belonged to some one else. No familiar
friend or acquaintance was present to identity the
supposed body of Booth, and it was noI until it
had been lolted over Virginia wagon road, and
exposed for two days on the deck of the vessel
which brought it to Washington, that any one who
had ever seen Booth living saw what was believed
to be his dead body.
The young man Harold, who was taken at the
same time, was the only person acquainted with
Booth who saw the man before his death. Booths
safety if still at large, could be assured in no other
way SO well as by allowing the belief to remain
that the body OF the dead man was his.
So long as John H. Surratt Is not found, no man
can say Wilkes Booth conld not be hid. We do
not express any opinion of our own upon the sub
isct. but simply point out what is possible that,
though believed to be dead, the assassin of Abra-
ham Lincoln may still be alive.
EChicago Evening Post.