Des Arc citizen., 1866-05-12
IS JOHN WILKES BOOTH BEAD

From the Metropolitan Record.
 F When we first saw in one of our cxchang ges a statement tending to throw doubt upon the story of J. Wilkes Booths death. we passed it by as something too extravagant to be enter tained, but having thought oyersthe matter q good deal lately, we arc now of the opinion that his death is by no means certain. frF.
 The whole story on which we are required to believe in Booth death, when reduced to it's simplest terms, is this: "A party. headed by General Balsor, and embracing irr its netin bcrs the yalorous Boston Corbett found two men concealed in q barn. The barn was sur rounded and the men called on to surrender. or be killed. After some parleying. one of the men came out and surrendered. This man said that the other was Booth. The man iu the baru did not deny that he was Booth: we will even admit, in order to make the case as strong as possible, that he claimed to Le Booth. During the night Boston Corbett killed him. No one on the farm. no one of the gallant bandthat killed the terrible assas- sin, had ever seen Booth. so as to Joe able to identify him.. The corpse was thrown into a wagon, roughly ioled about for at least forty- eight hours, and then, all applications to view itilaving been sternly refused. it was buried by Baker and another man, both of whom took an oath, as Baker himself says, never to re- veal the spot. sq
 Now, we believe this is the sum, or at least the essential part of all the evidence which has been produced to prove Booth's death. It depends entirely, so far as it goes upon the yeracity of Baker and Corbett, and it lacks oneall important item, the identification of the body of the mancAilled by Corbett For this last we have no proof, except the word of the man Harold who was captured in the barn. 8i st1 fs lsaf f9 fft-a
 Boston Corbetthas since proved to be little better than a lunatic. A military commission with General Hunter for President, Joe Holt for Judge Advocate and Stanton for iastigator did not dare to take Corbett's testimony, even when he was swearing his best on their side. Baker has been tried and found guilty of scri- ous offences committed under cover of his, official position and public opinion we think will not be much influenced by the testimony of professional spy and informer, especially upon subject in which his pocket was so much interested. If it sras Booth who was killed in the barn, Baker gets lot of money; if it was moi Booth, Baker gets laughed at. .iisi
 There remains the assertion of the compan-, ion of the man slain, and the admission of the man himself that he was Booth, These men knew that they could expect no mercy at the hands of their capiors, Baker and his sleuth
 hounds. No confession which they might make would do them any good, but their iac- complices might be benefttedby the assertion that one of them was Booth. After one of them had been killed, killed necdlessly and before time had been Taken to examine them and to get d true confession out of them, It be- came still more to the survivors interest to maintain that the 54dead man was Booth. Therefore, ifthe men found in the barn did both declare that one of them was Booth, (and remember that this is only an ifdepending upon the veracity of Baker and Corbett) we don't think it anlountslto muchany how. This then is the character of the principal evidence before the country to show that John Wilkes Bootllis dead Let us add to it, that his fam ily mourned him as dead and that his estima- ble brother, the greatestli living American actor, retired from the stage determined, it was then said, never to appear again, so great was his horror at the crime of his brother, and his dread of outraging the public by continually reminding them in his name, in his person, and in his profession, of the assassin of Abra- ham Lincoln. as
 Now let us look at the other side. Not only for few days after the assassination but for some weeks afterwards, the military authorl- ties in Washington were in state Of utter be- wilderment and by them were d ected all undertakings in pursuit of the murderer The large rewards offered, and the injudiclous manner in which unusual authority for the search was given, started upon the hunt number of parties who behaved more like madmen than like reasonable beings. H ,roula not hase been C bod plaa for Me rca assas- sin to hare Joined one ct tAese pdrties They all assumed tlat pqq,l was the assassin .... s., each