The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1866-05-09
Is John Wilkes Booth Dead !?

upon the story Of J. Wilkes Booths death,
we passed it by as something too extrava-
CANT to be entertained, but having thought
over the matter good deal lately, we are
now of the opinion that his death is by No
means certain.
The whole story on which we are requir.
ed to believe in Booths death, when re-
duced to its simplest terms, is this: A par.
ty, headed by General Baker, and embra-
cling in its numbers the valorous Boston
Corbett, found two men concealed in a
barn. The barn was surrounded and the
mon 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 in the
barn 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 be
Booth. During the night Boston Corbet
killed him. No one on the farm, no one OF
the gallant band THAT killed the terrible
assassin, had ever seen Booth, so as to be
able to identify him. The corpse was
thrown into wagon, roughly jolted about
for at least forty-eight hours and then, al
applications to view it having been sternly
refused, it was buried by Baker and anoth
er man, both Of whom took an oath, as
Baker himself says, never to reveal the
spot.
Now, we believe this is the sum, or al
least, the essential part of all the evidence
which has been produced to prove Booths
death. 1t depends entirely, SO far as il
goes, upon the veracity of Baker and Cor
bett, and it lacks one all important item
the Identification of the body of the man
killed by Corbett For this last we have
no proof except the word of the man Har
old who was captured in the barn.
Boston Corbett has since proved to be
little better than u lunatic. A military
commission with General Hunter for Presi
dent, Joe Holt for Judge Advocate and
Stanton for iastigator did not care to take
Corbett's testimony, even when he was
swearing his best on their side. Baker has
been tried and found guilty of serious of
fences committed under cover of his Off
cial position, and public opinion we think
will not be much influenced by the test.
mony OF a professional spy and informer
especially upon subject in which his
pocket was SO much interested. lit wa.
Booth who was killed in the barn, Baker
gets q lot of money; if it acas not Booth
Baker gets laughed at.
There remains the assertion of the com.
panion of the man slain, and the admission
of the man himself that he was Booth
These men knew that they could expect ne
mercy at the hands of their captors, Bakel
and his sleutli-houllds, No confession
which they might make would do them
any good, but their accomplices might be
benefited by the assertion that one d
them was Booth. After ono Of them haG
been killed, killed needlessly and before
time had been taken to examine them and
to get true confession out OF them, it be
came still more to the survivors interest tt
maintain that the dead man was Booth
Therefore, If the men found in the barn die
both declare that one of them was Booth
(and remember that this is only an if de
pending upon the veracity Of Baker and
Corbett,) we don't think it amounts tc
much any how, This then is the character
of the principle evidence before the coun
try to show that John Wilkes Booth il
dead. Let us add to it, that his family
mourned him as dead, and that his estima
BILE brother, the greatest living American
actor, retired from the stage determined
it was then said, never to appear again, sc
great was. his horror at the crime of hii
brother, and his dread of ontraging the
public by continually reminding them in
his name, in his person, and in his profes
sion, of the assassin Of Abraham Lincoln
Now let us look at the other side. Not
only for few days after the assassination
but for some weeks afterward, the military
authorities in Washington were in state
of utter bewilderment, and by them were
directed all undertakings in pursuit Of the
murderer, The large rewards offered, an(
the iniudicious manner in which unusual
authority for the search was given, started
upon the hunt q number ofparties who be
haved more like madmen than like reason
able beings 1t aconld not base been BAT
plan for the real assassin to hare joined one o.
these parties. They all assumed that Bootl
was the assassin, and each was satisfied
that the man it happened to pursue was
the identical Booth, But as only one party
brought back dead man, only one had I
chance to claim the credit OF having fol
lowed the right trail.
Booth was first-rate actor, had plent,
of money, and an intimate acquaintanc,
with the locality in which the crime was
committed. 1t would have been easy fol
him to have disguised himself so as tx
have remained several days in Washing
ton, and have left it unmolested in one o
the usual ways. His professional skill il
disguise would have enabled him to de
ceive even his accomplices. Lees army
had surrendered. There were no Confed
crate forces any where near Washington
and there is no reason to suppose thai
Booth could have expected welcome
from the Confcderates, even if he had
reached them; for all the efforts of Stanton
Holt, and a hundred other very slightly
less infamous and INSCRIPTIONS enemies o,
the Confederates had failed to find an iota
ofevidence to prove that thay had the
least share in, or knowledge Of, the con
spiracy.
A man on horseback could hope to es
cape only by reaching the Confederate
lines; and as we have shown the impossi
bility Of this, we conclude, for ourselves o.
course, that Booth never committed the
folly of attempting to escape on horseback
and that the man for his charitable assis.
tanee to whom DR.. Mudd is now suffering
torment at Fort Jefferson, and the man
whom Corbett foolishly shot, and Baker Sc
cretly inferred, without permitting the body
to be identified, was not Booth.
About month or two ago we read {
letter (published) in which the writer
stated that he had met Booth in one Of The
West India Islands-had recognized him
and talked with him. He says Booth tolt
him that he had escaped first to Canada
and thence to Cuba. The letter we speal
of was written OH the eve of the writers
departure for a foreign country. Recent,
a man named King was arrested in the
West for some crime. He demanded to SCI
Gen. jeff. G. Davis, and confessed to hin
that he was the real murderer of Mr.. Lin
coin and the person who attempted to xii
Mr.. Seward, and that Booth was only al
accomplice. Furthermore, that the mar
shot in the barn was not Booth, and tha
Booth had escaped first to Canada and al
forwards to Cuba. This adds to the prob
ability Of truth in the letter writer's story
Of course this man King will be declared
crazy, for it will not do for the men VIII,