Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1867-03-23
Ia J. wilkes Booth Dead !?
NEw REVELATIONS.


LENGTHY article in which il argues the p~obabili
Nv of j. Wilkes Booth being still in the land of
tho living. The Ingenuity of the episle renders
| il worth pefusal. The Avalanche correspon-
dent says.
/ The statement which appears in your paper
OF Sunday last, IN regard to the point as TO
whtl,er ]. Willes Booth still lives, calls to
mind other publications that have heretofore
appeared IN print on the same subject Allow
me 10 call your attention 10 these, and also to
some circumstances that would tend to support
the ca UG Booths death being fraud Perp-tu-
ate1 on the public. Early in the spring OF lSoo
a letter was received from one Of the y" est In
ldIa Islands hv a correspondent Of New OK
paper. stating that J. Wilkes Booth had been
seen on the Island Of Cuba, short time PreVl-
Ious TO tie writing of the letter. This letter was
noticed by some, if not all the Memphis papers.
Not long after this publication statement aP-
pe,red in some of the papers OF his country, 10
Iihe effect that Booth bad bsen seen Iii Europe,
lin one Of the llsl.an States.
| Some time last summer man was arrested
in Kentucky on "A charge OF horse-slcaling, and
lodged in Jail. If Ly memory serves me right
! he gave his name as King. He wrote 10 Gen
jefferson G.. DAVIS. o! the u. 5. army, stating
that he desired to make confession 10 him oil
importance 10 the country. Gen. DAVIS. ac-
lcompaned by another ctcer OF The army "a gen.
eraN went To the prison, and The newspapers
stated at the time that they occupied nearly an
entire day tax ing down in wiring, the conles-
sion of The man. The newspapers also stated
! that the substance OF the confession was mat
Booth uas MOI the assassin of Lincoln, bat ihal
the man King coui,nlted The crime, that after
shooting /. ncoln he leaped upon the stage OF the
theatre anu passed out to the back door where
/ Booth was With The horses.
The two rode rapidly to the residence of Mr..
Seward. King discounted aud went IN, aud al
tempted 10 Kill Seward. He then returned to
Is, 9th and the two mad their escape through
May land Oh horseback and thence 10 Canada,
and soon after they went 10 Cuba, where he
separated from Booth IN the spring ot 1866 and
came TO Kentucky. HI called the attention OF
the two Generals TO the fact that no proct had
lever been made Identifying Booth with the
killing, except The testimony OF Laura keehe'
an actress, who he stated was personal enemy
of Booth. She stated she recognized Booth
was the man who jumped upon the stage with
the drawn dagger. King said II was not Boo b,
but hlrI. He also said that Mts. Surat knew
nothing of The conspiracy, end he gave lniofma-
ton TO the said official where certain papers
tuhircl. A II this mas appeared in The ne"spa-
pers here iofore, and may be taken for what II Is
worth.
Now. as one who is somewhat in the habit o!
Hook ng closely into facts and the circumstances
Surrounding comI caled cases, ] propose to
call your attention to certain facts that have an
Important bearing upon the whole question as
10 the probablity of Booth not having been the
imam who vas shot in the barn hen Harold
was arrested. The History OF the matter, as
given 10 the public al the time, Is that Harrold
Twas arrested and Boston Corbett l. dd shot
Booth; they put the dead body IN wagon,
md proceeded with il 10 Washington city, The
news OF their success having reached " ashinE-
ION before them. Baker, lhe Chief detective OF
of the Secretary of War, Mr.. Stanton, went TO
meet ihe party who had killed Booth and cap
Itured Harold. pom meeting them. Baker and
Corbet took possession of the reputed dead
body OF Booth, and az they say buried II IN some
secret place, that is known 10 no person living
except BaGer and Cnrbett, and they bSth took
a solemn oolh over the grave that they, would
never reveal The burial place. A larGe reward
had been offered by Ihe government for the ap'
preht nson "f Booth and this helng ihe case,
does II not seem most natural that II the man
whe was killed in the barn was Booth. that Ba-
ker and COrbett would have carried The body 10
| " ashlngton city. where the body, 1t thai o.
Booth, could have been / entitled by thousands
who know him, and thus shown themselves en-
titled 10 receive the reward.
Where is the testimony showing any proof
that the statement uf Baker and Corhelt that the
body buried was that of Booth ? 1t ID not even
as. erted that Harold confessed that 1t was
Booth. He stated that be was with Booth at
the back door of the theatre, but does not say
that it was Booth who killed in the
barn.
The paper stated that after Gen. ]. G. Davis
received the confession Of the man King, he for
warded 1t to the Secretary of War Since that
time the public has learned nothing of the mat
ter, ahd The question is, what has become of
King, and 4 the papers which he referred Gen.
Davis TO have been found, what light do they
ih ow on the subject That matter is now sup
posed TO be in the hands and under the control
of Mr.. Stanton. Now who could be benefited
by the death of Lincoln. Certainly not the
ConiedeTates, for the war was over.
The public was told by The newspapers OF
The time. and particularly those of the Radical
party, that on the day Of The night OF the as
sassinalion, Nh. Line In bad called and held
Cabinet meeting, and at said meeting, hr. Lin
coin had informed the Cabinet that he intended
TO issue a Proclamation declaring the rebellion
at an end, placing the Southern States IN the
same relations as occupied by them towards the
United States before the war, ant also granting
general ann sty and pardon. 1t was also SAID
that Secretary Seward, indorsed the position oil
Mr.. Lincoln although not able to be at the
Cabinet meeting. Suppose such Prociama-
ton had been made by Lincoln, would 1t not
have been death blow Ia the Radical party
They would have been deprived at one blow oil
The power or reconstruciIng the South OF OF IN
termeddlng in the internal affairs OF The states
That party would have dropped dead, and The