Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-09-14
A STRANGE STORY.
Is Wilkes Booth, the Assassin Of
Lincoln, Dead or AliVeR
Remarkable Narrative to a Republic.
-'.-. can Reporter.
From the st. Louis Republican, Sept. Z.

From the st. Louis Republican, Sept7.
1t would be hard to account for the per-
tinacity with which the stories of the sur
vival of j. Wilkes Booth and of his actu i
existence up the present day, have been re-
peated ever since his reported death in q
lonely barn in Virginia at the hams Of his
pursuers, and his subsequent burial in
Washington. All the details of the purs nj /,
death and burial wera published widely a.
the time, with such circunstantisl,ty of
description as would seem there left very
little room indeed for doubt as 10 the iden-
tity of the person or the reality of the events
recounted. 1t may be, though, that the
strange obscurity in viii, were enshroud-
cd the closing scenes of this most dramatic
of all dramas ever enacted on this continent,
was sufficient basis for the growth of the
suspicion which has found a lurking place
In the minds OF many people, from that day
to this, that the assassin had not been cap
tured after al, but that some other unfortu-
nate had been made TO do duty in bis place.
The secrecy which the Washington officials
30 strenuously eDdeavored to preserve alb
solutely inviolable, regarding the disposition
which was made of Booths body, must ne
cessarily have had some purpose, AID by
many it was conjectured that it was only
strategy to place the fugitive and living
Booth offhis guard. 1t was believed to be
a mapeuvre Of the detectives of the same
kind as that alleged to have been recently
attempted In the Goodrich murder case in
New York, where the confession of The
crime of Kate StoddSrd is claimed TO have
been fabrication Of the police, TO assist in
the capture OF the real crimina Roscoe.
no mn A ~
Be that as it may, however, hundreds and
thousands of sensible people firmly believed
from the very first that Wilkes Booth was
never captured, and with many bis present
existence continues matter as strongly ad-
hered to as a5y doctrine of religious ia tn.
Occasionally accounts of bis having been
seen in various places are published, and
whatever truth there may be in the idea
that be is still living, the question whether
be Is the man so strangely buried in Wash
ington has grown into inscrutable mystic
ries, as fascinating as the auth )rship of the
Junius Letters or the identity Of the Man
In the Mask.
Recently reporter of the Republican
learned from Mr.. Henry Maury, Of this
city,the particulars Of remarkable story re.
garding this mysterious question. 1t was
no less than an alleged meeting between
Wilkes Booth snd one of his old acquaint-
ances, the account Of which Mr.. Maury had
from the lips of the man who claimed TO
have met the assassin. The narrative, of
course, was startling, and seemed far more
like fiction than the truth. OF course the
Republican cannot vouch for il; but Mr..
N, however, says that, Notwithstanding it
had the ring Of a sensation, he felt that il
was true 10 every particular, as the nara
tor could have had no motive in fsbricAti0g
q story of such startling character.
A STRANGE STORY.
During the month of June be had visited
Florida, he says, making tour of business
and pleasure combined, visiting numerous
places of note, Pensacola, Key West, Dry
Tortugss, and the st. Johns and Ockla-
Waha rivers, and about the first of July
was en- route for New Orleans and Mem
phis, on board of Mississippi river steam
er. Among the passengers he noticed one
of soldierly bearing, tall, spare made; hair
gray, eyes blue, iron-gray moustaehe and
goatee; about fOrty-five years of age, and
wearing about his dress something that de-
noted 3 sea faring man. BY chance Mr..
Maury was thrown into his company, and
soon found that be was brilliant CONVEX
sationalist, besides being man of refine
ment polished manners. He related
many anecdotes of the sea, some irresis,i-
bly, amusing, and others tragic in their
character, but The last one be related was
the one referred to. Mr.. MsuTy took few
hasty notes of the story SIS it was told him,
and from them aud bis recollection of the
narrative as recited at the time, be has
written an account Of the events very
Ie2ry. he saws, word for word as he heaTdit.
TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION.
Ny name, sa the narrator, is Carroll
Jackson Donelscn, and am blood IT Ia
tive Of Andrew Jackson Donelson, who died
recently at Memphis, Tennessee, (at the
Peabody hoteD for which city am now en-
route TO assist in the settlement of bis es-
tate. During the war between the sections
Twas a captain in the Eighth Texas cSysl
~, known as Terry's Rangers, aud was at
Terry's side when he FELL on the banks of
Green river, in a charge upon Willich's
Germsns. At the close oftbe struggle re-
turned again to the sea, and in 1866 found
myself in San Francisco. There | shipped
on board the ship Kste Hooper, as trst
mate, having on board as passengers, thirty
Chinese women, bound for Shanghai.
Reaching Singapore, we took 10 cargo OF
mahogany, sandalwood, rattan and sugar.
It was in the month of September when we
sailed from Singapore, in the strait OF Ma
Iacca, south of BoTneo, and rounded through
the Molucco isles, Svci ing the monsoons,
and passing on the western ~ side OF the