Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-26
DEATH OF WILKES BOOTH,
interesting Letter from One Of
the Garrett Boys.

MIR. r. B. Garrett, Of Carlisle, KY,
a son Of the man who owned the barn
in which Wilkes Booth was killed,
makes the following correction in re-
gard to a subject touched upon by
"Gath" in a recent letter:
CARLISLE, Ky, October Is, 1881.
To the Editor Of the Enquirer.l
In your issue Of October 18th, at
the close Of a long letter from Gath,
there is the following paragraph, being
a statement made to him by a passen-
ger on one Of the Rappahannock river,
(Va.) boats: young Garrett VINO
told the Union soldiers that wilkes
Booth was in the barn, lives on a farm
ON the river called Liberty Hill, which
he rents from some bankers in Fred
e~rieksburgh. The imputation Is that
he betrayed Booth, and that the iami-
" received part Of the reward, &c.
But no gentleman would think 1t.
\ Ii is a sore subject with
the family, and the old people at the
Garrett farm would probably not talk
to YOU much about it. The truth is,
they never received anything, except,
perhaps, a few hundred dollars to re-
build the barn"
As one ofthe Garrett boys, Mr.. Ed
itor, will you allow me to make a few
corrections in the above statement
1.-THE truth of the matter is" that no
body who ever took the trouble Of
reading an account of the capture OF
| John Wilkes Booth, and had sense
enough to understand what he read,
ever thought that he wss betrayed at
al. 1t was proved at the inquest held
over the body Of Booth, and proved
at the trial of his aec0mplice, David
Harold in the military courtat Wash
~ington, that none Of our family ever
knew who Booth was until after he
was shot. This was also proved BY
his dying words: Captain, it is hard
that this mans property should be de-
stroyed when he knows nothing Ofne."
He was introduced to my father under
a fictitious name and as a wounded
! Confederate soldier, and such We
thought him to be until he lay gasp
ing in death, when the Union officer
hrst told us his name"
As to the odd people at the Gar
rett farm" being unwilling to talk on
the subject, that is simply a stretch Of
the gentleman's Imagination. In the
first place. there are none Of the odd
people" there. They are dead long
ago. And though hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of visitors have Gene TO
see the place We have always willingly
told them all We knew Of the circum
stances, though in some cases, where
the visitors we're newspaper men, and
the story afterward appeared in print,
it was a very different story from the
one they got from Us.
Again, Gath's informant says: The
truth is, they never received any thing
except q few hundred dollars to re-
build the barn. The truth is We
never received cent to rebuild the
barn OF Tor any ether purpose. The
barn has never bsen rebuilt, and one
tall charred post IS al that IS left to
marx the spot where the barn stood.
The only sore part Of the subject
With Us Is that our property vas need
llessly destroyed and never replaced
The war vas over when the barn was
burnt aud it vas . useless Gss-uc-
ton. Could uoi thiTg-siI uea take
one nan without burning : house
down over him. Aud Fhsa 50 zsnT
loyal Cd subjects II the South have
been paid f0T property Destroyed dur
ling the war, 1t looks hard that oas
should not Be paid for property De
stroyed b. United States Troops after
the var. The barn vas = very
large building. 10. Lang e1zplsts5,
and contained a the uns al q ths
farming implements and uzshi-e-.
we owned, none Of which vss zVsi
!, The part Of the reward Whica H.
family received vas tT0 U0aths IN
prisonment in the dungeon q The OF
= Arsenal at Washington fcr the ".
= Garrett boys, and abuse and slands.
without measure for the Ehols fan
lily.
They were kept in prison Until i
was proved that they knew nothing q
! the man who vas bat of upon then
under a false name; and when released
they we're accused By 0Be aide Of haT-
boring the assassin Of the President.
and By the other side Of b~etraying =
man who had risked his life for the
Lost Cause" and abused By both
sides without measure.
That was the part Of the reward
the Garrett boys received for their
, share in the whole matter. and anybOdy
would have been perfectly welcome u
all Of it if they desired it. Respect
fully. r. B. GARRETT,
Pastor Carlisle Baptist Church.