Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-05-01
i GRAYEYARD,S SECRET.

y
10 the resting place Of the Booths, and Of
afterwards finding himself in the old Cath
Ollie cemetery. He continues: The old
sexton I found 10 be an odd character. In
isyears antvenerable quaintness he seemed
10 have aged with this antiquated burying
ground until one might have readily imagin-
ed him sitting in The midnight upon some
one of its memorial monuments holding con.
genial converse with its shccted ghosts.
"hyc sir" hc said, this was once pop
MAR graveyard and one day We used TO put
many 4 oae 49, belonged TO the big Catholic
families Of Baltimore. There's hardly any
funerals here now, and ther!'s mostly poor
| folks
inquired If he buried any Of The Booths
over in Glecnmount. The old man unused
| q while 4t the mention Of the name. He
then looked up and said:
Il remember that name. | have buried
50 many in my time that can't just exactly
tcll about ii. They is u sort of queer family
oi actors, ant thay?''
| explained 10 the old grave digger as
best | could who they were and the object
Of my Inquiry. He leaned his hropzed, un-
shaven chin upou the palm of his tough
and SCARED hand and pondered while.
Without a word he slipped Off his
perch upon the stone wall, and, shoulder.
| Jog his nseparable spade beckoned me
| to follow him. He led the way through the
| almost neglected paths, by numerous crumb
| ling columns, and in beyond the Lombardy
| poplars to y very lonely spot, hating at
| last before sunken mound that looked as
| if years had passed since loving hands had
| tended the iorsaken grave. There was a
plain headstone Indicating the spot, but
| that was all. Even it was brown with age
and crumbling into decay. STOPPING down
| il the fading sunlight Of the early spring
| evening copied the dim inscription which
follows: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, pray for
! ;he scyii oE Mary Christine Adelaide Delan-
roy, wife Of Junius Brutus Booth, tragedan.
She died in Baltimore, March the 9th, 1855,
aged GG years. 1t is a holy and wholesome
thought to pray for the dead. May she rest
in peace"
elder BOOTH" said to the sexton.
''They says 50, but don't remember ali
about ii. For few years after this grave
was made tall, solelnn-looking man, that
out hero to visit it. He used 10 pay me to
keep it fixed up, but it's lnany I; year since
I have seen him and nobody else has ever
cared for it. | have kcpttne stone propped
up and the mound from sinking all the way
down, but | can't do mnch.'
! asked the old man but few more ques-
| tioms and then turned toward the city. His
words. nobody else has ever cared for it,"
kept running through my mind. But this
Wa. not the only thought There is some
mystery about this lonely grave, for the
| widow 81 tIhe first Junius Brutus Booth and
mother Of The present generation is still
alive. | remembered that Mrs. Asia Booth
! Clarke had written u memoir OF her family,
and that the preface 10 at least one addition
Of tia. book contained the following para
graph:
"Of my fathers family there were ten
children, five of whom arc livng-Junius.
Rosa,ie. Edwin. Asia and Joseph. BY Il
boyish mcsalKance contracted at Brussels in
the year 1914 there was one son who if alive,
is still . resident of London, and of whom
we pCs.ess no further knowledge"
These singular sentences had years ago
s,ruck me with peculiar force when l first
read them. At once the lonely grave i'll
the half-deserted graveyard became associa-
ted with this mcsalliance. Certainly this
must he the grave Of the woman Booth had
married III the Belgian capital seventy years
ago, and about whom roshin9 appears to be
known.
An hour later, and while Ibis subject was
still running riot in my mind, met an old
gentleman, long |. resident Of this city,
aud to him related the curious story | had
learned from this g-avestone. He turned
quickly. and looking at me said You
have solved the mystery. That is the
:.rave of Booths divorced wife. She died
nearly six years after her gifted husband.
Thev never lived together long after their
Cor ba
Christian--a kind, gentle woman; certain
" not a corgenial companion for such a
man as Booth Had she been strong enough
to have secured an influence over him she
might have directed his career in less
stormy paths"
"Was there no issue By this marriage?" l
asked
"Ycs. one son: but he inherited neither
the gifts nor caprices OF his father. He
followed mis- mothers bent and took to the
church cannot say whether he becamea q
priest or not, but he was a teacher IN one OF
the notable Catholic institutions here
think il was in the old S.. Mary's Seminary
or PENNSYLVANIA avenue. now the Sulplcian
Seminary. III remembir Alright, he went
bv his mothers maiden name, Dclannoy.
ljy impression is that he, too, is dead, 1cr
have not heard of him for years. Both he
and his mother mad sad life, and CAME %
lhis country TO establish the legitimacy ot
their relations to the actor, which had been
questioned. Their strugglewas hard one,
AID lie kept the wolf from the door BY
teaching. He had little resenl hi::uce 10 his
father, except in that rather neiaHohoiy
.urn which occasionally distinguished the
latter. He was pious a'd stustion: man
ard inclined to the life OF q fecluse. H. was
net lnourner at the burial ot Ills ia'haT,
and always felt that shadow ha's been Cast
over his life by the secrecy which enveippea