Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-03-15

e.ouyn 10 write dowa u a1er tne nOor O
TIE Oil arsenal. On the Island, in Washing
f toa." n yer having up - that time been il
Washington the direction was Greek C. me-
bat felt certain the place could be found
out Al endeavor On my part to get Tn
World people to see this apparent clew in tn,
s slrne E,h: OF Importance, in which it ap
peare TO me. did not succeed. They though
that tie IN tw1om I never again saw
might not hav, been B k,r u. all. and tina
hi, statement mi yht he 4 sell
As time went on, -tldied everything tha
was written about John Wilkei Booths Eel
deed; about his capture; his death and the
speculation5 concerning his burial. or tn
! burning, the boiling or the subm.r,io oil
his body. these pleasant theories wer.
advanced ami advocated The resul. wa
that famiiiarlzed myself with every fac;
an allegation in the IN liter, even interview
ing tn I intol.rable hswliny Dsrvish, Boston
C5Fbett, who shot in, touching all he knew
a.. IL lie thought ne knew on the subject,
Blu, there did not seem to be any verifcatior
Of u lder the floor OF tn, old arsenal, on the
Island, Washington"
The matter was to te brought up in ar
Unex er;el way, a long while afterwarI
had 'qia.ntGn es who were Spir.tualists
Without much difficulty / learned the ele-
ments Of the business at one or two seancei
They evoked raps. One rap meant Yes:
two meant NO. three meant Il don't
know Then the letters Of the aIplIbc.
were indicated by such a number OF ra;ss u 4;
represented the number o. the litter re-
quirei ID spell out q communication
In til pas-me ] made several ds,-overie =;
l could not detect any fraud in the raps:
had no reason t. susp ct tie honesty Of IL /.
sitterS; coul no. find thst any commgni-
cation ON tn spirits relatei u matters
not IN the knowedGe IF SONS one present;
could neither evoke the rsps nor make them
myS If, but could make the table tip TO-
ward ME, AMI where / sat, by a motion or
pressure OF my wrists or OF either wrist
which no one else saw or suspected, or
which, at least, none of them referred 10, il
he saw or suspected If. I was perfectly
aware, however. that was making all the
tippings a ID i never developed a message
which / did not invent or extemporize
found or was told it was often the case that
some me iiu.ns could not evoke raps. but
could evoke tips" and l was declared % b,
! very ex client an | favored m.dium-ona
OF the most remarkable tipp.rs ever known
! One night, n private house il BROOKLYN.
made one of sitting COMPANY os eleven
persons, all OF them &C credited meliunI Toe
imp o. tle perver or of the mischieyOus or
Of he sens itional must have pos e,sel me.
tipped up Washington, Socrates. Burns,
Andrew Jackson, Cotton Mather AMI oihcr
people who were indubitab!y doli. A,
knew moro about taem than any ons else
present they made 10 mistak s. or at least
none which was found out Then on an i'm
pulse, which the descriptive slang OF later
days has called n lark" 1 tipped up the al
legged spirit .. John Wilkes Booth, distinctly
remenib, ring now that l hesitated whether
would tip up joan Wilkes or John Wilkes
Booth. No sooner had that interesting per-
son spiritually announced himself than
there simultaneously executed
recession Of most OF tho sitters from
the table. RevulSion, fear and
amazeme mt made the mixed cause Quickly
curiosity gained the balance OF power and
carried the day. There was q return to the
table, after an interval in which JOHN
Wilkes Both was getting ready TO be in
terv.ewel-" Questions come thick and fast,
but sn,wers were rOady. Was lie sorry hs
did il. He wa, very sorry. What made him
do II. Wicked passion, made him do it Had
he seen Mr. Lincolni He had not, but an
other spirit had born to him Mr. Lpcoln's
forgiveness. This was received with much
apr baton. Was he at peace! No; he wa
preyel nn by remorse, but be was undergo
ing purItcation by reflection, and he hoped
for peace. Thfs was thought 70 tie
rmincntly appropriate, and one lady
remarked soto vocs. ale was SO hand
snme"-meaning Booth not me. Further ques-
tons developed M Booths true and partic-
u!ar account Of the event of April Is, 1865,
All ms complete statement Of his moral con-
di,,, an of his absolute knowledge Of the
+ nth. illness OF spiritualism and of the
duty Of every one TO embrace it, "a well as
the welcomes, Of those who rejected it
The lest was soon to come.
Among those present was a foxy, earnest
and incisivs officer of the United States
arms, on the retire list He cut across the
stream of emotional. and moral, and repor
tOrial questions with this one.
Il wish II ask the spirit where his body
was IurieIT
! instantly tipped out, amid breathless
silence:
Under the floor of the oil arsenal, on the
Island. at Washington.
There We're those present who knew had
never teen in Washington, and, therefore,
could not he aware Of locality 50 definitely
given There were thoso present intensely
interested in tie question of where Booth
WA buried, for had made them interested
in It Tie answer was plump. prompt and
p, sIt.ve. ctaer quest ions about who buried
him who was turiel with him, etc, were
beyond NY knowledge The spirit there
fore, Iarr.ei them by an assurance that
such disclosures panied him to exhaustion.
AID J.: would lie better TO summon the spirits
4 j. com AIDES in the assassination.
CuTi u,ly enough. all efforts to summon
any Il item were unsuccessful. There was
reue:ai expression of regret that the feel
in.-s of tine contrite Booth had been LAGER
a;,.i unduly. The colonel. at the last, ex-
pr. sd himself satisfied. He said he had
b,en stationed at that arsenal when he was
q ,uia.t,rl. lie described tho Locality by
saying tnat a canal, then and now dry
,ch mad leen built between one point on
tn, upier Potomac and another on the
lower Po-omac making the land between it !
and the river bank al island. On that land
b. q! ar-enal was situated II was aI-
, + az. I'd by road runnin, out
rom sixth street, nearly opposite the Ma /,
-.oI =. Lotei, on Pennsylvania avenue,
The discussion in the press TO how and
vi ere Booth was buried revived about this /
time. Finally, after nearly three months. /
SuT-eo General Barnes wrote an open let |
ter 10 an .Hqairins friend sayin, that Booth I
WIZ JDE4el anlcr Inc moor OF inc Olu
ar>enal, on the l,lanl, III Washington" AMI |
GIVING generally the time and circumstance I
II AZ was official
Nv Old friend the colonel took immediate 1
o,c. son in a letter to a Spiritualistic paper |
to declare that. while the tardy information /
4 lie surgeon general was correct, the |
Spir.iualist,, or at least some of them had ]
known the fac; for some time, because the /
.rirlt Il Enqth had while La. the r,,loreD 4
was Pre- ent, given distinctly TIE informa-
tim uf tie place OF his burial TO a rising 4
youug journalist iahem) who was one Of the /
most careful and in.pFeSsionable MEDIUMS he |
La ever seen.
AID 10 this letter the gallant colonel /
signed his name, after had with difficulty /
gotten MIN 10 leave my name out and had .
by b,u,hed at his characterization of me. |
Nv memory Of AMI trust in what Is lker /
hal told me. when lie was under an excess !
both o; It, iluai and OF ardent spirits. stood
me in good stead They who had been of
little faith on The World were rebukel /
knew they were, though they never said SO.
In 1863 was sent to Washington as cor
respondent OF lhe World and Of The Eagle
In Eel ruary Of the latter year l began the
Of an interview with President
Andrew Jokn>on, TO he published on March
/. lSC9. a. his farewell utterance as pr-si-
dent, to the American people. 1t required
me 10 meet HIM very frequently, question
him very closely and listen 10 him very at
tentIvely. Then, as the different chapters
finished, he and | would SO over them care
fully At ihat time the administration had 1
given up 10 relatives all the boiie, Of the
coaSFirst = which had been requested. e1-
-. that az Roth The iiSiu,erulsrt OF