, 1885-03-17
JOHN WILKES BOOTH.
a STORY CONCERNING THE olsIN-
rERMENT OF HIS REMAINS.
The only Newspaper Man Who Was
Present Gives the History Ia De-
tan-A Long Disputed Matter
definitely Set nj Hest.

them. / ought to know whether he was
killed or not. The circumstance related TO
the fact that / was the only newspaper man
present at the disinterment OF Booths body
demonstrato the truth, that every event or
incident ia tho experience OF a writer for the
prsss may become OF value TO him, II he Is
fortsnate enough IT, remember IT, when oc-
casion Is presented 10 make use ont. The
whole story is, perhaps, worth the telling.
like many stories, It has to begin at a time
long preceding the main fact, but in this
case the connection between the first event
and the principal one is as singular rs It IS
direct.
A year or two after the war, when 1 had
ceased from occasional work for Tho Eagle
and was regularly engaged by The New
York World. the acting city editor Of that
paper asked me to go over 10 Hoboken, 10
the old Eiysian Fields, and do" an intro
ductlon to the extremely full report Of a
great base ball match which tho sporting
man on that Journal was TO write. ! was
glad enough to drop exchanges and brewer
Tor on afternoon Of fresh air and nonpareil
lendoi. While over there, / fell In with a
man vino was, l think, named Baker, and
who represented himself as chief Of the
Secret Service detectives or as having been
lately the chief of them. They wore
the mon who made the arbitrary
arrests IN the war and the arrests
OF revenue offenders after the war.
Baker was then regarded with the same
measure Of affection and respect now ac-
corded to John l. Davenport or Anthony
Comstock. The man who called himself
Baker was somewhat drunk and inclined u
bn boastful and communicative.
Bear in mind that tho same questions which
The World lately revived were then preva-
I.nt l.. Tho nraac uraa fntarpefad In than
and thought that a man who could assuredly
answer them would AVE matter for IA good
article for his newspaper, Accordingly, l
encouraged Baker not TO get any
more sober, and to become Ia conse-
ouence moro communicative The Of
fort was successful. BY maintain
ing that Booth was not killed, but had e.
cared, and by insisting that the silence OF
tho government about the place OF his burial
or the disposition OF his remains proved that
he had never beon killed, / melted in Baker an
inclination to swear and to bet more money
than tho contents OF my weekly enyelope
justified me in believing had any existence
IN all this world. At last, under my doltihh
incredulity, Baker while evidently most re
Iuctantly parting with tho information, said
to mo. 4Don't be a fool. Booth was Killed
Just as was printed. He Is buried under thu
floor Of the old arsenal, on the Island, In
Washington. ought TO know, for helped
bury him there
That was tho Information / was after. |
withdrew from the mans company long
enough 10 write down "Under the floor ct
tho old arsenal, ON the Island, in Washing
ton. Never having up 70 that time been In
Washington, the direction was Greek 10 me,
but ] felt certain the place could be found
u An endeavor IN my part to get The
NT-~II ....I. e. "a khta -. rnrtf rlnru In fha
same light OF Importance, In which it APP
pearoi to me, did not succeed. They thought
that tho man whom | never again saw
might not have been Baker at all, and that
his statement might be a sell
A. time went on, l studied everything that
was written about John Wilkes Booths fell
decd: about his capture; his death and the
spsculations concerning his burial, or ths
burning, the boiling or the submsrsion OF
his body. All these pleasant theories were
advanced and advocated. The result was
that / familiarized myself with every fact
AMI allegation in the matter, even Interview
ing that intolerahle bowling Dervish, Boston
Corbett, who shot him, touching all he knew
nnl all he thought he knew on the subject,
But there did not seem to be any verlhcation
OF Under the door of the old arsenal, ON the
Island, In Washington"
AAE . wa" - ~ ACAhA - 49, 49,
upe.fected way, a long while afterward. /
had acquaintances who were Spiritualists
Without much difficulty / learned the ele-
ments Of the business at one or two seanceL
They evoked rapz One rap meant yes
two meant ANo,p uIroe meant II don't
know Then the lesters Of the alphabet
were indicated by such a number of raps as
represented the number OF the letter re-
quirei 20 spell out a communication
In tbs pastime l made several discoverieA.
! could not detect any fraud in the raps; /
had no reason to suspect the honesty Of the
sitters; l could not find that any communi-
cation from tho spirits related TO matters
not in the knowledge Of some one present; l
could neither evoke the raps nor make them
myself, but l could make the table tip to
ward me, n where 1 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, II
he saw or suspected il. | was perfectly
aware, however, that l was making all the
tippings aud / never developed a message
which ] did not invent or ~extemporize. l
found or was told It wa often the case that
"some MEDIUMS could not evoke raps, but
could evoke tps," and l was declared to be
a very excellent and favored medium-one
OF the most remarkable tippsrs ever known"
One night, in a private house in Brooklyn,
/ made ono Of a sitting company OF eleven
rarsons, all Of them accredited mediums The
imp Of the perverse or OF the mischievous OF
Of the sensational must nave possessed me.
/ tipped up Washington, Socrates, Burns,
Andrew Jackson, Cotton Mather and other
people who were Individually dead. As l
knew more about them than any one olss
present. they made no mistakes, or at least
none which was found out Then on an i'm
pulse, which the descriptive slang Of later
days has called "a lark" l tipped up the al
legged spirit Of John Wilkes Booth, distinctly
remembering now that l hesitated whether
! would tip up John Wilkes or John Wilkes
Booth No sooner had hat interesting per
son spiritually announced himself than
there was a simultaneously executed
recession Of most OF the sitters from
the table. Revulsion, fear and
amazement made the mixed cause. Qnickly
curiosity gained the balance OF power and
carried the day. There was a return to tho
table, after an interval in which John
Wilkes Booth was getting ready to be -in-
teryiowcd.1 Questions come thick and fast,
bnt answers were ready. Was he sorry he
did III He wa very sorry. What made him
do itl Wicked passions made him do it. Had
DO seen Mr.. Llncplni He had not, but an
other spirit hsd born to him Mr. Lincoln's
forgiveness This Wns received with much
appreciation. Wa be at peacei Nos no wa8
rroyed ni by rcmorse, hut he was undergo.
Ing publication b. reelection, and he hoped