Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-15

NOLONGER ASECRET
Unwritten Romance in the Life
of LincoIn's Assassin.
WILKES BOOTHS DAUGHTER.
Facts Brought Out by a Bet Which an Old
Time Manager Decided--A New Phase
In the Character of the Monomaniac 40
tor-The Bet Lraw but the
Secret is Out-The Lady
Has Many Friends.
WILKES BOOTHS DAUGHTER.
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
New YoK, Nov f4-It must be true that
e New Yorker will bet on anything, in or
out of reason. The Gothamite of the true
type IS dead game sport, and IN an argu-
ment of any sort money talks with him.
The smoke OF the election battle had hardly
cleared away, and the Hoffman house cash.
Ter had not ceased paying campaign stakes
to the winners before two well known man.
ayers were heard to make bet that was as
unique as it was incomprehenSlble. t1zZ
had flowed before they wagered, it seemed,
and it so happened that their talk had been
on the ''palny days. and the actors who
reigned in them. Both managers We're
veterans, and both were enthusiastic in
their loyalty to the memory of John Wilkes
Booth, the assassin, the genius, and the
brother of Edwin Booth. It's an odd cir
cumstance that every old-time actor, act
ress and manager believes firmly that John
Wilkes Booth was the greatest star of his
day. His crime has not shaken their be-
lief in his genius. There is still n falter-
ing in their worship of his brilliant and
meteoric stage achievements, which, after
the lapse of Il quarter century, have gained
rather than lost luster.
1t is the delight of the ''has beens" among
our players to tell of Wilkes Booths eccen-
tricIties, of his triumphs before the foot
lights, and his conquests behind the scenes !;
IL was Oub VI IL EtlllulStCutldi CudU VI
this kind, which was listened to almost
reversNlally by group of younger actors
thnSs8He managers mentioned got to betting
Fs0ne, who may be called Grizzle, because
that is not his name, had declared that
Wilkes Booth had never welded, and that
he was therefore childless. But the other,
Il Westerner of many oaths, of keen memory
and unlimited capital. had here interposed
correction, and as each was certain of his
ground-to hear them talk you would have
fancied both We're bosom cronles of the
gloomy actor in his widest days--the wager
was quickly made. 1t was for sum as large
as plungers generally place on turf
''cinch," and the oddity of the contested
point was quickly noised about the Rialto.
The bettorS agreed upon referee in the
person of one whose impartiality was ad-
mitted, and whose right to decide the wager
was based upon an intimate study of the
Booths and the American stage generally.
He seemed ayerse, at first, to settle the
dispute.
Il am sorry you made wager like that"
he said. Your argument has caused COM
ment The laying of bet and the deciding
of it will only spread matter that should
have been forgotten thirty years ago."
But Manager Grizzle was persistent. 81
knew Wilkes Booth as well as | know you"
he said; land my money says, first, that he
never married. and second that he never
mad son nor daughter.
II will not draw down. either" de-
clared his opponent. Booth acted in my
house a dozen times. / had his condolences
oftener than l wished. l knew his inner
most secrets. My money bets that he was
either secretly or publicly married, and
that he had child. Let X decide it,
Then all the younger actors clamored for
the decision, and the oracle ''ope'd KS
mouth. :"
CarNfl yrnIr hoy tod DC Il
time, and your money goes neither way. In
a sense, Manager Grizzle is right; for John
Wilkes Booth never led woman to any altar
nor called any woman wife. In a sense, too,
Manager Grizzlies opponent is right; for
John Wilkes Booth was as surely father
as that we are here, and that this bet was
made.''
A dozen listeners chimed in with exclama-
lions of surprise and demands for an eX-
PLANTATION.
Then the oracle said. with that delibera-
ton and lmpreSSiveneSS which mark the
cocksure informant: at is another chapter
of romance in the sad book of Wilkes
Booths life. Nearly all of you know or
have heard of his power to fascinate
women. He never denied that he had
used that fatal gift as often as the opportu
nifty presented itself to him. His conquests
were numerous, varied, and more than once
remarkable. A score of brilliant women,
some of them noted had worsniped at the
shrine of this imperOuS, impulSive and sell
fish actor. These had been famous ac-
tresses who proudly accepted his caresses,
and there is one alive, rich and conspicu-
Gus, who still declares he was the only man
she ever loved. 1t seems to ME that Wilkes
Booth with all his sentimentality never lost
his heart save once; and it is because he
did that this wager has become a draw.
The one woman who was truly loved by
him was d Boston actress of that day,
member of famous stock company there,
beautiful creature, but self-willed and in
ordinately ambitious. She did not at first
court Booths attention but when attracted
by her personal charms, he began to WOO
her. she could not long resist his impet-
uosity and his eloquence. 1t is to her
credit that she believed he meant to marry
her. He vowed so to her at any rate, and
it is known that he did not publicly deny
their engagement when a newspaper of
that day limited at it. But there never Was
marriage for the public prints to chroni-
Gle. Wilkes Booth lived and died wifeless.
Yet before he passed away he had held in
his ar ms daughter, the love child of the
Boston actress who had intrusted her
honor into his keeping. He did not fulfill
his vows. Perhaps he would have kept
them if he had lived.
''One person, at least, believes sacredly
that he intended to do justice to the mother
of his child. That person is herself, the
daughter of John Wilkes Booth.
She is proud of the family name, because
she has assumed it publicly since she was
able to speak, and she is equally proud of
her Inflated father, whose paternity she
has openly and at times detiantly acknowl-
edged. Moreover, she is on the American
stage to-day, an actress of uncommon
power, brilliant converSationalist,a hand
some woman, and, thank heaven, a happy
wife apaNPoted mother. For the past few
S66 mas been leading lady in troupes
mostly through Western and
Northwestern territory Her friends among
actors are both numerous and loyal. They
know her romance, and they respect her
worth. 1t Is not a secret-she does not so
consider it. Her husband is, or was very