Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-03-04
Wilkes Booths Double.
The Curious end Tragic Story of Rev. j
G. Armstrong.

The Curious end Tragic Story of Rev. John
G. Armstrong.
A Richmond letter in the Philadel-
phia Times tells how from u romantic
point OF view the most interesting OBJ
iect of all about the old Monumental
Church, at Richmond. Va. is the photo
graph of Wilkes Booths double. 1t
hangs in dark corner of the old fash
Toned vestry room, and represents a
man in the prime of life, standing be-
side table, his long clerical garm ents
giving him increased height and dlgnl-
ty. The long straight hair is brushed
straight back from the high, broad
forehead, and the face-in its every
lineament-is said to be the image of
Wilkes Booth as he would have appear
ed at that time The resemblance is
certainly most remarxable-the deep.
black eyes, the shape of chin, mouth,
cheeks, forehead, eyebrows and nose
and, moreover, there is a subtle SINH
larity of expression to members OF the
Booth family that defies description.
This man was the Rev John G. Arm
strong, pastor of the church from 1878
to 1884 But even to this day strange
rumors of the final end of Wilkes Booth
are to be heard in places where his
friends and intimates lived and talked
long after the assassination of Presi
dent Lincoln had passed into history.
There are tales of a mysterious grave,
of a body that tailed in some of its
marks with those of Wilkes Booth and
differed materially in others, and an
intangible fabric of supposition built
However valueless these may be his
%oriooJ1y fhau cb0u N NJ
that found an outbreak in the romance
of Mr. Armstrong, of Monumental
Church.
The likeness of Mr.. Armstrong to
Wilkes Booth was so startling that
some people who had seen both men
found it hard to believe that they were
not the same. The preachers manner
might be called dramatic. His move
ments and gestures had the repose ard
breadth that most actors acquire in
following their art and living and work
ing constantly before an audience. He
was, moreover, slightly lame, as Wilkes
Booth would probably have been in
consequence of the injury to his leg
sustained in jumping from President
Lincoln's box. Aside from this fact,
Mr.. Armstrong; manner, voice and
temperament led to the conviction that
were he not a priest he would have
been a great actor. It is said that his
daughter did subsequently go upon the
stage and met with great success.
No subject of discussion was more con
slant in Richmond than the possibility
that Mr.. Armstrong and Wilkes Booth
| were one and the same man Mr.. Arm
strong strenuously denied the identity,
but such denials could not silence the
rumors. There seemed, moreover. to
be shadow over his antecedents. He
came to Richmond a comparative
stranger, and claimed that he was a
priest ordained in Ireland. An investi-
cation was quietly started to clear up
the facts as to his past, but did not
give entire satisfaction. In the midst
of the constantly reiterated declara
tions and dcnials the clergyman was &C
cused of Irregularities in his habits, and
this again called forth the charge that
he was not all he seemed to be. He
finally resigned the rectorship of Mon
umental Church and went to a city in
the extreme South. Shortly after he
left the ministry. sank out of sight and
died in obscurity. But even to the end
the doubt as to his identity hung like
shadow over his life, and when on his
deathbed his last words were a denial
Ia pathetic, heart. broken denial-that
he was Wilkes Booth.