The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-13
RESEMBLES J. WILKES BOOTH.



Startling Likeness of q Rfchmond Preach
to LincOln's Assassin.
From a romantic point of view, the
| most interesting object of all about the
old Monumental church at Richmond,
Va, is the photograph Of Wilkes Booths
double. 1t hangs in a dark corner OF
the old-fashioned vestry-room, and rep
resents man in the prime Of life stand
ing beside a table, his long clerical
garments giving him increased height
and dignity. The long straight hair is
brushed straight back from the high,
broad forehead, and the face-in every
lineament-is said to be the image OF
Wilkes Booth as he would have ap-
peared at that time. The resemblance
is most remarkable-the deep, black
eyes, the shape of chin, mouth, cheeks,
forehead, eyebrows, and nose, and,
moreover, there is a subtle similarity
to members of the Booth family that
defies description. This man was Rev.
John G. Armstrong, rector of the church
from 1873 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 President Lincoln had passed into
history. There are tales of mysteri-
Gus grave, of body that Tailed in some.
of it's marks with those of Wilkes Booth
and differed materially in others, and
an intangible fabric of superstition built
about series of goSsiped incidents.
However valueleSs these may be his
torically, they show an undercurrent
that found an outbreak in the romance
of Mr.. Armstrong of Monumental
church. The likeness of Mr.. Arm
strong 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
movements and gestures had the repcse
and breadth that most actors acquire
in following their art and living and
working 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 great actor. 1t 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
a shadow over his antecedents. He
came to Richmond comparative stran-
ger and claimed that he was priest
ordained in ireland. An investigation
was quietly started to clear up the facts
as to his past, but did not give entire
satisfaction. In the midst of the con-
stantly reiterated declarations and de-
malls the clergyman was accused Of ir-
regularities in his habits, and this again
called forth the charge that he was not
all he seemed to be. He finally re-
signed the rectorship of the MOnumen-
tai church and went to city in the
extreme south. Shortly after he left the
ministry he sank out of sight and died
i'll 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 denial
a pathetic, heart-broken denial-that he
was Wilkes Booth.