Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-03-10
Wilkes BOOTHS DOUBLE.
Remarkable Photograph on the Walls
of the Old Monumental Church.

OF me Otd monumental (nuTCn'
In the old Monumental church, al
Richmond, Va, which is one Of the
most remarkable houses of worship in
America, there is romantic object
in the shape of a photograph Of
Wilkes Booths double. 1t hangs in
dark corner of the old-fashioned
vestry room and represents man in
the prime of life standing beside a
table, his long clerical garments Civ
ing him increased height and dig
nifty. The long, straight hair is
brushed straight back from the high,
broad forehead, and the face-in
every hneament--is said to be the
image of Wilkes Booth as he would
have appeared at that time. The re-
semblance is certainly remarkable
the deep, black eyes, the shape of the
chin, mouth, cheeks, forehead, eye
brows and nose-and moreover there
is subtle similarity of expression to
members of the Booth family that de
fies description.
This man was Rev. John G.. Arm
strong, pastor 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 in
Inmates lived and talked long after
the assassination of President Lin
coin had passed into history. There
are tales of mysterious grave, of a
body that tailed in some of it's marks
with those of Wilkes Booth and diff
fered materially in others, and an in
tangible fabric of supposition built
upon a series of gossiped incidents.
However valueless these may be his.
torically, they show an undercurrent
that found an outbreak in the ro-
nance of Mr.. Armstrong, Of the
Monumental church.
The likeness of Mr.. Armstrong to
Wilkes Booth was so startling that
some people who had seen both men
found it hard 70 believe that they
were not the same. The preachers
manner might be called dramatic.
His movements and gestures had the
repose and breadth that most actors
require in following their art and liv-
ing 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.. Arm
strong's manner, voice and tempera-
ment 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 sue
cess.
No subject of discussion was more
constant in Richmond than the pos
sibility that Mr. Armstrong and
Wilkes Booth were one and the same
man. Mr.. Armstrong strenuously
denied the identity, but such details
could not silence the rumors. There
seemed, moreover to be a shadow
over his antecedents. He came to
Richmond a comparative stranger
and claimed that he was a priest
ordained in Ireland. An investiga-
ton 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
declarations and denials the clergy
man was accused of irregularities in
his habits, and this again called forth |
the charge that he was not what he
seemed to be. He finally resigned
the rectorship of Monumental church
and went to city in the extreme
south. Shortly after he left the
ministry, he sank out of sight and
died in obscurity. But even to the
end the doubt as t. his identity hung
like a shadow over his life, and when
on his deathbed, his last words were
a denial-a pathetic, heart-broken
denial that he was Wilkes Booth.
The picture hanging in the vestry
room of Monumental church is said |
to be the only one in existence of this
strange man. The shadows that sur
round it screen the counterfeit fea-
lures from even the glance of casual
visitor. But whoever climbs up and |
gazes into those eyes sees a human
document so pregnant of possibilities
that its very romance robs the place
of its reality. Near by the altar lies
enshrouded in it's solemn hush. The
church, even in its silence, seems
alive with whispers, as each sound,
however slight, is echoed around it's
haunted dome.-Philadelphia Times.
Told for a True Story,