The Mena weekly star., 1897-09-29

grew stronger. They crackled and roared. Wider and wider, and larger
 and larger grew the fiery serpent. It devoured the tinsel coverings of the ceiling of the stage. Screen after screen went away in puffs of flame, each add ing heat to heat, and doom to disaster. Within ten minutes-think of it-- within ten minutes the theater was a
 mass of flames. The tragedy was as
 speedy as it was complete. The tongues
 of flame swept from the stage, hastened forward by the air from rear doors and windows, and like demons rushed after and upon the struggling. suffering crowd. It singed the hair of men and
 women, and ignited their clothing, so that soon the people themselves became
 a part of the holocaust, their bodies burning while they yet lived.
 It was all over in ten minutes; but during that brief time the governor of
 Virginia and 72 others of high rank in the social and official ranks of the old
 dominion, lost their lives, and the city was in mourning; yes, the entire state was shodowed and darkened with woe.
 Early in the spring of 1s12 it was sug- gested that great memorial should be erected by public subscription, and Chief Justice Marshall, of the United States supreme court, assumed charge of the movement. A building fund was raised. Then the remains of the lost were gathered together and placed in a vault beneath the center of the ruins. and around this tomb the people built the Monumental church.
 Having said that there is history, mys- 1 tery and romance connected with this building, and having viewed the history of it's wonderful and pathetic origin, let us look into the mystery and romance of Monumental church. Let us go into the vestry room. There, in that dark corner, hangs upon the wall a picture of John Wilkes Booth, in long clerical garments. The sexton says that it is q picture of Rev.Joh G. Armstrong, who was pastor of Monumental church from | 1878 to 1884.
 The photograph plainly shows, in every line and curve, the broad high forehead and long straight hair, the handsome chin and exquisite profile of John Wilkes Booth. The man is in the prime of life, standing beside table, with serious mien. He is undoubted- ly clergyman, but that is the face of John Wilkes Booth. Every picture ex- tant shows the semblance, and people who saw Booth on the stage, when he was well-known actor, say that the photograph of Rev, John c. Armstrong Is a rrssrfect picture of Booth. '
 There is the mystery, but there is TO- mance also connected with the story for nobody ever knew where the rever- end gentleman came from. It was said that he had been ordained in Ireland. An investigation of his past did not produce satisfactory results. He came to Richmond comparative stranger Every body wondered at the likeness of the man to John Wilkes Booth, and some accused him of being that man. Finally the clergyman was accused of irregularities in his habits, and this started afresh the story that he was not what he claimed to be. At last, in de- spair, he left the ministry, lived in private and died in obscurity. The doubt of his identity hung over him like q pail. On his deathbed, his last words were a denial, an earnest, tear. full denial, that he was John Wilkes Booth.
 TDele were many iiien in Richmond who had heard Booth on tho stage, and who heard Dr. Armstrong in the pulpit, who declared that two men could not be so much alike; in face, form, voice, gesture, every ything; for the preacher was a man of such dramatic manners, that it would have been almost inn possible for any man to have acquired them anywhere except upon the stage. Moreover, it was remarked that he was slightly lame, as Wilkes Booth would undoubtedly have been, after sustain ing the injury which befell him as he jumped from the box to the stage of the theater on the night of the commission of his awful crime.
 It is we'll known that there were doubts expressed by many people in 1 Washington, in 1865, as to whether or not the assassin, Booth, had really been killed. These doubts were often ex- pressed in public prints. When Rev. Dr. Armstrong appeared in Richmond, all of those rumors were revived; and there was such q general dissemination of gossip and rumor that the preacher 1 found himself surrounded by mystery. | When an attempt was made to investi- gate his antecedents. he gave no as- sistance.
 l It is known that he had daughter