The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-02-07
John Wilkes BOOTH q or i lNSoIN NLlVe2

| the clothing OF the three plasterers wal
| lying. They removed their own and donneS
! these.
they then startea' for Dr. Mudds. u we'll
known Confederate sympathizer. whose
, place was south OF Washington on the un'
T, derground route. Booth suffered great,
| from his ankle. They came to two roau.
! branching of, and. the night being darn
they took the wrong one of these by mis-
| take. They went many miles before thel
found they We're lost but were finally di
rected TO Thomas Jones house. Jones wa
one of Mudds overseers. Here they staye'
| for several days. Secret service was opene'
UP between there and Washington. an'
Booth was kept closely In touch with wha
was going on.
Two of these messengers were Edward
Fox and Dave Harold. Booth was great!
worried over having left his discarded sui
! in Washington. II contained pagers which
would incriminatc many others, and which
were also of the greatest necessity to him
! 1t was arranged that Fox and Harold were
| TO don the clothes--the former Booths an,
| the latter Ritters-and were to meet then
on the morning of the sd at Richter's barn
eighteen miles distant. 1t becoming appar
/ ent that the Jones house was not altogether
safe any longer.
At dusk on the night Of the 22d Jones ant
| Ritter put Booth on horse and made wa,
! to the ferry. where they were forced tC
abandon the animal They were then four
teen miles from the barn y had been
raining and this ground was very muddy
the mud very J,icky, and although the tive
almost carried Booth. mud accumulated on
! hls shoes so as to draw the half-mended
bones out of place and made them very
| painful. When eight miles away they
sought refuge In an old hut. known as
Elzabeth's hut. Ritter dressed his wounds
The next morning man. whom Ritter
did not know, entered the hut and said
Booth. You are a dead man--you was
Killed at Richters two hours ago"
II was then explained that Fox aud Har-
rold had arrived at the barn in the clothes
Of Booth and Ritter Fox's horse had kick
ed him and he was lame. Harold had
/ helped him to the barn and they were seen
TO enter. The rest is known as told In the
death of John Wilkes Booth. Fox and
Booth were remarkably alike in appearance
| the former even having a scar on his necl,
! Hike the one on Booths neck lie had on
! Booths clothes and looked every inch like
! him.
The $4,000 reward FASTENED the trial. thu
remains We're Inferred and BOOTH was dead
to the world 1no,h swore the man to se-
crecy and he left the cottage or hut imme.
diaiely They rested there for several days
until Booths leg was again healed
on May 6 they sailed out of the port OF
/ AlfiA'illild hNuuNl tut s~Duln America. oit
| Trinidad the boat took fire, and was run
ashore From hero they went overland 10
tho Amazon. thence up the Amazon and
then by rail and overland to Para, where
| they were net by Andrew Enoth the Ger
man exile and his daughters Two day.
| later Ritter was married and Booth, re-
covering from his injury late in the fall.
was also married. 10 the sister. Today
says Ritter, John Wilkes Booth is Enos. the
great South American actor Enos Is taken
from Enoth. the wlfe'S name. Ritters wife
was killed In a runaway and few years
ago he returned to the United States. lie
landed in Anderson three months ago.
HITTER Is CORROBoRATED.
Such IL the story, but the corrob5ration
Of 1t is Interesting It will be remembered
that Lewis j. Welchman, student. who
lived at the Surratt home in Washington
was the man who gave the testimony which
sent the Surratts. Harold, Paine and others
to the gallows Weichman disappeared
shortly afterward and has not been heard
OF since. He is now Professor Weichmau
Of the Anderson Normal observatory.
Among the people whom Ritter met in
Washington was Wcichman. An intimacy
| Sprang up between them. a month ago Rit-
ter entered restaurant in this city. lie
was turning to go out when he heard a
man speak He had not heard that voice
for thirty-one years. but lie turned and
looked at the owner.
lie then went up to him and extending
his hand said "IIow do you do, WEIGH
mani" The latter looked up and said. II
believe | do not know you" well, look at
TINS, then" and saying this he unbuttonod
his coat and with his thumb nail filmed
UP triangular watch charm. Weichman's