The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-24
IS BOOTH STILL ALIVE
The Old Story Of Lincoln's As
sasin Again Revived.
SAID TO BE IN BRAZIL
Mr.. Ritter Says It Was Fox Who Was
Killed in the Barn-John H.. Sur
rats statsment-New Light
on the Crime.

On q stormy April night 81 years ago
last Thursday night. the most atrocious
crime in the history Of the nation was
committed. The night of April IA, 1866,
marked the greatest American tragedy
in the same degree that the gray dawn
of the following day recorded the Bit
terest sorrow a people ever felt.
From year to year the story Of the
assassination of President Lincoln has
been told-in magazines and newspa-
pers. at firesfdes and on platforms-un-
I'll the children in the nursery knew the
outline of the conspiracy and place the
name Of John Wilkes Booth with that
Of Benedict Arnold Here and there. in
out OF the way places through the coun-
try, are men who can tell interesting
stories of the dark event, OF the plans
which preceded and the deeds which
followed. Some were eye-witnesses OF
the shooting and others saw the hang
ing of Mrs. Surratt and her confeier-
ates. Two were of the IL who, directly
and Indirectly. were connected with the
murder itself. The other nine who were
charged with a part In the plot OF as
s~assination are dead. Three-Payne.
Atzerodt and H~arrold-died on h scat
fold by the side of Mrs. Surratt, while
DIR. Samuel A. Mudd, Samue Arnold
dilu 0lICudc l<duSniih NhuCN ~
lives in imprisonment on the Dry Tor
tugas, the lesser tools serving their PEN
itentiary terms, but not long surviving
to enjoy the blessings of after liberty.
The two who live are enemies, for one
Is John H.. Surratt, son of Mrs. Surratt,
and with her charged as an accessory
to the assassination, and the other Is
L. J.. Welchmann, who was the princi-
pal witness in the prosecution. The
Chronicle is able to present to-day state
ments from both Of them. the first they
have made in all these years. They con-
nict as much to-day as when they were
made in the court where, over two
years after the murder, JOIN III. Surratt
stood trial, through the disagreement
of the Jury ultimately gaining him free
dom.
The story that the man slain in Rich
ter's barn was not Booth, but his COM
panion, Fox. is also revived by the mar
rative of q German, Christopher Ritter.
who claims that he fed with Booth to
Brazil, where, he says. Booth is still
alive.
In Anderson. Ind, at the present time
are to be found two of the three inn
portant characters whose words in re-
gard to matters pertaining to the con-
splracy have the freshness Of personal
remembrance. Louis j. Welchinann, as
a professor and teacher of language, is
GOnOuCtlnk inert a. StfIdn put "th
known private school. In a cot in st.
Mary's hospital Christopher c. Ritter Is
wing waiting for the coming of death.
Friends or Louis j. Welchmann say
that he is a prosecuted man and that
his life is under a ban of vengeance. He
never speaks of 1t, but those who are by
his side assert that every attempt he
makes in life finds a curbing which
heads off complete success, and that the
loadstone OF wrath has not departed
with the passage of 30 years. Although,
he holds the regard of the community
as an honorable man, constant suspic-
ion directed against him and the belief
on his part that he is under constant
and prosecuting surveillance have con-
tr,buted to make life almost unbearable
to him.
For 20 years Welchmann has been a
man buried alive. He was appointed to
service in the Philadelphia custom
house and after serving 10 years he re-
tired. claiming that the notoriety cast
about him in that city made residence
there no longer possible. He sought a
place where he might hide himself from
the public. His brother, who was in the
Catholic priesthood, had been given a
charge at Anderson, Ind, and with him
ne tool up his abode. Some years
passed before his %neighbors became
aware of the place in history he had
filled. When he was questioned as to
his identity he made no denial. The
story became common, but in the mean
time he had gained ar esteem which
refused to be lessened by stories OF a
discrediting nature.
Mr.. Welchmann did not make a
written statement, but he has sane
toned the account which follows. and II
is presented as the first narrative which
ever had the warrant of his lips. Mr..
Welchmann was born i'm Baltimore in
1912, but when M was a child his par
ents moved to Philadelphia. He grad
uated at the Philadelphia high school.
He was brought up a Catholic, and In
1859 became a student at the Catholic
college of st. Charles i'm Howard coun-
ty, Maryland, intending to become a
priest. In September of that year he
first met John H. Surratt, who was also
studying for the ministry. They be-
came friends. When the war opened
they were still at college, and they re-
NAMED there until 1862. According to
the story of Mr.. Welchmann, he was
from the first stanch in his northern
allegiance although Surratt was hot
for the cause Of the South. In 1852 both
left college. separating with little
thought that they o very soon
again become associates. Welchmann
went to a small town in Maryland to
teach. but in the following December
he went to Washington to accept a
post as teacher in st. Matthews insti-
tute. He held the position until Jan.
z, 1864, when he obtained an appoint
ment in the war department.
When he first went TO Washington he
renewed his intimacy with young Sur
raft, whose mother lived in the city.
He became a boarder at the Surratt
home and shared a room with his old
school companion. He declares now. as
ne declared at both trials, that all the
time he was in the Surratt household
he was being used as a cats-paw. He
refuses TO cover infinitely the points OF
his previous testimony, but he says
without hesitation that he saw Payne,
Harrod. Booth and the others come to
the house; that. when the assassination
was performed he understood the part
he had played unwittingly. and that he
was able to onnect the meetings n
form the chain of evidence which was
Surratt in his buggy on the afternoon of