Waterbury Democrat., 1901-04-15
WATERBURY EVENING DEMOCRAT. MONDAY APRIL 15 1901
VICTIM OF ALCOHOL.
Booth, Slayer of Lincoln, Was a
 Confirmed Dipsomaniac.
His Great Crime the Most Potent Temperance Lecture That Has Been Written in the HisA
 tory of Our Nation.
Especial Washington Letter.1

TN THE house of representatives
 there is not man to-day who was
 a member of that body when Abra- ham Lincoln was assassinated. Sena- tor Stewart, of Nevada, now member of the senate, was a senator on that occasion, and he is the only senator now serving there who was. senator when Booths crime was committed. There is a man now in the senate who was a member of the house at that time-Senator Allison, of Iowa.
 Recently there have been published in many daily newspapers stories and allegations concerning the disposal of the body of the assassin; some writers saying that Booths body was never shown to the public, because the off, cials doubted whether it was indeed Booth who had been killed. The writ. CT found in Louis Dietrich, an elderly gentleman who resided in this city for half a century, man who refutes these stories. He said:
 q have seen such stories, too, as though the writers believed the non- sense about which they write. But l can tell you that was one of the'very few who actually did see and touch the dead body of the murderer. l knew MT. Lincoln and I knew the man who slew him. Booth was better known in Washington than Lincoln. mean of course, known to the general pulp lie The president was seen on some occasions, and his pictures were seen everywhere, but the people did not often see him. Rnt Booth was seen on the stage of Ford's theater and upon the public streets.
 He was usually in some barroom, for he was hard thinker, almost g dipso- maniac; and if it had not been for the have been able to nerve himself to dc the dastardly deed, which he hoped would make him famous, but which only made him infamous. He was al most as eccentric as his father, who was in many respects crazy man The elder Booth would go and put his body in pawn for liquor, and the the atrical managers were obliged to hunt him up and pay the money which he owed for liquor, in order to get him on the stage.
 "John Wilkes Booth was very eccen. tric and drank to excess every night He was noted pedestrian, constantly taking long walks, and everybody in the little city of that day knew him by sight. He was called a ladies' man, always flirting with women on the ave nue who would permit h:m' to do so He was no stranger to the people, and certainly knew him well and saw him often.
 ''When his body was brought here on the gunboat wanted to. see him, al though it was well-nigh impossible to get chance. I thought of all manner of schemes to get on board, andat last went to my friend Dr. Todd, of the army, and asked him how I should get to see the body. He said: We are go. ing to make post-mortem examina. tion tomorrow, in the afternoon. You come to the gunboat and tell the guards. that you have message for me. I will be on board and will tell the guard that l am expecting you. and order them to send you to me- ] did so, and was allowed to go on board Just before the post-mortem examina- tion Dr. Todd lifted the big tarpaulin which covered the body on the upper deck and showed me the face of the dead man. It was as calm and peace ful as a baby's, and it was the face of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin. It is all nonsense to say that he was not