Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-06
The Dc ath of Booth and Others.

identity WAS cOncluSlVely proven NY Tire
! incidents of his pursuit and by papers
| taken from his body, and when the re-
mains Were brought to Washington
| they were identified by many who had
| known him well, including his physi-
| clan. Again, when some years later
| the body was disinterred and given to
| the Booth family for final interment,
| Edwin Booth took measures which
placed its identity beyond all possible
question. ]. Wilkes Booths body was
| deposited in the family lot in Green
| Mount cemetery, Baltimore, more than
| has been officially certified, yet several
| times since he was shot and laid at rest
! in a grave still unmarked, the annual
| Silly season" has brought out some
such mysterious story as that which
was published, this week. This latest
| yarn was to the effect that Booth had
recently died in little town in Okla
| homa where he had lived many years
as a country merchant. Such is the
| force of myth and the popular love of
| the mysterious that many intelligent
| people take stock in such stories.
The Boston Transcript relates sew
| eral parallel cases of men who had
| died in the midst of striking historic
| dramas being brought from their
| graves to live and die among other
| scenes. Thus, although the Duke of
| Monmouth was publicly executed in
| the presence of thousands, though
| among those who accompanied him to
the scaffold were some who had been in
| happier days his intimate friends,
| there was a large element with whom
| he had been an idol who insisted that
| another than Monmouth was decapi-
| tated 1t was gravely maintained by
| these deniers of all probability, that a
| follower of Monmouth who greatly re-
| se,nbled him had died in his place.
| Still another theory" was that James
| H. must at the last moment have ar
| ranged a plot by which Monmouth es-
| caped the axe and became the Man in
| way. was not iron-Louis XIV. kindly
| consentirg to take upon himself the
| charge and care of the duke. Long
| wears afterwards historians took the
trouble to demonstrate that, whoever
| the Iron Mask" was, he could not
| have been Monmouth. So strong was
| the popular belief that Monmouth es-
capped the axe that at least two men
| appeared in England, claiming to be
| Monmouth. and for time ran course
| of successful impOsture.
The belief that Marshal Ney was not
| shot in the Luxembourg Garden, but
| escaped either by collision with those
| appointed to be his eXecutioners or by
the devotion of one who resembled him
and died for him, still has strength
| enough to survive to this day. only d
| few years ago bulky volume in sup
| port of the theory" that Marshal Ney
escaped and came to this country was
| published. Yet if any historical fact
| has been established beyond peradven-
| ture, it is that Marshal Ney was ex-
ecuted in pursuance of his sentence.
To break the force Of evidence the be-
Levers in the :eNcy myth have set up
| various theories" one that the firing
| party used only blank cartridges, and
another that an officer devoted to him
and resembling him kindly consented"
to take his place before the soldiers
! appointed to fire on the bravest of the
| brave" There is a strong family re-
| semblance in all these myths that is
found even in the latest. A man
| named Ruddy substitutes himself for
| Wilkes Booth and dies for him. shot
down in the burning barn, a role which
involved his having his leg broken in
| order to complete the resemblance.
| There is great difference, however,
| between the monmouth mytn, the Ney
myth and the Booth myth, that Mon
mouth and Ney were immensely popu-
| lar men. who had long been idolized in
| their respective countries and who in
| their last moments were regarded as
! martyrs for great causes, whereas
| Booth was held, North and South, to
| be a criminal of the most detestable
| character, and was to all Americans a
| hunted murderer shot by the precipi-
| tate action of one of his pursuers
! Thousands had risked their lives with
Monmouth and Ncy, and in the heroic
| devotion which they inspired is found
| the origin of the myth that some Eng
| lishman died to save Monmouth and
| some Frenchman to save Ney. Booth
| had no such followers before he made
his leap into infamy: very few had
knowledge of his guilty intentions, and
his sole associate in his flight deserted
he, -,