The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-07
Baltimore Undertaken Denies That
Body Buried us Lincoln's AS
sassin Was That of Con
federate Soldier.
NO CHANCE FOR DECEPTION.
Report That D. E. George, Who
Killed Himself at Enid. Shot
War President Discredited
~ Funeral Attendants.
REPUBLIC SPECIAL.

REPU BI.IC SPECIAL
Washington. June 6.-The story tina. the
body buried in the Booth lot in Green
Mount Cemetery. Baltimore. in February
1869. as that OF John Wilkes Booth, the
assassin OF President Lincoln. was that of
some other person has been revived
This is due to the fact that a man known
as David E. George, who recently COM
mitted suicide In Enid. Ok. Is said to
have borne such a striking resemblance
to Booth that some people who knew the
latter in life identified George as the actor
and also TO the publication of stories that
Booth made his escape at the time, and
that 1t was a Confederate soldier who COM
mitted the act. was pursued. captured,
brought here dead. buried At the arsenal,
and the body afterwards removed TO Bati-
mora.
There has also been 4 rumor afloat that
a Virginia lady received a letter from
Booth six months after the ssass;naton
OF Lincoln. describing his wanierings IN
Maryland and Pennsylvania. and friends
of this lady firmly believe this story.
Added to all these stories ia the latest
from Baltimore containing a statement OF
Basil Monkey. the doorkeeper at Ford's
Opsra-house in that city. that he saw the
body when in Baltimore and acted as a
pallbearer; that while the features were
unrecognizabie. the shape Of the head and
general appearance did not seem TO he that
of Booth. and he was impressed by the
hair being OF reddish brown color. while
the hair of Booth was Jet black.
There is not the slightest doubt that the
body of John Wilkes Booth rests in Green
Mount Cemetery. Baltimore" said Under
taker Harvey of this city to-day My
~ looked aft no
moval of the body from the arsenal to the
depot for Undertaken Weaver of Baltimore,
who had been employed by the Booth fam
lily. The fake. funeral and burial of a
, 'red-headed stiff graphically related. is
a serious reflection on the honesty of those
who had been intrusted with the work. y.
deception was practiced it could only have
been done by the War Department, for
what chance would my father or his. as
sistants have had to get false Booth at
the Arsenal after going there with order
from the War Department to the officer in
SEnrgs to Roo turn over the BODY of John
was no deception and the War Department
officials would have been afraid to attempt
anything OF the kind after receiving posi-
tive and explicit orders from President
johnson.
1T is a matter of history that when the
monitor Montauk reached Washington 1t
lay in the Potomac an entire day and many
people went on board and looked at the
body of Booth. Jacob Schmidt, then Pro-
NoSt Marshal, and who was AtZerott' 3
trother-in-law, was on the Montauk. and
he said it was Booths body. At midnight
the body was taken to the Arsenal and
buried under the floor of a cell in the old
prison, and 1t was from there that my IA
tier superintendent lis disinterment and
Shipment to Baltimore.
1T has been stated that Edwin Booth
came to Washington on that occasion and
remained in my fathers place of business.
which was then on F street. the rear of the
store running back to the old Ford Theater.
l do not know that Edwin Booth did come.
He might have been here. But no one ever
learned of the fact through father. l dare
say father was appealed to thousand
times to state whether or not Secretary
Stanton committed suicide. but no human
being ever succeeded in getting him to deny
or affirm anything on the subject. He knew.
| of course. but the knowledge was buried
with him.
You can say that John Wilkes Booths
body Is in Green Mount Cemetery. Balti-
more. no matter what people may say
about being pallbearers and mock funerals. u