The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-05
PALLBEARER OF ALLEGED
BOOTH TELLS STORY.
Yarn of the Kind That Keeps Old
Fiction Alive.

receive SHOCK Wnen the puDHC Will
learn tomorrow that the body of John
Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Presi-
dent Abraham Lincoln. does not rest
in the Booth lot in Greenmount Gene
terry.
This revelation is based on the as
sertion of Mr.. Basil Moxley, the vet
eran doorkeeper at Ford's Opera
House, who, after silence of years.
informs the world that the body buried
in Greenmount Cemetery was not that
of the assassin, but that of another
man, forwarded to Baltimore by the
government at the solicitation of the
Booth family and their friends. Mr..
Monkey is the sole survivor of the lit
tie band of men who acted as pail
bearers at what he now terms a mock
funeral, and he has deemed the time
ripe to tell to the world the facts in
this strange disclosure.
He said to-day when shown the dis
patch from Oklahoma:
Certainly, the body buried in Green
mount was not that of Booth, for 1
was one of the pall-bearers, and can
safely say to you that there never
We're. any two things in this world
which reSembled each other less than
that body did John Wilkes Booth. had
known Booth all my life and was very
close to the family, which 1 think is
shown by the fact that they asked me
to act as pall-bearer at the funeral
of some dead man whom they had been
led to believe was that of their rela-
tive. 1 saw the body several times
and examined it and don't hesitate to
say that the hair on the dead body was
of reddish brown color, while Booths
was as black as a ravens wing.
Innocent Man Slain.
However, that mere detail made no
difference, for we all knew at the time
that the body was not that of John
Wilkes Booth, and my examination
was only prompted by curiosity alone,
not that 1 believed for one minute that
the body was that of the assassin.
You see, the whole affairs was planned
by friends of the family, and was done
for purpose which they deemed inn
perative. Mrs. Booth, the mother of
John Wilkes Booth, was, naturally
nearly Frustrated with grief at her
sons action and the stories of his hor-
rible death in the barn, and later the
report that the government had taken
charge of the body only acted as a We
hicle to a general breaking down of
her system, and for a time it seemed
as though she would not survive that
shock.
Then in order that the affair might
become a thing of the past as soon as
possible some friends determined that
it would be best to bring the body here
and bury it in the family lot in Green
mount. Through these friends Mrs.
Booth applied to the government for
the body. This brought matters to a
crisis, for l do not believe that John
Wilkes Booth was ever killed in that
barn, and if any one was slain it was
some innocent man who knew nothing
of the real assassin.
"At any rate, it was incumbent up
on the government to furnish a body to
make good their report that Booth had
been killed, and they did so. What we
got and what was sent here for the
body of John Wilkes Booth Is what
have already described to you-a red
haired man who looked no more like
the tragedian than you do yourself.
PaIlbearers Surprised.
well, of course, we We're all very
much surprised at first-the four of
us-who were selected as pallbearers-
Mr.. John 7. Ford, Mr.. Samuel Glenn,
Mr.. Charles Bishop, the comedian, and
myself-but what were we to do?
Surely it was better to have buried
lllC OO0J dllQ ody ilOlililS IDOIH ABOUT
it than to have raised another hue and
cry, which might have killed the
mother. So we made the best of the
circumstances, kept our discovery Sc
cret among ourselves, consoled the
mother and buried the body as that of
John Wilkes Booth, the son, actor and
assassin.
THE scheme worked splendidly, pro-
duced the desired effect, and, conse-
rNf1 l..
er Weaver, who buried the body, sim
ply held the matter sacred. Weaver
well knew that the body he buried was
not Booth, for it remained about his
place for two or three days: but he
like ourselves, came to the conclusion
that the easiest way out of the pre-
dlcament was the best.
The Last Survivor.
II am now the only one of the five
left, all of the others having died. l
never will believe that Booth was kill
ed, and am confident that he escaped.
but how, 1 have never been able to
make up my mind, or have 1 any posi-
tive knowledge that he did. Yet the
one point that has always caused me
to doubt the various stories of his
death is that If he was killed, why did
not some one receive the immense re-
ward offered for his capture, dead or
alive? You can search all records in
Washington or interview any officials
then in Office who are now alive and
l will wager you will be unable to
learn of any reward being paid for the
delivery of John Wilkes Booths body
to the government.
I'm addition to that remember dis
tinctly being a third party at a meet
ing between Edwin Booth and another
man who was a private detective. The
meeting occurred upon the occasion of
the great actors last engagement in
this city. This detective was a man
of about my own age, and lived for
many years on Pratt street, between
Howard and Eutaw streets. He was
of German extraction and thoroughly
reliable, for l knew him for years.
He is dead now and 1 can't just re-
member his name. At any rate, he
called at the theater one night dur
ing Mr. Booths engagement and show
ed the actor four letters, all of which
were from reliable persons living in
Maryland and Virginia, assuring the
actor that his brother was not dead.
Puzzled over Dispatch.
1T also remember several rumors to
the effect that Booth had been seen
at the crossroads near Penmar. and I
have heard men say that they had
drunk with him in that locality, but
/ must say 1 believe those rumors were
of the same material as those Matched
out about his death and peculiar bu-
rails, the funniest of which is the one
told by Capt. Z. w. billiard of Me-
tropolis ILL.,. to the effect that he help
ed to sink the body in the Potomac