The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-03

To account for this attitude on the part
of a minister of the gospel one must search
In the strange byways of the human mind;
notoriety that Would rather be- marked
apart eaar,a as the seye rem r mhs hero Of , hawt nsss
a common man; the state of mind in which
Dante permitted the italian peasants to say
away aasSiiilt look siif in his is eyes we pa DO not otto touch Sas him i'm.
Children; he is the man who has been in
Other and less excusable. but equally
human reason there was. Back Of the
dreadful time when the ciergyman's double.
o Wilkes Booth. leaped into an accused
had been making a personal history. that
he would not care to see unveiled. He was
in the South. Those who might suspect
delve into that past IL they thought that
such delving would uncover the man who,
Itself. had risked his ,Ai life in wi he
thought her cause. Policy. therefore, and
the curious bent Of an unusual mind con-
How It 's grew ". how its fses% Survival was 80
long possible. upon what meat Of rumor,
circumstance. inuendo and assumption 1t
fed make a remarkable story. Above all is
the extraordinary likeness down to minute
details between the two men-the actor-as-
sassin and the clergyman-actor-for Doctor
pit, but toward the stage. His voice was
remarkable, and his personal magnetism
great. He organized amateur theatricals
among the young folk of the parish, and
his favorite plays were Shakespearean. Be-
fore he died he went on the lecture plat
We're "Riehard III" and "Hamlet."
Circumstantial evidence going to prove
that he was Booth cropped VI on all sides
dreadful event of April "A. 1866, when Edwin
Booth. the actor ventured to play again
through the South, the Reverend Doctor
Armstrong occupied a stage box In the
opera-house at Atlanta, Ga
When these two men looked into each
others eyes across the footl!ghts the At;
you that they felt the play pause. Edwin
Booth stood staring from the center Of the
s shas n ss the he n Hisiaed the Se R Ris sTGshe 6;oc aRa
Armstrong in a close carriage at l o'clock
in the morning.
Every time he came to the town he
sought out the doctor. They were fast
friends. Everything he could do to further
the belief in Southern minds Doctor Arm.
at the Kimball Hotel. enjoying the siignih-
cant glances which were cast upon him.
NO. he won. His friends are power
Then they. laughed and called attention
10 the eXtradition laws which existed In the
United States; which it seemed to them
were fashioned to return a horse thief, but
not a political murderer.
In the meantime. as time went on. my
with my family ten, years ago to Atlanta.
st. Philips Church.. Among the church
people who called to make us feel at home
In our new surroundings was Mrs. ARM
strong. the widow Of the Reverend James
G. Armstrong, who had died two or three
years before. She was a very pleasant
woman: about 50 years old When I returned
her call, some days later, and was ushered
into her parlo-. I was thunderstruck to see
npon an easel a life size crayon of ].
Wilkes Booth. He was dressed in a long
black ecclesiastical frock coat and wore q
white collar around his neck after the fash
Ion of that time. Mrs. Armstrong entered
and found me looking wild eyed at. the
picture.
WHERE did you get this picture? 81 I ex-
claimed. greatly excited. This is the last
place In the world where I expected to find
q portrait OF J. Wilkes Booth"