Omaha daily bee., 1906-11-19

that he was making his way toward Kan
sas and tho county judge undertook steps
10 secure the srrearages Of pension due
Corbett Then suddenly all trace of Cor
bett was again lost. A year or two later
a letter was received from one John Cor
bett from Brownsville Tex, making
claim. for arrearages Of pension duo him
from The date he left Kansas. other cor
respondence followed from San Angelo,
and the party c.siming to be Corbstt
seemed determined - keep as near the
Mexican line as possible. The pension de-
partment sent a specinl examiner f-ln tho
Oklahoma and Texas district to investigate
the case, and this examiner. in bis final
report admitted that while there might
be fraud in che case. yet he believed the
John Corbett and Boston Corbett were one
and the same person and recommended
the allowance Vi the ciaiu.
where Goodwin Comes In.
TT was at this umo that l was called
into the case to Investigate it from the
Kansas end of the line. l was morally
certain the claimant was a fraId, ut stin
at the same time he had marvellous
knowledge OF he huods and history Of
Boston Corbett. WAS familiar with Sos,on
Corbetts handwriting and at once salts
fed myself that this claimant was not
Corbett. The bunlwriting was unlhed
and unintelligible, while the genuine Cor
bett wrote an excellent hand ami was al
ways very precise In his language and
capitals.
We'll, to make a long story short. the
further we went into the case the more
we were satisfied that zig fraul was
being perpetrated. me bogus CJTbe.t was
finally trapped and is now doing time in
the federal penitenIlry ut Atlanta, Ga.
He was sent up about a year ago for tliree
years. / am, how 3ver,- satisfied Ee knew
Boston Corbett ond had secured ht ston
Corbett's story from lis ,wn h!.s AID
| from a long ASSOCIATION with him. lie
knew also that Bosom 'orbert was Had,
so that he you'd never appea- to con.
test the claim or put him in jeopardy.
l will not say that ne may have some
! hand in doing away with Boston Corb TT.
but 1 am fully satisfied that Boston Cor
bett is dead and has been dead ro- many
years
Haunted with Nemesis.
| IT knew him quite well IN Kansas. as
well as many Of his frisnos. He was al
ways haunted with the fear that $, me
one would avenge Booths death upon MIN.
He believed he had ACCOMPLISHED a great
service for the country in killing Booth,
as well as saving Colonel Bakers life.
His nature was soured by the feeling that
he believed prevailed against him for
killing Booth. I think when he left the
asylum at Topeka he went direct into MIS-
souri, or Arkansas and their buried himself
in the sparsely settled districts changing
his name and eventually dying there. One
would naturally think he would have gone
north rather than into the south, but then
| he felt, think. that there was really a
more friendly feeling for him in the south
than in the north"
| There is tragic interest in this disap-
pearance and probable death Of Boston Cor
bett IN or from Kansas. The initial strug-
| gle of the war for the abolition of slavery
took place in Kansas within the soul OF
John Brown of Ossawattomie and the
avenger Of the death of the Great Emanci-
patOr saw his last days there in the person
of Boston Corbett. Corbetts estate has long
since been settled in Cloud county. Kansas.
His farm has been sold and is now owned
and occupied by others. The proceeds of his
estate are still in the hands of the county
judge OF Cloud county. but no heir has
| ever appeared to claim them.