The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-04
Remains of John Wilkes Booth.

q TUX came alongside, on DOaTQ OF
which was Colonel Baker, the detec-
Of J. W. Booth. the assassin. Said body
was passed on board with the implied
understanding that ii had been put on
board for saFekeeping.
mo orders whatever were left with
the officer of the guard or the com
handing officer Of the vessel concerning
II, nor was any written authority for so
disposing Of il shown TO any officer of
the vessel. 1t was most informal
and unmilitaTy proceeding, which
shuuid have been nipped in the bud.
The only restrictions to viewing the
corpse were to strangers and workmen
not employed on board the vessel. Per-
sons known to the officers of the army
and navy were permitted to come on
board. A lady accompanied by two ma
val officers came on board TO visit the
ship and not to crafty a morbid curl
Ositv.
About II o'clock a m. Surgeon Gen
eral Barnes came on board, and with
out asking for the captain of the guard
or commanding officer Of the vessel, o.
showing any written authority or in
forming any officer who he was, or
seeming to pay the slightest respect to
the military etiquette due from one Off
Ger to another, walks I'D to the corpse
and commences to cut adrift the wrap
ping. He was stopped with the inquiry
as to his authority for so doing. He re-
piled: BY order of the secretaries of
war and navy and afterward Major
EckheTt produced the written order.
Hair was cut from the corpse by one of
the assistants who accompanied Sur
geon General Barnes, and I am led to
believe that it was a portion of that
hair which some naval officer very fool
ishly boosted Of possessing
AS soon as the order tn hermit mn
visiting except by passes from the sec
rotary was received II was promptly
obeyed. The proceeding Of taking the
body from the ship was Of the same in
formal nature. I am sorry to say that
l should have put stop to It"
No Reply Received.
There was no reply from the navy de-
partment to this complaint. Indeed, the
records plainly show that the secretary
Of war assumed and maintained su-
preme control
In view Of the joint order of April q
by the secretaries Of war and navy 10
allow the surgeon general, accompanied
by army officers and civilians, with
photographer and assistant. to see the
body Of Booth, two kilograms addressed
to the commandant on the same day
seem unnecessarily severe and even ar
bitrary. These kilograms are signed by
Gideon Welles. Il am informed by the
secretary Of war" says the first that
persons were permitted to visit the
ironclads, on board Of which prisoners
are confined by his and my order. You
will explain II this has been done and
you will allow no persons to visit these
vessels who have not the joint order of
the secretary Of war and myself, until
the prisoners are removed from Gus
tody'
Under the influence of fresh COM
plants from the war department. an
other message was sent the same dav,
reading: Send to the department in
the morning copies of all orders which
you have received touching the matter
Of visiting or communicating with the
prisoners confined on board the iron
Clads; also copies Of all orders YOU
have given, and copies of, any permits
granted by yourself to visitors to go on
board these vessels. Report the names
of all visitors male and female, to see
the body of the assassin Booth: whether
his hair was touched and what author
ity parties had for doing these things"
In reply to the message given above,
the commandant said he had not visited
the irOnclad or seen the body of the as
sassin Booth and consequently had no
opportunity Of observing occurrences on
board. Booths remains were laid out
on the deck OF the MOntauk, and no in
struCtiOns other than to let them re-
main there were given by the officer
who brought the body on board. He
had granted a few passes to the en-
plOyes Of the yard, but was not con-
sciOus Of having violated any order of
the department, which referred to pris-
oners only and not TO vessels on which
they were confined. No official reply
was made by the department but an
Endorsement on the letter of the COM
I,v7 10 E-T1
scarcely answers the kilograms of the
department To grant passes to visit
the body was certainly a violation of
military usage"