Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-07

, nal q short account of the final dis
posal of Booths body. This story went
wherever the Journal went, and that
was into almost every soldier ana
sailor and eX-fghter's home, ana
brought out from some, still in the
service, and Others long years ago out
of 1t, strong and sincere denial OF
my tale.
Col. Phipps of the ordnance depart
ment, at that time young subaltern,
in his article tC the Journal, was most
explicit in his account of the dislnter-
ring of a coffin, down in the arsenal
grounds the uncovering of the dead
face and the acceptance of the BODY py
Edwin Booth-or his representative
as that of the outlaw and its renter
ment near Baltimore. Far be it from
me to assert that such proceeding
never took place; it certainly did, and
that this could be done in 1858, three
years after the killing of Booth, shows
that the grewsome story as told to me
by Commodore Ammon was "a state
secret" and that 1t was never the in
tention of the government that II
should be, officially or otherwise, known
that the Potomac received the body OF
the assassin, and that there was a
printed rumor is evidenced by Jones
recital.
and in command of the monitor Mianto-
nomah, then lying off the navy yard
There recently appeared, under my
signature, in the Army and Navy Jour
1t was a May night of 1866 when the
Montauk, Miantonomah and Monitor
lay at anchor off the navy yard OF
Washington. The war was over; peace
had been declared; the "Old Capitol
prison" had yielded up the last of its
victims to the stern justice of military
nd oix will
Andersonville, lay in grave In the
arsenal and near by rested Mrs. Surratt,
Paine, Harold and Atzerott, and one
hillock was pointed out to the curious
as containing what was left of Booth
after the surgeons over at the army
and navy museum got through with
him.
Sadness at Farewell Dinner
Scattered through the barracks of the
capital were hundreds of troops and
officers awaiting marching orders or
muster out. OF these was a young
cavalryman under orders for the south
west frontier, who, with his wife and
several others, all army people, were
invited by Commodore Ammon to a
farewell dinner on board the Mianto-
nomah. Other guests were the COM
mandant of the navy yard and anotner
naval officer whose name L no longer
recall. We were a merry little party
of rovers and yet a thread Of sadness
was woven in our gayety. The war had
left its sorrowful impress upon all Of
us-for not one in the snug cabin OF
the "Aunty" but had seen and been a
part of the hideous conflict just ended.
Peace was declared, it is true. but the
horrors of the four years gone were too
fresh in all our minds for us to swap
stories" without a sigh, and 1t may be
a tear.
Daniel Websters Widow Guest
After we had gone on deck, and coffee
was being served, we all had quite a
shock when a dignified woman came
aboard and was introduced as Mrs.
Webster, widow of the great Daniel. 1t
sounded like an echo from the nails OF
the long, long ago that name and to
my young years it seemed that Web
ster. and all his kindred, must ages ago
have turned to clay. But this h1gh-
bred, rather naughty woman was, IN
fact, the real widow of the peerless
statesman and we all paid her the
Difference her manner demanded. An
other visitor was Commodore, or Com
mander Febriger-I do not remember
his rank, but it was the Febiger who
had brought the rebel ram Stonewall
Jackson from Havana and moored her
in the channel near the navy yard. An
invitation to visit the ram was accepted
by all-even the stately Mrs. Daniel
Webster-and we swung down the sides
of the monitor into the waiting yawl
and were speedily rowed across and
ungracefully clambered up the sides of
the ram, which lay high on the water.
She was rough, monumental vessel.
but in her armament We're the famous