The Washington herald., 1911-03-12
QUESTION OF BURIAL
OF WILKES BOOTH
FINALLY SOLVED
that Has Arisen from
Time to Time Since Lincoln's As
sassination Disposed of by Proof
of 1nterment of Booth in the Old
Family Plot in Baltimore.

Where was the body OF John Wilkes
Booth buried? After forty-six years there
| has arisen once more this moOted ques-
| ton about the disposition OF the body
of the actor who killed Abraham Lincoln.
| But the solution of this mystery" il
! there was such a thing in connection
with it, ought not TO be difficult. 1t seems
to be largely a controversy between
memory and imperishable history, and
memory always fades more quickly than
pages whereon are written the historic
| events of a nation.
In this case the memory is that Of one
who was closely identified with the dis
position OF Booths body. but there are
circumstances that from the outset give
preference to history in the controversy
The late Gen. Thomas T. ECkert, former
pr esident of the Western Union Telegraph
Company, who was Assistant Secretary
OF War under President Lincoln, was re-
spOnsible for the new mystery" His
toriC records do not show it, but accord
ing to his own statement he was one of
the men who buried Booth after the
assassin had been killed while resisting
arrest for his crime. Because of Gen.
ECkert's intimate relations with Abraham
Lincoln his memoirs were considered of
some value from the publishers point OF
view. and there is a story that publish
ing firm offered him an extravagant
amount-S0.OOO has been mentioned-for
his memoirs. But he was man of busi-
ness, with little time to write for publica-
ton, and the recollections were never
written.
Gen. Eckert's Uncertainty.
The mystery is born of the very
indefinite statements that Gen. Eckert
made from time to time regarding his
part in disposing of the body of John
Wilkes Booth, and the method of dis
position. He did not tell about them
widely or publicly. and so far as is
known his only confidant was his nurse
in his last illness. The way that the
memory found its way into print was
that the nurse was a witness a few days
ago in the SurroGate's Court in New
York, where one of the generals sons
is contesting his fathers will on the
ground that the testator was of unsound
mind when his last testament was exc
Cuted and that the generals son used
undue influence on him. The nurse, like
several Of the other witnesses. told OF
halluCinations possessed by the homage
marian, Gen. ECkert- The nurse strongly |
intimated that the generals memory
was faulty and that il was surely so !
in the Booth matter. The old man de- !
lighted to talk about incidents of the !
civil war and told and retold them. !
always with some amendments or dis |
CrcpanCieS He gave several versions !
of the way that the body OF Booth was /!
buried. and the nurse said he had read !
history and that he did not place too !
much credenCe in the stories of the !
general
The version as given by Gen. Eckert |
was that he identified the body in Wash
ington. and, taking it in a nOat out into |
Delaware Bay. in company with three
other men. nc threw the body into the |
water. Another time he told of burying
t in a secret place. The latter version !
probably was the accurate one, but 1t !
has not remained a mystery to this
day. The burying place was kept a Sc
cret for a time, but long ago ceased
to be a secret. and now history tells
US clearly all that is to be ascertained
on the subject
The True Story.
1t was on April "A, 1865. that President
Lincoln was shot. Accompanied by his
wife and two friends. he had gone TO
American Cousin" Gen. ECkert it is
said. was invited to be one Of the party
at the theater. but had to decline the
invitation. Booth entered the Presidents
box and shot the great emancipator, then
rushed out fiourishing a dagger and
shouting: sic semper tyrannis! The
South is avenged The assassin tripped
over the folds of a flag. breaking a bone
in his leg, but he kept on in his flight,
making his way to an alley, where his
horse was waiting, and escaped Booth
went to a farm about thirty-five miles
from Washington. where he had his leg
set. A few days later he set out across
the Potomac River and across the Rap
oahannock, reaching a farm near Bowl
ng Green. That was the end of his
Fight
The National Cyclopedia OF American
Biography says that Booth took refuge in
/ barn. The posse that tracked his move
nents set fire to the barn, and the hunted
nan resisted capture. soldier named
Boston Corbet shot him dead. The body
vas taken to Washington. where it was
secretly buried under the f1agstones of
he arsenal warehouse. The secrecy OBJ
served at the time was on account of
he feeling of the people over the shoot
ng of President Lincoln. For two years
Booths body reposed in Washington. ,
Then his brother, Edwin Booth, the IA ,
nous tragedian, received permission from
he government to remove the body. The
'rother took it to Baltimore, where it @!
vas buried in the family plot II