The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-18
DR.. GEO. |. PORTER
TELLS STORY OF
BOOTHS BURIAL
Gruesome Details of Dispo-
sition of the Body of Lin
coins Assassin.

the public the gruesome secrets which
he has retained for so many years,
concerning the assassination Of Abra-
ham Lincoln, and the subsequent pur-
suit, capture, death and burial of
John Wilkes Booth, his assassin.
In an article in the April number of
the Columbian Magazine, Dr. Porter
tells the story of this thrilling affair.
The article, which is copyrighted by
DR.. Porter. will surely become his
torical document of the greatest i'm
portance.
The story in part, as told by ex-
tracts from DIR. Porter's story, is as
follows:
Lieutenant Colonel C. J. Conger
reached Washington at o'clock in
the afternoon of Wednesday, April &c.
the day on which Booth was shot, and
told Colonel L. c. Baker. head of the
secret service, of the capture of Herold
and of the death of Booth at a. M,
on the porch of Carrots house, three
hours after Corbett's shot.
Acting under orders from Secretary
of the Navy Welles, the monitor Mon
tauk had pulled out in the eastern
branch of the Anacostia from the
Navy Yard and come to anchor. Al
midnight all hands were piped to their
stations to clear ship for action, A
guard was picked, armed with rifles
and cutlasses. with orders to fire up
on any boat which attempted to come
alongside. Just below lay the monf-
tor Saugus at anchor, with Mrs. Sur
raft, Payne, Arnold and Mudd on
board as prisoners.
At las o'clock on the morning of
April 9th. the tug which Baker was
using came alongside of the Montauk;
that officer being armed with an or
der from Secretary Stanton to the
commandant of the Washington Navy
Yard to permit Baker to come along
side to transfer one or two prisoners.
Booths body was securely wrapped
In gray army blanket in which Lieu
tenant Edward p Doherty had sewn
it. Booths body was placed on a
carpenters work bench on the forward
deck None of the guards had any
idea whose body was sewn in the blan-
ket, nor were they permitted to ask
questions.
BY 9 O'Clock in the morning of the
same day. the Secretaries of War and
Navy had issued The following order
to Commodore Montgomery:
''You will permit Surgeon-General
Barnes and his assistant. accompanied
by Judge Advocated General Holt, John
A. Bingham, Major Eckert. William
c. Moore, Colonel L. G. Baker, Lieu
tenant Baker. Northumberland Con-
ger, Charles Dawson, j, L. Smith, Mr..
Gardner, photographer, and an assist
ant, to go on board the Mon.auk and
see the body of John Wilkes Booth.
Immediately after the urgeon-general
has made an autopsy you will have
the body placed in strong box and
delivered to the charge of Colonel
Baker. the box being securely seal
ed"
Booths handsome countenance was
unmarried by the agony of his linger-
ing death. His imoustache and the
long lock of hair which had hung
down his forehead Booth cut off at
the house of DR.. Mudd, where he had
stopped in his flight.
The commission OF coroner's inquest
was held in the commanding officers
cabin; and while the testimony was
being taken which established the
identity of the body, Surgeon-Gener-
al Barnes and his assistant were hold
ing the autopsy on deck. Several per-
sons had recognized the remains as
those of Booth and had so testified.
Charles Dawson, chief clerk of the
National Hotel. positively identified
the body by the initials 81. w. B."
which had been tattoed in India ink
on the right hand between the thumb
had frequently observed the letters on
Booths hand, while he was signing
the hotel register, and ON one occasion
had said: Booth, what fool you
were to disfigure that pretty white
hand in such way"
Surgeon-General Barnes cut from
Booths neck a section of the verte-
bra through which the ball from Bos-
ton Corbett's revolver had passed. 1t
has been stated also that the assas-
sins brain and heart were removed,
and were placed in the museum Of
the Medical Department of the Army,
which strangely enough was the for
mers Ford's Theatre, where the as
sassination took place; but of this
have no knowledge.
Midnight was being called by the
sentrieS frOms the various posts as the
military storekeeper of the arsenal,
Mr.. Stebbins, four enlisted men, one
of them leading team attached to a
cart, another carrying a lantern. and
myself, the only commissioned officer
present, met at the little Summer
house where a sentry was on guard
over the thing in the gunny sack The
four enlisted men were members of
the Ordnance Corps and picked for
their reliability and discretion. They
were sworn to secrecy regarding the
happenings of the night.
Two of the men picked up the gunny
sack and contents, grunting at it's I'M
expected weight, and placed it in the
body Of the cart. At a word the
man leading the horse started it down
the avenue Men marched on each
side of the cart Stebbins brought up
the rear, and I walked ahead with
the man carrying the lantern, the
Pickering rays of which cast fantas-,
tic shadows on the surface of the
broad avenue. Not a word was spok-
en- by member of our party. The
only sounds to disturb the stiffness
of the night were the crunching of
the wheels, the shuffling of our feet
and the fall of the horses hoofs on
the gravel road.
We, marched down the avenue to
the west side of the penitentiary, oc-
casionally challenged by the sentries
as we approached their posts. The
series of buildings known as the pen
itcntiary was about ESQ feet long
The cart was led up to one of fhe
doors, which E. M. Stebbins, the mill
tary Storekeeper, unlocked with a key
which he produced. Once inside the
apartment, the door was carefully
locked and the cart was led to the
extreme southwest corner of the
storeroom. BY the Pickering light of
the lantern we saw a shallow hole
lying before US. Whether there was
a box in it. I do not know. A pile
of dry earth was on one side of the
excavation. Grotesque shadows were
cast by the light of the lantern fall
ing upon the gun boxes and the pack
ing cases.
Two of the men picked up the body
of Booth, still in its wrapping of
gunny sacking and enshrouded in an
army blanket, and deposited it in the
shallow hole, which could not be dig