Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-18
THE LOST SLAYER OF BOOTH
Case Of Boston corbett, Who Went to
Kansas, Then Vanished.

4 THE LOST SLAYER OF BOOTH
Case Of Boston corbett, Who Went I,
Kansas, Then Vanished.
Years ago before Conner Davis o.
even the central branch had come Il
town, Concordia,, Kan, vaunted itsel
upon the possession of a wild man. Th'
wild mans name was Boston Corbett
though he wasn't a prize fighter at all
and he had the further distinction Of
having killed John Wilkes Booth, the
assassin Of Abraham Lincoln. Also he
was dead shot with an army reyolv.
er, wore HIS hair long and suffered un.
der the delusion that he was much.
wronged man.
To begin at the beginning, however
which was a good many hundred miles
from Concordia. When the Civil War
broke out Corbett, who was 80 years
old and halter, Joined the Sixteenth
New York cavalry regiment Corbet,
was converted by street preacher In
Boston before he Joined the army; all
during the war he spent much Of his
leisure time attempting to evangelize
his fellow troopers.
Then, before the war was over, came
the assassination of Lincoln, and
Booths flight on horseback south
through Maryland. Corbett, who had
haap nrornafad "a tho no MI - .arrxoo -
for bravery during the war, was one
Of the twenty-five troopers who went
south on Booths trail under command
of Lieutenant Edward p. Doherty.
There are good many different ver-
sions Of what really happened after
Booth was surrounded In barn near
Bowling Green, but none of these ver-
sions has ever disputed the fact that
1t was Corbett who shot Booth.
The actor, supporting himself upon
a rough crutch, was standing in the
middle Of the barn floor, refusing to
surrender, and he held carbine, with
which, in the growing light Of the barn
which two civilian detectives had set
on fire. he took aim at Doherty. Bos-
ton Corbett, who had been standing
guard at small opening In the side
Of the barn, saw the move, thrust the
muzzle of his revolver through the
aperture and fired, wounding Booth at
the base of the skull. Booth was car
ried outside and died two hours later.
Now, It had been no part Of the army
officers who had set out after Lincoln's
slayer to have him shot down there In
Maryland. They wanted to bring him
back to Washington and have him
hanged In due state, and many people
who knew Corbett afterward, say he
was practically drummed out Of the
army because he killed Booth.
At any rate, Corbett always felt af-
terward he was a much wronged man.
He had slain Booth; therefore, 1t was
only right that he should have large
part of the $4,000 reward that had
been offered by congress for the cap
ture of Booth, alive or dead. Instead,
he got only $2,545 Of the money, and
before he had a chance to spend any
Of that, he was held up by footpads and
robbed Of the whole roll.
Congress granted him trifing PEN
sion, and he went to Camden, N. j.,
and applied for the job of assistant
postmaster there, was refused, and
made up his mind to come west. He
come to Concordia and applied at the
land office there for a claim.
Eighteen miles from Concordia there
was a little hillside eighty" of no es-
pecial value to any one, and there
Corbett built cabin. He trenched his
cabin, and there were loopholes in the
walls out Of which he might shoot.
Some one had told him that Booth had
belonged to a secret order, and that
the members of the order had taken a
VOW to avenge his death.
Mounted on pony and riding his
old army saddle, he spent his time
wandering about aimlessly enough,
now and again coming to town, but
generally suspicious and keeping to
himself. Judge Sturgis, one Of Con-
cordia's pioneers, Is one Of the men
now living in the town who knew the
strange little soldier. /
"Often enough, as I was driving
along" he says, Il have seen this Bos-
ton Corbett slip quickly Off his horse
as he caught sight Of me and lie mo-
tionless in the grass, his long revolver
In one hand, waiting to see what was
coming. He never made any attemp:
to hurt me, or, indeed, to hurt any
one, but he was always wary.
He was strange, solitary fellow,
and he had not been on his claim long
before he succeeded in quarreling with
a number of chaps who were in the
habit Of riding across his place. They
meant no harm, but Boston had the
curious, precise English notion OF
property rights, and he warned them
not to set foot on his claim. One thing
led to another, and finally they had
him arrested, charged with threaten
ing to kill them. That court room scene
was the sort a man remembers.
There was Boston Corbett, a little,
slender, dark-eyed chap, his hair hang
ing down long behind, sitting there
quietly, while those fellows told how
he had threatened to shoot them. Sud-
denly he jumped up, whipped out his
army revolver and began pointing 1t
at one man after another.
That's lie, lie, lie.' he shrill-
ed. I'll shoot any man who says such
things about me-
II can tell you there was scattering.
Most of the town had come In to listen
to the hearing, for Boston Crobett was
a notorious chap. They trampled each
other getting to the doors and WIN
dows. One old attorney, who was
crippled up with rheumatism and knew
he couldn't make much showing In a
run, crawled under small table, and
1t was with difficulty that we got him
out.
But Boston didn't shoot, and moth
ing was done to him either. They
uuieted him down and talked to him,