The Washington herald., 1915-05-02
Rv WINFIELD M. THOMPSON

served and obliged to return IL to the
bHG.
rh" commander of tho monitor had
orders to place the body in IA strong box.
and navy ward carpenters We'd with each
other in driving Il nail in the coffin OF
til" PRESIDENTS murderer
I:cf0r" the box was ready u small boat
was rowcd alongside tn" monitor at
{, n. M. Detectives I.afhyct" &. ia =
k"r and Luther u. Baker quickly lifted
III" body over tn" ships low side. int"
fnr"rp">., "ffcrtDIaI ohi""ti"n lowed away
from tn" ship. heading their boat dow
the, Eastern Branch OF tn" Potomac
buried secretly Mt Night.
Til" TWO dctc"tivcS w"r" acting on di-
r,ct ORDERS from the Secretary Of War.
l." takr tn. body to q plac" whcr" it
could l." given secret burial.
They rowch tho boat around tn" point
on which th.. War IOlI"G" now stands.
and NY to = wharf near tho foot Of -Four
and half street. in the old arsenal
-TuIimdS.
1t WAS lifted out and placed on the
wharf where it lay Undor guard OF a
sentry until night. Meanwhile Mai. James
g. Ernton. commandinG at tn" Arsenal.
received orders from Secretary stanton
To prepare grave that would he under
lock and key.
Within the Arsenal grounds grim
old building that served as a penitentiary
for the District of Columbia. and then
used as military Storehouse. One
Of its larger rooms. formerly a reCrea-
ton room for convicts. and more recent
ton. was paved with fasstones one OF
these was raised and grave was dug
The body was then brought from the
wharf and placed in a pine gun box.
The box was marked with Booths name.
and the mortal remains of J. Wilkes
Booth. their iEnoble funeral journey over.
were duly buried in the presence of Mai.
Benton. l.. e. Baker. and Thomas T.
F.ckert. tho latter chief military teleG-
rapher. who acted as agent for the War
Department.
Tn" fa-stOne being put back in its
place. the workn'en who had buried
Booth. and the official observers. left the
old PRISON to darkness and silence.
Booths Resting Place.
That night the key of the room in
which this burial had taken place was
put into tn" hand of Secretary Of War
Stanton. Mai. Benton made a report OF
the burial. which never reached the
public records
The secret OF Booths burial place was
secure. In $50 Secretary stanton told
Congressional committee. in response to
questions. that Booth was buried 'on
tho premises of the Ordnance Depart
ment" hut he did not tell where.
In the same year the portion of the
old penitcntiary in which Booth lay bur
led was torn do Wn. The body was then
moved. again secretly. to an old store
house in tn" Arsenal grounds. where il
was again buried. There it RENAME
until February 1863. when permission was
irantrd 10y President Andrew johnson to
Edwin Booth. the assassin's brother. to
remove il.
Mr. Booth went to Washington with
Baltimore undertaken to get the body.
Probably for convenience. and perhaps
without thought 81 the Strargeness of
his choice the famous actor went to
Ford's Thcatcr the scene Of his broth
er'S crime" to wait the transfer of the
body to a coffin
The transfer took place in tho little
stable in tn" rear Of Ford's Theater.
where Booth had kept his horse when
plotting tn" kidnapping OF Lincoln. be-
fore he had formed his purpose Of as
sassinatiOns
In the transfer of the body the head
was found detached. as naturally il would
be. a section of the sIine having been
removed the day after death. y dem
fist identified two filings in the teeth
as his own work on the teeth of J.
Wilkes Booth.
The body being thus identified. it was
removed to Baltimore and given its final
burial in the Booth family lot in Green
Mount Cemetery.
,Coryright, 1915. Winfield VI ThumISonI
Tomorrow: The Myth Of the
Great Conspiracy"