Evening star., 1927-10-30

YOHN WILKES BOOTH, assa ssin
of President Lincoln, was shot
and killed near Bowling Green.
~ Va. in the morning of April %.
1865 twelve days after the shoot
ing. of Abraham Lincoln Bowling
Green, hamlet, is the seat of Caro-
line County, Va. It is 20 miles south
of Fredericksburg and , miles east
of the railroad track from Washington
to Richmond. through fredericksburg.
1t is % southwest of the point where
Booth and his companion, David
Herold. crossed the Potomac River
from Maryland to Virginia. The place
Wnere Booth was shot and where he
died was the farm of Richard II. Gar
rett, few miles from Bowling Green.
Booth was shot in the tobacco barn
on Garrett's farm at am. and died
on the porch of the Garrett farmhouse
at Z am The shot was fired from a
cavalry carhine by Sergt. Boston Cor
bett of a detachment uf 25 men from
the 10th New York Cavalry. The de.
tachment being commanded by Lieut..
Edward Doherty. The bullet struck
Booth at the base of his skull.
j. B. Jacques Of Washington wrote a
letter to The star a few days ago.
saying: "On page 40 of the program of
the recent military carnival held at
the War College in this city is to be
found the following: Booth. with the
other assassins. made his escape, but
were all soon captured (all except
Booth, who was killed in Maryland) /
have a vivid recollection of reading the
published accounts of the tragedy inn
mediately after its occurrence. which
stated that Booth was shot in barn
on a farm. known as the Garrett
in it1il ~ l1G
that have passed. have never heard
of those accounts being disputed
When Booth was pronounced dead
his body was SeWed in an Army
blanket of a trooper and rnped To
plank. No wagon could he had ON
the Garrett farm. hat a little way
off lived colored man-Edward
Freeman--who owned a condemned
Army ambulance which he was using
as farm wagon. The ambulance had
served in the war. Booths body was
put in this and the start was made for
Washington. A few miles along the
road a wheel of the ambulance broke
down. A farm wagon was taken in
the neighborhood, and that evening
the party, with Booth dead and Herold
a prisoner, crossed the Rappahannock
River on the ferry between Port Royal
and Port Conway. continued along
hill roads through Virginia and reach
ed the Potomac at the wharf, Belle
Plains. The steamboat John 5. 1Ge
was boarded.
News of the matter had gone over
land by man and horse to Washington
and the Government sent a tug down
the river TO meet the Ide. The meet
ing took place off AleNa ndria. and the
corpse and prisoner were transferred
~. -;1I E<~Ix
and the prisoner up the Eastern
Branch to the navy yard, close to the
Navy Yard Bridge. The body of Booth
was laid out on the deck of the mon
ttor Montauk. and Herold in double
irons, was put in the hold.
Soon after this Surg. Gen. Barnes
of the Army and other Army surgeons
held an autopsy on Booths body, re-
moving parts of the shattered verte
brae near the base of the skull. These
bones were long an exhibit in the
Army Medical Museum, which was in
stalled in Ford's Theater building after
the war. They were long a private
exhibit in the same museum in its
new building near the Smithsonian,
and they may be there now.
BOOTHS body, after satisfactory
~ identification and the autopsy.
was taken from the Montauk and car
ried by boat to the penitentiary.
which stood in the Arsenal grounds,
now occupied by the War College.
The body was put in a pine box-said
10 have been gun box. a long
box in which rifles were shipped. The
stone floor of a cell on the ground
floor was taken up and grave dug.
Booth was buried there. In February.
1859, Edwin Booth obtained from
President Andrew Johnson a permit
for the removal of his brothers. re.
mains, and in March of that year the
bones were removed to the Booth