Evening star., 1932-01-24
Royal he Booth shot

rrn and OuthOuSeS, n ear Port Royal, Uh
'The right lower limb was greatly confused
and perfectly black from a fracture of one of
the long bones of the leg.
AN autopsy then made by the assistants
of Gen. Barnes, which proved that the bull
let which killed him passed between two of the
vertebrae of the neck causing their fracture
and lesion of the spinal cord
The body secretly, and at night, buried
in the yard of the penitentiary; which was not
generally known for some time afterward."
INDEED, others have recorded his passing
| away, including Rev DR.. Richard B. Garrett
of Portsmouth, Va. and others identified his
body on board the old monitor Montauk, but
none could be satisfying and conclusive
than the foregoing statement by one of our
best known citizens, who born here May
49, 1912, and died in this city May l. 1891,
and whose reputation a man and physl-
clan left no doubt as to its truth and accuracy
and it would be just as plausible to say that
Payne, Herold, Atzerott and Mrs. Surratt were
not executed here in Washington for the muir
der of Lincoln it would be to say that
Booth escaped from his captcrs and that his
dead body was not brought back here and
buried in the cid Jail floor, where it remained
until February, 1862 when, with the permls-
sion of President johnson a permit was issued
at the request of Edwin Booth to have 1t re-
moved to Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore.
David C. Herold the young man who was
executed here with tie rest of The conspirators
sentenced to death punishment, was a drug
clerk, and, as was testified, had an undeveloped
mind He was of a good family and resided
at the time with his mother Mrs. Mary Her.
old at Eighth and L streets southeast. she
subsequently moved to 901 Tenth street, in
that same section At the time of the assassi-
nation his father was dead, but his devoted
mother and his six sisters did all they could
to furnish comfort and ccunsel to the son and
brother who had brought disgrace upon the
family At least two of the sisters married
Washington men, and may be still residing
here so far as the writer knows. However,
in no way could they be held responsible for
the unfortunate position they were placed in
by another member of the family who had
sought bad company for his companionship and
came to grief.
Herold was defended by FssStone, who did
not attend the court to delep his argument,
but requested that it be read by the clerk or
one CT the other lawyers for the defense He
contended at length that no evidence had been
introduced to connea6 Herold with the murder,
and that the mosrs&6 could be convicted of
was the crime of aiding in the escape of Booth,
which he admitted; but the members of the
military court apparently thought otherwise.
When Herold was found guilty and told Of
the penalty mcted out to him 'he was taken
completely by surprise" as stated by the press.
He indicated preference for any particular
clergyman, but the Rev DR. Olds at the re-
quest of the family administered to his re-
ligious needs and was with him to the end.
AS the writer has said upon more than one
occasion, there be little doubt that John
Wilkes Booths mind was diseased at the time
he shot President Lincoln.
he Of he
n Booth had been dead IS years, dying at
the early age of Sc. OF Edwin T. and the
girls, the Intelligencer at that time spoke very
highly, but the press had little commendation
for Junius BrutuS Booth, the father, other than
that he very able actor.
The Integencer printed story to the effect
that the senior Booth had thrown off the
wife of his bosom to fly from England with a
flower girl, with whom he to America
and settled at Bel Air, Md, "and brought up
many children, while his first wife went down
to a drunken and broken-hearted death. He
himself wandered westward died on the way
errant and feveriSh, even in the closing mo-
ments His widow, too conscious of her pre-
decessors wrongs, and often taunted with them,
lived apart, frugal and discreet and brought
her six children up to honorable maturity. In
1865 she was living with her daughters in
New York
OF the children, Edwin was the only great
actor of the family, for although John wilkes
had good looks and talent in his favor, yet
toward the last of his short life of 33 years he
had contracted an apparently incurable bron-
chial aff1iction which caused almost every
engagement he secured to be failure and his
friends had predicted that his "hoarseness'
would in time compel him to abandon the stage.
His last appearance in New York
the evening of November %, 1854, at the
Winter Garden when, We are told, "the play
of Julius Caesar was given for the benefit OF
the Shakespeare monument fund.- with q cast