Evening star., 1944-05-22
Letters to The Star
Booth Mystery Discussed By
Critic of DR.. Nav
% the Editnr of The SfaY.

Booth Mystery Discussed BY
Critic of DR.. May
To the Editor of The Star:
An editorial in The Star for May II,
entitled Booth Mystery Again." opens
UP an interesting field of inquiry into
the incident of the assassination Of
President Lincoln. From that incident
have stemmed the Lincoln myth and
the Booth legend, and I am sure that
you are correct in saying that probably
the mystery of the fate Of the assassin
of Abraham Lincoln never will be solved
to the satisfaction OF everybody" There
are several reasons why this is so.
Barnum was not speaking idly when
he said the public likes to be fooled,
and this mystery puts money in the
pockets Of those who perpetuate 1t. A
lie once set in motion can never be
overtaken.
There should be no mystery about
the fate Of John Wilkes Booth to those
careful scholars who have dug deep
into all the known records of his life
and found the facts. The scholars OF
this type-and they are not publicity
seekers, nor do they claim to know
everything about Booth and his horrible
crime-have no doubt that he died in
Virginia on the 26th of April, 1866, and
is now buried in the family lot in
Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore.
Another type Of scholars, so-called,
seems to delight in casting doubt on
this. They quote all sorts of evidence"
in support of their thesis that Booth
was not killed at CARROTS farm, but
escaped and lived to a green old age
under various names. Dr. Robert Gar
rett, who witnessed Booths death, COL
lected some so stories of so escaped
Booths. T have nearly as many, and
Southern clergymen-one an Episcopal
rector and the other Baptist minister.
There are many people in Atlanta,
where both lived, who still believe that
each man was John Wilkes Booth.
Some careful scholars have been
puzzled by an oft-quoted statement OF
DR.. John Frederick May of Washing
ton, regarding his identification of the
corpse of Booth. If this statement,
which he wrote in 1887, and read before
the Columbia Historical Society, is
correct, there is reasonable doubt
that Booth was captured. 1t sAould
be remembered, however, that this
paper was written when DR.. May was
rs years OF age and "a years after the
death Of Booth. Comparing it with his
sworn statement made at the autopsy
on April 27, 1865, one mercifully con-
cludes that the venerable mans memory
had played him truant.
Booths connection with DR.. May was
only transitory. On April 10, 1863, the
doctor removed a pistol ball from the
actors neck. He had carried it there
for more than two years, an angry and
jealous actress having shot him in
Montgomery, Ala, in December, 1850.
That fact is fully attested; also the fact
that the ball continued to lodge in the
actors neck until 1t produced large
lump or swelling which detracted from
his good looks and gave him unnec-
essary pain. Its removal could not have
been a very serious operation, for that
very night Booth began his engagement
with Richard III" in which he dis
played all the power and energy for
which his great father was noted. The
wound promptly reopened and had
to heal by granulation, which caused the
scar by which DR.. May identified the
corpse two years later.
In his testimony at the autopsy, DR..
May referred to this operation as "the
removal of tumor," and in his his
torical paper he characterized it as
quite large nbroid tumor." In the
latter, but not in the testimony. he said
that Booth particularly enjoined him
Hto say III questioned upon the fact Of
his having undergone surgical opera
tion) that it was for the removal Of q
bullet from his neck"
In both statements DR.. May AYERS
that the actor told him that Miss Char
lotte Cushman gave him bear hug on
the stage and tore open the wound.
Booth could not have made such a
statement. for Miss Cushman at that
time was living in Rome, Italy. and DIR.
May not only attended some Of his per-
formances as Booths guest, but he could
have read in the Washington papers
that Annette Ince, Efie Germon and
Susan Denim were the actors leading
ladies during this engagement. Booth
never in his life acted with Miss Cush-
man. In the autumn Of 1868 she re-
turned to America to give a limited
number of performances for war relief,
and appeared In Washington October
49,, when President Lincoln and every
body else attended. This may account
for DR.. Mays confusion.
This lapse of memory on the part of
the doctor is further strikingly illus
trated by statement in the historical
paper which had not only been widely
quoted but has actually been made the
basis Of book; to wit: THE right lower
limb (of the corpse was greatly con-
fused, and perfectly black from frac-
ture of one of the long bones of the
leg" If this was true, then the corpse
was not that of Booth.
But it was not true, for Immediately
after the autopsy, Surgeon General
Robert K. Barnes, U. S. A., who con-
Quoted it, met the newsmen and told
them that the body was fully identified