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Of the few US Presidents who were assassinated, only two resulted in much national and international interest, Lincoln and Kennedy. In both cases, there was a certain amount of mystery surrounding the murder and the subsequent events, possibly due to botched investigations.
What is certain, in the case of Lincoln, is that John Wilkes Booth committed the crime; there were enough eyewitnesses in the theatre. It is also known that Booth was a rabid supporter of the South and slavery. What is not known is why Gen. Grant, who was supposed to accompany Lincoln to the theatre called off at the last moment or how Booth's escape from Washington appeared to be assisted by the Union troops.
Booth was supposed to have been shot dead at the Garrett farm some 10 or 11 days later, but the body was sequestered and no formal identification carried out. It was subsequently taken by boat along the Potomac and hidden in a culvert. It may have stayed there for four years, when it was handed over to the Booth family. When they opened the coffin, the body, in an advanced state of decomposition was identified by his sister. It was in a Confederate army uniform, wearing a cavalry boot on one foot and a shoe, with the instep cut open, on the other. This was purported to provide relief from the broken tibia Booth sustained when jumping from the Presidential box at Ford's onto the stage, but it is hard to understand how a cut instep would relieve the pain from the lower tibia. There is also some doubt as to which leg was injured, as reports vary. The most damning evidence that this was Booth was that the body was accompanied by what was supposed to be Booth's diary.
However, there is some evidence that Booth had lost his diary on a ferry and he asked a Confederate soldier, Ruddy, to recover it for him. One theory is that the body was that of Ruddy who was returning it to Booth when he was shot in a burning corncrib.
There is no absolute proof, one way or another. But, if Booth had escaped in 1865, where did he go?
This is where the plot thickens and we go forward to 1872 when a man named John St Helen took up residence in Glen Rose Mills, Texas, where he bought the general store. A lawyer from Grandberry, Texas. handled a liquor licensing problem for him, one Finis L. Bates. They became firm friends and, later St Helen moved to Grandberry. The latter fell seriously ill and, on his deathbed,,he confessed and made a deposition he was Booth and had killed Lincoln, giving Bates a lot of information that Bootl alone could have known.. However, he recovered and a little later suddenly left Grandberry. Bates was sceptical about the story but started investigating and found that most of it fitted, including the appearance and manner of St Helen, as well as interviewing the protagonists. Bates became convinced that he was, indeed, Booth.
In the spring of 1901, a man took up residence in a hotel in El Reno, Oklahoma, registering as David E. George. He bought a small property there for $350. He was clearly in poor health and an alcoholic. On a binge, he registered in a hotel in Enid, some distance away, in December 1902. In January 1903, George committed suicide by taking strychnine in the hotel. He left some papers and had made oral confessions in El Reno that he was Booth. The local undertaker refused to have him buried but embalmed the body, believing Federal authorities would want it.
Hearing of the claims, Bates travelled to Enid and was able to formally identify him as the same man as St Helen. Eventually, the body was shown in a fair sideshow and then Bates bought it and kept it, believing it to be Booth's in his Memphis house until his own death, about 20 years later.
Epilogue: Harper's Magazine in 1924 commissioned William G Shepherd to investigate the affair. He concluded that George was not Booth because the writing on the cheque that was used to buy the house in 1901 differed from that of the diary (which was believed to be Booth's) of 1865, as if it could be assumed that a person's handwriting as an old, frail man is the same as when in his prime, 36 years earlier.
There is no proof, one way or another, whether Booth was shot in 1865.
What is certain, in the case of Lincoln, is that John Wilkes Booth committed the crime; there were enough eyewitnesses in the theatre. It is also known that Booth was a rabid supporter of the South and slavery. What is not known is why Gen. Grant, who was supposed to accompany Lincoln to the theatre called off at the last moment or how Booth's escape from Washington appeared to be assisted by the Union troops.
Booth was supposed to have been shot dead at the Garrett farm some 10 or 11 days later, but the body was sequestered and no formal identification carried out. It was subsequently taken by boat along the Potomac and hidden in a culvert. It may have stayed there for four years, when it was handed over to the Booth family. When they opened the coffin, the body, in an advanced state of decomposition was identified by his sister. It was in a Confederate army uniform, wearing a cavalry boot on one foot and a shoe, with the instep cut open, on the other. This was purported to provide relief from the broken tibia Booth sustained when jumping from the Presidential box at Ford's onto the stage, but it is hard to understand how a cut instep would relieve the pain from the lower tibia. There is also some doubt as to which leg was injured, as reports vary. The most damning evidence that this was Booth was that the body was accompanied by what was supposed to be Booth's diary.
However, there is some evidence that Booth had lost his diary on a ferry and he asked a Confederate soldier, Ruddy, to recover it for him. One theory is that the body was that of Ruddy who was returning it to Booth when he was shot in a burning corncrib.
There is no absolute proof, one way or another. But, if Booth had escaped in 1865, where did he go?
This is where the plot thickens and we go forward to 1872 when a man named John St Helen took up residence in Glen Rose Mills, Texas, where he bought the general store. A lawyer from Grandberry, Texas. handled a liquor licensing problem for him, one Finis L. Bates. They became firm friends and, later St Helen moved to Grandberry. The latter fell seriously ill and, on his deathbed,,he confessed and made a deposition he was Booth and had killed Lincoln, giving Bates a lot of information that Bootl alone could have known.. However, he recovered and a little later suddenly left Grandberry. Bates was sceptical about the story but started investigating and found that most of it fitted, including the appearance and manner of St Helen, as well as interviewing the protagonists. Bates became convinced that he was, indeed, Booth.
In the spring of 1901, a man took up residence in a hotel in El Reno, Oklahoma, registering as David E. George. He bought a small property there for $350. He was clearly in poor health and an alcoholic. On a binge, he registered in a hotel in Enid, some distance away, in December 1902. In January 1903, George committed suicide by taking strychnine in the hotel. He left some papers and had made oral confessions in El Reno that he was Booth. The local undertaker refused to have him buried but embalmed the body, believing Federal authorities would want it.
Hearing of the claims, Bates travelled to Enid and was able to formally identify him as the same man as St Helen. Eventually, the body was shown in a fair sideshow and then Bates bought it and kept it, believing it to be Booth's in his Memphis house until his own death, about 20 years later.
Epilogue: Harper's Magazine in 1924 commissioned William G Shepherd to investigate the affair. He concluded that George was not Booth because the writing on the cheque that was used to buy the house in 1901 differed from that of the diary (which was believed to be Booth's) of 1865, as if it could be assumed that a person's handwriting as an old, frail man is the same as when in his prime, 36 years earlier.
There is no proof, one way or another, whether Booth was shot in 1865.
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