BOOTH AND SPIRIT OF LINCOLN A STORY OF A LIVING DEAD MAN BY BERNIE BABCOCK AUTHOR OF THE SOUL OF ANN RUTLEDGE, THE SOUL OP ABE LINCOLN, ETC. GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1925. BY BBRNIB BABCOCK. TO THE MEMORY OP MARY ANN HOLMES WIFE OF JUNIUB BRUTUS BOOTH, MOTHER OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF WHOM WERE THE FAMOUS ACTORS JUNTOS BRUTUS, JR., EDWIN AND JOHN WILKES Though the youngest of these sons, because he forsook the teachings of a Christian mother and walked in the council of the ungodly, made infamous a name that might other* wise have been immortal in the splendor of his art, yet until the heart he broke ceased to beat, its every throb was one of deepest affection for her last born child and her every prayer one for the soul of a man who never in life or death got beyond his mother's love IN APPRECIATION This story, BOOTH AND THE SPIRIT OF LINCOLN, is founded on documentary evidence, a great portion of which was gathered by Finis L. Bates (deceased), early-day friend of John St. Helen, evidence now in possession of his wife, Mrs. Finis L. Bates, 1234 Harbert Avenue, Memphis, Tenn. This evidential matter I have examined with great care, using a strong magnifying glass over some of the signatures to detect the fraud charged by certain writers, who claim to believe Booth was shot in the Garrett barn. For the opportunity of this rigid examination I wish to thank Mrs. Bates and to advise readers of this story who may wish copies of Mr. Bates' book The Escape and Sui- cide of John Wilkes Booth, same containing original matter above referred to, that Mrs. Bates has a few copies. Mr. Bates spent $50,000 accumulating the evidence pre- sented in this book and in later affidavits. The book, now out of print, is invaluable to those desiring first-hand evidence on this disputed case. I also wish to thank Miss Beatrice Prawl, former libra- rian, city of Little Bock, Arkansas, for information fur- nished in research work on this subject, and to others who directed the author to subject matter or supplied clippings for a work that has taken some years to complete* CHARACTERS AND INFLUENCES MAJOR A LIVING DEAD MAN John Wilkea Booth A GHOST The Spirit of Abraham Lincoln A MYSTERIOUS VOICE A FRAGRANT MEMORY A MOTHER'S LOVE MINOR MRS. TEMPLE Friend of John Wilkes Booth MRS. MARY SURRATT Boarding House Keeper JOHN SURRATT Son of Mrs. SurraU ANNA SURRATT Daughter of Mrs. SurraU Louis WEICHMANN Inmate of Surratt Home DR. MUDD Physician of Bryantown, Md. "JOHNNIE" A Hired Man COL. COXE Maryland Planter SOJER TOM WiLLSiNj Mountaineer Preacher BIG EAGLE Cherokee Chief I. TREADKEL Caravan Overseer "CURRY" CHICKEN Seasoned Seaman RAM SUROSH A Yohgi A WOMAN Daughter of the Game FATHER SORIA A Priest DONNA LUISA A Spanish Belle DON JUAN VALENTO Matadore FINIS L. BATES Lawyer GEN. ALBERT PIKE Soldier, Poet, Lawyer, Mason MRS. HARPER Minister's Wife CHARLIE BROWN Hotel Clerk HEROLD, ATZERODT, PAYNE, ACCOMPLICES OF BOOTH; OTHERS. DISPOSITION OF THE BODY OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH He (John Wilkes Booth) was buried near the old jail and a battery of artillery drawn over his grave to obliterate all trace of it. GEN. DAVID D. DANA. John Wilkes Booth was buried under a brick pavement in a room of the old penitentiary building of Washington. GEN. LEW WALLACE. The remains of Booth were carried on a gunboat about ten miles down the Potomac when the body was sunk in the river. CAPT. E. W. HILLAED. The body of Booth was placed on a boat by Capt. Baker and his nephew, a Lieutenant in the New York Seventy- first Volunteers, carried to an island twenty-seven miles from Washington and secretly buried there. COL. WM. P. WOOD. It is claimed, and history discloses, that none of the pursuing party under Lieut. Baker, nor even he himself, knew either Booth or Herold, but they were furnished photographs of them for their identification, while at the inquest the body was not identified by the picture of Booth, so far as we are informed, though it was then and there in the possession of Lieut. Baker. There was no further proof of the identity of the body as that of Booth except the pictures of Booth's relatives, the letters, etc., offered by Conger (found on body) and this was solely relied on. If the body had been that of Booth, positive identification 11 12 DISPOSITION OF THE BODY could have been had by comparison with his pictures, while hundreds, yea thousands of people living in Washington could have been called on to positively identify the dead body of Booth under oath. There were so many who knew him personally and others who had seen him on the stage that it would have been almost as easy to have identified the body of John Wilkes Booth as that of President Lincoln whom he had assassinated, Escape and Suicide of Booth by Finis lu B&tes, p. 157. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE DARLING OF THE GODS 15 II. PLOTTERS 25 III. "LINCOLN! HOSTAGE OP WAR!" 32 IV. LOVE AND CRUSHED LILACS SO V. RIDERS OP THE NIGHT 50 VI. "Now HE BELONGS TO THE AGES" 59 VII. THE HAUNTED THICKET 63 VIII. FUGITIVES 72 IX. BEYOND THE DANGER LINE 81 X. "SPOOKS is SCRIPTURAL" 86 XL THE APPARITION AGAIN 96 XII, THE CAPTURE OP BOOTH 101 XIIL "I AM Now DEAD" 110 XIV. JOE VICK 115 XV. "TELEGRAPH OFFICE" 122 XVI. ON FOUR SCAFFOLDS 128 XVII. THE EMPTY NOOSE 137 XVIIL JESSE SMITH DISAPPEARS 143 XIX. UNDER THE STARS OF MOJAVA 152 XX. "MOTHER'S BOY" 155 XXI. "STAY DEAD!" 164 XXII. ABOUT GHOSTS 172 XXIIL THE SHIP IN THE MIRROR 179 XXIV. OM! MANI PADME, OM! 184 XXV. A DAUGHTER OF THE GAME 194 XXVI. "A MIRACLE!" 207 XXVII. "EVEN AS THE BULL" 212 XXVIII. JOHN ST. HELEN 220 XXIX, ST. HELEN LEAVES GLEN ROSE. , 228 14 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXX. A STRANGE TALE 235 XXXL LIVING EVIDBNCB 243 XXXII. MBS. TEMPLE'S STOHT 259 XXXIII. "Mr GOD! JOHN WILKEB BOOTH!" 267 XXXIV. AFTER TWENTY YEABS 269 XXXV. REPENTANT TEABS 279 XXXVI. A LIVING DEAD MAN 287 XXXVII. WHEN THE HUBLY BUBLY*S DONE 298 XXXVIII. SENSATIONAL. 306 XXXIX. "CHABITY FOB ALL" 312 BOOTH AND THE SPIRIT OF LINCOLN CHAPTER I THE DARLING OF THE GODS "AND the Greek god who looks on the dance with flam- ing eyes but remains like a statue who is he?" "You do not know him?" "It seems I do and yet if I have seen him, where ' ' has it been ? "On the stage most likely/' ' ' The stage ? You do not mean why of course ! It is John Wilkes." ' ' Yes. John Wilkes Booth, the handsomest and most fas- cinating man that ever walked the streets of Washington/' "And such an actor! More than once I have been thrilled by the drawing of his sword. But never have I seen such fire in his eyes." ' ' His stage fire is that of art, consummate, but art. This is the fire of passion whipped high/' "There must be a woman." 4 ' 9 ' Follow his eyes. They do not leave her. The scene was in the ball room of the National Hotel in Washington during the last days of the Civil War. There was the sound of revelry by night that comes of music and laughter, of gay talk and the rhythmic tapping of slippered feet upon smooth floors. For here were gathered the wealthy, the beautiful, the talented and the brave of the land who, even though near-by battle fields were being reddened with fresh blood, danced on apparently as care- 18 16 BOOTH AND THE SPIRIT OP LINCOLN free as the famous fiddler of Rome who made music for devouring flames. Living at the National during this period were Senator and Mrs. Hale with their daughter Bessie and Mr. and Mrs. Temple with Mrs. Temple's greatly admired young friend John Wilkes, youngest brother of the famous Booth family of actors. It was Mrs. Temple who, on the night of the dance where the actor was an angry on-looker, pointed him out to a guest from New Orleans. ' "She must be a beauty/ the guest observed watching the actor. "You are right one of the loveliest women God ever put breath in. She is on the far side of the ball room. When she comes back I will point her out if her enraged lover's eyes do not direct you to her. Did you ever see anyone angrier? He has gone white. His gleaming teeth press " hard against his lips. Jealousy ! He is consumed with it ! "He is a picture worth studying. You call him the 'darling of the gods/ I agree that if perfection of body and beauty of intelligence make a man such, you have not " misnamed him. He looks the part without a blemish. Mrs. Temple laughed well pleased as she said, "He is without a blemish except a few scars that have come of his profession three to be exact. Do you notice how he holds jhis cane with his thumb tucked under? That thumb was twisted out of place as the actor made an effort to shift some scenery. It will never be straight again. If you were closer you would notice that his right eye brow is higher than the other arched up in the middle. This ' came of a sword cut.