81
Cleveland Plain-Dealer, June 6, 1893.
82
San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 1899.
83
Nat Brandt, The Man Who Tried to Burn New York (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), and these city newspapers: Evening Post, Nov. 26, 1864; Clipper, Dec. 3, 1864; Sun, Nov. 26, 1864; Times, Nov. 27, 1864; Leader, Dec. 3, 1864; and Daily News, Nov. 28, 1864.
84
J. Frank Kernan, Reminiscences of the Old Fire Laddies (New York: M. Crane, 1885), p. 194.
85
National Police Gazette (New York), April 22, 1865.
86
Alexander Del Mar, “Prophecy of Antony,” clipping, n.d. [1909], LFFRC.
87
Chicago Sunday Inter Ocean, Jan. 4, 1900.
88
Boston Journal, June 9, 1893. Brown’s proper name was James Hope. Mary Ann Brown, his grandmother, hired him out to Kunkel at the Richmond Theatre, where he met Edwin. Baltimore Sun, June 10, 1893.
89
Undated typescript by James W. Shettel, p. 9, Shettel Papers, York County Historical Society, York, Penn.
90
Rufus Wright, manuscript, n.d., collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., where it accompanies one of the two photographs. The second image, presented to Mrs. Booth, is in the HTC. Thanks to Eric Bartlett Wentworth, a descendant of Wright.
91
“The Booths,” undated clipping [1864], HTC.
92
Charles Pike Sawyer, “Sixty Years and More of Shakespeare,” unpublished manuscript (1930s), p. 2, author’s collection. The much-esteemed Constance R. Spande, whose friendship cast its happy light my way for more than two decades, brought this document to my attention. Thank you, Connie.
CHAPTER 8. THE FIERY FURNACE
1
Booth to Booth, n.p., n.d. [1864], Letters Received (1809–1870), Records of the Attorney General’s Office, General Records of the Dept. of Justice, RG 60, NA; Clarke, Booth, pp. 104–5.
2
John S. Clarke, affidavit, May 6, 1865, 7/408–12, NA M599.
3
Simms, “My Maryland Heritage,” p. 58.
4
Arnold, Memoirs, pp. 23, 134.
5
All Harbin details from Townsend, “Crime of Lincoln’s Murder”; Cincinnati Enquirer, April 18 and 23, 1892; “Booths, Father and Sons,” clipping, n.d., LFFRC. Harbin described in M. E. Martin, statement, May 6, 1865, 5/328–37, NA M599.
6
Washington Critic, Nov. 19, 1885; “A Hotel Clerk with a History,” clipping [1885], Atwater Scrapbook, Chicago Historical Society.
7
Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 3, 1884; George A. Atzerodt, statement, May 1, 1865, in Steers, The Trial, p. cv. Kudos to Joan Chaconas, who located this document in a private collection in 1977.
8
Mudd, Life of Mudd, p. 68.
9
Mudd told Samuel Cox Jr. in 1877 that he was “not favorably impressed with Booth” and that “he was particular in not inviting him to his house, but that Booth came that evening unsolicited.” Marginal note in Cox’s copy of Thomas A. Jones, J. Wilkes Booth (Chicago: Laird and Lee, 1893), MdHS; Louise Mudd Arehart, “Tid Bit,” Mudd Newsletter, vol. 14 (Sept. 1993), p. 1. Booth was pushy in his dealings with people. It explains the statement of Mary Surratt to Louis J. Weichmann that “Dr. Mudd and the people of Charles [County] are getting tired of Booth, and they are pushing him off on John.” Trial of John H. Surratt in the Criminal Court for the District of Columbia, Hon. George P. Fisher Presiding, 2 vols. (Washington: GPO, 1867), vol. 1, p. 372.
10
Thomas L. Gardiner, testimony, May 17, 1865, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, pp. 361–65; Samuel A. Mudd, statement, April 21, 1865, 5/212ff., NA M599.
11
Philadelphia Press, April 12, 1896; Osborn H. Oldroyd, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Washington: author, 1901), p. 259.
12
Weichmann, True History, pp. 32–34; Weichmann, testimony, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, pp. 70–71, 94–101, 103–4, 135, 389–90; Weichmann, testimony, in Trial of Surratt, vol. 1, pp. 369–72. Weichmann’s family spelled its name Wiechmann; he adopted the former spelling. In an April 3, 1898, interview with Hanson Hiss in the Washington Post, Surratt denied that Mudd introduced him to Booth “on the street or anywhere else.” However, Mudd confirmed the meeting on two occasions. Pitman, The Assassination of President Lincoln, p. 421; New York Times, Aug. 4, 1865; Mudd, Life of Mudd, pp. 42–46.
13
Mudd, Life of Mudd, pp. 43–45.
14
“John H. Surratt,” New York Tribune, May 20, 1867; Weichmann, testimony, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, p. 91.
15
A Complete List of the Students Entered at St. Charles’ College, Ellicott City, Maryland (Mt. Loretto, Staten Is., New York: Im. Virgin Mission Press, 1898), unpaginated; Alfred Isacsson, “A Biography of John Surratt” (M.A. thesis, St. Bonaventure University, 1957), pp. 1–14; Weichmann, True History, passim. The late Father Isacsson’s scholarship and friendship were invaluable.
16
Washington National Tribune, Oct. 29, 1885.
17
Washington Evening Star, Dec. 7, 1870.
18
“Innocence of Mrs. Surratt Declared,” Confederate Veteran, vol. 18 (Oct. 1910), p. 474.
19
Weichmann, True History, pp. 28, 31.
20
This account of the Booth-Surratt interview is drawn from the 1870 lecture and Surratt’s interview with Hiss.
21
New York Clipper, April 29, 1865.
22
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11, 1923. Helen Coleman (Mrs. Frank Wynkoop) gave this interview as Helen Truman, although her name is spelled Trueman on Ford’s Theatre playbills.
23
Karen L. Gunderson, “Edwin A. Emerson: History’s Witness,” manuscript (1990), copy in author’s possession. Ms. Gunderson produced a superbly researched life of Emerson.
24
Author’s interview with the late Douglas Lee Emerson (Edwin’s grandson), July 20, 2000, Annandale, Va. Special thanks to my friend Doug Emerson, his son.
25
Chicago Tribune, June 30, 1878; Boonville (Mo.) Weekly Advertiser, May 20, 1881.
26
Samuel K. Chester, statement, April 28, 1865, 4/140–70, NA M599; Chester, testimony, May 12, 1865, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, pp. 45–48. All Chester material in this chapter comes from these documents. Coroner, Allegany Co., Md., Federal Census of 1850, p. 484, roll 277, NA M432. Mathews acknowledged his intermittent involvement to the anonymous author of “The Route Booth Rode,” manuscript (ca. 1909), chap. 2, p. 18, JOH.
27
Cincinnati Enquirer, April 16, 1881.
28
“Assassination and Funeral of President Lincoln,” C. C. Carrington Scrapbook, vol. 2, p. 56, John Hay Library, Brown University; Joseph Jackson interview of Jennie Gourley, Philadelphia Ledger, n.d., copy in James W. Shettel Scrapbook, pp. 8–12, Shettel Collection, Historical Society of York County, Pa.; William J. Ferguson, “Talks of an Old-Time Actor,” manuscript (1920s), p. 77, collection of Esther Quinn, whose courtesies in providing information on Ferguson are much appreciated.
29
John T. Ford, testimony, June 9, 1865, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 3, p. 475.
30
Jacob Rittersback, statement, n.d. [1865], vol. 93, Joseph Holt Papers, LOC; Providence Journal, Aug. 14, 1865.
31
Townsend, “Crime of Lincoln’s Murder”; “Booths, Father and Sons,” clipping, n.d., LFFRC; Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, Jan. 18, 1869.
32
Wagandt, The Mighty Revolution, p. 256–60; C. Milton Wright, Our Harford Heritage: A History of Harford County, Maryland (Baltimore: French-Bray, 1967), pp. 376–78; Priscilla Stump Griffi
th, diary, Oct. 12–13 and 31, 1864, HSHC.
33
Hannah Cook Frey interview by William McGlanahan, “Woman Says Booth Plotted to Kidnap Lincoln at Her Home,” clipping, n.d. [1926?], Anna Lee Smith Scrapbook, HSHC. Blather is misspelled bather in the original. See also Harford Gazette, June 16, 1950, courtesy of Jim Chrismer, whose knowledge of Civil War events in the county is unsurpassed. John R. Overmiller kindly assisted the author by interviewing Neva Frey Reisinger (Hannah’s granddaughter) on March 7, 1995. The assistance of Mary Jane Sopher in uncovering details of Cook’s subsequent life in Iowa is appreciated.
34
Stump, “Notes on the Children of J. W. Stump & Their Part in the American Civil War, 1861–’65.”
35
“Additional Reminiscences of the Booth Family,” Bel Air Aegis, March 7, 1902.
36
Court-martial of George B. Love, Hospital Steward, File OO-509, Records of the Judge Advocate General’s office, RG 153, NA; “The Suicide at Washington,” clipping, n.d. [April 1865], Lincoln Obsequies Scrapbook, LOC.
37
Arnold, Memoirs, pp. 23–24.
38
Memoranda of George W. Bunker, clerk at the National Hotel, providing the dates of Booth’s stays at the hotel. This valuable document provides a basis for the actor’s comings and goings in Washington during the winter of 1864–65 and was an exhibit at the 1865 conspiracy trial. 15/260–63, NA M599.
39
Richard M. Smoot, The Unwritten History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Clinton, Mass.: W. J. Coulter, 1908), pp. 7–9; Washington Daily Chronicle, July 10, 1865. Smoot’s book is handily available as Shall We Gather at the River: The Unwritten History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Rodeo, N.M.: Eco Publishing, 2011), with notes by its editor, Randal A. Berry.
40
Edward L. Smoot, testimony, June 20, 1867, in Trial of Surratt, vol. 1, p. 190.
41
Noah Brooks, “The Close of Lincoln’s Career,” Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, May 1895, p. 26; Morning Cleveland Herald, May 24, 1865.
42
Clipping, n.p., Nov. 13, 1886, LFFRC; Weichmann, True History, p. 76; Washington Star, May 15, 1865; New York Tribune, July 17, 1881; “niggers” in Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, July 10, 1865.
43
Atzerodt statement of May 1, 1865; Port Tobacco Times and Charles County Advertiser, Dec. 2, 1858.
44
Oldroyd, Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 267–68, 283–84.
45
Jones, J. Wilkes Booth, p. 39.
46
Townsend, Life, Crime, and Capture, p. 39.
47
Independent, May 11, 1865.
48
Broughton’s Monthly Planet Reader and Astrological Journal, vol. 5 (Nov.–Dec., 1864), p. 2, courtesy of Leanne Garland, Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Lincoln Memorial University; Louisville Courier-Journal, Feb. 12, 1940.
49
Arnold, Memoirs, pp. 24, 44–45, 134–35.
50
William J. Ferguson, “I Saw Lincoln Shot!” American Magazine, vol. 90 (Aug. 1920), p. 86.; H. Clay Ford, statement, April 20, 1865, 5/483ff, NA M599. My thanks to Benjamin Waite, who helped me understand Ferguson’s career.
51
Evidence for a January 18, 1865, abduction effort rests on connecting Chester’s testimony and Martin’s account of Atzerodt with knowledge of the whereabouts of Booth, Lincoln, and Forrest.
52
Woodruff, “McCullough,” pp. 151–53.
53
Ford, statement, 5/483ff, NA M599.
54
William J. Rainnie to Judge Joseph Holt, Camp near Annapolis, Md., May 19, 1865, 6/113–15, NA M599.
55
Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1885.
56
George W. Bunker, testimony, May 12, 1865, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, p. 31.
57
“A Wild Ride for Life,” clipping, n.d. [1869], LFFRC.
58
“A Wild Ride for Life,” clipping, n.d. [1869], LFFRC. Lenahagn mangled into Flanagan in source. Subscriber information from issue of Nov. 5, 1864.
59
John J. Jack, statement, April [n.d.], 1865, 5/49–57, NA M599; John T. Ford, testimony, May 25, 1867, in Impeachment Investigation, p. 535.
60
Charles C. Dunn, testimony, July 1, 1867, in Trial of Surratt, vol. 1, pp. 436–37.
61
Martin, testimony, June 20, 1867, in Trial of Surratt, vol. 1, pp. 213–16, and statement, May 6, 1865, 5/328–37, NA M599.
62
Weichmann, testimony, May 18, 1865, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, pp. 388–91.
63
Washington Capitol, Feb. 1, 1874.
64
Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11, 1923.
65
Washington Daily Globe, January 19, 1865; Forrest to James Oakes, Washington, Jan. 27, 1865, Forrest Papers, Princeton University Library.
66
Jones, Booth, pp. 42–43.
67
Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 3, 1884.
68
Chester, statement, April 28, 1865, 4/140–70, NA M599, and testimony, May 12, 1865, in Poore, The Conspiracy Trial, vol. 1, pp. 45–48; Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, July 10, 1865.
69
Junius told the public about his brother’s engagement to a “Miss Hale.” Chicago Times, April 17, 1865; New York Daily News, April 21, 1865. The claim was promptly denounced as false. “Booth attempted to force his attention upon Miss Hale, but she always manifested a decided aversion to the handsome villain,” claimed the Washington National Republican, quoted in the Buffalo Morning Express, April 28, 1865. This statement was incorrect and dishonest, of course, but not unexpected.Junius did not identify by first name the young woman with whom his brother was involved, and confusion over her identity existed for nearly a century. She was misidentified as Bessie Hale by Alexander Hunter (Chicago Daily Inter Ocean, June 18, 1878). For the identification of Lucy as Booth’s fiancée, see Terry Alford, “Alexander Hunter and the Bessie Hale Story,” Alexandria History, vol. 9 (1990), pp. 5–15. There were two reasons why the journalistic jackals of 1865 did not chew Lucy to pieces. Many editors, due to a sense of propriety in dealing with women of Lucy’s social class, simply let the story lie. It was, after all, deemed irrelevant to the murder. Hence the journalist Benjamin Perley Poore noted that her name “was honorably kept a secret.” Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Hubbard Bros., 1886), vol. 2, p. 183.No less important was a signal political victory for which Senator Hale has never been given credit. He met privately on April 15, 1865, with Andrew Johnson and apparently gave the new president a satisfactory explanation of his daughter’s connection with Booth. The meeting, discussed subsequently in the endnotes of chapter 10, secured the influence of Johnson in keeping Lucy’s name out of the government’s investigation. A photograph of Lucy, one of five photographs of women found on Booth’s body, was kept in War Department records relating to the assassination, yet as late as 1891 a newspaper reporter was informed hers was the one he could not copy. It was “the picture of the daughter of one distinguished Senator from a New England State [Hale] and the wife of another [William E. Chandler, whom Lucy married in 1874] now living from the same section.” New York World, April 26, 1891.The John Parker Hale Papers at the New Hampshire Historical Society, the principal collection of family papers, reflect a thorough family cover-up. They contain no documents casting any light on Lucy’s courtship with Booth. In fact there is an entire absence of any family letters in the critical period of April–June 1865, suggesting a successful cull of material from the time. The papers of William E. Chandler, gathered at the Library of Congress and at the New Hampshire Historical Society, along with the Hale-Chandler Papers at Dartmouth College Library, are similarly unhelpful.Richard H. Sewell’s Joh
n P. Hale and the Politics of Abolition (1965) and Leon B. Richardson’s William E. Chandler, Republican (1940) are political biographies. Good books, particularly Sewell’s, they take no notice of Booth. However, when Richardson was doing his research, Admiral Lloyd Chandler, Lucy’s stepson, informed him candidly that she “was infatuated with Booth.” This was confirmed by George Moses, a U.S. senator from New Hampshire who was a close political ally of William B. Chandler and knew her. Richardson to Helen C. Milius, Hanover, N.H., Oct. 10, 1946, author’s collection.I am indebted to the late John Parker Hale Chandler Jr. and to his daughter Rose C. Daniels, worthy descendants of Lucy Hale, for their assistance in my investigation of this topic.
70
Richmond Morcom, “They All Loved Lucy,” American Heritage, vol. 21 (Oct. 1970), pp. 12–15. My late friend Boo Morcom allowed me to examine Lucy Hale’s unpublished diaries and letters. See also Concord Evening Monitor, Oct. 15, 1915; Washington Sunday Herald, April 23, 1882.
71
“J. Wilkes Booth’s Romance,” clipping, n.d. [1870s], Varnum-Tenney Family Scrapbook, Perkins Library, Duke University; draft manuscript of “The House That Booth Built,” pt. 3, Mahoney Papers, HSHC.
Fortune's Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth Page 54
