Synopses & Reviews
Text extracted from opening pages of book: 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 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 lateraffidavits. 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 i