When
John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865, he not only found a dark
corner in American history; he may have became a part of Texas history, too.
An
enduring legend in Granbury, Texas,
says a man known as John St. Helen worked as a bartender at A.P. Gordon’s saloon.
His true identity is still being debated in Hood County.
When St. Helen
fell seriously ill and believed he was dying, he supposedly confessed to a priest
that he was really Booth and revealed the location of the pistol he used to kill
Lincoln.
But, after recovering, St. Helen reportedly left Granbury
and wound up in Enid, Oklahoma, where he died for real, again claiming to be the
infamous assassin. His mummified remains were then sold to a sideshow until the
mummy vanished.
And at Timpson,
in East Texas, Booth also supposedly
died after fleeing to the Shelby community where relative Zack Booth, a well-known
lawman, was living. Malcolm Weaver of Shelby County said he was told the story
by his father. M.M. Weaver.
What’s the truth about Booth?
History
says that when Booth shot Lincoln, he jumped onto the stage at Ford’s Theater
and broke a leg, but hobbled to a waiting horse and, with fellow conspirator David
Herold, rode to an inn owned by Mary Surrat, and later to the home of Dr. Samuel
Mudd, who set Booth’s leg. Learning his patient was Lincoln’s assailant, Mudd
ordered Booth from his property. After
hiding out for several days in a forest, Booth and Herold made their way across
the Potomac River into Virginia and rode to Richard Garrett’s farm.
The
16th New York Cavalry discovered Booth and Herold hiding in Garrett’s barn. While
the officer in charge of the cavalry was negotiating with Booth, someone set fire
to the barn. Booth was shot, paralyzed, and died on the porch of Garrett’s farmhouse
at 7 a.m. the next morning.
Booth’s body was carried back to Washington
and buried beneath the floor of a local prison.
But did he really escape
and travel to Texas and Oklahoma? You decide for yourself.
Bob
Bowman's East Texas
September 6, 2009 Column
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
Copyright
Bob Bowman
See Also:
Did
John Wilkes Booth Live In Texas? by C. F. Eckhardt
Eyewitness
by Maggie Van Ostrand |
