AFTER SIXTY YEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

AFTER SIXTY YEARS.

LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION. MURDERER'S BURIAL PLACE. ALLEGED SECRET REVEALED. CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS Two contradictory statements regarding the burial place of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, on April 14, 1865, wore published in the Now York Herald in February. A message from Chicago stated that Colonel James Hamilton Davidson, former commander of the 122 nd Infantry, had revealed what he said was the burial place of Booth. Colonel Davidson, who lives in Chicago with a daughter, said that ho believes he is tho only living man who knows. Recently Mr. E. H. Sampson, who said he was one of seven men who disposed of Booth's body, died with- . out rovealing what had been done with j the body. Colonel Davidson said he was in command at Portsmouth, Virginia, on the night of Booth's burial, and was told of it by Colonel Baker, head of the secret service of the army.

" Just after the shooting of Booth at Bowling Green, Virginia," said Colonel Davidson, " a report came to me about a group of men acting mysteriously in the middle of the nighfc around one of the warehouses. I didn't have to wait long for my information. Colonel Baker camo to mo the next morning, and said , he wanted to see me in privacy. 41 This is what Colonel Bilker said: 'Last night I brought into Portsmouth the body of Booth. Six of my men carried it on a stretcher to the first warehouse to tho north. We took it into the basement, whore we dug a grave. The body was placed in there and covered with acid. Then the grave was filled with limestone and dirt. Every man of us is pledged to secrecy. Will you promise t never to say a word V " Colonel Davidson added: "That was nearly 60 years ago. There can't be any harm in telling it now. The country ought to know." A report received from Washington on the day that the message was sent from Chicago stated Many versions of the burial of Booth have been in circulation for years, but the generally accepted belief here is that tho body of the assassin was buried on the ground floor of the old Washington penitentiary and later was removed at the request of his relatives to : Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore." i

A message from Baltimore stated: — "The recoids of Greenmount Cemetery show that Booth was buried in the Booth family plot there on June 6, 1869. According to the records of the Maryland Historical Society, Booth's body was bi "light here from Washington on February 18 of the same year and was kept in a vault at Greenmount until final interment. The family fully identified the body as that of John Wilkes Booth, all statements to the contrary notwithstanding." '