JW Booth and Quinine

[wpbinzel]

“I have only an arm to give; my brains are worth twenty men, my money worth a hundred. I have free pass everywhere. My profession, my name, is my passport. My knowledge of drugs is valuable, my beloved precious money—oh, never beloved till now!—is the means, one of the means, by which I serve the South.” … “All right,” he said lightly, “I am he [“Doctor Booth”], if to be a doctor means a dealer in quinine.”
-- Asia Booth Clarke, quoting John Wilkes Booth. Memoir. Ed. Terry Alford. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1996, pp. 82-3.

In that bit of dialogue and what follows, John Wilkes Booth boasts of smuggling quinine (and possibly other drugs) to the Confederacy. Has there been research (or even a past discussion that I am unable to locate) about whether Booth actually engaged in smuggling quinine south? If so, is there any conclusion as to whether he engaged with others? The opportunity to do so on his own seems rather limited. According to Mr. Loux, between 1861-1865, Booth made four trips to Louisville (Dec. 1861, June 1862, Oct. 1862, Jan. 1864) ; one trip to Nashville (Feb. 1864); one trip to New Orleans (Mar 1864) ; and two trips to Bryantown, MD (Nov 1864 and Dec 1864). I have drawn no conclusions, and am curious if others have and why.

[Anita]

I found this on page 29 of W. C. Jameson's book "John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave" "... and O'Laughlen once assisted Booth in smuggling quinine and other medicines into the South." Didn't see a footnote or indication of a source.

I don't think definitive proof exists that Booth smuggled quinine other than what he told Asia as mentioned in Kaufman's book.

[L Verge]

(03-05-2015 07:40 PM)Anita Wrote:  I found this on page 29 of W. C. Jameson's book "John Wilkes Booth: Beyond the Grave" "... and O'Laughlen once assisted Booth in smuggling quinine and other medicines into the South." Didn't see a footnote or indication of a source.

I don't think definitive proof exists that Booth smuggled quinine other than what he told Asia as mentioned in Kaufman's book.

I agree that there likely is no definitive proof that Booth was engaged in the smuggling of drugs to the Confederacy - other than his telling his closest confidante, Asia, as revealed to our generation by James O. Hall and then Terry Alford's editing of Asia's work years before Mike repeated it in American Brutus.

However, clandestine ventures usually do not leave paper trails. I also do not think that we can assume that Booth, himself, carried drugs into the South. He might only have been the procurer with some other "mule" being the transporter.

[SSlater]

If Booth made the few trips mentioned, he could not have made very much money. I believe he "smuggled" only as a sideline to his other "business". So, let me throw in another name, that I think was really into smuggling, and maybe we can come up with something.

I 'm writing this from memory, so, if I miss a date or a name, bear with me and we will straighten it out in time.

Think about Josephine (Lovett) Ridder Brown. This is the lady that Atzerodt mixed up with Sarah Slater.

Here are the people involved - John Potts Brown (The "Father"). Lt. Robert N. Brown (His son). Josephine Lovett (Robert's wife). John was a southerner, that got trapped in New York at the beginning of the war. The rest of his Firm (Money and Banking) was in Wilmington, S.C. So he established "The Hidden Road to Dixie" (see "Confederate Veteran" Vol.?). The Secret Route ran from NY to D.C. to Leonardtown, across the Potomac, upriver to Bowling Green and then South.
Robert worked for Winder issuing passes in and out of Richmond. He married Josephine and they had some children. His Army pay couldn't support the family in the war, so Josephine began running up and down Her Father-in-law's Secret Line. I doubt she could afford to buy Quinine, but Daddy could. (John formed a Bank, that today is "Chase" - true fact.) Robert is sent to Canada to work with Jacob Thompson. He went there with a guy (Lt. Col. ?? ) Gordon, who contracted Yellow Fever, so he, by need, found a source for Quinine.
Whatever Josephine's main assignment was, is summed up in the vague description - Carrying Documents. I believe she kept the South's need for Quinine well supplied, and she travelled often. Eventually, she was assigned to Montreal, to live with her husband.
(At the time she went to Montreal, Rev. Stephen Cameron, escorted two ladies to Montreal - he was dressed as a Catholic Priest and the ladies were dressed as Nun's, who are believed to be, Josephine and Sarah.) (This is supported by sign-ins at the St Lawrence Hotel)
That should not have stopped her from running the Route. She was never caught.
I have never found out how Atzerodt knew of her. Maybe in bad weather she took a short cut through D.C. and stayed at the Surratt Boarding house.
I have a ton of stuff on this Lady - but I don't have answers. She divorced Brown and married a Noel. She also acquired another name when she was adopted - Ritter. She's buried in S.C.
If anyone can add to this, please share. I found a descendant, who I have corresponded with. I'll share too, if you wish.
I think I have a Druggest, in Baltimore, where they all stopped, I can't find that file right now. I'm Supposed to be doing taxes.

[L Verge]

Wow, John! I didn't realize that you had finally gotten so many pieces to the Josephine Brown puzzle. I know that she was #2 in the female spy search for you, Mr. Hall, and Jane Singer for years. I also know that some rank amateurs over the past few years have muddied the waters with some stupid speculations.

Brown's secret route through Southern Maryland was actually the stagecoach route from D.C. to Leonardtown (three days a week) and back to D.C. (the other three days). One of the stage stops was Surratt Tavern. One of the customers at the tavern (how frequently I do not know) was Gus Howell - who appears to have been an escort for female couriers and who managed to get caught by the authorities raiding the tavern just shortly before the assassination.

As for how Atzerodt might have known Josephine, that stage also stopped at Bryantown. Perhaps Josephine changed her route every now and then and hopped off there to get the river crossing courtesy of George the blockade runner?

[BettyO]

Good speculation, Laurie! Absolutely fascinating, John! I'd like to know more about this - wonder who the druggist in Baltimore was? Wonder if the Branson ladies knew him?

[RJNorton]

(03-05-2015 06:44 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  In that bit of dialogue and what follows, John Wilkes Booth boasts of smuggling quinine (and possibly other drugs) to the Confederacy. Has there been research (or even a past discussion that I am unable to locate) about whether Booth actually engaged in smuggling quinine south?

Hi Bill. In his Surratt Courier article author Dave Keehn writes, "Henry C. Higginson, a prisoner at Andersonville, said he was told by Confederates that Booth helped the South and had been shown a Dec. 1863 letter signed by 'J. Wilkes' regarding loads of medicine shipped through Kanawha Valley."

The entire Higginson affidavit can be read on p. 349 of Kimmel's Mad Booths of Maryland.

[wpbinzel]

The entire Higginson affidavit can be read on p. 349 of Kimmel's Mad Booths of Maryland.
[/quote]

Excellent, Roger! Thank you for pointing me in that direction.

For those who may not have it at hand, on page 179, Kimmel writes: "Wilkes was now trouping over a circuit of theaters that guaranteed him three hundred dollars a week. These engagements enabled him at times to assist in sending medical supplies into the South."

The accompanying "comment" on page 349 reads: "In the War Department Archives is an affidavit by Henry C. Higginson, who had been a prisoner at Andersonville, which discloses: 'I had frequent conversations with Ritchie, [a Confederate soldier] and he often referred to the men North who were their friends and aiding them. One day in speaking of actors in general, he particularly mentioned the name of J. Wilkes Booth. This name was mentioned off and on every day for a week or so. He made this remark: "We find in him a firm friend." Shortly after he came into the prison and spoke of the benefits the South were daily receiving from the North. Says he, "Here, Higginson, I have a letter in my pocket from as able a man as the North can produce." He took it out and showed it to me. It was dated Louisville, December 1863. I think it was about the 12th of that month. The letter was headed "Dear Fellow," and it went on to state that a man of the name of Perkins had started down the Kanawha Valley (he named two or three little towns he had passed through down there) with a wagon load of medicine, saying that they had better send a small cavalry guard to meet him. This letter was signed "J. Wilkes". . . .'"
-- Stanley Kimmel. The Mad Booths of Maryland. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1940.

The time frame does not quite sync-up with Mr. Loux's account, which has Booth in Cleveland on Friday, December 11, 1863, and -- with a question mark -- in the oil region of Pennsylvania December 14-17. Mr. Loux has Booth in Louisville a month later on January 17-31, 1864. However, given the challenges of remembering dates and Mr. Loux's uncertainty, this seems fairly solid substantiation of Asia's account (especially since, as Laurie noted, "clandestine ventures usually do not leave paper trails").

Thanks again, Roger, for the cite.

[L Verge]

I suspect that Terry Alford's Fortune's Fool will mention Booth's services to medical situations down South. Terry will be signing his book at our conference on Saturday morning because he has to flee after lunch to make a speaking engagement with the Abraham Lincoln Institute at Ford's Theatre that afternoon. Feel free to ask him questions while he's signing and any opportunity you might get.

[SSlater]

Betty O and others. A good deal of the info I have on Josephine, and her family, is in the J.O.Hall Research Center. I have pictures of Josephine, Sarah, Robert Brown, and others (Olivia) - if they aren't in the Center, I will provide, later. The Historical Society,, where Josephine is buried, sent me a long story about Josephine being the lady who went to Richmond to get the papers "that freed the St. Albans Raiders" (they give the story to visitors.) I have not written to them, that they are wrong. Should I?
My file is quite thick, so to find the druggist, I would have to read most of the file. That will take some time, but I will do it.
I took a quick look at Josephine's story and Yes, she did carry "Medicines and Quinine" in her "Cavalry Boots", every trip. A little more thinking on Booth's involvement, I think he bought the drugs, and arranged for shipping, (Wagon loads) but carried little stuff himself, thus he must have made more money than I have credited him for.

[L Verge]

I swear that I am going to take a month's leave and immerse myself at the James O. Hall Research Center to find out what has come in that I have missed over the past decade since the library files left the Visitors' Center where our general offices are! I feel like a fool that such files should be right across a parking lot from me, and I don't know what's there... I wish that higher ups would send me a digitizing bunny so that we could meet modern library standards for cataloging.

Good luck with convincing the historical society that they have Josephine confused with someone else.

Southern Maryland had its Doctors' Line for smuggling items to the Confederacy. I would suspect that could include medicines. I don't think Hall et al could ever conclusively prove that Dr. Mudd was part of that Line - except perhaps from the standpoint of smuggling papers and documents. There were other doctors, however, such as Dr. Queen, the elderly contact for Booth who summoned Dr. Mudd to attend Queen's church in November of 1864; Dr. Stoughton Dent (whom I want to know more about); a Dr. Garland, who went South to attend Davis, a Dr. Michael Stone in Aquasco, Dr. Joseph Blandford (who was married to Dr. Mudd's sister and whose house the fugitives rode right past shortly after leaving Surrattsville), several doctors in the village of Piscataway, some more in Bryantown. With the close proximity to Washington, D.C. and its druggists, there are endless possibilities for Booth to obtain needed medicines in just that city alone.

[wpbinzel]

(03-06-2015 08:54 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Hi Bill. In his Surratt Courier article author Dave Keehn writes, "Henry C. Higginson, a prisoner at Andersonville, said he was told by Confederates that Booth helped the South and had been shown a Dec. 1863 letter signed by 'J. Wilkes' regarding loads of medicine shipped through Kanawha Valley."

(As an aside, I just received the March Surratt Courier today (March 7), and I live just across the Potomac in Alexandria, VA. That gives you an idea of the havoc that the recent weather has played here in the Nation's Capital area.)

[SSlater]

Laurie. What better Druggist could Booth ask for than Davie Herold.?
I have to get busy and write up the material that I have. Unfortunately, it's just Information - not answers.

[Leonard]

Has there been any further development of the Josephine Brown vs. Sarah Slater research? I'm wondering if the mysterious lady that John Surratt was escorting to and from Richmond and New York could have been Josephine Brown instead of Sarah Slater. Weichmann says he was not told the mysterious lady's name, but that he later learned that it was Sarah Slater. Are we sure he was right? Azterodt's confession to McPhail (long hidden in attorney Doster's file) says she went by Brown. Tom Conolly's diary (An Irishman in Dixie) places Josephine Brown attending church with him in Richmond on March 10, 1865, and her father John Potts Brown tells Conolly on April 22, 1865 that she was in Canada. These dates correspond to trips typically assigned to Slater. How do we know that the mysterious petite French lady in the veil was Sarah Slater and not Josephine Brown?

[L Verge]

Personally, I think that the research done on Sarah is sufficient to make her the operative who floated between Canada, D.C., and Richmond, touching base with the Surratts in the process. To say that other female agents didn't do the same thing would be turning a blind eye to the underground activities of the Confederacy.

We need John Stanton and Jane Singer to chime in here with their mountains of research on these Southern supporters.