Mr. Smythe was the "man in the Garrett barn"

[RJNorton]

Hi Kees and welcome to the forum. That letter drew an immediate reaction from another reader. Here is his reply to the above:

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That Booth Legend

No Faith in the Strange Story About "Mr. Smythe."

To THE Editor of The Sun—

Sir.- The letter of "A. L. Q." as to the fate of John Wilkes Booth is interesting, but to students of Booth and the assassination plot it must be categoried as legend.

Proof of the killing of Booth in Garrett's tobacco shop in Virginia is conclusive and irrefutable. In the War Department are the assassin's possessions taken from his body, which include his diary in his handwriting. He was positively identified at the autopsy on the gunboat, and again at the exhumation when his body was removed to the family plot in Baltimore. Among those corroborating the identification were his doctor and personal friends, including Henry Ford of Ford's Theater, one of his intimates.

David Herold, the conspirator, who accompanied Booth in his flight, confessed and identified Booth as the man in the shop with him when he was captured. Testimony at the assassin's trial confirmed the killing of Booth, and was never refuted.

In 1900 Osborn Oldroyd, who wrote an exhaustive account of the murder plot, interviewed members of the Garrett family and heard from the lady who assuaged Booth's sufferings her account of the last message he left for his mother.

Charles Burnham of Wilton, Connecticut, a factual historian, had a letter from General Grant, relating the identification of Booth's body at the exhumation and listing the names of the Army officers present at the occasion. Mr. Burnham also told me of an envelope which Edwin Booth, the actor, whom he knew intimately, had, containing some of the effects of his brother marked "John Wilkes Booth."

As Booth was a bizarre figure, and the ramifications of his last year were many, it is understandable why, during the passage of time, much legend has sprung up about him.

Donald Carr.
Ridgefield, Conn., January 26.