John Patrick Brophy

[Susan Higginbotham]

Here's the 1880 naturalization document for Brophy. I think the 1855 date on the file card shown above must have been a clerical error--perhaps his date of immigration to the U.S.. Note Father Wiget's great handwriting!

The press caught up with Brophy and Wiget at the naturalization ceremony and interviewed them about General Hancock and Mrs. Surratt's case. In the same interview, Brophy claimed that he had published and distributed a pamphlet to stir up sympathy for Mary Surratt--presumably the pseudonymous "Amator Justitiae" pamphlet distributed in June 1865.

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Re the three kidnap attempts, in Fortune's Fool Terry Alford mentions an abortive plan by Booth & co. to kidnap Lincoln in January 1865, with Thomas Jones as his source. He writes that Mary Surratt "went out to the tavern to inform Harbin, Atzerodt, and John, who were readying the route before Washington, to stand down."