Ruggles. Bainbridge and Jett at the River

[Linda Anderson]

(01-30-2017 06:35 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  

(01-30-2017 03:55 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Samuel Knapp Chester also said Booth had been in Boston.

That is what Booth told Chester - but was it true? Did he come back from Montreal and cover his tracks by saying he was in Boston?

I'm just wondering why only 2 nondescript people claim to have seen him in Boston and only after he became the most famous man in the country.

Maybe Booth got his reputation as being good with a gun from this possibly non-existent event. I mean why 'shoot between' your legs if you're only showing off to one person? I would think Booth would demand a bigger audience then that.

I was researching recently what Booth was doing on April 5. Fortune's Fool has some citations for Booth visiting the shooting gallery in Boston. I couldn't find the Dec 4, 1910 New York Telegraph article that Alford cites but I did find a fascinating article in the Nov. 20, 1910 New York Times about a young boy who made "quite a decent salary for a youngster by setting up pins in the bowling alley of Floyd & Edwards, then in a basement near the Parker House." Since the Telegraph article was published a couple of weeks later, I assume it's the same article.

This boy, John J. Pendergast, describes a "'distinguished-looking man with thick black hair...'" who walked into the bowling alley where there were a few other bowlers. "Connected with the bowling alley was a shooting gallery where many revolver competitions were held." Booth arranged a match with Edwards who was a "'wonderful shot.'" After Edwards was done, Booth shot at the targets and then began the "'fancy shooting.'" After Booth left, Pendergast asked Edwards the stranger's name. "'That excited individual told me it was no other than Wilkes Booth, the actor."

There is a John J. Pendergast in the 1860 Census who was born in 1853 and lived in Boston.