November 1864 Classified Ad by JWB

[jparkuntz]

(11-07-2017 11:00 AM)John Fazio Wrote:  

(11-07-2017 10:32 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Maybe this isn't Booth?
It's just a misdirecting false lead from the New York gang designed to throw the police and historians 160 years in the future off track.

Any similar type adds in the newspaper regarding housing wanted?

Gene:

Excellent! I do believe you are on to it. The name "Wilkes" is common enough. There is really no good reason to suppose that it was Booth simply because that is his middle name. As for your second sentence, however, I seriously doubt it. It is too early for the New York crowd.

John

It wasn't just his middle name. He had used "J. B. Wilkes" as his stage name in the late 1850s. And the fact that the ad is not just looking for a house, or a room, but 4-6 rooms--that is suggestive of housing needed for several separate individuals. If this is a coincidence, then it is an extremely implausible one.