Identification of Booth's body

[Rob Wick]

In 1932, the literary giant Rupert Hughes spoke before the Pacific Coast branch of the American Historical Association on the pitfalls of the biographer. Early on Hughes said "Among the most embarrassed persons on earth is the biographer who sets out blithely to brush 'with hasty steps the dews away to meet the sun upon the upland lawn,' only to stumble into pitfalls containing unsuspected facts derogatory to his chosen hero or thesis. Even worse is coming across unsuspected virtues in one's chosen villain or anti-thesis."

Hughes spoke to one of the biggest issues that faces the biographer, which is how to keep from falling in love with one's subject, or seeing one's subject as the devil incarnate. When I first began to study Everton Conger I had no preconceived ideas about him or any windmills to tilt at. All I wanted to do was to learn more about someone whose home I drove by on my way to work every day. As time passed, and I slowly uncovered items on Conger that hadn't seen the light of day for decades, I began to find myself admiring the man Steve Miller referred to as the "tough old bird." I freely admit that I became a fan of Conger, not only for his role in the capture of Booth, but for the life he lived long before the Civil War and even longer after it. Everton Conger was someone I would have loved knowing.

When I interviewed his granddaughter, who was in her late 90s at the time, I caught her at a time when her mind was sapped by a remoteness common to those of her age. Yet, even though she was wrong on some facts, the love she felt for her grandfather was as sharp as ever. When I saw the picture of her sitting on her grandfather's lap, it brought him to life in a way that documents cannot. In all the things she said about her grandfather, she refused to make him into a marble figure by acknowledging that his marriage was very rocky and during the last few decades of his life he was trapped because divorce to him was unthinkable.

I uncovered other things that I imagine many family members would rather have seen kept under wraps. I believe that to his dying day Everton Conger was addicted to morphine and was an alcoholic. In 1906 when Congress took up his pension, the document filed acknowledged that it took copious amounts of both just for him to get through the day. In 1912 his back was broken when he was run over by a car, which would also require even more opiates. Yet, he certainly wasn't the only soldier so addicted.

Conger loved to gamble and when he served on the Territorial Supreme Court of Montana he often played cards in what would likely be termed a brothel. Whether he ever visited prostitutes I don't know, but I do know that during the first three or so years of his term on the bench his wife and family stayed behind in Ohio because she didn't want to live out west (which further contributed to their estrangement). Conger was lonely, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and soon to find his life dragged through a bitter public humiliation because of territorial politics.

He lost one son to suicide while another drowned in a 200-foot deep well. But it was his daughter, Margaret's death in 1918 that broke his spirit. Only two months after her death from pernicious anemia, Conger suffered a massive stroke that as I once wrote "accomplished what two Confederate mini balls and a saber could not."

Even though Conger got $15,000 of the reward money, he lost most of it when he invested in Lafayette Baker's Michigan hotel venture. Part of the reason he moved to southern Illinois in the early 1870s was because he needed the support of his family. His entire life was devoted to making money and trying to keep a roof over his family's head. He studied law in his brother's law office so he could have an income and later tried his hand at ranching. Although I never found the reason, it took ten years before his estate was settled.

And, of course, there was his wounding both in 1862 and 1864 during the war. In 1862 he was shot through the hips and received a saber wound on the wrist. He was believed dead by his comrades, who left him behind. He suffered throughout the cold October night before being discovered alive. His wounds were so severe it took him over a year to return to duty. In 1864 during the Wilson-Kautz Raid, Conger was shot through the hips again. He was an easy target because he had to ride a horse given that walking was nearly impossible for him due to his 1862 wounds.

If there was one person who never should have been on the Garrett Farm Patrol, it was Everton Conger. Yet Lafayette Baker wanted him on the expedition. There were other members of the National Detective Police who could have been put on the patrol, but Baker wanted Conger. Why? Well, Baker knew that Conger, who had field command of the First District of Columbia Cavalry during his time with the regiment, would persevere until the job was finished. And he did.

So yes, I freely admit that I hold a deep admiration for Everton Conger. I get visibly angry when someone who knows absolutely nothing about Conger, and what's more doesn't even try to learn, spouts off idiotic nonsense to try and promote this tripe.

Given that I've come to the realization that to continue in this "dialogue" only serves to give credibility to the nonsensical claims already made here, this is my last posting on this. Those who want to believe this garbage will. Those who want to study history will see through this mirage.

Best
Rob