New Development in Booth Case Coming Soon

[Steve Whitlock]

(06-24-2019 02:15 PM)Steve Wrote:  I don't know why this JWB can't be found in the 1900 census, since he was in the 1900 Leadville city directory at an address he had already lived at for a few years:



A manual search of census images might be needed to check out his 902 Pine address to be sure, but it looks like he was probably missed by the census taker in 1900.

I also found him in the 1883 Cheyenne, Wyoming directory:



The earliest I could find him in Leadville directory was in 1889, even though there are directories for that town in the database for the preceding decade. So, the article/obituary is wrong about him moving to Leadville in 1879 (maybe a misprint?, the 16 years living in Cheyenne would match a move to Leadville in 1889). Also he clearly already was a cabinetmaker in Cheyenne before moving to Leadville.

Both the Tennessee JWB and the Colorado/Wyoming JWB are cabinetmakers, have an interest in the theatre, and use the JWB name after the assassination. The Colorado/Wyoming JWB also first appears in the record right after the Tennessee JWB is last seen. The obituary story of the first wife of the Colorado/Wyoming JWB dying in 1872 coincides with when the Tennessee JWB abandoned his pregnant wife. It might be a coincidence, but the name the article gives the first wife is also "Ida". Checking newspapers from Omaha, I can't seem to find a description accident killing a horse rider similar to the one described. Also I'm pretty sure no such person was buried in the Booth family plot in Baltimore.

The information for the obituary story almost certainly came from Dolly Booth, so I can sort of see why this JWB might tell her his first wife died instead of saying that he abandoned while she was pregnant.

Agreed, especially to the last paragraph! There is some serious irony here in that Junius B. Booth III was the one identifying the tintype as his uncle, John Wilkes Booth, if in fact it was his half-brother, John Wilkes Booth, that married Louisa J. Payne.