Booth's mistress, Ella Starr, and other "unknown" Booth ladies!

[Jenny]

Howdy everyone!

A while back we had some discussions about several of the more “unknown” ladies in John Wilkes Booth's life such as his mistress Ellen Starr, 16 year old Isabel Sumer, Carrie Bean, Sarah Slater, etc. and I thought I'd start up a thread about them here at Roger's urging. Some of you know I've spent a lot of time attempting to research Ellen “Ella” Starr "Turner," and I'll share everything I've found here. Feel free to chime in with other details or facts about the other ladies as well!

Laurie, I copied a post of yours regarding Ella Starr from a while back and I hope you don't mind me posting it first of all as it really does sum everything up that we know about this lady!

As most of you know, Miss Starr was Booth's "mistress of the night." William Doster described her as "a rather pretty, light-haired, little woman." I have often romanticized that she might have been a love of Booth's since he seemed to go back to her repeatedly, even though he had his share of ladies and LADIES to choose from. I have also wondered what became of Ella after the assassination and Booth's death. Like Sarah Slater, she slipped out of sight - despite years of searching by James O. Hall.

Her mother was Ellen Flynn, who married John Starr in Baltimore on July 5, 1831. He died on May 2, 1838, leaving at least two children with Ellen, John W. Starr and Mary Jane Starr. However, in 1844 or 45, Mrs. Starr gave birth to another daughter, our Ellen (father unknown - at least to us). It appears that Mrs. Starr supported herself as a prostitute, turned madame.

Sister Mary Jane married a printer, Henry C. Treakle, in Baltimore on December 23, 1852, and the couple moved to Petersburg, Virginia, where the marriage broke up. The two sisters, Mary Jane and Ellen, moved to Richmond, maybe Norfolk, and then to Washington. Their mother came to Washington in the late-1850s and established a small business in a very bad neighborhood that would later be named Hooker's Division in "honor" of the CW general. This would be in D.C.'s Federal Triangle today (bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue, Constitution Avenue, and 15th Street - some of the best real estate in the country!). Land records show that Mom purchased a house on "square 257" in 1862. This might have been on C Street.

It appears that Mary Jane (now known as Mollie Turner, despite having married a pimp named John C. Burns ca. 1863-64) ran that establishment. In the Provost Marshal's inventory of bawdy houses in 1865, it is listed as a class 1 house with 3 inmates. This is apparently where Ellen was living when she gave her statement to the police on April 15, 1865. In that statement, she uses the name "Nellie Starr" and says that she came to D.C. about a week before Christmas (interesting that that is just about the same time span when the kidnap plot gets heated up). She also states that she has known Booth for about three years, saw him last about two weeks before the assassination, but that they had not been on good terms for over a year. She admits to being a prostitute at a house kept by Miss Eliza Thomas at 62 Ohio Avenue. She/or an official then proceeds to sign her statement as: Nellie Starr, Ella Starr, Fannie Harrison.

By April 1865, Mama Starr has retired from her business and has returned to Philadelphia to live off of her profits. Sister Mollie/Mary Jane - who has acquired somehow the last name of Turner - is in New York. This leaves little Ellie to face heartbreak and the scandal of Booth by herself. How did she handle it? She attempted suicide.

The Evening Star of April 15, 1865, pg. 2, Col. 6 gives details: "THE MISTRESS OF BOOTH ATTEMPTS TO COMMIT SUICIDE. Ella Turner [no idea where that came from unless she adopted her sister's technique of taking a different last name], the mistress of John Wilkes Booth, No. 62 Ohio Avenue, attempted to commit suicide this morning by taking chloroform. About 11 o'clock, some of the inmates of the house entered Ella's room and found her lying upon the bed apparently sleeping. Efforts to rouse her proved fruitless, several physicians were called in, when it was discovered that she had taken chloroform. The proper remedies were immediately applied, when Ella soon revived and asked for Booth's picture, which she had concealed under the pillow of her bed, at the same time remarking to the physicians that she did not thank them for saving her life. The house No. 62 Ohio avenue is kept by Ella Turner's sister."

Roy Chamlee stated in Lincoln's Assassins that "Throughout the trial, Ewing kept a notebook in which he recorded the names of possible witnesses and the subject of their testimony. One entry read, 'Nellie Starr 62 Ohio Ave. See her and find if Booth did not tell her the conspiracy was to capture the President.'" She was subpoenaed, but never put on the stand.

Mother Starr ended up back in Baltimore, where she worked for a Catholic school. In 1888, she deeded a lot in the New Cathedral Cemetery to "my daughter Ellie..." Nellie must have been still alive and around somewhere, but I don't think anyone has found her. Mr. Hall speculated that she changed her name to Nellie LaRue and was operating a house in her old DC haunts in the early-1870s, but couldn't prove the link. He did locate the name of a niece, Mary Virginia Treakle, who married a Giles Bartlett in Huron, Ohio, in 1873, and had two children.

(All of the above in italics is credited to Laurie Verge – thank you!!)

I found several newspaper quotes that are probably in her file at the Surratt House Museum as Laurie mentioned a few of them, but I'll post them here anyway. Some of these are in multiple newspapers.

From The Evening Star (Washington D.C.) on April 15, 1865:
THE MISTRESS OF BOOTH ATTEMPTS TO COMMIT SUICIDE.
Ella Turner, the mistress of John Wilkes Booth, No. 62 Ohio Avenue, attempted to commit suicide this morning by taking chloroform. About 11 o'clock, some of the inmates of the house entered Ella's room and found her lying upon the bed apparently sleeping. Efforts to rouse her proved fruitless, several physicians were called in, when it was discovered that she had taken chloroform. The proper remedies were immediately applied, when Ella soon revived and asked for Booth's picture, which she had concealed under the pillow of her bed, at the same time remarking to the physicians that she did not thank them for saving her life. The house No. 62 Ohio avenue is kept by Ella Turner's sister.

From The New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Monday, April 17 1865
This morning, Detective KELLEY and a detail of patrolmen of the Second Ward, by order of Judge OLIN, proceeded to the house of MOLLIE TURNER, on the corner of Thirteenth and Ohio-avenue, and arrested all the inmates, from the mistress to the cook, eight in all, and carried them to the police headquarters, to be held as witnesses. This is the house where BOOTH spent much of his time, ELLA TURNER, the woman who attempted suicide, being his kept mistress.

From the Richmond Whig on April 27th, 1865:
WHO BOOTH'S REPUTED MISTRESS WAS
Ella TURNER, the reputed mistress of J. Wilkes BOOTH, the assassin of the President, once lived in Petersburg, and subsequently Richmond, since the war, and then made her way North. Her right name is STARR, and she is a native of Baltimore. Her sister, at whose house in Washington she attempted suicide, married a printer and moved to Petersburg, where the conjugal relation was dissolved, and the two sisters, traveling about for a while from Petersburg to Richmond, finally returning to Washington.

From the Springfield Republican on April 28, 1865:
Booth’s Mistress.
The news of Booth’s death reached the ears of his mistress, Miss Ella Turner, while she was in a streetcar, which caused her to weep bitterly, and drawing a photograph likeness of the murderer from her pocket, kissed it fondly several times.

From The New York Herald, May 31, 1865:
BOOTH'S MISTRESS TO TESTIFY
The young woman, Ella Turner, who it will be remembered evinced her affection for J. Wilkes Booth by attempting suicide on learning of his crime and flight from the city, has been summoned as a witness by Payne's counsel, and much curiosity is manifested to learn what she may know of the conspiracy. She has been in the witness room at the arsenal since Saturday morning.

The book Lincoln's Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, Trial, and Punishment by Roy Z. Chamlee mentions Ella in a paragraph regarding the rounding up of potential conspirators: Others, who certainly knew of the conspiracy, but against whom detective gathered no hard evidence, included Booth's brother, Junius Brutus, John Ford, Booth's mistress, Ella Starr, Anna Surratt and Sarah Slater. The Government held these in prison except for Ella Starr and Slater, who was soon apprehended.

In one book or another (of which I didn't write down the title for some reason), I read that Ella Starr was actually summoned to the Arsenal and sat in the witness room on three different occasions. Obviously she never actually testified though.

Here is a copy of her actual statement to police as well as what appears to be her signatures (sorry if this is huge):

My name is Nellie Starr. My native place is Baltimore, State of Maryland. I have been in Washington DC since a week before Christmas. I am about nineteen or twenty years of age. I am not married. I have known John Wilkes Booth about three years; he was in the habit of visiting the house where I live kept by Miss Eliza Thomas, No. 62 Ohio Avenue in the City of Washington. The house is one of prostitution. I have never heard him speak unfavorable of the President. I heard him speak of the President as being a good man just as other people did. I do not distinctly recollect how he was dressed when I last saw him; I think he had on dark clothes. I think he wore a slough hat. I do not think it is the one shown me by the district attorney. I know nothing more about the case. I know now with whom he associated with, as I have not been on good terms with him for over a year. The last time I seen Mr. Booth was two weeks ago, at the said house.

(Signed) Nellie Starr, Ella Starr, Fannie Harrison

Interestingly enough, I've read in several different places that John Wilkes Booth was the one who paid to move Ella from Baltimore to her sister's bawdy house in Washington D.C. on December 12, 1864. Funny how she didn't mention that in her statement. I personally think her statement is full of it because if she and Booth were on such "bad terms," why would he have moved her to Washington D.C. (and she agreed, obviously) and why would she have attempted suicide on April 15th? Not to mention the note from her to Booth found in his trunk...

Does anyone have an actual *source* for the date of Booth moving Ella to Washington D.C. on December 12, 1864? That is something I haven't been able to find.

For fun, here are some close-ups of her signatures in case someone wants to start a "signatures" thread again.




There was a note from Ella found in Booth's trunk at the National Hotel although it was not properly cataloged and/or lost in the investigation. It read:

My Darling Baby
Please call
this evening or as soon as you receive this note. I will not
detain you five minutes -for
gods sake.

Yours Truly,
E.T.

If you will not come
write a note the reason why
Washington Feb. 7th
1865

I'm not quite finished yet as I need to write out several stories I found in newspaper articles from the early 20th century involving Ella Starr, but I'm going to go ahead and post this because it's long enough already.

More to come, including more on Ella's early history, a possible marriage reference in a newspaper, an actress named "Ella Turner" sometimes confused with Booth's Ella Starr, interesting theories, and a story from actor Harry Hawk. I also might have found an image of the bawdy house Ella was living in when she was arrested.

I'll be here all night, folks!

(And remember, this thread isn't strictly for Ella Starr - feel free to add info about others!)

[BettyO]

Fascinating thread, Jenny!

One question --

Wonder why Doster was so interested in Ella? He was the council for Powell and Atzerodt. Do you think that perhaps Lew Powell or Atzerodt also knew her? Or visited her house, for example?

Just curious......

[Jenny]

(01-14-2013 02:56 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Fascinating thread, Jenny!

One question --

Wonder why Doster was so interested in Ella? He was the council for Powell and Atzerodt. Do you think that perhaps Lew Powell or Atzerodt also knew her? Or visited her house, for example?

Just curious......

I have no idea, Betty. That's something I've wondered myself! I'd love to know why Lew's council was calling her to the Arsenal and just what questions they were going to ask her...

[RJNorton]

Jenny, although I realize no known photos of Ella exist, do you know if Ella was blonde? She is described as being blonde here.
(about 2/3 of the way down that page)
I guess it sounds that way from Doster's description, but I thought I read somewhere else that her hair was "strawberry" colored. Maybe it's just my aging brain.

[Jenny]

She's been described as being a redhead or a blonde depending on the author but there's nothing definitive to my knowledge. Doster just said her hair was "light." Unfortunately that could mean blonde, light red, strawberry blonde, light brown, etc.

[Rsmyth]

Hi Jenny,

I think this topic is great and hopefully we will get additional info on these interesting ladies.

One questions...wasn't the lertter found in Booth's truck signed Yours Truly E.S. ?

[HerbS]

Hi Jenny,I have always been interested in Booth's Companions.What do you know Henrietta Irving?She traveled with Booth-Buffalo-Rochester-Albany-before the assassination and she had Anger issues with Booth in every city.I have hit many research "roadblocks".Thanks-Herb

[John Stanton]

Sorry, Sarah Slater is not a candidate for inclusion in this thread. I know where she was, and who she was with, for almost every day of her existance. That does not include nights. The few Hotel sign-ins, available, always show TWO ROOMS. I can not testify that each used their own room. Sarah traveled by train on her missions - no privacy there. (No SLEEPING CARS). For her stop overs in NYC, she had her mother, 2 sisters and 2 brothers living in NYC. No hotels for her. Gus Howell escorted her to NYC, on one occassion, and he stayed at the "International" alone -waiting for her to return from Canada. She made some more trips with the Rev. Stephen Cameron. He did notice that she was "busty", and commented on that. If you accept my "Little Man" story, she slept with John Surratt, in the St. Albans RR Station -when there were Hotels near-by. Unfortunately, I don't know everything, but I'm close. In her last marriage -to Spencer- she was 71 and he was dieing (she was his Nurse), she married him so she could spend the night with him. Who would read a book, with that is all I've got to offer?

[Jenny]

Rsmyth, thank you for reminding me! I've heard of two versions of the note. One has the words "my darling baby" and is signed "E.T." The other version has the words "my darling boy" instead and is signed "E.S." I wonder which version it really was! Probably the version that was written about first, and I am not sure which one that is! I will look into that!

Herb,
Henrietta is an interesting character! That lady even looks like she was a spitfire! The story I am most familiar with regarding her is the infamous knife incident in Albany when she attacked Wilkes and then attempted suicide in 1861. What else have you found on her during the time she was in her relationship with Booth? I'm very curious and would love to help you out in researching her if you've hit some roadblocks!

John,
I was unaware of that. I'll edit the original post to exclude Sarah.

[John Stanton]

Jenny. Leave her in - somebody may know something, that we all want to hear.

[Gene C]

John, I'd read your book about Sarah Slater.

Jenny, I find this interesting. No wonder Isabel Sumner's parents weren't to keen on Booth.
I wonder if Anna Surratt knew about his "lady friends"


Spielberg and the Lincoln movie, Speilberg and E.T.? A coincidence... I think not. HA!

[RJNorton]

When John Wilkes Booth and Lady checked into the Aquidneck House in Newport, RI (in early April 1865), was the lady Ella Starr, Lucy Hale, or someone else?

[Jenny]

John, I'll put her back into the topic - I too would love to read a book about Sarah!

Maybe you're onto something there, Gene! Spielberg has been holding out on us!!

Roger, I personally think it was Lucy Hale at the Aquidneck House but that's just me speculating. I just think he was protecting the identity of someone of a higher class than Ella, and I suspect Lucy. I also don't know if he would have bothered to hide Ella's name completely like that if she had been the woman with him; she used so many darn names that they could have just written in one of her aliases! You never know though!

[antiquefinder]

Wasn't Andrew Johnson associated with Ella?

[Jenny]

Finishing up on Ella: I found her name in the 1850 Federal Census (she was nine years old and living with her sister in Baltimore) but haven't found information on other places she apparently lived before the assassination as Mr. Hall did. Laurie might have more info on the newspaper claims that she lived in Richmond, etc.

The last family connection I can find for Ellen Starr is Mary Virginia "Jenny" Treakle, daughter of Ella's half-sister Mary Jane/Mollie, who married a man named Giles Bartlett in 1873. They had two children, Clayton Bartlett (1877 - 1918) and Blanche Bartlett (1880 - unknown). The trail ends there although I'm still trying to find out what happened to Blanche. That group lived in Ohio, I believe, although I'd have to look up exactly where they lived.

Ella Turner was mentioned in the "John Byron Wilkes" will along with her daughter, "Mary Louise Turner." I won't even go into that one because I think John Byron Wilkes was a loon and that Mary Louise Turner didn't exist at all. There also seems to be an actress named Ella Turner from the late 1860's to the 1890's who is mentioned in theater reviews of various newspapers, but I doubt this was Ella Starr.

During one of my late night searches, I also ran across an interview with actor Harry Hawk, the lone man on stage when Lincoln was shot by Booth, and was surprised to find a mention of Ella Starr Turner.

Most of you probably know that Harry Hawk immediately ran to his dressing room when John Wilkes Booth leapt out of the balcony, knife in hand. Mr. Hawk cooperated with the officials but apparently he never told his side of the story until the 1890's because, to quote from the below interview, he "loved Edwin Booth as much as (he) worshipped Abraham Lincoln" and didn't want to cause Edwin pain. Edwin passed away in 1893, and Harry Hawk was free to tell his tale of what happened that night. So on April 14, 1901 Mr. Hawk told an Illinois newspaper his story. At the moment I cannot cite WHICH newspaper it was as I've misplaced the information but I'll find and add it later.

Here is an excerpt of the interview in the words of Mr. Hawk:

I thought perhaps he (John Wilkes Booth) meant to kill me and fled to my dressing room, which was up a pair of stairs in the wings. The reason I thought he was after me was because he was infatuated with a woman named Ella Turner, whom a wealthy friend of mine named Wilson had met and became enamored of. Finding that she was making a dupe of him, I told him of her relationship with Booth and so incurred her displeasure. I feared she had told Booth some story about me and that he had taken some cranky notion to avenge her publically.

Thought that was an interesting little comment by Harry Hawk!

Anyway in the 10/05/1902 edition of the Richmond Dispatch newspaper, there is a little story involving the possible escape of John Wilkes Booth on page 16. The story is pure nonsense in my opinion as it gets many facts known about Ella and the assassination completely wrong... but it DOES mention her as still being alive AND married so I will include it here in the next post.