John Wilkes Booth in Maine

[Peter Taltavul]

A few years ago I found a few interesting articles re: JWB performing in my home State of Maine. One mentioned some stage mishaps that occurred during on of his performances. I am unable to locate that one at the moment. It is saved on one of my external hard drives. I do have a link to two other articles that I am posting below.

According to the article Booth was performing at the Deering Theatre on Congress Steet in Portland, Maine in 1861 when Fort Sumter was fired upon. He left suddenly the next day apparently skipping out on paying for services that he had requested. One of the lost articles says that it was a printing bill.

What I found interesting is that there was a statement published in the Portland Paper on April 29, 1861 after Booth had left town. I have not attempted to research the Portland Library - Historical Society - to verify the accuracy of it. The bottom line was that if Booth was ever back in town and secured professional services one had better require payment up front - "…when J. Wilkes Booth may appear on the boards in their vicinity, the advance principle is the safest to adopt when making contracts with him."

The above may be known to most here, but wanted to pass it on as I found it interesting.

http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/inde...&v=article

http://issuu.com/dailysun/docs/pds4-15-11