Who is this person?

[Dave Taylor]

It is very coincidental that Roger chose this picture for a mystery photo. Anita is right that it is actress Helen Western. Helen and her sister Lucille acted alongside John Wilkes Booth. One of the CDV photographs found on Booth when he was killed has been identified as Helen Western but I do not believe this identification to be accurate. If you compare images of Helen with the veiled woman from Booth’s pocket, it’s clear that they are not the same person. For about two years I’ve been trying to find the actual identity of this woman in Booth’s diary. I scoured the theater collection of the Harry Ransom Center in Austin looking at images of Booth’s acting contemporaries hoping for a match but struck out. However, just last week, a hunch I had paid out. While driving from Texas to Illinois for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary I stopped in Missouri for a brief research trip. I looked through a collection of papers and photographs that has convinced me that I finally found the actual identity of the woman wrongly identified as Helen Western. Once I get back to Texas, I’ll be writing something up for my site about it.