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

[Susan Higginbotham]

New York
April 13

Dear Wilkes,

I received your letter of the 12th (stating you would be in this city on the 16th inst.) this morning and hasten to answer it. On account of a misunderstanding between my landlady and your humble servant, I have been obliged to leave her hospitable mansion and am now (for the time being) stopping at the New York Hotel, after your arrival should you not approve of my present location, it can easily be changed to suit your convenience.

Yes Dear, I can heartily sympathize with you, for I too, have had the blues ever since the fall of Richmond and like you, feel like doing something desperate. I have not yet had a favorable opportunity to do what you wished, and I so solemnly promised and what in my own heart, I feel ought to be done. I remember what happiness is in store for us if we succeed in our present undertakings, therefore do not doubt my courage, have faith, for even as you put your faith in me, so will I in you and Wllkes have said vengenance is mine.

My removal has consumed the means you gave me when we parted. Take this as a gentle hint to bring a good supply. "For money makes the mare go" now a days. I do as you desired and keep secluded as a nun, which is not agreeable to be as you have found but ere this, but anything to oblige you darling. If anything should happen (as I trust there will not) to prevent your coming to the City, please let me know and I will join you (as agreed upon) at the house of our mutual friend A___s. "Don't let anything discourage you".

Believe me yours and yours only

Etta

PS Annie who is acting the maid to perfection, wishes to be remembered to her dear. Ahem!!! Sam

Au revoir

Etta

[Steve]

Here's a link to the Etta letter in evidence:

https://books.google.com/books?id=GvYpUe...onepage&q="Dear%20Wilkes%2C%20I%20received%20your"&f=false

The postmark of the Etta letter was April 18th, five days after the letter's date and well after Booth's role in the assassination was well known (ie immediately). I think that's a good indication the Etta letter was a hoax, the kind that happens in notorious cases.

Also, the text of the Etta letter is different than the supposed 2nd letter of Ella Starr. Abel didn't make the mistake, the author of the 1992 book must have misattributed it to "Etta". But that still doesn't explain where the second letter comes from and why Abel attributes it to Ella.

EDIT: I don't know why the link isn't working. The letter is on page 471 of the book

[Jenny]

Thank you, Susan and Steve! This entire “second letter” business is very odd.

Gene Smith writes::
‘“I do as you desired and keep as secluded as a nun, which is not agreeable to me as you have found out ere this, but anything to oblige you darling.” And: “I know important business kept you away today. Will you please try & come tomorrow as soon after two as possible? You can dine privately with me. So do not mind your dinner. I trust you are feeling better today. Be very good until I see you. Anything that pleases you will be acceptable. God bless you, my precious friend. N. One sweet little kiss.”’

The “and” that separates the first few sentences that are actually recorded as being in The Evidence and the “mystery text” seems to indicate that there was possibly a second Etta letter which no one seems to know about.

What’s interesting to me is that Abel specifically mentions in his book that certain words in the mystery text were underlined by the unknown writer. So has he seen this letter himself? There is no mention of these in Gene Smith’s book.

I am going through the online scans of the assassination files to see if I can find anything that would explain the origin of this mysterious text. It’s still beyond me why Abel would knowingly cite The Evidence as having this seemingly unknown text allegedly by Ella Starr in the first place when it’s obviously just not there.

[Susan Higginbotham]

I don't know where this other Ella note first appeared, but it's quoted in this book from 1992:

https://books.google.com/books?id=obm_DA...9D&f=false

Ooh, THANK YOU, Steve! This “second note” is actually referred to as being from the mysterious “Etta,” NOT Ella Starr, yet it is signed “N?” I will look into this - I don’t have a copy of The Evidence on me but I know there’s something about an Etta in there.

EDIT: It looks like this second note is part of the one from the alleged “Etta” who was keeping herself “secluded as a nun” for Booth. Abel left out part of the letter completely (and I guess he tried to pass it off as being from Ella Starr because he needed a good chapter title? Heh, I don’t know). Is the “Etta” letter still around? Didn’t “Etta” write this in New York (I don’t remember)?

I guess I will snoop around on fold3 and see if that letter is in there since that’s the place I found the copy of Ella’s “my darling boy” letter. At least we could compare handwriting.

If anyone has access to the Etta letter text in The Evidence, please post it if you have a moment! Would be greatly appreciated.

---

Looking at Abel’s book again, he absolutely acknowledges the “Etta” letter that was written from New York on April 12... the SAME letter that contains the quote he’s trying to pass off as Ella Starr’s. This really irritates me. There’s no way he couldn’t know the letter was from Etta yet he tried to pass it off as Starr’s note.

*sigh* I know it’s a small thing that most people could care less about but I do. I understand he was probably just trying to make his Ella Starr chapter more interesting... but this kind of thing just demonstrates how easy it can be for someone to use misuse information for their own purposes and start getting facts screwed up for others.

This was what I was talking about when I mentioned “sketchy” information in the other thread. Who is to say there aren’t other issues like this in the rest of the book?

I will shut up now.

The "anything that please you" letter is on pp. 622-23 of "The Evidence"

Enclosures to Gurley's letter [sent to Stanton from W. H. F. Gurley, reporting the contents of the theatrical trunks Booth had had shipped]
Friday evening
6 pm

Wilkes,

I know imperative business kept you away today. Would you please try & come down tomorrow as soon after two as possible. You can dine privately with me. I do not mind your drive. I trust you are feeling better today. Be very good until I see you. Bring my ring tomorrow. Anything that please you will be acceptable. God bless you my precious friend & believe me, devotedly your friend

N

One smack little kiss

PS Mollie S. was here. Pretty also bring with my ring ____ if you cannot come please send me word.

---

Abel suggests that the note was sent in 1865, but Gurley's report of it being found in Booth's theatrical trunks, shipped in the fall of 1864, would preclude that.

[Jenny]

The "anything that please you" letter is on pp. 622-23 of "The Evidence"

Enclosures to Gurley's letter [sent to Stanton from W. H. F. Gurley, reporting the contents of the theatrical trunks Booth had had shipped]
Friday evening
6 pm

Wilkes,

I know imperative business kept you away today. Would you please try & come down tomorrow as soon after two as possible. You can dine privately with me. I do not mind your drive. I trust you are feeling better today. Be very good until I see you. Bring my ring tomorrow. Anything that please you will be acceptable. God bless you my precious friend & believe me, devotedly your friend

N

One smack little kiss

PS Mollie S. was here. Pretty also bring with my ring ____ if you cannot come please send me word.

---

Abel suggests that the note was sent in 1865, but Gurley's report of it being found in Booth's theatrical trunks, shipped in the fall of 1864, would preclude that.

Bless you, Susan!! The last line is rather reminiscent of Ella’s “my darling boy” letter so it could actually be her. Not to mention the reference to a “Mollie S.”

Still trying to find this in the online archives. A handwriting comparison would be very interesting indeed!

[Susan Higginbotham]

I like the "one smack little kiss" line.

I haven't researched Ella in any depth, but I can believe in her having written the "N" letter. The "Etta" letter, by contrast, sounds completely contrived to me.

[Jenny]

I like the "one smack little kiss" line.

I haven't researched Ella in any depth, but I can believe in her having written the "N" letter. The "Etta" letter, by contrast, sounds completely contrived to me.

I agree that the Etta letter is most likely a hoax. I also agree it sounds like Ella/Nellie wrote this particular letter from Booth’s trunk due to the tone and reference to “Mollie S.” If I am able to find the image for this sucker and it has the words underlined as Abel writes, I don’t know if I want to kiss him for this discovery or smack him for not properly documenting it.

[RJNorton]

The text of the Etta letter is in Eisenschiml's Why Was Lincoln Murdered? The author writes, "No one has ever found out who Etta was. For Stanton's detective force it should have been an easy task; but it was never undertaken."

Eisenschiml lists the War Department Archives as his source for the letter. In introducing the letter, Eisenschiml writes, "In a letter written to a girl in New York on April 12, he must have given vent to his feelings, to judge by her reply, which is still in the archives of the judge advocate general's office in Washington. To this young lady Booth could unburden himself freely, and her response, in spite of its demi-monde flavor, mirrors the depressed sentiments of the actor."

In Eisenschiml's text of the letter, some words are in italics; I assume these are the words underlined in the original letter that is in the archives. The words in italics are:

(second paragraph)

you (third 'you' in paragraph)
remember
my (second 'my' in paragraph)
vengeance

(third paragraph)

should
are
you (last word in paragraph)

In the closing of the letter, the word 'yours' is in italics both times it's used.

[Jenny]

Thank you, Roger! That’s extremely interesting - I wonder who “Etta” really was.

Does The Evidence have any information on where in the documents and microfilms I might be able to find the letter on page 622-623? I would just give in and finally buy it so I don’t have to bother you all but I don’t have the money this month.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Thank you, Roger! That’s extremely interesting - I wonder who “Etta” really was.

Does The Evidence have any information on where in the documents and microfilms I might be able to find the letter on page 622-623? I would just give in and finally buy it so I don’t have to bother you all but I don’t have the money this month.

It gives 7:235-73 for the Gurley letter and its attachments and F-54 for the letter from "N." in particular.

[Steve]

Thank you, Roger! That’s extremely interesting - I wonder who “Etta” really was.

Does The Evidence have any information on where in the documents and microfilms I might be able to find the letter on page 622-623? I would just give in and finally buy it so I don’t have to bother you all but I don’t have the money this month.

It gives 7:235-73 for the Gurley letter and its attachments and F-54 for the letter from "N." in particular.

Jenny,

The two photographs of Junius which were included along with the letter from "N" as enclosures to the Gurley letter (at least according to Evidence) is located here:

https://www.fold3.com/image/1/7416681

So the "N" letter must be located in the images somewhere around there. The number 7 of the reference refers to reel or roll 7 of microfilm M599, but I don't know what the other numbers stand for. On Fold3 you can see the roll number of an image by clicking the "I" button.

[Jenny]

Thank you so much, Susan and Steve. You tremendously helped me narrow down my search. I found Gurley’s letter and attachments to it, but unfortunately it stopped at the “D” section of the attachments as far as online images go.

EDIT: Oh, wait. I found it.

https://www.fold3.com/image/7416537
https://www.fold3.com/image/7416543

I downloaded them and will look at the handwriting. Abel was right about the underlined words so he did in fact look at this letter. Kudos to him! Just wish he had added the source correctly in his book!

It is exceedingly difficult to compare the handwriting with that of the “my darling boy” letter due to fading. I am trying to make it clearer in Photoshop. It’s funny how she made such a flourished “N” to sign.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Can't wait to see what you find! Thanks for the tip about the "I" button, Steve. I have a very hard time finding stuff on the Fold 3 site, at least as far as the Lincoln assassination documents are concerned.

[Jenny]

Despite her embellished "N" to sign the letter, I see a lot of similarities. The way she writes "Mollie" looks extremely similar to how she signed her name "Nellie" on her witness statement for one. I am absolutely NOT a handwriting expert though.

[Gene C]

For those of us that can't quite read her handwriting and for the future generations that will be unable to read cursive, what's it say?