Customer Reviews

Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth (Civil War)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

While Mr. Bates' writing style (long, long sentences) can be a little hard to follow at times, his research and attention to detail are second to none. After finishing this book, the reader will undoubtly question their high school history teacher. Mr. Bates leaves little doubt that Booth did not die in a fiery barn. Not only does Bates interview the alleged Booth, but many who both knew Booth and served with him in the military. After reading Bates' interview and seeing the pictures of Booth, they were convinced. I was convinced. You will be convinced.

Bates has one incredible imagination. He recounts stuff as "fact" when the facts are just the opposite. Yes, conspiracy theorists have grabbed onto this myth for the past 100+ years. The grammar is horrible and the facts are just plain wrong. Unless you are looking for the conspiracy theory - leave this book alone. Not worth the read.

When I saw a this book reviewed many years ago,(in the 60's) I was very skeptical of its theories, but once I saw the movie: THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACYin 1977, It all of the sudden made so much sense, and I have been a cospiracy believer ever since! It's a bit pricy, but once you get into the first chapter, you'll wonder why you ever believed a liar like Edwin M. Stanton and any fool who thinks John Wilkes Booth 1. Acted alone and 2. was killed at Garrette's farm. I'm seriously considering getting another copy to seal up and keep if this one ever gets damaged or wears out --- it's THAT good!!!

This book is great and he did act on stage after the assassination. Why the other person wrote that this book is not worth reading I will never know. It shows two pictures of Booth after the assassination when he was living under an alias. It is filled with evidence. If you would like to know who was killed in the barn instead of Booth you should read "Return of the Assassin John Wilkes Booth". It is filled with new evidence. Both of these books are must reads.

I am absolutely enthralled by this theory. I heard about it on unsolved mysteries (where they mentioned this book), and, after reading it, I am so sure that this is what really happened. I mean, the evidence both in this book and from other sources just keeps piling up! I don't know how history leaders and teachers around the world can deny this compelling theory. Not only does the evidence convince me, it just makes more sense that it would happen this way, you know?

There is compelling evidence that John Wilkes Booth did indeed commit suicide in 1903 in Enid, Oklahoma. No only was the body identified by his kinfolks, but the body's condition coupled completely with the known problems that JWB inherited after his jump.

Those that believe he was killed on the Garrett farm, do not realize the efforts the government took to hide the body so those that knew him, in fact one doctor who knew Booth did view the body and told those around him that this was not John Wilkes Booth. And yes, the family did "identify" the dead body's skeleton, but they wanted the investigation to end, they knew JWB was alive.

Those that believe that JWB died at the garrett farm, probably believe that Oswald killed Kennedy, which he did not.
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All Lincoln scholars will find this book of interest particularly for when and how it was written. Had to have been a "bestseller" in 1908!

Awhile ago I also reviewed Mr. Theodore J. Nottingham's book, "The Curse of Cain", in which Mr. Nottingham claims that not only is he a great-grandson of Booth, but Booth escaped in 1865 and died in Oklahoma in 1903. While an extremely attractive idea, I'm afraid that none of it is true. Mr. Bates proves his incompetence in the first sentence of the book, in which he claims that Abraham Lincoln was born near Salem, Kentucky (his real birthplace was 170 miles away). As the book goes on it makes less and less sense. If any of you have ever seen the tintype that Bates claims is Booth in the 1870's and still believe that this man is Booth, then I'm afraid there is no hope for you. The facial structure is completely different than that of the real Booth, who was actually much more handsome than the man in the picture. Also, many items were found on the body taken from Garrett's farm that identify the body beyond a doubt as belonging to John Wilkes Booth, right down to a pin given to him by a fellow actor that he kept with him at all times. I am very sorry, but Mr. Bates' work, like Mr. Nottingham's work, is nothing more than fiction. Case closed.

When Lincoln was killed he was an old man of 56, while Booth was only 27 at the time of the assassination. I really can't figure why this fiction was written, as the travesty was done when John Wilkes Booth was gunned down from a slat in the barn. He had no way to escape!

It's just like the rumors which spun about Elvis Presley that he was an informant for the FBI and did not die of an overdose of drugs in his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, that he was relocated to Germany. Do you think that man could have spent all these years hiding and not singing. No Way!

Just like the fiction that Booth lived to confess years later. Could he have gone on with his life without acting on the stage? Whyever would he confess and link the Vice President to the conspiracy. Andrew Johnson was supposed to have been abducted at the same time as Lincoln, only his assailant got too drunk to do the deed. Now, this little myth maker tries to make us think that he was in on the kill of Lincoln so that he could take over. He had his hands full of the reconstruction and other things which were continually going wrong. He was definitely not like Lincoln in any way, but a man from Tennessee who had been governor of this Volunteer State would never have done that. Now Texas is another matter altogether. Why this was written, I'll never know! It's just not worth the bother to look at, or read trash about an honorable assassin. He had health problems and perhaps though he was dying anyway. Who will ever know? No one who reads this volume in history.