John Wilkes Booth Essays - Assassination Of Abraham Lincoln

Morianda Key Mr. Williams US History 13 April 2011 Dead or Alive? All through school we were taught that John Wilkes Booth was the man who shot Abraham Lincoln and, furthermore that Booth was hunted and killed on a farm on April 26, 1865. However, what if I told you John Wilkes Booth did not die on that day and he escaped and took the name of John St. Helen or David E. George? Would you believe me? Well, that is exactly what I am about to tell you. It has been reported and has been considered controversial that John Wilkes Booth did in fact not die on that day, but instead many years later. On April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth shot and murdered President Lincoln in the Ford theater, as he jumped from the balcony in his escape he broke his left leg as he hit the floor. Booth in the midst of all the confusion managed to escape on horseback and found a doctor by the name of Samuel Mudd who fixed the leg and sent him on his way. However, this is where history changes from what we were taught. It is said that he was shot and killed at the Garrett Farm; although some historians say and believe that John Wilkes Booth did not die, but that someone else did and Booth took on the name of John St. Helen. John St. Helen was a man who lived in Glen Rose, Texas as a bartender and local actor who took the stage with amazing skills and often recited Shakespeare with excellency. Helen lived in Glen Rose no less than a year until one of the local politicians daughter was getting married and she had invited several military officers and the US Marshal for Texas. When Helen received word of this he fled town quickly and left no trace of himself anywhere in Glen Rose. However, close to a year after his disappearance from Glen Rose, he showed up in Granbury, Texas and befriended a man by the name of Finis L. Bates. During this time as Bates and Helen were becoming good friends Bates began to notice something strange about Helen. Helen never was a drinker, but every April 14-the anniversary of President Lincoln?s death?he would get into a drunken stupor. Therefore, this led Bates to believe something was wrong with Helen. While living in Granbury John St. Helen became very sick and was announced by several doctors that he would die, meanwhile, Bates was standing by Helen?s bedside he thought he heard him say what sounded like a deathbed statement saying, ?My name, is not John St. Helen. I am John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln.? However, Helen recovered and instead of taking back what he had told Bates he left quickly leaving no sign of where he may have went. When Bates went back to the apartment Helen was staying in, he came across a Colt Pistol that was wrapped up in the newspaper that was issued announcing President Lincoln?s death. That was the last anyone heard of St. Helen that is until 1903, when a man by the name of David E. George showed up in Enid, Oklahoma. Within three weeks of living in Enid, George had already become known as a successful entertainer in reciting poetry, Mostly Shakespeare, in local bars while he would be drinking himself into a coma. Back in that time, you could go to your local drug stores and get just about any kind of heavy dosages of medication like morphine. Early one morning, George set out from the hotel and headed over to the local drug store and bought strychnine, saying he would use it to dispose of a stray dog. Instead, several days later George took the medicine and admitted while dying that he was also the man who killed Abraham Lincoln. George?s body was taken to W. B. Penniman's mortuary and furniture store. Then, a few days later, Penniman was at work on the body and the Harpers?a couple from El Reno?came in saying that they new George back before moving to Enid. Mrs. Harper said that George had once overdosed before. Just like John St Helen while he