LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 December Civil War Auction #674  / 

72176

ORIGINAL BILL SUBMITTED BURIAL JOHN WILKES BOOTH

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:19,500.00 USD Estimated At:25,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
ORIGINAL BILL SUBMITTED BURIAL JOHN WILKES BOOTH
<B>ORIGINAL BILL SUBMITTED FOR BURYING JOHN WILKES BOOTH, 1869.</B></I> Booth (May 10, 1838 - April 26, 1865) was a highly acclaimed actor and the assassin of President Lincoln. After being shot through the neck by Sergeant Boston Corbett, he was taken to the porch of Richard Garrett's house near Port Royal, Virginia, where he died. The strange Odyssey of his body to a final disposition began after being sewn up in a horse blanket. Taken to Belle Plain, it was hoisted upon the deck of the steamer <I>John S. Ide </B></I>and transported up the Potomac to Alexandria and then transferred to the Washington Navy Yard by a tugboat and finally placed aboard the monitor <I>Montauk</B></I> which was tied up at the Yard. The body was identified by a multitude of witnesses. An autopsy was performed aboard the <I>Montauk</B></I>. Then Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered Booth's body to be buried in the Old Penitentiary on the Washington Arsenal grounds. It was taken there by boat and carried to a cell in the prison. A grave was dug and the corpse was wrapped in an army blanket and lowered into the hole then covered by a stone slab. In 1867 the body was exhumed and re-buried in a pine box in a locked storeroom in a warehouse at the prison. The corpse was again positively identified in 1869 when Booth's remains were exhumed. A final inquest was held at Harvey and Marr's Funeral Parlor in Washington prior to release of the remains to the Booth family. The corpse was taken to Baltimore for burial and was once again positively identified by many people including John T. Ford, Henry Clay Ford, and members of the family. The body was buried in the family plot in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore on Saturday, June 26, 1869. John's individual grave is unmarked at request of the Booth family. It remains that way today. A very historical Lincoln item<BR><BR>This is the original bill for the third and final burial of John Wilkes Booth, given to the Booth family. Baltimore, (Maryland) Feby 18th 1869. "Mr. <I>J. H. Weaver for J. W. Booth</B></I> to Green Mount Cemetery, for digging <I>1</B></I> Grave in lot No. <I>9-10</B></I> area <I>Dogwood,</B></I> for <I>250</B></I> Bricks for same, at $<I>2½</B></I> per hundred, for <I>7½ </B></I> feet Stone Slabs, to cover same, at .<I>75</B></I> cents per foot, For Sodding Grave, For depositing in <I>Vault</B></I>. Total $20.88. Second bill June 26/69 additional $5. <BR><B><BR>Provenance: </B></I><I>Al. Emmett Fostell Collection</B></I><B><I> </B></I></B></I><B><BR><BR>Condition:</B></I> Very fine, light foxing.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Miscellaneous Collectibles, Smal (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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