Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505300075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BALTIMORE LENGTH: Short
A judge Friday refused to let Booth's descendants dig up the family plot where Booth is supposedly buried to settle claims that he escaped Union soldiers and lived for 30 more years after he shot Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
The history books say Booth was tracked to a Virginia farm 12 days after the assassination and shot in the neck as he tried to escape a burning barn. Speculation persists, however, that Booth escaped the barn and lived under the alias David E. George.
``Unlike the escape-cover-up theory, the historical evidence which suggests that John Wilkes Booth was captured, killed and positively identified is indeed convincing,'' Circuit Judge Joseph H.H. Kaplan said.
Kaplan also said he was reluctant to disturb the bodies of three infant siblings buried above Booth's coffin in Baltimore's Greenmount Cemetery.
The judge also said that there may be severe water damage to the Booth burial plot and that there are no dental records available for comparison, thus ``the identification may be inconclusive.''
Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the Booth descendants, said the ruling means the escape scenario will continue to thrive among conspiracy theorists.
``We've essentially condemned society to continually relive this theory,'' he said.
The Booth descendants in the case were traveling back to their homes in New York and Pennsylvania and unavailable for comment, Zaid said.
During the dispute, Francis Gorman, a lawyer for the cemetery, accused the descendants of trying to create a media sensation, noting that the case had been the subject of an episode on NBC's ``Unsolved Mysteries.''
by CNB