Hey!! Its Cpt. Lingerie! The "yahoo" John Wilkes Booth: psychopath, murderer, and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. ONE
ADVISORY:
This entry is about one of the sacred moments in American history--the murder of President Lincoln. If you're at all familiar with the style of this blog, then you already know I have an odd sense of humor. It is NOT my intention to make light of this tragedy.
Just so you know, Dear Reader....
Can you tell from the title of this entry that I don't like Booth? Well, I don't. He was a delusional prick. In this week's title, I used the term "yahoo.:Here's how Jonathan Swift defined a "yahoo." It was a name used in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels, to describe the lowest form of life in that universe (they looked like primitive men):
They are prodigiously nimble from their infancy. However, I once caught a young male of three years old, and endeavoured, by all marks of tenderness, to make it quiet; but the little imp fell a squalling, and scratching, and biting with such violence, that I was forced to let it go... I observed the young animal’s flesh to smell very rank, and the stink was somewhat between a weasel and a fox, but much more disagreeable. I forgot another circumstance (and perhaps I might have the reader’s pardon if it were wholly omitted), that while I held the odious vermin in my hands, it voided its filthy excrements of a yellow liquid substance all over my clothes; but by good fortune there was a small brook hard by, where I washed myself as clean as I could; although I durst not come into my master’s presence until I were sufficiently aired.Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Alright, I'll admit it's a little extreme, but JWB was (at least for me) the personification of Swift's Yahoo. Yes, a true psychopathic moron, who murdered one of the ablest politicians this historian ever ‘met.’ Yes, I meant met. Haven't you imagined in your heart of hearts, Dear Reader, meeting Abraham Lincoln just once? Me too. What would he be like? Would he meet expectations, or fail? I'd like to conceive of Lincoln, not as a Yahoo, but as Houyhnhnm: the last people with whom Gulliver was to spend significant time on his travels through fantastical lands. One of the places he visits is the realm of a noble race of equines--the Houyhnhnm, intelligent, gentle beings ruled by logic and compassion for fellow creatures (worthy of their regard). I know Dear Reader: arrogant, right? Yet, undoubtedly peaceful. Here is one passage about them:
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Unfortunately,mankind is NOT a race of intelligent, gentle horses. We seems to like conflict, and blaming every single problem society faces on a nameless faceless group Sociologists refer to as "the other." An infamous example of this is, of course, what Hitler did to the Jewish people living in "German" territories he controlled in the '30s and '40s.
You can imagine what happens next: isolation of this group from the so-called 'general population;' (whoever they are). Governments have historically used that explanation to vacate possible solutions to collective problems, in order to gain widespread support. In the US, we did something similar to thousands of Japanese-Americans, through Executive Order 9066:
The President
Executive Order
Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas
Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104);
Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas.
I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the said Military Commanders to take such other steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions applicable to each Military area hereinabove authorized to be designated, including the use of Federal troops and other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance of state and local agencies.
I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive Departments, independent establishments and other Federal Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and services.
This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way the authority heretofore granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for the conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The White House,
February 19, 1942.
Nice (NOT). While I revere FDR for many of the actions he took during the Great Depression, I DO NOT agree with this action, which I feel was made INCORECTLY. I am afraid that this declaration was an ASSANINE MOVE. Alright, Dear Reader, I think I've made my point! : )
I include Executive Order 9066, in order to show you that American leaders frequently make mistakes. ANY leader of ANY government is culpable, in my opinion.
What mistakes did Lincoln make during his first term as president? Well, he made quite a few: he liberally interpreted law surrounding Habeas Corpus. In addition, he created a rather elusive, inconsistent approach to commanding troops during the Civil War. Thus, what was probably his most costly mistake (in my less than humble opinion), was his inability to find a suitable commander for the northern Union forces (ye-ah, ole George McClellan was such a stupid, costly choice).
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That's George MacClellan. But, this blog entry isn't about the as*hole in this picture (the idiot who clearly had Napoleonic delusions). Instead, it's about this psychopath:
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Ah. THERE's Cpt. Lingerie. Guess what, Dear Reader: I went to high school with a descendant of JWB, and do you know what's interesting? That kid was a complete and total d*ck.
Writing about a murderer is never easy--their actions require immediate censure, and mental illness is often an immediate answer to uncomfortable questions. In JWB's case, however, such a conclusion is inevitable, in my opinion. Let me show you something he wrote on the eve of the assassination:
"April 14 Friday, The Ides [in his previous career, Booth appeared as Brutus in "Julius Caesar"--and one of the characters famous lines, partially based upon fact, was "Sic Semper Tyrannus," and as I am sure you know, this sort of translates to English as 'thus ever to tyrants.' This was apparently what JWB yelled immediately after the act. Now, make of that what you may, Dear Reader, but I find this significant.] Until today nothing was even thought of sacrificing to our country’s wrongs. For six months we had worked to capture. But our cause being almost lost, something decisive and great must be done. But its failure was owing to others, who did not strike for their country with a heart. I struck boldly and not as the papers say. I walked with a firm step through a thousand of his friends, was stopped, but pushed on. A colonel was at his side. I shouted Sic Semper before I fired. In jumping broke my leg. I passed all his pickets, rode sixty miles that night with the bone of my leg tearing the flesh at every jump. I can never repent it. Thought we hated to kill. Our country owed all her trouble to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment.
[Page 2]
"April 1865. This forced Union is not what I have loved “I care not what becomes of me” I have no desire to outlive my country."
[Page 2]
"April 1865. This forced Union is not what I have loved “I care not what becomes of me” I have no desire to outlive my country."
Okaaaaaaay. Uh Huh.
Now, call me biased (I am), but the passage of this letter makes no sense. I am nonplussed.
"I hoped for no gain. I knew no private wrong...."
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"...no private wrong...." WTF?
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(A good place to look at JWB's [a.k.a. d*&khead\ diary is right here: https://www.heritech.com/pridger/lincoln/booths_diary.pdf
* * * * * * * *
OK, so who was John Wilkes Booth?
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Well, believe it or not, by 1865, JWB was actually kind of a "matinee idol." He was handsome (I guess), a famous actor, and was engaged to several women. He was also a family member of some of the most preeminent actors (who shared his last name, of course) in America.
He was born on May 10, 1838 in Maryland. You might be interested to know, Dear Reader, that Maryland was one of the so-called "border states," and was possessed of a significant pro-slavery population. JWB was one of ten children--his father was the famed actor Junius Brutus Booth (whoa, no irony there).
From personal descriptions given by his family, JWB was a precocious child. From an early age, he exhibited a tendency to overly dramatic behavior. This characteristic led to increasingly peculiar behavior, and an overt egocentrism that (at times) alarmed his parents.
He grew up attractive: approximately 5' 8" tall, with wavy dark hair and (bland) pleasing features. He was on the stage by the age of 17 in Baltimore, with a minor role in Shakespeare's Richard III. I gather that, from the beginning, JWB was a hit with the ladies--it wasn't too long before he had a gaggle of groupies.
So, he was a successful actor. There's also evidence that JWB invested his earnings in real estate and oil, so he wasn't completely mental. But he was a bigot. In the 1850s, he joined the "Know-Nothings Party"--a violently anti-immigrant political party. He also regarded the peculiar institution (i.e. slavery) as absolutely vital to the economic health of the South. We're going to infer from these items, that JWB would become rabidly supportive of the Confederacy--as indeed he did.
In 1859, JWB had joined the "Richmond Greys," who were part of the Virginia militia, and was actually present for the execution of John Brown.
Don't worry, Dear Reader, I won't leave you hangin'. John Brown was an early ANTI slavery advocate. But, he and his sons went a tiny bit too far. For example, in the mid 1850s, Brown and his acolytes descended upon a farm at Pottawattamie Creek, and hacked a group of pro-slavery men to death with their swords. THEN, in the late 1850s, Brown got the BRILLIANT idea, of attacking Harper's Ferry with a handful of his supporters. I know, Dear Reader, but wait: ole Johnnie was sure that if he and his dudes called out loudly to the slaves living in the 'Ferry, they would immediately rise up against their white masters.
You know, people aren't stupid -- a basic fact that Brown forgot. I should tell you what happened to ole Pottawattamie Creek Johnnie: he and his followers were rounded up by the Virginia militia, where many were shot and/or arrested. Brown was found guilty of insurrection, and sentenced to death by hanging. It's just interesting to think that JWB was there.
During the war, JWB toured both the North and South. It's quite possible that he acted as both a recruiter, and a spy for the Confederacy during these years, while his theatrical troupe was on tour. By 1864, JWB was displeased with the fortunes of war clearly turning in favor of the Union. Possessed of an enormous ego, JWB began gathering a gaggle of cohorts, in order to discuss his fabulous schemes that would emasculate the government in Washington DC.
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Alright, so that is a rough JWB (yeah, one page is hardly a fair biograph, you're right D.R.). We can say that JWB was a fairly successful actor--well known, even. But, what turned him into an assassin? Was he always a psycho-hose beast? Well now, I don't rightly know. How about we take a quick gander at a diagnostic tool for psychopathy, entitled "The Hare List" (NO I'm NOT a licensed medical doctor, but I thought you might find it an interesting exercise):
YEAH
Item 2: Grandiose sense of self-worth
YOU BETCHA
YOU BETCHA
Item 3: Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
Item 4: Pathological lying
Item 4: Pathological lying
YEAH
Item 5: Conning/manipulative
YEAH
Item 6: Lack of remorse or guilt
YEAH
Item 7: Shallow affect
Item 8: Callous/lack of empathy
YEAH
Item 9: Parasitic lifestyle
Item 10: Poor behavioral controls
YA THINK?
Item 11: Promiscuous sexual behavior
WELL, HE HAD TWO FIANCEES IN 1865. YOU JUDGE, DEAR READER.
Item 12: Early behavior problems
YES
Item 13: Lack of realistic long-term goals
WELL, I CERTAINLY THINK SO.
Item 14: Impulsivity
YOU BETCHA
Item 15: Irresponsibility
OMG. UH, YEAH.
Item 16: Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
UH, ARE YOU KIDDING? YES.
Item 17: Many short-term marital relationships
Item 18: Juvenile delinquency
Item 19: Revocation of conditional release
Item 20: Criminal versatility
HUH. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HIS ESCAPE?
OK. If we take this test, based on our knowledge of Booth's life and displayed behaviors, he scored 37 out of a possible 44. Now, the 'scores' of this checklist are somewhat fluid: the guide indicates that the higher the score, the greater chance that the patient suffers from psychopathy. This checklist is also supposed to be accompanied by a personal interview with a psychiatrist. Obviously, we do not have the ability to personally interview Booth (not without HG Wells), I thought it might be an interesting exercise for you to look at, Dear Reader. It's important to note that the Hare list is a controversial tool within the psychiatric community.
Based upon my scoring of this checklist, what is your opinion, Dear Reader?
So, how did JWB do it? What were his plans? Just who participated in his dreams of grandeur?
Yes, Dark Knight: same bat time, same bat channel!
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