Junius Brutus Booth Rescued From a Watery Grave

by Tom Fink

From time to time Junius Brutus Booth displayed signs of brief insanity. At such times those close to him tried to help him. The Charleston Courier for March 12, 1838 reported one of these incidents:

     “Mr. Booth went on board the…packet, in a company with his friend, Mr. Flynn, the well-known Comedian, on Wednesday evening last [7 March], and on the passage showed evident symptoms of insanity, but being carefully watched by his anxious friend, had no opportunity of escaping his vigilant eye, and appeared to improve gradually under Mr. Flynn’s friendly care, until the afternoon of Friday last when 36 miles N.E. of Frying Pan Shoals, during dinner, when Mr. Booth excused himself from the table, took advantage of his friend’s absence, and lowered himself from the promenade deck, which attracted the attention of the men. Capt. Pennoyer, Mr. Flynn, and the rest of the passengers being called from dinner, endeavored to persuade him to return on board, when he not only refused, but immediately plunged into the ocean. Capt. Pennoyer instantly stopped the boat, which was then going at the rate of eleven miles an hour, and by his prompt exertions and presence of mind, a safety buoy was thrown over, and a safety boat immediately launched. The gallant Captain took the helm, and Mr. Booth, though then half a mile from the boat, was rescued from a watery grave.”

     Junius had asked Mr. Flynn to alert him when they approached the area where William Augustus Conway, a failed tragedian, had drowned himself. William Conway came to America in 1823 from England and had been a favorite actor at the Covent Garden Theatre in London. Because of the extremely fast popularity he gained in London, some of his jealous professional contemporaries ridiculed him publicly and conspired to drive him from his position on the stage. Because of his sensitive nature he chose to pursue his profession in America. In 1826, William decided to quit the stage and study Divinity. After three years he met with some personal opposition from the then Bishop of New York “from the fact of his having been an actor.”  During his voyage to Savannah to visit Bishop White “to take orders in the church,” Conway suddenly had a fit of despondency and jumped from the deck of the ship and drowned himself.

     When Junius reached the spot where Conway had drowned, he jumped overboard with a “message” for Conway. As Flynn pulled Junius into the safety boat, Booth warned, “I say Tom, look out: you’re a heavy man, be steady; if the boat upsets we’ll all be drowned.”

Share Your Love of History—Become a Volunteer

The historic Tudor Hall is a fascinating piece of Maryland and our nation’s history. Visitors to Tudor Hall explore the story of the Maryland Booths who left their mark on America forever. By volunteering with Spirits of Tudor Hall, you become a part of sharing this part of history. Spirits of Tudor Hall is the Junius B. Booth Society volunteer organization created to establishing a docent program at Tudor Hall and opening the house for public tours on a regular basis.  As a volunteer, it doesn’t require a lot of time—just a love of history, and a desire to share in keeping the story of Tudor Hall alive.

We need you. There’s a place for everyone who volunteers—whether you want to lead tours, greet visitors, or do odd jobs—we will gladly match you up with your interests and skills. From time to time there are also opportunities to help with special events at Tudor Hall.

 If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, contact

Jill Redding, Volunteer Coordinator

reddingj43@comcast.net 

410-274-8633

Give the Gift of History

The Junius B. Booth Society and The Historical Society of Harford County are offering a unique opportunity. You can now own a piece of historic Tudor Hall─ the house that Junius Brutus Booth built for his family.

     The chimney at Tudor Hall was structurally unsound and it was removed so that a new chimney could be built. Vintage photographs reveal that the original chimney, which dated to the construction of the house which began in the fall of 1851, was repaired and modified at least once in the years after Samuel A. S. Kyle purchased Tudor Hall in 1878 from Mary Ann Holmes Booth, widow of Junius Brutus Booth, Sr. The exact date of these repairs and modifications is unknown at this time.

     As a result, the age of any of the bricks removed from the chimney in July 2009 is uncertain. All that can be said with certainty is that the bricks were part of the chimney at Tudor Hall for many years.  We are offering 400 of the bricks from the old chimney at Tudor Hall for sale to the public. Proceeds will go to support the Junius B. Booth Society and The Historical Society of Harford County, in part, to catalog and preserve materials related to the Booth family and Tudor Hall. The Junius B. Booth Society and The Historical Society of Harford County are nonprofit organizations which work to make the public more aware of the individual members of the Booth family and Tudor Hall.

     The brick for sale comes with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity and a pictorial history of the Tudor Hall chimney and makes a great gift. The cost of each brick is $40.00 (tax included) and $15.00 for shipping/handling. To purchase this unique piece of history, send a check for $55.00 made out to: The Historical Society of Harford County, Inc.

Mail to:

The Historical Society of Harford County

Tudor Hall Brick

143 N. Main Street

Bel Air, MD  21014

If you would like to pick it

up in person, call 410-838-5257

410-838-7691.

The Gift of the Skull

Junius Brutus Booth was known for his acts of kindness. In "Booth Memorials. Passages, Incidents, and Anecdotes in the life of Junius Brutus Booth (the elder)" by Asia Booth Clarke, are a few examples:

Junius Sr. indulged his philanthropic desire unrestrainedly, and the particulars of some charitable visit or donation would frequently be disclosed to the family by the recipient.
My earliest recollection of my father is seeing him upon his knees, before a rough sailor, who had asked alms at the door. The poor fellow had a bad wound on his leg, which was suffering neglect, and my father brought him into the house and washed and bandaged the wound for him with the tenderest care.

These little deeds of kindness were almost daily occurrences. He thus sought to impress upon our minds these lessons of humanity to man and beast, more by his own acts than by precept. He delighted to seek out the destitute and unfortunate, and aid by his sympathy as well as his bounty.

It was on one of these errands of mercy that the horse thief, Fontainne, alias Lovett, was pointed out to him. Lovett was then confined in the Louisville jail, and it was remarked that he had no means of obtaining counsel, and my father, although being assured that his case was hopeless, sent him a lawyer and defrayed the expenses; for which kindness, when Lovett heard of it, he bequeathed him his head, desiring "that it should be given, after his execution, to the actor Booth, with the request that he would use it on the stage in Hamlet, and think when he held it in his hands of the gratitude his kindness had awakened."
The skull was accordingly sent to my father’s residence while he was absent from the city; and my mother, finding what a horrible thing had been left in her house, immediately returned it to the doctor to whom it had been entrusted for preparation and delivery. In 1857, the doctor, who had retained the skull, sent it to Edwin Booth, who used it in the grave-yard scene in "Hamlet" on several occasions, and afterward had it buried.

Kevin Bacon's Booths Drama Project At Showtime Taps Writer

In September 2008, Kevin Bacon set up at Showtime The Booths, a drama about Abraham Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth and his brother. Three years and a regime change at the pay cable network later, there is movement on the project. Oscar-nominated writer Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) has been tapped to write the potential series, which Bacon is still executive producing.

The Booths focuses on Confederate Booth and his brothers, Edwin and Junius Brutus Jr., and chronicles their years leading up to the April 14, 1865 assassination of Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. The brothers, sons of British Shakespearean actor Junius Brutus Booth and Mary Ann Holmes, were all stage performers. In addition to The Booths, Bacon also is executive producing a single-camera comedy at HBO based on Clint McCown's book The Member-Guest with an eye to star. Nyswaner most recently co-wrote with Phil Dorling the feature comedy Predisposed, which is now filming with Jesse Eisenberg and Tracy Morgan starring and Dorling directing.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/kevin-bacons-booths-drama-project-at-showtime-taps-writer/

The Birth of Tudor Hall

All but two of the Booth children were born in the log cabin nestled in the Maryland countryside which eventually became Tudor Hall. Let's go back to the beginning of how this grand residence came to be. I'll let someone who was there tell the story. The Booth family chronicler Asia Booth Clarke described the Booth home in her memoir The Elder and the Younger Booth, published in 1882:

In the summer of 1822, while the yellow-fever was raging in Baltimore, Mr. Booth purchased a farm twenty-five miles from that city, lying in Harford County, Maryland. This place became his constant resort when free from the excitement of his profession, and was the birthplace of his children. It was always known as "The Farm," but was in reality a dense forest, called the "Big Woods," which served as a free hunting-ground on moonlight nights when the whole place was rendered musical by the baying of the hounds and the call of sportsman....The rough coach road to the farm was made picturesque and delightful in the summer by the massive trees which arched it....From the road a crooked, narrow pathway wound to the Booth dwelling....This was a log-cabin, plastered and whitewashed on the exterior; the small square window-frames, and broad, plain shutters....painted red. Four rooms besides the loft, the kitchen, and the Old Dominion chimney, made a picturesque and comfortable abode, standing in a clearing encompassed by huge oak, black walnut, beech, and tulip trees.

The cabin in its primal state, unpainted and unplastered, had been removed to its present locality across several fields. This proceeding caused great wonderment among the villagers, as every available man, ox, and horse had been effected on account of a spring of delicious water which Mr. booth had discovered under the thickest trees.

What a great description! When I visit Tudor Hall, I look around the property and picture in my mind the great undertaking of moving the cabin—wow. Shortly before his death, Junius Brutus Booth began building the gothic revival house named Tudor Hall. At the time, the Booth family also had a town house in Baltimore where they usually spent the winter. The town house no longer exists. We're very fortunate to be able to visit this great piece of history called Tudor Hall today. If you have not visited it, I encourage you to do so. It brings history alive.