BOOTH 



pella. In ancient mythology Bootes represents 

 Areas, the son of Calli-sto. With his dogs he 

 hunted and would have killed his mother, the 

 Great Bear, but for the intervention of Jupiter. 



BOOTH, the name of a family originally 

 English, which produced several well-known 

 actors. One of them was for years the acknowl- 

 edged leader of the American stage; another, 

 the misguided slayer of the greatest man of 

 his age. 



Junius Brutus Booth (1796-1852) made his 

 first appearance on the London stage in 1815, 

 at the Covent Garden Theater. There he won 

 great popularity in the role of Richard III 

 and later as lago to the Othello of Edmund 

 Kean, at the Drury Lane Theater. After 1821 

 he acted chiefly in the United States, where he 

 was enthusiastically received and held in high 

 esteem as a tragedian, especially in the roles 

 of Richard III, Lear, Shylock, Hamlet and lago. 



Edwin Thomas Booth (1833-1893), son of 

 Junius Brutus, became one of the most dis- 

 tinguished actors on the American stage. He 

 was born in Belair, Md., and his acting career 

 began in 1849 in Boston. Two years later he 

 played his father's 

 role of Richard 

 III, in New York 

 City. His numer- 

 ous tours of the 

 United States, 

 Australia and 

 Europe were uni- 

 formly profitable, 

 and he became 

 known as the 

 leading American 

 tragedian. His 

 most - admired 

 acting was in 

 Shakespearean plays,, especially in the roles of 

 Hamlet, Shylock, Richard III, Lear and 

 Othello. Though not imposing in appearance 

 he was dignified and graceful, and his marvelous 

 voice could express the finest shades of feeling. 

 Booth was a man of intellectual distinction and 

 fine artistic gifts. 



John Wilkes Booth (1839-1865), the younger 

 brother of Edwin, is remembered only as the 

 MBMKi'n of Abraham Lincoln. He gave up the 

 stage in 1863, after several years of acting in 

 which he was only moderately successful, and 

 his intense sympathy for the Southern cause led 

 him to form a conspiracy, with others, that 

 brought about the murder of the President. 

 On the evening of April 14, 1865, he entered 



EDWIN' BOOTH 



6 BOOTH 



Ford's Theater, in Washington, where Lincoln 

 was sitting in a private box, and shot him. 

 Shouting "Sic semper tyrannis" ("So be it ever 

 to tyrants"), he leaped to the stage below, and, 

 though he had broken his leg in the effort, 

 made his escape through a back door, mounted 

 a horse that was held in waiting and fled to 

 Virginia. At Bowling Green he was overtaken, 

 and, hiding in a barn, was shot after he refused 

 to surrender. His mad act shocked the South 

 almost as much as it did the North. 



BOOTH, the name of a family that has 

 become widely known for its activity in relig- 

 ious work, especially in connection with the 

 world-famous Salvation Army and Volunteers 

 of America (which see). 



William Booth (1829-1912), the best known 

 of the family and the founder of the Salvation 

 Army, was born at Nottingham, England. 

 Adopting the faith of the Wesleyans at the 

 age of fifteen, he later joined the Methodists 

 and was ordained a minister, but left that 

 body in 1861 in order to carry on the preaching 

 of the Gospel in his own way. In the mean- 

 time, in 1855, he had married Miss Catherine 

 Mumford, who was heartily in sympathy with 

 his methods. In 1864 they began evangelistic 

 work in London, holding open-air meetings and 

 striving to brighten the lives of the forlorn 

 dwellers in the East End of the city. The 

 converts were organized by Booth into a mis- 

 sion band in 1865, and from this developed the 

 great semi-military organization that in 1878 

 received its present name of Salvation Army. 



Since that time the Army has made its way 

 all over the world, and its open-air meetings, 

 processions, stirring music and the zeal and 

 self-denial of its workers are known to all. 

 General Booth was wholly devoted to the work. 

 He wrote many of the hymns sung in the 

 Army meetings, and the weekly paper of the 

 organization, the War Cry, was founded by him. 

 In Darkest England, the best known of his 

 books, presents his idea of how to deal with 

 poverty and vice. Though ridiculed and vio- 

 lently opposed at the beginning of his labors, 

 General Booth came to enjoy the highest re- 

 spect, and in 1902 was honored by an invitation 

 from Edward VII to be present at the corona- 

 tion ceremonies. His sons and daughters were 

 his trained assistants in the Army work, and on 

 his death in 1912 the leadership passed to his 

 son Bramwell. 



Bramwell Booth (1856- ), son and suc- 

 cessor of General William Booth, was born in 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia, and educated in private 



