To order images and/or obtain permission to use them commercially, please contact the KSHS Reference Desk at KSHS.reference@ks.gov or 785-272-8681, ext. 117.
For more information see the Copyright and Permission FAQ.
Correspondence and legal documents relating to the impersonation of Boston Corbett by John Corbit. Boston Corbett was the man who killed John Wilkes Booth following President Lincoln's assassination. Corbett moved to Kansas in 1878 and lived in a dugout near Concordia, Kansas. In 1887, Corbett was given the position of assistant doorkeeper for the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka. However, when he brandished his pistol during a session of the legislative that same year, he was arrested and sent to the insane asylum in Topeka. In 1888, he escaped and his whereabouts remained unknown until his presumed death. John Corbit was operating as a sales agent in Texas for the W. W. Gavitt's Medical Company in Topeka after having convinced them that he was Boston Corbett. A marriage license for Mr. John Corbit and Miss Effie Britz, dated October 2, 1899 in Wichita Falls, Texas, is also included. On August 20, 1904, John Corbit testified before a U. S. pension examiner that he was Boston Corbett. The distrist court in San Angelo, Texas found John Corbit guilty of perjury and sentenced him to three years hard labor in an Atlanta, Georgia penitentiary.
Date: 1898-1905
Item Number: 307443
Call Number: Boston Corbett Coll. #318, Box 2, Folder 24-26
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 307443
Collections - Manuscript - Corbett, Boston
Date - 1890s
Date - 1900s
Government and Politics - Crime and Punishment
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Correspondence
People - Notable Kansans - Corbett, Boston, b. 1832
Places - Other States - Texas
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Government records
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Legal documents
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Letters
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/307443