

Capital District Civil War Series #6: The Eccentric Trojan


The Eccentric Trojan

By Don Rittner

On the evening of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, actor and confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln with a single shot to the back of the head. Few know that the person who killed Booth for his deed was an eccentric former hat maker from Troy, Thomas P. Corbett. Corbett was born in England in 1832 and came to New York with his family in 1839, finally settling in Troy where he became a hatter.

Troy's Boston Corbett who killed John Wilkes Booth.  Source: LOC

Troy's Boston Corbett who killed John Wilkes Booth. Source: LOC

Mercury compounds were commonly used in felt hat making to kill bacteria and prevent rotting. Hatters developed the “shakes” and became unstable by breathing in mercury fumes and getting it on their hands, hence the term “Mad as a Hatter.” Symptoms of chronic mercury exposure on the nervous system include increased excitability, attention/concentration deficits, mental instability, tendency to weep, fine tremors of the hands and feet, depression, hallucinations, and other personality changes. Most writers attribute Corbett’s later bizarre personality to having Mad Hatter’s disease.



Source: LOC

Source: LOC


Booth got a bullet from Corbett in a similar location as Lincoln. Source: LOC



Corbett returned to hat making but then moved to Concordia, Kansas in 1878 where he lived in a self-made dirt dugout a few miles out of town. He gave sermons to local churches, but brought his gun out when he felt someone wasn’t obeying the lord’s wishes. There are many published examples of his eccentric behavior. In 1887, he was appointed assistant doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka, but on Tuesday, February 15, after overhearing a conversation in which the legislature’s opening prayer was being mocked, he jumped up, whipped out his revolver, and waved or discharged his gun. No one was injured, but he was arrested, declared nuts, and sent to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane.

The derringer that Booth used to kill Lincoln.  Source: LOC

The derringer that Booth used to kill Lincoln. Source: LOC

On May 26, 1888, he jumped on a horse left at the entrance to the asylum’s grounds and escaped to Neodesha, KS, to Richard Thatcher, the other survivor of the Andersonville prison. Stating he was headed for Mexico, he instructed Thatcher to return the horse to its rightful owner. Some stories say he ended up a medicine salesman, or died in the 1894 Great Hinckley (Mn) Forest Fire. Corbett was never seen again. Four of the 8 captured Booth accomplices were hung, including the first women ever executed by the federal government.

Categories: General
Don Rittner

2 Responses

  1. Pat says:

    I am REALLY enjoying this series ! Great work!

  2. Don Rittner says:

    Thanks Pat! More to come.