[Verginius Rufus]

The answer to your question about what happened to John Wilkes Booth, Mr. Chitty, is "Bang! Bang!"

There were lots of Booths in the US in the 19th century and John is a common first name...so there were likely a number of John W. Booths around.

[Hostage]

Good point and I imagine anyone at that time with the name John W. Booth would have attracted alot of stares. Solution would be to change your name.