On this date in crime history – April 26, 1865, John
Wilkes Booth was killed when Union soldiers track him down to a Virginia farm
12 days after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Twenty-six-year-old Booth
was one of the most famous actors in the country when he shot Lincoln during a
performance at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., on the night of April 14.
Booth was a strong supporter of the Confederacy. As the war entered its final
stages, Booth hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the president. He enlisted the aid
of several associates, but the opportunity never presented itself. After the
surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, Booth changed
the plan to a simultaneous assassination of Lincoln, Vice President Andrew
Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. Only Lincoln was actually
killed, however. Seward was stabbed by Lewis Paine but survived, while the man
assigned to kill Johnson did not carry out his assignment.
After shooting Lincoln, Booth jumped to the stage below
Lincoln's box seat. He landed hard, breaking his leg, before escaping to a
waiting horse behind the theater. Booth and his accomplice, David Herold, made
their way across the Anacostia River and headed toward southern Maryland. The
pair stopped at Dr. Samuel Mudd's home, and Mudd treated Booth's leg. This
earned Mudd a life sentence in prison when he was implicated as part of the
conspiracy, but the sentence was later commuted. Booth found refuge for several
days at the home of Thomas A. Jones, a Confederate agent, before securing a
boat to row across the Potomac to Virginia.
After receiving aid from several Confederate sympathizers,
Booth's luck finally ran out. The countryside was swarming with military units
looking for Booth, although few shared information since there was a $20,000
reward. While staying at the farm of Richard Garrett, Federal troops arrived on
their search but soon rode on. The unsuspecting Garrett allowed his suspicious
guests to sleep in his barn, but he instructed his son to lock the barn from
the outside to prevent the strangers from stealing his horses. A tip led the
Union soldiers back to the Garrett farm, where they discovered Booth and Herold
in the barn. Herold came out, but Booth refused. The building was set on fire
to flush Booth out, but he was shot while still inside. He lived for three
hours before gazing at his hands, muttering "Useless, useless," as he
died.
His book can be purchased at Amazon through the
following link:
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Mayhem-Shocked-California-1849-1949/dp/0764339680/ref=la_B0035CPN70_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398536395&sr=1-2
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