John Wilkes Booth: Difference between revisions
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He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge. | He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge. | ||
He originally planned on kidnapping the President and holding him for ransom. However, on April 11, 1865, two days after Lee's army surrendered to Grant, Booth attended a speech at the White House in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks; he became so fed up, that it eventually led him to murder. | He originally planned on kidnapping the President and holding him for ransom. However, on April 11, 1865, two days after Lee's army surrendered to Grant, Booth attended a speech at the White House in which Lincoln promoted voting rights for blacks; he had became so fed up, that it eventually led him to murder. | ||
The President on April 14, 1865 on Good Friday attended a play entitled ''"Our American Cousin" ''at Ford’s Theatre'' ''and Booth stalked him. Between 10:15 and 10:30 pm, actor Harry Hawk stood alone onstage. He was putting on a wonderful preformance: "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old mantrap!" And right then, the audience laughed and Booth opened the door to the president's box. He had earlier took out a knife and gouged a hole in the door where he looked upon the profile of Abraham Lincoln as the president watched the play. As the audience laughed, Booth took out a pistol, and aimed his pistol at the back of Lincoln's head at near point-blank range. Booth pulled the trigger. Lincoln was laughing at this line when he was shot; Lincoln immediately lost consciousness, but he passed into unconsciousness with laughter and a smile on his face; Katherine M. Evans, a young actress in the play, who was offstage in Ford's green room when Lincoln was shot, rushed on the stage after Booth's exit, and said; "I looked and saw President Lincoln unconscious, his head dropping on his breast, his eyes closed, but with a smile still on his face". | The President on April 14, 1865 on Good Friday attended a play entitled ''"Our American Cousin" ''at Ford’s Theatre'' ''and Booth stalked him. Between 10:15 and 10:30 pm, actor Harry Hawk stood alone onstage. He was putting on a wonderful preformance: "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old mantrap!" And right then, the audience laughed and Booth opened the door to the president's box. He had earlier took out a knife and gouged a hole in the door where he looked upon the profile of Abraham Lincoln as the president watched the play. As the audience laughed, Booth took out a pistol, and aimed his pistol at the back of Lincoln's head at near point-blank range. Booth pulled the trigger. Lincoln was laughing at this line when he was shot; Lincoln immediately lost consciousness, but he passed into unconsciousness with laughter and a smile on his face; Katherine M. Evans, a young actress in the play, who was offstage in Ford's green room when Lincoln was shot, rushed on the stage after Booth's exit, and said; "I looked and saw President Lincoln unconscious, his head dropping on his breast, his eyes closed, but with a smile still on his face". |