July 11, 2024 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Ford's Theater reenactor Mike Robinson tells the full unknown story through the eyes of A.C. Richards, Washington's Superintendent of Police.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Ac Richards was
the Chief of Police for Washington, d c. In eighteen
sixty five. He attended a play called Our American Cousin
at the Ford's Theater on Good Friday. But the Chief
wasn't there for the performance. He was there to see
(00:31):
the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, who the
papers had announced would be there that night. But Richards
saw more than just the President. He witnessed the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln. The Chief story is told by Mike Robinson,
a reenactor who inhabits Chief Richard's experience to share with
(00:54):
audiences the memories of that fateful night. Here is my
Robinson is the character of the Chief, to tell the
story of the assassination of America's greatest president.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
My name is Ac Richards. I was a superintendent of
Metropolitan Police from eighteen sixty four until eighteen seventy eight.
You may address me as Chief, and I was in
the audience that night of Friday, April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five.
Would you be at all interested in what I recall
from that evening? Well, the Washington you see today is
(01:31):
much different than the Washington of my time. In fact,
Charles Dickens came here in the eighteen forties and he said,
Washington is a city of magnificent intentions. It has grand
boulevards that started nothing and go nowhere. Indeed, we had
not a single paved road. In fact, the avenue just
down here, which was intended to connect the executive branch
(01:55):
with the legislative branch, was unpaved. It was built on
a floodplain, and every time it rained, it would fled out.
In eighteen sixty our entire population was a mere seventy
five thousand people, and none of us locked their doors
at night. And then the war came and our lives
were changed forever. By eighteen sixty five, our population had
(02:18):
grown to well over two hundred thousand people, and we
all locked our doors at night. The people who came
here during those war years were petty foggers and scoundrels.
They were people trying to get something out of the
federal government. I'm sure that's no longer true in your time,
is it. But they required a great deal of entertainment.
So Washington became a very exciting place to live. By
(02:41):
eighteen sixty five, we had over thirty five hundred saloons.
If you did not like the Star Saloon on this
side of Ford's Theater, you could well go to the Greenbeck.
On this side we had more than four hundred elsli
phrased us houses of ill fame. In fact, early in
the war, one of the generals who was here liked
to segregate all of the ladies of the night on
(03:03):
the south side of the avenue. The general's name, by
the way, was Hooker. We called that Hooker's Division. Indeed,
those war years were very exciting years, and there was
no more exciting time than that week in April of
eighteen sixty five. That week started with palm Sunday April ninth,
(03:25):
eighteen sixty five, when Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army
of Northern Virginia, and we started to think that perhaps
this terrible time was finally ending. Now I know that
many of you in the audience think of our war
the Rebellion as a remarkably romantic period, beautiful ladies in
hooks skirts and handsome, brave young gentlemen in military uniforms.
(03:48):
And indeed, we all enthusiastically marched off the war in
sixty one after all this war would last for only
three months or so, They told us what fools were we.
By eighteen sixty five we had all seen the elephant.
By eighteen sixty five we knew what war was. By
(04:10):
eighteen sixty five we had lost more than seven hundred
and fifty thousand of our finest young men, So many
young men. This was a whole generation of future leaders
that have been taken from us. There was hardly a
household in the nation, north or south that was untouched
(04:30):
by Mourning. It was a cruel, cruel war. So you
can imagine how we felt that following Monday when we
learned that Robert E. Lee had surrendered the army of
Northern Virginia. Now there were still over one hundred thousand
Confederates in the field, and the Confederate government had not
yet been captured. Everyone knew that Bobby Lee had the
(04:51):
most important army in the Confederacy, and we started to
think that perhaps this was the beginning of the end.
So a group of us Lincoln and I must admit
I was a Lincoln man. Then I am a Lincoln
man now, and I shall always be a Lincoln man.
A group of us got together and we marched up
to the White House to serenade the President. As we
(05:14):
were singing, he came out on the balcony and we
shouted speech speech. There was no one better speech of
find than Abe Lincoln, and we expected something very special
this evening. After all, he was the man who had
led us through this terrible time. But old Abe he
hated to speak off the cuff. He told us if
we would come back the following evening, he would be
(05:36):
sure to have a few words prepared to say to us.
Of course we did that. Well. I must tell you
that he surprised us by what he had to say.
It was not at all an inspirational speech. It was
a very technical talk about how he would reunite the nation,
what would come to be called reconstruction. He said that
he would emancipate all the slaves. Now that's certainly surprised,
(05:59):
no one is. Many of you know, in January sixty
three he had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all
the slaves in Secession Territory. And indeed, by February sixty
five we had passed the Thirteenth Amendment. It had not
yet been ratified, but we were well on the way
to eradicating this terrible blot, the blot of slavery, which
(06:20):
lay upon our constitution. What he said, in addition was
that he felt that intelligent black men and those who
fought for the Union cause deserve the right to vote. Now,
he had certainly come a long way from the time
when he was advocating colonizing all blacks outside of the nation.
But upon reflection, it seemed only just more than two
(06:43):
hundred thousand brave black men fought for the Union cause.
Two thirds of them were former slaves. They were fighting
for their families, but they were also fighting for our country.
Without them, we could not have won the war had
they not earned the right to vote. Many of us
sought so, but not all. There were three men standing
(07:05):
on the periphery of the crowd. One dressed all in black,
turned to the other tour and he said, and now,
by God, I'll put him through. That's the last speech
she'll ever make.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you're listening to Mike Robinson. The story of Lincoln's
assassination continues here on Our American Story. Lihabibe here the
host of our American Stories. Every day on this show,
we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories
(07:38):
from our big cities and small towns. But we truly
can't do the show without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love what you hear, go to Ouramerican Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
a lot. Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and give.
(08:09):
And we returned to our American Stories and to make
Robinson in the character of Chief Ac Richards, who witnessed
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Let's listen to what he saw.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Friday, April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five, when I learned that
Abraham Lincoln would be here at Ford's Theater that evening,
I decided I should be too. Now this was good Friday.
I would not have normally come to the theater on
that evening. Indeed, I came that evening not to see
to play our American cousin. I came to see that
(08:47):
great man, Abraham Lincoln. Well, the play was scheduled to
commence to date that evening. The presidential party was nowhere
in sight. The show started anyway. It was not until
about half past eight to President Lincoln and then his
party came into the building. They climbed the spiral staircase
and were seen walking across the dress circle. The leading
(09:08):
lady stopped the play. The band rose up and played
Hail to the Chief, and the audience went mad. This
was the man who had saved our nation. We watched
him as he walked around the dress circle and went
through this yellow door. He next appeared just here, turned
(09:29):
to us, smiled at us. Obviously he was enjoying us
as much as we enjoyed him. Doffed us hat, and
the play recommenced. About nine that evening, another actor in
this drama came into the theater, but not through the
front door. This time he entered through the stage door,
dropped through a trapdoor, proceeded beneath the stage, remember the
(09:51):
play was ongoing. Emerged from a trap door on this side,
went down the alley and into the star saloon. He
would fortify himself for the do your work yet to come?
Came back into the theater shortly before ten that evening.
He was seen talking to some of the patrons in
the back of the theater. Can anyone tell me what
Wilkes Booth's profession was? He was an actor, indeed, and
(10:14):
this was the largest role he had ever played. This evening,
he was playing on a world stage. He was not
about to hide anything. He would do this evening he
sought to achieve his place in history. Shortly after ten,
he climbed the spiral staircase, walked around the dress circle
to a man sitting just outside the presidential door. The
(10:34):
man's name was Charles Forbes. He was a presidential messenger.
Booth walked up to Forbes, reached into his pocket, and
presented Forth with a calling card, upon which it said
Jay Wilkes Booth. Lincoln had seen Booth on this very
stage in sixty three and admired his acting talent. Forbes
a labed Booth with this yellow door into the outer
(10:56):
vestibule of the box. Booth closed the door and propped
it shut. He was waiting for something he knew would
take place during the third act, second scene of this play.
The play was Our American Cousin. It was a comedy
about a bumpkin from Vermont who went to England to
marry an English girl and then her mother found that
he had no money. Well you can imagine what happened
(11:18):
to that marriage. It would be a point in his play,
third act, second scene when the leading man would be
the only man on stage, leaving it unobstructed for an escape.
He has just been told by his potential mother in
law that he cannot marry his fiancee, and he addresses
her as she walks off stage. Not familiar with the
manners of good society. Hey, well, I guess I know
(11:40):
enough to turn you inside that old gal you socked
dilogize an old man trap, at which point the audience
burst into laughter. That was bhoce q. He entered the
inner box, approaching President rapidly from behind, reached him Tooy's pocket,
pulled out of forty four caliber darrender, and fired once
into the back of the President's head. The first man
to realize what had happened was Major Rathbone, had been
(12:01):
sitting in the corner. He jumped up and struggled with
both Booth threw the gun down, pulled out a dagger,
and tried to stab Wrathbone in the heart. Rathbone defended himself,
but he was sliced to the bone. Booth leapt to
the stage, landed awkwardly on his right leg, went down
on that knee. As he rose up, he brandished the
bloody dagger above his head, turned to the audience and shouted,
sick zip for tyrannus. It's the state model of Virginia.
(12:23):
We had used it in our war against old King George.
It means us always to tyrants. Not coincidentally, it's what's
reputed to have been said upon the assassination of Julius Caesar.
That was Booth's statement. He was saving the country by
assassinating a tyrant. He was brutus to Lincoln's Julius Caesar.
He ran across stage and out the state door. Major
(12:46):
Rathbone came to the edge of the balcony and shouted,
stop that man, Stop that man. That's when I first
realized something was terribly amiss. I left my seat in
the audience and made my way to the stage. That
whole period of time from when the gun was fired
until when I arrived on stage was only slightly more
than a minute, but it seemed an eternity. I searched
(13:06):
the darkened stage for the collprit but could find no one.
Eventually I made my way to the stage door and
opened it just in time to hear the sound of
receating hoof beats. It was not until I came back
into the theater that I was told that the president
had been assassinated. I was the first officer on the scene,
so I immediately started the investigation. The first person I
interviewed was Miss Laura Keene. She was a star of
(13:28):
the show. She told me, I know not who shot
the president, but the man who ran across stage was
Wilkes Booth. We knew within half an hour that John
Wilkes Booth was the assassinate. Subsequent to that, I talked
to mister Ferguson, who had been sitting just here. Ferguson
on the Greenback Saloon on this side of Ford's Theater.
(13:49):
He told me he had frequently seen Booth associating with Davy,
Harold Louis Payne, George Atsterrot, and John Surratt. Shortly thereafter,
we learned that this was a much larger conspiracy. We
heard in an attempt to be made on the Secretary
of State's life. This was not just to assassinate our
beloved president, it was to destroy our very nation. We
(14:10):
launched the largest man hunt in American history to run
a miss granstagraumd. Twelve days later, outside of Port Royal, Virginia.
Booth was caught in a tobacco barn in the early
hours of the morning of April twenty sixth, eighteen sixty five,
long before sunrise. The cavalry set the bar in the
fire to force him out. He could be seen moving
about inside when he reached for his rifle and headed
(14:31):
for the door. Sergeant Boston Corbett, fearing for the lives
of his men, pulled his pistol, took gaim, and fired once,
striking Booth in the neck and severing his spine. He
would die within two hours, a slow, miserable death appropriate
to a dastardly assassin. But do you know what his
(14:51):
final words were? Tell my mother, I die for my country.
In his own mind, he was the hero of this tragedy,
he himself had authored. He had saved the country by
assassinating a tyrant. John Walkesmooth ought to achieve a place
in history, which indeed he did. But do any of
you think of John Walkespooth as a great American hero.
(15:16):
He shall be condemned through eternity as the assassin of
Abraham Lincoln. That night of Friday April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five,
our beloved President lay dying in his box. He was
attended by three physicians. They concluded almost immediately that the
one would be mortal, but the theater was not an
(15:37):
appropriate place for such a man to die. They carried
him around the dress circle, down the spiral staircase, and
out into the street, looking for a place to make
him as comfortable as possible. In a few hours, he
had remaining to him. One of the boarders at the
Peterson House, just across the streets recognized their dilemma and
invited them in there. They brought the President in took
(16:00):
him straight back to the back bedroom word seven twenty two.
The next morning, April fifteenth, eighteen sixty five, Abraham Lincoln
passed into history. As he died, a light, cold rain
began to fall over Washington. It was as if the
very heavens wept at the loss of our beloved President.
(16:23):
I shall always remember that terrible evening. It started with
a small comedy and ended as a large tragedy. Good
day to you all.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by John Elfner, and a special thanks to Mike Robinson,
who played the part of Ac Richards, the chief of
police for Washington, d C. And he does this at
the Ford Theater. And what a story it is, folks,
Good Friday of all days for this to happen. When
(17:08):
he gets to the theater thirty minutes late, the play stops.
Hill to the Chief is played, and there's a thunderous ovation.
America has finally been relieved of war, and the future
beckons without it. And what a life that John Wilkes
Booth lived. And what a decision to make. And he
(17:28):
made it thinking he was saving the country, and he
was tracked down just days later and killed. We have
that story on our website, as I shared with you earlier,
James Swanson's remarkable book Manhunt, The Twelve Day Chase for
Lincoln's Killer, the story of Lincoln's assassination as told by
(17:50):
the Washington DC Police chief. Here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Ac Richards was
the Chief of Police for Washington, d c. In eighteen
sixty five. He attended a play called Our American Cousin
at the Ford's Theater on Good Friday. But the Chief
wasn't there for the performance. He was there to see
(00:31):
the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, who the
papers had announced would be there that night. But Richards
saw more than just the President. He witnessed the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln. The Chief story is told by Mike Robinson,
a reenactor who inhabits Chief Richard's experience to share with
(00:54):
audiences the memories of that fateful night. Here is my
Robinson is the character of the Chief, to tell the
story of the assassination of America's greatest president.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
My name is Ac Richards. I was a superintendent of
Metropolitan Police from eighteen sixty four until eighteen seventy eight.
You may address me as Chief, and I was in
the audience that night of Friday, April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five.
Would you be at all interested in what I recall
from that evening? Well, the Washington you see today is
(01:31):
much different than the Washington of my time. In fact,
Charles Dickens came here in the eighteen forties and he said,
Washington is a city of magnificent intentions. It has grand
boulevards that started nothing and go nowhere. Indeed, we had
not a single paved road. In fact, the avenue just
down here, which was intended to connect the executive branch
(01:55):
with the legislative branch, was unpaved. It was built on
a floodplain, and every time it rained, it would fled out.
In eighteen sixty our entire population was a mere seventy
five thousand people, and none of us locked their doors
at night. And then the war came and our lives
were changed forever. By eighteen sixty five, our population had
(02:18):
grown to well over two hundred thousand people, and we
all locked our doors at night. The people who came
here during those war years were petty foggers and scoundrels.
They were people trying to get something out of the
federal government. I'm sure that's no longer true in your time,
is it. But they required a great deal of entertainment.
So Washington became a very exciting place to live. By
(02:41):
eighteen sixty five, we had over thirty five hundred saloons.
If you did not like the Star Saloon on this
side of Ford's Theater, you could well go to the Greenbeck.
On this side we had more than four hundred elsli
phrased us houses of ill fame. In fact, early in
the war, one of the generals who was here liked
to segregate all of the ladies of the night on
(03:03):
the south side of the avenue. The general's name, by
the way, was Hooker. We called that Hooker's Division. Indeed,
those war years were very exciting years, and there was
no more exciting time than that week in April of
eighteen sixty five. That week started with palm Sunday April ninth,
(03:25):
eighteen sixty five, when Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army
of Northern Virginia, and we started to think that perhaps
this terrible time was finally ending. Now I know that
many of you in the audience think of our war
the Rebellion as a remarkably romantic period, beautiful ladies in
hooks skirts and handsome, brave young gentlemen in military uniforms.
(03:48):
And indeed, we all enthusiastically marched off the war in
sixty one after all this war would last for only
three months or so, They told us what fools were we.
By eighteen sixty five we had all seen the elephant.
By eighteen sixty five we knew what war was. By
(04:10):
eighteen sixty five we had lost more than seven hundred
and fifty thousand of our finest young men, So many
young men. This was a whole generation of future leaders
that have been taken from us. There was hardly a
household in the nation, north or south that was untouched
(04:30):
by Mourning. It was a cruel, cruel war. So you
can imagine how we felt that following Monday when we
learned that Robert E. Lee had surrendered the army of
Northern Virginia. Now there were still over one hundred thousand
Confederates in the field, and the Confederate government had not
yet been captured. Everyone knew that Bobby Lee had the
(04:51):
most important army in the Confederacy, and we started to
think that perhaps this was the beginning of the end.
So a group of us Lincoln and I must admit
I was a Lincoln man. Then I am a Lincoln
man now, and I shall always be a Lincoln man.
A group of us got together and we marched up
to the White House to serenade the President. As we
(05:14):
were singing, he came out on the balcony and we
shouted speech speech. There was no one better speech of
find than Abe Lincoln, and we expected something very special
this evening. After all, he was the man who had
led us through this terrible time. But old Abe he
hated to speak off the cuff. He told us if
we would come back the following evening, he would be
(05:36):
sure to have a few words prepared to say to us.
Of course we did that. Well. I must tell you
that he surprised us by what he had to say.
It was not at all an inspirational speech. It was
a very technical talk about how he would reunite the nation,
what would come to be called reconstruction. He said that
he would emancipate all the slaves. Now that's certainly surprised,
(05:59):
no one is. Many of you know, in January sixty
three he had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all
the slaves in Secession Territory. And indeed, by February sixty
five we had passed the Thirteenth Amendment. It had not
yet been ratified, but we were well on the way
to eradicating this terrible blot, the blot of slavery, which
(06:20):
lay upon our constitution. What he said, in addition was
that he felt that intelligent black men and those who
fought for the Union cause deserve the right to vote. Now,
he had certainly come a long way from the time
when he was advocating colonizing all blacks outside of the nation.
But upon reflection, it seemed only just more than two
(06:43):
hundred thousand brave black men fought for the Union cause.
Two thirds of them were former slaves. They were fighting
for their families, but they were also fighting for our country.
Without them, we could not have won the war had
they not earned the right to vote. Many of us
sought so, but not all. There were three men standing
(07:05):
on the periphery of the crowd. One dressed all in black,
turned to the other tour and he said, and now,
by God, I'll put him through. That's the last speech
she'll ever make.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you're listening to Mike Robinson. The story of Lincoln's
assassination continues here on Our American Story. Lihabibe here the
host of our American Stories. Every day on this show,
we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories
(07:38):
from our big cities and small towns. But we truly
can't do the show without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love what you hear, go to Ouramerican Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
a lot. Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and give.
(08:09):
And we returned to our American Stories and to make
Robinson in the character of Chief Ac Richards, who witnessed
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Let's listen to what he saw.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Friday, April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five, when I learned that
Abraham Lincoln would be here at Ford's Theater that evening,
I decided I should be too. Now this was good Friday.
I would not have normally come to the theater on
that evening. Indeed, I came that evening not to see
to play our American cousin. I came to see that
(08:47):
great man, Abraham Lincoln. Well, the play was scheduled to
commence to date that evening. The presidential party was nowhere
in sight. The show started anyway. It was not until
about half past eight to President Lincoln and then his
party came into the building. They climbed the spiral staircase
and were seen walking across the dress circle. The leading
(09:08):
lady stopped the play. The band rose up and played
Hail to the Chief, and the audience went mad. This
was the man who had saved our nation. We watched
him as he walked around the dress circle and went
through this yellow door. He next appeared just here, turned
(09:29):
to us, smiled at us. Obviously he was enjoying us
as much as we enjoyed him. Doffed us hat, and
the play recommenced. About nine that evening, another actor in
this drama came into the theater, but not through the
front door. This time he entered through the stage door,
dropped through a trapdoor, proceeded beneath the stage, remember the
(09:51):
play was ongoing. Emerged from a trap door on this side,
went down the alley and into the star saloon. He
would fortify himself for the do your work yet to come?
Came back into the theater shortly before ten that evening.
He was seen talking to some of the patrons in
the back of the theater. Can anyone tell me what
Wilkes Booth's profession was? He was an actor, indeed, and
(10:14):
this was the largest role he had ever played. This evening,
he was playing on a world stage. He was not
about to hide anything. He would do this evening he
sought to achieve his place in history. Shortly after ten,
he climbed the spiral staircase, walked around the dress circle
to a man sitting just outside the presidential door. The
(10:34):
man's name was Charles Forbes. He was a presidential messenger.
Booth walked up to Forbes, reached into his pocket, and
presented Forth with a calling card, upon which it said
Jay Wilkes Booth. Lincoln had seen Booth on this very
stage in sixty three and admired his acting talent. Forbes
a labed Booth with this yellow door into the outer
(10:56):
vestibule of the box. Booth closed the door and propped
it shut. He was waiting for something he knew would
take place during the third act, second scene of this play.
The play was Our American Cousin. It was a comedy
about a bumpkin from Vermont who went to England to
marry an English girl and then her mother found that
he had no money. Well you can imagine what happened
(11:18):
to that marriage. It would be a point in his play,
third act, second scene when the leading man would be
the only man on stage, leaving it unobstructed for an escape.
He has just been told by his potential mother in
law that he cannot marry his fiancee, and he addresses
her as she walks off stage. Not familiar with the
manners of good society. Hey, well, I guess I know
(11:40):
enough to turn you inside that old gal you socked
dilogize an old man trap, at which point the audience
burst into laughter. That was bhoce q. He entered the
inner box, approaching President rapidly from behind, reached him Tooy's pocket,
pulled out of forty four caliber darrender, and fired once
into the back of the President's head. The first man
to realize what had happened was Major Rathbone, had been
(12:01):
sitting in the corner. He jumped up and struggled with
both Booth threw the gun down, pulled out a dagger,
and tried to stab Wrathbone in the heart. Rathbone defended himself,
but he was sliced to the bone. Booth leapt to
the stage, landed awkwardly on his right leg, went down
on that knee. As he rose up, he brandished the
bloody dagger above his head, turned to the audience and shouted,
sick zip for tyrannus. It's the state model of Virginia.
(12:23):
We had used it in our war against old King George.
It means us always to tyrants. Not coincidentally, it's what's
reputed to have been said upon the assassination of Julius Caesar.
That was Booth's statement. He was saving the country by
assassinating a tyrant. He was brutus to Lincoln's Julius Caesar.
He ran across stage and out the state door. Major
(12:46):
Rathbone came to the edge of the balcony and shouted,
stop that man, Stop that man. That's when I first
realized something was terribly amiss. I left my seat in
the audience and made my way to the stage. That
whole period of time from when the gun was fired
until when I arrived on stage was only slightly more
than a minute, but it seemed an eternity. I searched
(13:06):
the darkened stage for the collprit but could find no one.
Eventually I made my way to the stage door and
opened it just in time to hear the sound of
receating hoof beats. It was not until I came back
into the theater that I was told that the president
had been assassinated. I was the first officer on the scene,
so I immediately started the investigation. The first person I
interviewed was Miss Laura Keene. She was a star of
(13:28):
the show. She told me, I know not who shot
the president, but the man who ran across stage was
Wilkes Booth. We knew within half an hour that John
Wilkes Booth was the assassinate. Subsequent to that, I talked
to mister Ferguson, who had been sitting just here. Ferguson
on the Greenback Saloon on this side of Ford's Theater.
(13:49):
He told me he had frequently seen Booth associating with Davy,
Harold Louis Payne, George Atsterrot, and John Surratt. Shortly thereafter,
we learned that this was a much larger conspiracy. We
heard in an attempt to be made on the Secretary
of State's life. This was not just to assassinate our
beloved president, it was to destroy our very nation. We
(14:10):
launched the largest man hunt in American history to run
a miss granstagraumd. Twelve days later, outside of Port Royal, Virginia.
Booth was caught in a tobacco barn in the early
hours of the morning of April twenty sixth, eighteen sixty five,
long before sunrise. The cavalry set the bar in the
fire to force him out. He could be seen moving
about inside when he reached for his rifle and headed
(14:31):
for the door. Sergeant Boston Corbett, fearing for the lives
of his men, pulled his pistol, took gaim, and fired once,
striking Booth in the neck and severing his spine. He
would die within two hours, a slow, miserable death appropriate
to a dastardly assassin. But do you know what his
(14:51):
final words were? Tell my mother, I die for my country.
In his own mind, he was the hero of this tragedy,
he himself had authored. He had saved the country by
assassinating a tyrant. John Walkesmooth ought to achieve a place
in history, which indeed he did. But do any of
you think of John Walkespooth as a great American hero.
(15:16):
He shall be condemned through eternity as the assassin of
Abraham Lincoln. That night of Friday April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five,
our beloved President lay dying in his box. He was
attended by three physicians. They concluded almost immediately that the
one would be mortal, but the theater was not an
(15:37):
appropriate place for such a man to die. They carried
him around the dress circle, down the spiral staircase, and
out into the street, looking for a place to make
him as comfortable as possible. In a few hours, he
had remaining to him. One of the boarders at the
Peterson House, just across the streets recognized their dilemma and
invited them in there. They brought the President in took
(16:00):
him straight back to the back bedroom word seven twenty two.
The next morning, April fifteenth, eighteen sixty five, Abraham Lincoln
passed into history. As he died, a light, cold rain
began to fall over Washington. It was as if the
very heavens wept at the loss of our beloved President.
(16:23):
I shall always remember that terrible evening. It started with
a small comedy and ended as a large tragedy. Good
day to you all.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by John Elfner, and a special thanks to Mike Robinson,
who played the part of Ac Richards, the chief of
police for Washington, d C. And he does this at
the Ford Theater. And what a story it is, folks,
Good Friday of all days for this to happen. When
(17:08):
he gets to the theater thirty minutes late, the play stops.
Hill to the Chief is played, and there's a thunderous ovation.
America has finally been relieved of war, and the future
beckons without it. And what a life that John Wilkes
Booth lived. And what a decision to make. And he
(17:28):
made it thinking he was saving the country, and he
was tracked down just days later and killed. We have
that story on our website, as I shared with you earlier,
James Swanson's remarkable book Manhunt, The Twelve Day Chase for
Lincoln's Killer, the story of Lincoln's assassination as told by
(17:50):
the Washington DC Police chief. Here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.