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Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln

Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln book cover
CHAPTER 1 A WANTED MAN T he cold night sky shrouded the barn in inky darkness Gusts of chilling wind passed through the slats of the barn walls rustling the frames used to hang drying tobacco leaves inside Indeed it was cold that long-ago morning April 26 1865 but the man lying in the hay on the floor dared not risk lighting a fire in the barn’s stove Wounded and weary from travel his body may have cried out for warmth but a fire was a chance he did not take Other more prudent men might have feared a stray spark would ignite the hay but he had never been the cautious sort At the moment he feared the smoke and light from a fire could bring something more dangerous the men who were hunting for him He had been on the run for 12 days Along with his companion David Herold he had scurried from place to place during that time Each stop was a hideout Each host was an accomplice willing or not He had a price on his head Posters all across the country offered a 100,000 reward for the man and his accomplices He was John Wilkes Booth the most wanted man in America and he had committed a crime so heinous there was scarcely a newspaper in the country that hadn’t splashed his act across its front page To Booth’s great surprise however the newspapers had not painted him as a hero as he had anticipated Certainly he had not expected praise from Northern papers But to be declared a criminal in his beloved South was a wound more painful than the fractured leg that had been slowing him down