Booth Brothers: Drama, Fame, and the Death of President Lincoln
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
Many miles away John’s older brother Edwin was in hiding of another sort Edwin Booth ranked among the country’s best-known actors and he was accustomed to seeing his picture in the newspaper He was no stranger to being the subject of gossip But his brother’s actions had put his entire family under criminal suspicion Their older brother Junius known as June and John Clarke their brother-in-law had been jailed They were suspected of helping John Wilkes Booth plan his crime Edwin’s scheduled performances were all canceled Booth a last name that had drawn great crowds of paying customers into theaters had become overnight a lightning rod for hatred gossip and threats Edwin stayed in seclusion hoping to avoid John Wilkes Booth had enjoyed a successful career as a stage actor but he became consumed by resentment and anger during the Civil War both the public and the newspaper reporters He believed he might be taken into custody at any time He worried for his mother After reading in the newspaper of her brother’s crime and then only minutes later watching her husband’s arrest as a suspected accomplice his pregnant sister Asia Clarke had fallen ill Surely Edwin along with the rest of America wondered where John Wilkes Booth had gone Had he committed the crime of which he was accused Had others helped Edwin and his family members likely shared one worry that their fellow citizens did not Was their brother all right Feverish and aching in the cold dark barn John Wilkes Booth badly needed rest He knew he would have to move on when the sun rose Clearly his latest host Mr Richard H Garrett had become suspicious Initially John had passed himself off as a wounded
Confederate soldier trying to make his way home But Booth hadn’t played that part effectively He was too well armed and too eager to reach for his guns when Union soldiers passed by Also Garrett’s son John had heard that soldiers were scouring the area for an assassin What would happen if they should find such a man in his guest room After dinner John Garrett told his guest he was no longer welcome in his house but he offered to take Booth and Herold elsewhere in the morning And so denied the soft warm bed he’d enjoyed the last few nights John lay on a pile of hay in the old tobacco barn with his leg throbbing and his pride wounded It was after 2 o’clock in the morning when he jerked awake The sound of horse hooves fell on his ears The night air came alive with whispers and footsteps A dim flicker of candlelight bobbed between the barn slats growing brighter and closer Union soldiers were coming John Wilkes Booth pulled out his revolver He and David Herold dashed for the barn door But fearing Booth and Herold would steal their horses Garrett and his sons had trapped them The door was locked on the outside Furious Booth and Herold tried kicking some barn slats loose enough to crawl under But there was no escape for the most wanted man in America President Abraham Lincoln’s murderer had finally been found
