The day Lincoln died in the ford theater a man by the name of Mr. James Knox was their to witness it all. He heard the shooting and saw the killer jump off the viewing booth and to the door, He wrote all of this to his father the day after it happened. Parts of the letter say that “Just after the 3rd act, before the scenes were shifted, A muffled pistol shot was heard, and a man spread wildly from the national box partially tearing …show more content…
Lincoln decided not to go that day but to a chose a different one in another capital, They came home empty handed. About a month later Booth was at a speech Lincoln was giving at the White House, In Lincoln’s speech Lincoln was talking about how blacks should have the right to vote. It was at this time that Booth decided that he wanted to kill Lincoln and he stated “This is the last speech Lincoln will ever give.” That was how the assassination would go down.
Three people were suppose to die that night, The killers were Booth, Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt. Booth was to kill Lincoln Powell and Herold was to kill Secretary of State William Stewart, Atzerodt was to kill Vice President Andrew …show more content…
Only eight out of the ten people were prosecuted and executed for the palling and death of Abraham Lincoln. four of them were hung, one of the people hung was Mary Surratt she was one of the first women to be hung. A person did escape conviction and that was May’s husband John Surratt. John fled to Rome where he lived till someone recognized him, He was arrested but escaped once again fleeing on a boat to Egypt were the police were waiting for him. He was sent back to the U.S. and was tried before a jury, The trial began on June 10, 1867 after listening to 170 eyewitness accounts the trial ended on April 10th with a hung jury. The Government eventually dropped all charges and he walked free. in 1870 Surratt began a public lecture tour on the plot to kidnap Lincoln, he denied even knowing about the plot to kill him only the plot to kidnap him. His next stop was in washington where he was to give his next speech but the people were outraged that he was using the death of the president as a profit for him to make more money. He died of pneumonia on April 21, 1916. He was the last known person to have close ties to the assassination of