An interesting and valuable relic, which brings vividly to the mind the
historic scene in Ford’s Theater, Washington, on the night of April
14, 1865, is owned by Colonel James S. Case, at one time a resident of
Philadelphia, but whose home is now in Brooklyn.
It is only a play bill, but upon it is a discoloration made by a tiny
drop of President Lincoln’s blood. It was picked up just after the
tragedy by John T. Ford, the manager of the theater. He found it on the
floor of the box where it had fallen from the President’s hand when the
bullet of Assassin Booth pierced his head. It lay beneath the chair in
which the citizen-hero received his death wound. There was a tiny spot of
blood, still red as it came from the great heart of Lincoln, on the edge.
Mr. Ford carried the precious paper home, and only parted with it at the
request of the late A. K. Browne of Washington, who was a warm personal
friend of the manager. It came into Mr. Browne’s possession while the
nation was still mourning for its idol, and soon after his assassin had
met justly merited fate at the hands of Sergeant Boston Corbett.
The play bill is somewhat yellow from age, but otherwise in an excellent
state of preservation. The bloodstain is now a dark brown. The program
was of “Our American Cousin,” which was being given for the benefit of
Laura Keene. The bloodstain is nearly half way down the program, opposite
the names of John Dyott, and Harry Hawk, Miss Keene’s leading support.