The assassination of President Lincoln was most carefully planned, even
to the smallest detail. The box set apart for the President’s party was
a double one in the second tier at the left of the stage. The box had
two doors with spring locks, but Booth had loosened the screws with
which they were fastened so that it was impossible to secure them from
the inside. In one door he had bored a hole with a gimlet, so that he
could see what was going on inside the box.
An employee of the theatre by the name of Spangler, who was an
accomplice of the assassin, had even arranged the seats in the box to
suit the purposes of Booth.
On the fateful night the theatre was packed. The Presidential party
arrived a few minutes after nine o’clock, and consisted of the President
and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson
of Senator Harris of New York. The immense audience rose to its feet and
cheered the President as he passed to his box.
Booth came into the theatre about ten o’clock. He had not only, planned
to kill the President, but he had also planned to escape into Maryland,
and a swift horse, saddled and ready for the journey, was tied in the
rear of the theatre. For a few minutes he pretended to be interested in
the performance, and then gradually made his way back to the door of the
President’s box.
Before reaching there, however, he was confronted by one of the
President’s messengers, who had been stationed at the end of the passage
leading to the boxes to prevent any one from intruding. To this man
Booth handed a card saying that the President had sent for him, and was
permitted to enter.
Once inside the hallway leading to the boxes, he closed the hall door
and fastened it by a bar prepared for the occasion, so that it was
impossible to open it from without. Then he quickly entered the box
through the right-hand door. The President was sitting in an easy
armchair in the left-hand corner of the box nearest the audience. He
was leaning on one hand and with the other had hold of a portion of the
drapery. There was a smile on his face. The other members of the party
were intently watching the performance on the stage.
The assassin carried in his right hand a small silver-mounted derringer
pistol and in his left a long double-edged dagger. He placed the pistol
just behind the President’s left ear and fired.
Mr. Lincoln bent slightly forward and his eyes closed, but in every
other respect his attitude remained unchanged.
The report of the pistol startled Major Rathbone, who sprang to his
feet. The murderer was then about six feet from the President, and
Rathbone grappled with him, but was shaken off. Dropping his pistol,
Booth struck at Rathbone with the dagger and inflicted a severe wound.
The assassin then placed his left hand lightly on the railing of the box
and jumped to the stage, eight or nine feet below.