Assassination of Abraham Lincoln - Chapter 7

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 7 - WHERE WERE THE BODYGUARDS?</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica"><font color="000000" size="3">Crook, the President’s chief bodyguard, was off-duty. In his place, John F. <a href="http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton1/Lincoln61.html" target="_blank"><b>Parker</b></a> was responsible for the President’s safety. Accounts vary on Parker’s whereabouts at the precise moment Booth entered the box. Some say the President permitted him to take a better seat, thereby leaving Lincoln <a href="http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/traveling-culture/chau1/jpg/eisenschiml/1/1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>unguarded</b></a>. Others say he was in a tavern across the street and wasn’t seen again until around 6 a.m. the next morning.</p> <p>With no one around to stop him, Booth pulled out <a href="http://www.seacoastnh.com/lincoln/death2.html" target="_blank"><b>his pistol</b></a> and <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrb/stbdsd/00405300/001.jpg" target="_blank"><b>fired</b></a> one shot into the President’s head. The bullet entered through his <a href="http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/harpersketchassas.jpg" target="_blank"><b>left ear</b></a> and lodged behind his right eye.</p> <p>As the President slumped forward, perhaps grasping <a href="http://www.nthp.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/070601.htm" target="_blank"><b>one of the flags</b></a> draped in front of him, Major Rathbone struggled with Booth who, using his knife, slashed Rathbone’s arm. Booth <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrb/stbdsd/00500100/001.jpg" target="_blank"><b>jumped</b></a> from the box but the spur of his boot caught a flag. When he <a href="http://www.branchburg.k12.nj.us/OldYork/Abraham%20Lincoln/Photo%20Album2%204-sw_files/image002.jpg" target="_blank"><b>fell</b></a> to the floor, he fractured his leg.</p> <p>Undaunted, Booth <a href="http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/harpersketchflee.jpg" target="_blank"><b>fled</b></a> the theater through the back door and escaped <a href="http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/boothonhorse.jpg" target="_blank"><b>on horseback</b></a>. He crossed the "Eastern Branch" of the river, about ten minutes ahead of fellow conspirator <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/cwp/4a40000/4a40200/4a40212r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>David E. Herold</b></a>, as he fled to Anacostia. The <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/28/19-2793a.jpg" target="_blank"><b>police blotter</b></a> reveals Booth was the suspect police would try to find.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="abraham_lincoln_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="abraham_lincoln_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="abraham_lincoln_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>