Friday April 14 1865 page 9 by ric Gustafson
It is now 10:07 pm. John Wilkes Booth climbs a staircase to the dress circle. This leads to a hallway that goes to the Presidential box. The dress circle lobby is behind the seats of the second level audience. Booth approaches the door which led to the state box hallway. Booth encounters Charles Forbes who was sitting in John Parker's chair. Somehow, he convinces him to let him pass. He closes the door and puts a wooden music stand to jam it so no one can get in.
Booth quietly walks down the hallway and peeks through a peep hole into the box. He could see that Clara Harris and Major Rathbone are sitting along the wall to the far right. And then he notices the Lincoln's sitting along the railing.
Booth could hear the play and knew that his cue to act was coming up very soon. When he hears the line he was waiting for, he quietly opens the door and steps inside. He takes out a derringer and puts it into his right fist. He takes out a knife and puts into his left hand. From the shadows, he puts out his right arm and aims for the back of President Lincoln's head.
Booth squeezes the trigger.
The time was 10:15 pm.
research help: ' Lincoln's Last Days' by Bill O'Reilly and Dwight Zimmerman
Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric
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