Killing Lincoln Page #3

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I told him to

let them up easy.

My old friend.

Tom Hanks:
It is

close to 10 PM when

Secretary of War Stanton

delivers to Lincoln

the telegram reporting

that Robert E. Lee

has surrendered.

The next day,

Washington City

is in full celebration.

A crowd gathers in front

of the White House to

serenade Lincoln and to

call for him to speak.

He politely promises a

speech the next night

and requests that

the band play the

Confederate anthem.

He asks them to

play "Dixie."

[gunshot]

[hits target]

James Powell:
A fine

shot with a parlor pistol.

John Wilkes Booth:

Thank you, Mr. Powell.

James Powell:
Payne.

It's Payne.

Not Powell.

I ain't goin' by

Powell no more.

Abraham Lincoln:
Let

us all join in doing

the acts necessary.

Tom Hanks:
On

Tuesday, April 11th,

faithful to his promise,

Lincoln speaks from

the north portico

of the White House.

Booth is there.

Abraham Lincoln:
It is

also unsatisfactory to

some that the elective

franchise is not

given to the colored man.

I would myself prefer.

John Wilkes Booth: That

means n*gger citizenship.

Abraham Lincoln:
On the

very intelligent and

on those who serve

our cause as soldiers.

Some 12,000 voters.

John Wilkes Booth:

Shoot him.

Draw your revolver

and shoot him now.

James Powell:

There's people.

John Wilkes Booth:

There are always people.

I wonder,

Mr. Powell or Mr. Payne,

in spite of your

reputation,

if you have

what it takes.

I already suspect that

Mr. Herold here does not.

David Herold:
Oh, no,

there's no call for that.

James Powell:
I

got what it takes.

John Wilkes Booth:

Now, by God,

I will put him through.

That is the last speech

he will ever make.

Tom Hanks:
Abraham

Lincoln has less than

four days to live.

[fireworks]

Tom Hanks:

Washington City celebrates

Robert E. Lee's surrender

with a grand illumination.

Candles burn in

every window,

public and private.

Fireworks and cannon

volleys proclaim victory.

On April 13th, Booth

visits Grover's Theater

and learns that

a production of

"Aladdin! or His

Wonderful Lamp"

is planned for

the next night,

April 14th.

Good Friday.

And that the president

has been invited to attend.

Booth arranges for

a ticket to the box

adjoining the President's

and informs his

co-conspirators that the

plan has changed from

kidnapping to murder.

That on April 14th,

Lewis Powell will kill

Secretary of

State Seward.

David Herold will

accompany Powell and

lead him across the

Navy Yard Bridge

and into Maryland.

George Atzerodt will kill

Vice President Johnson

in his room at the

Kirkwood House Hotel.

And Booth will kill

Lincoln during the

performance

of "Aladdin"

at Grover's Theater.

[watch ticking].

Tom Hanks:
With

little more than

Abraham Lincoln

rises at 7:
00 AM

and writes four

brief messages,

including one

instructing acting

Secretary of State

Frederick Seward

to call a cabinet

meeting for 11:
00 AM,

then joins his family

at breakfast to find his

eldest son, Robert,

just returned

from witnessing

the surrender

at Appomattox.

Robert Todd Lincoln:

General Lee,

stately, elegant.

His uniform spotless.

With a jeweled sword

and shining spurs.

And General Grant,

so shabby in a

muddy blue uniform,

borrowed

from a private.

Abraham Lincoln:

[laughs]

Robert Todd Lincoln:

It, it was great.

Oh and here is Lee.

Tad Lincoln:

Papa-day, let me see!

Can I see it?

Can I have it?

Mary Todd Lincoln:

Wait a moment, Tad.

Abraham Lincoln:

Now that is the face

of a noble man.

And brave.

Listen to me, Robert.

You must lay aside

your uniform.

Return to college.

Read law for three years.

And at the end of that

time I hope that we will

be able to tell

whether you will

make a lawyer or not.

Robert Todd Lincoln:

Yes, sir.

And I will, sir.

Tom Hanks:

Shortly before 11 AM,

Lincoln sees Secretary

of War Edwin Stanton

at the War Department.

Abraham Lincoln:

Mr. Stanton!

Mrs. Lincoln has invited

General and Mrs. Grant

to join us at the

theater this evening.

And General Grant already

hints that they will

decline in favor of

taking a train to

New Jersey to visit

with their children.

I trust that you have had

no occasion to encourage

this desertion in the

face of entertainment.

Edwin Stanton:

Had I the occasion,

I would have seized it.

I am sorry, sir, but it

is a fact that rumors of

assassination schemes

are everywhere now.

It remains a constant

subject of concern

between myself

and Mr. Seward,

even in the face

of his recovery.

Abraham Lincoln:
The

doors to the White House

stand open to

one and all,

day and night,

Stanton.

My life is within reach

of anyone, sane or mad.

By the hand of a

murderer I can die but once,

but to, to go

continually in fear,

why that is to die over

and over and over again.

John Wilkes Booth:

Will you be attending

the theater tonight?

"Aladdin" is

playing at Grover's.

Barber:
No, sir.

I'm afraid not, sir.

John Wilkes Booth: Pity.

There will be some fine

acting there tonight.

Ulysses S. Grant:

The officers could keep

their side-arms.

Abraham Lincoln:
And

what terms did you make

for the common soldiers?

Ulysses S. Grant:

I told them to go

back to their

homes and families

with a promise to not

again take up arms

against the United

States of America.

Abraham Lincoln:

Quite simple.

And quite right.

Which brings to mind how

very providential it is

that this rebellion

was crushed just as

Congress has adjourned.

There are men in Congress

who harbor feelings of

hate and vindictiveness

toward the South.

But there will be no

persecution when this

war is over.

No bloody work.

We must bend every effort

to reanimate the South,

to put her state

governments in order

and to reestablish

the Union before

Congress reconvenes.

Still no word from

General Sherman?

Ulysses S. Grant: We

are hourly expecting it.

Abraham Lincoln:
It

will be good news.

General Sherman

will have secured

Johnston's surrender.

I, I know this

because I have had

the dream last night.

I've had it before.

It's always

the same and

invariably followed

by favorable news.

As Secretary

of the Navy,

it has to do with

your element,

Mr. Welles.

Water.

I am in some

kind of vessel,

in the dream.

And always moving

with rapidity toward

an indefinite shore.

Tom Hanks:
In an aside,

General Grant informs the

president that his wife

insists upon them leaving

on the afternoon train.

They will not be

attending the theater.

Shortly before noon,

John Wilkes Booth stops

at Ford's Theater,

as is his daily custom,

to pick up his mail.

Harry Ford:
Well,

here's the man who

don't like General Lee.

Here for his mail.

John Wilkes Booth:

I told you, Harry,

I don't like the

way he surrendered.

Given his sword by

the Senate in Richmond

and swearing an oath

never to give it up,

he should have died on

the battlefield before

rendering his

Southern manhood

to the butcher, Grant.

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