Killing Lincoln Page #8

---

tragedy is nearly complete.

On the night

of April 20th,

Thomas Jones leads Booth

and Herold to a boat.

The current is strong.

There are naval

patrols searching the

Potomac for the fugitives.

John Wilkes Booth has

less than six days to live.

[clock ticking].

[gun clicks].

Tom Hanks:
On April 18th,

Abraham Lincoln's dream of

an assassinated

president lying in state in the

East Room of the White

House is fully realized.

On April 21st, Lincoln's

body leaves Washington by

train to travel 1,654

miles to Oak Ridge Cemetery

in Springfield, Illinois.

After one failed attempt,

it's in the early morning

hours of April 23rd that

John Wilkes Booth and

David Herold finally

cross the Potomac and

land in Virginia.

As he writes in his diary,

"With every man's hand

against me, for doing what

Brutus was honored for,

looked upon as a

common cutthroat.

Abandoned, with the

curse of Cain upon me."

And on April 24th Booth

and Herold arrive at the

farm of Richard Garrett.

Booth presents himself

as James W. Boyd,

a Confederate soldier

wounded at the

Battle of Petersburg and

the family takes them in.

But the very next day,

Booth is writing in his

diary when word comes

that Union cavalry are

heading toward

the Garrett farm.

Booth tells Herold

to get his pistols and

the two men flee to

hide in the woods.

When they return,

Garrett's suspicions

have been aroused.

Tonight they will

not be welcome to

sleep in the house.

Tonight they will sleep

in the tobacco barn.

John Wilkes Booth:

Tonight I try to escape

these bloodhounds

once more.

I have too great a

soul to die a criminal.

David Herold:
I don't

want to die, Booth.

I don't want

to kill no one.

John Wilkes Booth:

I do not wish to

shed a drop of blood.

But I must fight

the course.

'Tis all that's

left to me.

Tom Hanks:
At 2:30 AM on

the morning of April 26th,

the tobacco barn at

Garrett's farm is

surrounded by 26

members of the

Lafayette Baker:
We

know who you are!

John Wilkes Booth:

Who are you?

What do you want?

Lafayette Baker:

We want you!

And we know

who you are!

Give up your arms and

come out directly!

John Wilkes Booth:

Well, my boy?

David Herold:

We have no choice.

John Wilkes Booth:

You God damn coward.

You would leave me now?

Go, go on.

I would not have

you stay with me.

This is a hard case!

It may be that I am to

be taken by my friends!

Lafayette Baker:

Be assured,

we are not your friends!

John Wilkes Booth:

You have the sound

of a brave man,

an honorable man.

I am a cripple.

I've got but one leg.

If you will withdraw your

men in line 100 yards from

the door, I will come

out and fight you.

Lafayette Baker:
We did

not come here to fight!

We came to make

you a prisoner!

John Wilkes Booth: You put

any more kindling there;

I'll put a ball

through you.

I could have picked off

three or four of your men

by now if I

wished to do so.

Draw off your

men 50 yards.

Lafayette Baker:

I will not!

John Wilkes Booth:

Well, my brave boys!

You can prepare a

stretcher for me!

Go, go out.

Save yourself

if you can.

Captain!

There is a man in

here who wishes to

surrender awful bad!

Lafayette Baker:
Let

him hand out his arms!

You carry a carbine and

you must hand it out!

John Wilkes Booth:

I declare before my

maker that this man is

innocent of any crime.

Upon the word and

honor of a gentleman,

he has no arms.

The arms are mine

and I've got them!

Doherty:
Show your hands!

Put out your hands!

David Herold:
Booth.

John Wilkes Booth: Go!

One more stain on

the old banner!

[laughs].

Make quick work

of it, Captain.

Shoot me through

the heart!

[gunshot].

[door creaks].

Conger:
He's shot himself!

Lafayette Baker:

No, he did not.

Doherty:
Quick,

get him out!

Get him out of here!

Private Parody!

Man:
Pick him up!

Conger:
Speak, speak!

John Wilkes Booth:

Tell my mother that I

die for my country.

Conger:
For your country?

Is that what you say?

John Wilkes Booth: Yes.

Conger:
Here, get him

away from the fire.

Let's go.

Man:
Let's go.

Let's move!

Come on!

Go!

Man 2:
Got him?

Set him against

the wall, soldiers.

Prop him up.

Get him up!

Doherty:
Where's he shot?

Conger:
In the neck.

I told you, he

shot himself.

Doherty:
Nah,

Corbett did.

Give me that.

I saw him through

the barn planks.

He claimed he was raising

his rifle against us.

Sergeant Boston

Corbett shot him.

Tom Hanks:

In Washington,

Lewis Powell

and George Atzerodt

will soon be joined

by David Herold,

and all of them will be

held in custody aboard the

ironclad monitors USS

Saugus and USS Montauk.

And tomorrow, their

photographs will be taken

and the public will see,

for the first time,

the faces of the men who

conspired to decapitate

the government of

the United States.

Now, it is the

morning of April 26th.

And John Wilkes Booth

has only hours to live.

[clock ticking].

[gun clicks].

Conger:
There's

nothing in your throat.

No blood.

Tom Hanks:
The ball that

passes through Booth's

neck severs his spinal

cord between the 4th and

paralyzing him

from the neck down.

John Wilkes Booth:

K, kill m, kill me.

Conger:
We don't

want to kill you.

We want you to get well.

John Wilkes Booth:

[gurgling, gasping]

Ha, hands.

Let me, lift them.

Let me see my hands.

Doherty:
He asked

to see his hands.

John Wilkes Booth:

Useless, useless.

[slow, rasping breath].

Tom Hanks:
Shortly after

dawn on Wednesday,

April 26th, 1865,

John Wilkes Booth

draws his last breath.

His belongings are

wrapped in paper.

His body is sewn

into a saddle blanket

and loaded onto wagon,

then a steamer,

then a tugboat bound for

the Washington Navy Yard.

Alexander Gardner and

Timothy O'Sullivan board

the ironclad monitors USS

Saugus and Montauk to make

collodion glass plate

photographs of the men who

conspired first to

kidnap and then to

kill Abraham Lincoln.

George Atzerodt,

who lost his nerve

and got drunk rather

than attempt to kill

Vice President Johnson,

is condemned to die.

Alexander Gardner:

Mr. Lewis Powell.

Have a seat.

Tom Hanks:
After his

savage but failed attempt

on the life of

Secretary of State Seward,

Lewis Powell hides in

Washington for three days

before wandering

into Mary Surratt's

boarding house and into

the arms of the police.

Alexander Gardner: And

don't you move now, laddie!

Tom Hanks:
Powell is

sentenced to death.

On April 27th,

David Herold is brought

aboard the USS Montauk.

The young man who

followed John Wilkes Booth

to the bitter end

is condemned to die.

And at the request of

Secretary of State Stanton,

Alexander Gardner

takes one more picture

on April 27th.

Lafayette Baker:

Dr. Frederick May,

can you positively

identify the body?

Dr. May:
Is there a scar

upon the back of its neck?

Lafayette Baker:

There is.

Dr. Barnes:
Let me

describe it before it's

seen by me.

It's on the left side and

has the appearance more

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes