John WIlkes Booth

3 Stories

First Doctor to Reach Lincoln Found Him Comatose

He ordered brandy be brought to the president, who had just been shot

(Newser) - The first doctor to reach Abraham Lincoln after he was shot in a Washington theater rushed to the presidential box and found him paralyzed, comatose, and leaning against his wife. Dr. Charles Leale ordered brandy and water to be brought to the president immediately. Leale's long-lost report of his...

Gettysburg Store Pulls Bobblehead of Booth

Lincoln assassin even held a little gun

(Newser) - The gift shop at the Gettysburg Museum has had second thoughts about selling a novelty item some thought was a little tasteless: a bobblehead doll of John Wilkes Booth, complete with miniature gun. Museum officials pulled the dolls after the local Evening Sun wrote about them. The museum isn't...

DNA Could Reveal Whether John Wilkes Booth Escaped

Descendants say he took new name, committed suicide in 1903

(Newser) - DNA evidence could settle once and for all the truth about what transpired in the days after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The official story is that John Wilkes Booth was killed in a barn days after shooting the president—but his descendants say the dead man was just a lookalike....

3 Stories