Chasing Lincoln's Killer Quotes
"We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart."
"I have always thought ‘Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries . . . attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday we fairly captured it. . . . I now request the band to favor me with its performance."
"What an easy matter would it be to kill the president as he stands there! He could be shot down from the crowd," she whispered, "and no one would be able to tell who fired the shot."
"I never saw him so supremely cheerful — his manner was even playful."
"Innocently, Fanny had given Powell the information he desperately needed."
"The servant reasoned the doctor must have prescribed some medicine and ordered it to be delivered to Seward immediately."
"Powell, staring into Frederick’s eyes, squeezed the trigger."
"Powell made a mistake that jeopardized his mission."
"Powell spoke. In an intense but calm voice, the assassin confided to Augustus, 'I’m mad. I’m mad!'"
"Luck was with him that night. His hard riding kept him ahead of the news."
"I am not dead; send for a doctor, send for the police, close the house."
"Laura Keene knelt beside Lincoln, lifted his head, and rested it in her lap."
"The president of the United States could not die in a theater."
"Stanton had been among those to turn down the president’s invitation to join him and Mary at Ford’s Theatre."
"Leale used his fingers to pull the blood clot from the bullet hole. That would relieve the pressure on Lincoln’s brain."
"Stanton took charge, making the back parlor of the Petersen house his field office."
"The president has been assassinated and the secretary of state attacked."
"Now all they had to do was catch John Wilkes Booth."
"While Lincoln still lived, the manhunt was already under way."
"Mary Todd Lincoln made regular visits to her husband’s bedside, wailing, 'Oh! That my little Taddy might see his father before he died!'"
"Edwin Stanton finally spoke. 'Now he belongs to the angels.'"
"The room was empty of all visitors except Edwin Stanton. The morning light streaming through the back windows crossed Lincoln’s still face."
"Booth knew the city well, of course. He had acted there many times."
"All he had to do was tell them, and Dr. Samuel A. Mudd would become, instantly, a national hero."
"As dusk faded to dark, Booth and Herold continued south, careful to watch for signs of cavalry."
"Jones was a valuable and mysterious secret agent operating along the watery borders between Union and Confederate territory."
"Booth’s pleasure at reading about his success in killing Lincoln could not hide his worsening condition."
"It was too late for them to try to hoist Booth onto a saddle to attempt escape."
"The horses’ reward for faithful service was death."
"Before God, sir, I do not know this man; and I have never seen him and did not hire him to dig a gutter for me."
"Damn you! You have betrayed me! If you don’t get out of here, I will shoot you! Get out of this barn at once!"
"Well, my brave boys, prepare a stretcher for me!"