One murdered President Abraham Lincoln and the other saved his son
The same last name, the same blood, the same childhood. Two siblings that grew under the same roof and that, however, ended in the history of USA For opposite reasons. One became a saviorthe other in the Author of a crime that shook the country forever.
It was not just a matter of acts. The inheritance of the Booth was also divided into how history treated them: recognition in front of rejection, ovation in front of the conviction. And between them, a border that separates the criminal's hero.
The Booth last name crossed the Lincoln twice
Robert Todd Lincoln He did not know at the time, but that man who grabbed his jacket neck and took him out of the tracks seconds before the train passed was not just any stranger. He discovered it later, when he was already public that Edwin Booththe most famous actor in the country at that time, had been his Savior. Years later, in a letter dated in 1909, Robert himself confirmed that this gesture had saved his life.
What no one could foresee then was that the same last name, Boothhe would appear again in his family history with a devastating force. Only a few months after that rescue, on the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Boothbrother of the anonymous hero of the Jersey City station, crossed the hall of the Ford Theater in Washington With a melting beacon in your hand. He did not enter the scene as an actor, although he was his profession, but as an murderer.
The shot in the head Abraham Lincoln occurred in the third act of Our American Cousinduring a general laugh of the public. Booth knew every corner of the theater and had manipulated the lock of the entrance to the box to avoid interruptions.
After firing, he struggled with the greatest Henry Rathbone, he threw himself on stage with a broken leg and shouted, according to some witnesses, “so always to the tyrants!” or “the south is avenged!”, or both.
A premeditated crime with several objectives
John Wilkes Booth He did not improvise. For months he had planned to kidnap the president. Recruited several accomplices, distributed tasks and even chose additional objectives, such as the vice president Andrew Johnson and the Secretary of State William Seward. Only the latter survived the multiple attack. Booth, on the other hand, managed to flee on horseback, although with the broken leg and the country against him.
Twelve days later he was located next to David Heroldone of his companions, in a farm in Virginia. When the soldiers set fire to the barn where he hid, Herold surrendered. Booth refused. A shot in the neck ended with its resistance. According to the press of the time, his last words were “useless, useless”, looking at his own hands.
Meanwhile, Edwin Boothaffected by the atrocity committed by his brother, temporarily abandoned the stages. The shame He weighed, but never tried to hide his last name. He resumed his career later, aware that his personal legacy was caught between what he did and what he avoided.
The paradox of the Booth brothers Still there, live among the pages of history. One saved the president's son. The other killed the father. And although their paths were completely different, they share the same starting point: an childhood together, a common surname and a country that never forgot them.
