He knew that he had at least another hour. After hearing just one snippet of dialogue, Booth would know, to the minute, how much time had elapsed from curtain raising, and how much time remained in the performance. The play was like a clock, every word spoken was another tick of the second hand. Although the actor, like the Lincolns, entered Ford's after Our American Cousin started, he was still on schedule. Time for Booth to go inside the theatre for the first time since the Lincolns had arrived. Some playgoers downed a quick one before the show others would come in during intermission to fortify themselves. Next door at Peter Taltavul's bar, the Star Saloon, it was a night like any other when the lights were on at Ford's. It didn't matter, really no one was going to stop him from going through with it. And he probably wondered at the identity of Lincoln's guests and gauged whether Major Rathbone looked like the type who could pose a threat to his plans. and when I think of that fiend barring himself in with us, my blood runs cold.' Wherever Booth was it is almost certain that somehow he verified with his own eyes that the Lincolns were actually inside the theatre. On April 29, 1865, Clara Harris wrote in a letter, 'They say we were watched by the assassins ay, as we alighted from the carriage.

Legend has it that John Wilkes Booth was hiding outside in the shadows near the front door of Ford's as the presidential carriage rocked down the uneven dirt street and slowed to a stop, but no one really knows where he was at that precise moment. 200 Years Of Abraham Lincoln At Ford's Theater, Lincoln's Death Revisited

Manhunt by James L. Swanson