Jason Hindle, who has given the summer tours at the Hale House in Dover, tells a story that cuts to the bone of the affair. Jason says Lucy gave John Wilkes Booth a ring which he flaunted openly, whether to display his love for Lucy or to taunt her abolitionist father, we'll never know. Senator Hale, like Lincoln, was hated in the South. Booth, who acted briefly as a Confederate spy, was enraged by Abolitionists and by Lincoln’s efforts to both free the slaves and give them the vote.

But is it possible that, despite her father’s politicts, Booth was truly smitten with Lucy? He reportedly showed his engagement ring to an actor friend in a tavern shortly before the assassination. Booth continued kissing the ring and calling Lucy's name. His companion found this behavior disturbing.

Originally, Booth and his conspirators intended to kidnap Lincoln, not kill him. Booth had no intention of dying for his cause and expected to be even more famous when the deed was done. Lucy – and again our evidence is anecdotal – continued her passionate feelings for Booth even after the murder.

In the film, devastated by the fall of Richmond, Booth runs to Lucy Hale for comfort. They spend the night before the assassination together. That is pure fiction. Booth had spent the night in a hotel with a woman in a nearby town a few days before. It was more likely Ella Star, Booth's "good time girl" whose sister ran a high class bordello.

According to White House records, Senator John P. Hale met with President Lincoln in his office on the morning of April 14 at 10 am. After 20 years as a New Hampshire senator, Hale had lost an election. The morning of the assassination, Hale reportedly asked Lincoln for a post as American aAmbassador to Spain. He wanted Lucy out of the country fast, and out of the influence of John Wilkes Booth.

On the day of the assassination Booth met with his co-conspirators, then went to Ford's Theater and rigged the doorway so that he could slip into the President's box unnoticed. Witnesses also reported seeing Lucy and John in conversation in a public room at the hotel late that same morning. Perhaps Lucy told her fiancée of her father’s plan to spirit her away to Spain. In the fictionalized film, Lucy begs Booth to let her stay with him, but he suddenly grows philosophical. "Your father is doing the right thing," he says. "I would only cause you pain."

For a moment let’s consider the possibility that John Wilkes Booth truly loved Lucy Hale. He may have cared for her in a deeper way than he did for the showgirls that he won so easily. Wooing Lucy was either Booth's finest performance, or it was real. In some ways, it even makes sense. She was from a wholly different world, the star-crossed Capulet to his Montague. Booth even wrote to tell his mother about his planned marriage to Bessie Hale. His mother's response was tinged with jealousy toward her son's news.

Was Lucy’s imminent departure for Spain a factor in the chain of events that followed? Did her news -- combined with General Lee’s surrender at Appomatax and Lincoln’s plan to attend Ford’s Theater -- push Booth finally into action after so many months of talk? Losing Lucy meant the end of Booth’s VIP access to presidential functions. Losing Lucy was also the direct action of President Lincoln. The man who had destroyed both the South and it sway of life, was now destroying Booth’s planned marriage. Perhaps, in Booth’s mind, Lincoln had even stolen Lucy away for his own son Robert Todd. Booth had reportedly seen Lucy dance with Robert Todd and been jealous.

The new pieces, right or wrong, fall hauntingly together. The evening of the assassination Booth carried both a gun and a knife to the presentation of "My American Cousin." With Robert Todd attending, he might have had two murders in mind – one to avenge his country, the other his heart.

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