Booth & Lucy
Disposable Tours
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 Washington DC July 1999 Page 1 || Page 2 || Page 3 Page 4 || Page 5 || Page 6 2: Artifacts in the Lincoln Museum  This small superb museum in the theater was a surprise. We had no idea there were so many artifacts. Lincoln has become a pop idol in American culture, almost unreachable. But this basement room makes it all seem real in a way a giant shrine like the Lincoln Memorial cannot. 
We had come from Seacoast NH to verify our story of Lucy Hale of Dover,
NH who was fiancée to assassin John Wilkes Booth on the day he killed the president. Inside this glass case are the photos of five women Booth was carrying when he was shot after a 12-day manhunt. Lucy or "Bessie", daughter of NH abolitionist Senator JP Hale. There she is, second from the left, though we could not get a decent photo through the glass case. 
Artifacts include Booth's derringer that he used against Lincoln, plus
the knife he used before he leapt from the presidential
box to the stage breaking his leg. Lincoln's clothing, the door to the
presidential box and other items are here. The actual bullet is not, nor
is the rocker in which Lincoln was sitting.  One of the most haunting items are the white cloth hoods used over the heads of the conspirators during their execution by hanging. The chilling event was recorded by early photographers. Booth was shot by his pursuers after a 12-day search.
CONTINUE the Lincoln Assassination Tour
Photos and text by J. Dennis Robinson
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