He had not only planned to kill the President, but had also made excellent arrangements to escape into Maryland. A swift horse, saddled, bridled and ready for the venturesome race, was in waiting at the rear of the theater. For a few minutes the assassin pretended to be interested in the play, and then he gradually made his way around the back of the seats in the second tier to the door of the President’s box.
Before reaching that point, however, he was halted by a messenger of the President, who had been stationed at the end of the passage leading to the boxes to prevent the intrusion of unwelcome persons. To this man Booth delivered a card purporting to be a message from the President to the effect that he had sent for the bearer. Thus Booth was permitted to enter.
Inside the passageway leading to the boxes the assassin closed the outer door and secured it with a bar that had been provided for the occasion. Thus it became impossible for any one on the outside to follow the assassin by means immediately at hand. Booth quickly entered the box by the right hand door to where the President was sitting in the left hand corner, nearest the audience and in an easy armchair. He was leaning on one hand and held with the other a fold of the drapery. He, with the others, was intently watching the performance on the stage, and a pleasant smile was on his face.
In the right hand the assassin carried a small, silver-mounted derringer pistol and in his left a long-bladed double-edged dagger. The pistol he placed behind the President’s left ear and fired, and at the report the victim bent slightly forward, his eyes closed, but in every other respect his attitude remained unchanged.
The report of the pistol startled Major Rathbone, who sprang to his feet and grappled with the assassin, who was then about six feet away from the President. Booth escaped from the grasp of Major Rathbone and throwing down the pistol struck at Rathbone with the dagger, inflicting a severe wound. The assassin then placed his hand lightly on the railing of the box and vaulted to the stage, eight or ten feet below.
The President’s box had been heavily draped with a large flag of the Union, and in jumping Booth’s spurs caught in the folds of the flag, which was carried with him, and as he fell heavily his ankle was sprained, an incident that more than anything else led to his capture and death.
The assassin, as he arose, walked, without sign of pain, and theatrically, across the stage, and as he did so turned to the audience, flourished his dagger and exclaimed, “Sic semper tyrannis!” adding, “The South is avenged!”
The audience was stunned for the moment with horror, and seemed incapable of action, excepting one man, a lawyer named Stuart. He instantly comprehended the situation and leaping to the stage attempted the capture of the assassin, but Booth, being familiar with the arrangement of the stage, eluded his pursuer by darting out through one of the stage entrances to a rear door, where the horse stood, held in readiness for him, and vaulting into the saddle, dashed away, taking a street leading into Virginia.
Miss Keane rushed to the President’s box with water and stimulants, and medical aid was quickly at hand.
The full import of the act dawned upon the audience and it realized the tragedy, then followed a scene such as has never been witnessed in any other public gathering. Women wept, shrieked and fainted, men raved and swore, and horror was depicted upon every face. Before the audience could emerge from the theater horsemen were dashing through the streets, and the telegraph was carrying the details of the awful tragedy to all the world.