But Harold had left Powell after hearing noises and basically ditched him. Powell would go around Washington for days, hiding in the Congressional cemetery at night. Atzerdot was suppose to kill the vice president but couldn’t because he got too drunk and could’t carry out the murder. He proceeded to walk around the town all night. So that left Booth to kill Lincoln. The plan was to assassinate him at the showing of Our American Cousin at Ford Theater at 10 pm on April 14th,1865. Lincoln was in the president box with his wife Mary, an officer named Henry Rathbone and his fiance Clara Harris. Booth slipped into the box with ease because the guard had left to get a drink at the bar and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with his .44 caliber pistol and jumped off the stage yellimg “Sic simper tyrannis”, Virginia’s state motto. Booth broke his left leg/shin in the process but escaped on horseback. Lincoln was paralysed and tooken to a nearby house which was the Peterson’s house. The doctor said he wouldn’t make it through the night. He died at 7:22 a.m on April 15th,1865. The world was devasted and all around the nation people mourned …show more content…
Union soldiers went to look for Booth. Booth and Herld crossed the Anacostia River and after that headed toward southern Maryland. They stopped at Samuel Mudd’s house to treat Booth’s leg and were trying to go to Virginia by boat. The soldiers found them in a farmhouse in Virginia. They set it on fire to flush the conspirators out. Booth stayed inside and an officer eventually shot Booth in the neck in self defense because he thought Booth was reaching for his gun to shoot him. Booth after 3 hours finally died but before he passed away he mummered the words “Useless, Useless” while looking at his hands. On July 7th, 4 of the conspirators were hung to death. These include Lewis Thorton, Mary Suratt, David Herold, and George Atzerodt. The other 4 involved were sent to prison for a life long sentence. John Suratt escaped. “He did avoid capture for a while in Rome, but eventually someone recognized him," said Boyle. "He was arrested, but escaped and took a ship to Alexandria, Egypt, where authorities were waiting for him. He was sent back to the U.S. and tried for the same crimes as his mother. But this time it was a civil trial that resulted in a hung