Late in the evening of April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.
Telegraph bulletins soon reported the news.
Lawrence Gobright was in his Associated Press office when someone ran in with the news about President Lincoln. Gobright sent out the first brief telegraph bulletin about the assassination: “The President was shot in a theatre tonight and perhaps mortally wounded.”
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and his staff updated newspapers and wire services about the president’s condition. Here is a report from The New York Times:
Awful Event
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President Lincoln Shot by an Assassin
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The Deed Done at Ford’s Theatre Last Night
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THE ACT OF A DESPERATE REBEL
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The President Still Alive at Last Accounts.
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No Hopes Entertained of His Recovery.
———-“War Department, Washington April 15, 1:30 A.M. – Maj. Gen. Dis.: This evening at about 9:30 P.M. at Ford’s Theatre, the President, while sitting in his private box with Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Harris, and Major Rathburn, was shot by an assassin, who suddenly entered the box and appeared behind the President.
The assassin then leaped upon the stage, brandishing a large dagger or knife, and made his escape in the rear of the theatre.
The pistol ball entered the back of the President’s head and penetrated nearly through the head. The wound is mortal. The President has been insensible ever since it was inflicted, and is now dying….”
The New York Herald, April 15, 1865, Library of Congress Image
The New York Herald published multiple editions about the assassination. Here is a story excerpt:
“….The operation showed that the whole thing was a preconcerted plan. The person who fired the pistol was a man about thirty years of age, about five feet nine, spare built, fair skin, dark hair apparently bushy, with a large mustache. Laura […] the leader of the orchestra declare that they recognized him as J. Wilkes Booth the actor and secessionist. Whoever he was, it is plainly evident that he thoroughly understood the theatre and all the approaches and modes of escape to the stage….”
C-SPAN introduces us to a Newseum exhibit that marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination:
See Also:
“AP Was There: Original AP report of Lincoln’s assassination.”
By the Associated Press, April 13, 2015.
