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John Wilkes Booth And His Brothers' Ties To Boston
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It's the 150th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865. What many people don't know is that the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and his brothers had many ties to Boston.
Three of the Booth brothers — John, Edwin and Junius — were actors. And while John Wilkes was fleeing the police, his older brother was taking a star turn, beloved by critics at the Boston Theatre for "Hamlet."
The Booth family was outcast following the assassination. But eventually, Edwin and Junius ended their exile from the theater and returned to Boston, with Edwin as the new owner of the Boston Theatre.
Both lived in Boston for over 20 years and Edwin is now buried in Cambridge's Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Guest
Christopher Klein, historian and author of "Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, America's First Sports Hero." He tweets @historyauthor.
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The Boston Globe: How Boston Embraced The Booth Brothers
- Just three columns to the left of the breathless page-one report on the assassination in that morning’s Boston Daily Advertiser blared an advertisement trumpeting Edwin Booth’s scheduled matinee performance as “Hamlet” to conclude his successful three-week Boston engagement. The show, of course, would not go on.
This segment aired on April 14, 2015.