Booth, John Wilkes

Cultural  

1. The assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Booth, an actor, was fanatically devoted to the Confederate cause in the Civil War. While Lincoln was attending a play, Booth stole into his theater box and shot him in the head at pointblank range. He then leaped down to the stage, breaking his leg, and escaped. Cornered later in a barn, he died of gunshot wounds, possibly inflicted by himself.

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Example Sentences

One witness after another swore it was Booth, John Wilkes Booth, who had shot the president.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson