Murdering Mr. Lincoln A New Detection of the 19th Century's Most Famous Crime

In this startling and original work, bestselling author Charles Higham addresses one of the greatest historical mysteries: did John Wilkes Booth act alone on the night of Good Friday, 1865, or was he part of a wide conspiracy? Using previously hidden documents, over 1,000 pages in all, drawing from letters, diaries, previously hidden official hearings, railway timetables and obscure shipping manifests, he has woven a spell-binding account of high level intrigue. He proves conclusively that very high level figures, including the richest banker in America, were involved in the murder plot, of which John Wilkes Booth was merely the puppet-like instrument. Higham shows for the first time that Lincoln was the unwitting instrument of his own doom. By allowing trading with the South in contradiction of his own laws, he enriched a circle of high ranking figures who, once he had outlived his usefulness, and handed over the arrangements to others, marked him very quickly for assassination. Booth himself was a trader with the enemy, able to mark out his escape route after the murder because he used that same route under presidential license to sell medications.Higham, Charles is the author of 'Murdering Mr. Lincoln A New Detection of the 19th Century's Most Famous Crime' with ISBN 9781932407402 and ISBN 1932407405.