Existing comment:
A Single Shot:
After John Wilkes Booth shot the president at close range with his single shot deringer, he dropped the pistol on the floor of the theatre box. Pulling out his knife, he swiftly moved to jump over the balcony, grappling momentarily with Major Henry Rathbone, a guest of the Lincolns. Rathbone was severely cut in the brief scuffle with Booth and suffered major blood loss.
Booth's deringer was later discovered on the floor of the box and turned over to military authorities as they began to gather evidence in their investigation of the assassination of President Lincoln. |