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Lincoln Assassination Letter

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Lincoln Assassination Letter
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A.C. Richards, Metropolitan Police Superintendent who attended the play at Ford’s Theater the night President Lincoln was assassinated, writes about the events to Louis Weichmann, chief prosecution witness at the assassination conspirators' trial, in a letter dated 22 February 1899. Richards was also involved in the search for the conspirators. His letter reads in part, ''…[actress] Laura Keene had told him that it was Wilkes Booth who vaulted from the box the President occupied…It came to my knowledge that Booth and young Surratt had several times been in each others company…That information led me to seek Mrs. Surratt's house in search of Booth or to learn something definite about him and his intimates, not for one moment suspecting that Mrs. Surratt was implicated in the assassination…I detailed him [Clarvoe] to take charge of a squad of mounted men to visit lower Maryland that night…This order he executed the next morning as there was delay in procuring horses…'' Signed, ''A.C. Richards''. Richards reviews his account of events for Weichmann's book on the assassination. Minor smudging to 7.75'' x 9.75'' single page letter, written front and verso. Overall very good.