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Chasing Lincoln's Killer James Swanson Analysis

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In the short story "Chasing Lincoln's Killer," by James L.Swanson, he describes the story of Lincoln's murder from the perspective of his killer. I believe that the author does this to give a better understanding as to why someone would kill Lincoln. First of all the author starts by showing how Booth, Lincoln's killer, disagrees with Lincoln and was already previously contemplating killing Lincoln. The story says, "Booth struck the bar table with his fist and regretted a lost opportunity. What an excellent chance I had, if I wished, to kill the president on Inauguration Day! I was on the stand, as close to him nearly as I am to you." This shows that Booth was already thinking about killing Lincoln. Secondly the story says, "In that crowd standing …show more content…

His cause was lost and his dreams of glory over." This shows that the only thing that Booth looked forward to was dead and this made Booth depressed. Finally the author shows how Booth was able to get news that Lincoln was going to Booth's favorite theater, and that Booth knew the entire theater, and planned. The story says, "There had been no time to mail it, so its sender, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, had used the president’s messenger to hand-deliver it to the owners of Ford’s Theater. The mere arrival of the White House messenger told them the president was coming to the theater tonight! Yes, the president and Mrs. Lincoln would attend this evening’s performance of the popular if silly comedy Our American Cousin." This shows that Booth realized Lincoln was going to the theater. Then the story says, "The Lincolns had given the Fords enough advance notice for the proprietors to decorate and join together the two theater boxes –seven and eight –that, by removal of a partition, formed the president’s box at the theater," and, "Booth knew the layout of Ford’s intimately: the exact spot on Tenth Street where Lincoln would step out of his carriage, the box inside the theater where the president sat when he came to a performance, the route Lincoln could walk and the staircase he would climb to the box, the dark underground passageway beneath the

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