Did John Wilkes Booth escape justice? Inside the conspiracies that the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 lived under a stolen Englishman s identity in India or as a bartender in Texas for decades after history says he died
John Wilkes Booth, born on May 10, 1838, was a prominent stage actor of his day
The Civil War was coming to an end when Booth, 26, shot President Abraham Lincoln during a play at Ford s Theatre in Washington, DC on April 14, 1865
The 16th president, who had steered the nation through the brutal conflict over slavery, died the next day. The country was in shock over the assassination
is the person we think is john wilkes booth. you ll get your answer if the dna is good. lois, do you think that edwin booth s dna would match that of john wilkes dna if it is possible to extract it from these bone fragments? you know, i really i do not know and that s why we would like continue, you know, looking for the dna samples, and my feeling is that whatever the outcome is, i would be fine with it. it just history should be as accurate as possible. brad, i mean, is it possible that john wilkes booth actually got away with it, lived 40 years after the assassination of abraham lincoln a happy and free man, happy we don t know but a free man at least? if it were possible you wouldn t have all his family members on national television
tonight from new york to boston due to the huge winter storm. amtrak says it hopes to resume service tomorrow. officials say the lines from new york to washington are for the most part not affected with a few exceptions in southeast virginia. so check before you head to the train station. now to a new debate on a piece of history many of us don t even know is at question. the textbooks say the man who murdered abraham lincoln was shot to death by union troops 12 days after the assassination. but his family s legend says john wilkes booth got away with it, killing himself 40 years after he killed the president. now booth s descendants want to exhume the body of his brother. they hope by digging up edwin booth s grave, they will unearth the truth, comparing edwin s dna to the dna of the body now buried in john wilkes grave in baltimore. to explain it all, brad meltzer is here, he hosts the history
the vertebra that are believed to belong to john wilkes booth to see if there s a relation. right? and if not, then what? what are some of the theories out there? well, the theories and the reason this story starts is as you heard because some family members have heard these stories passed down, and one of the stories that started was that john wilkes booth when he escaped didn t die that night, but escaped and took on the identity, the alias john b. wilkes, which let s be clear is the worst alias of all time, a guy smart enough to evade capture, that s not the name that you would take, but the name that everyone sticks with is john st. helen and the reason everyone sticks with this story is that john st. helen towards the end of his life, on his death bed, confesses this one secret that nobody knows and says i am john wilkes booth. why not just dig up if you re on your death bed and it s your last moment on the planet. go ahead. why not dig up john wilkes booth? the reason
channel s brad meltzer decoded which just aired an episode on john wilkes booth and thanks for being with us, brad and joining us from rhode island is the most direct descendant of edwin booth living, lois trebisacci. she appeared on the program thursday explaining how she first learned of her blood line from her mother. without skipping a beat she said you re going to be learning this in school. they are going to say that he died in the barn. he did not die in the barn. he lived for many, many years. so she told you that blockbuster piece of information right away? yes, yes. i had no idea that john wilkes booth had survived. all right. lois, what did your family did you hear the same story from your family about john wilkes booth? i did not. i never heard the escape theories. my grandfather actually would never allow john wilkes name