Killing Lincoln

Booth and Herold have escaped to the Maryland countryside, with no sign of Powell or Atzerodt. Because Booth’s injury is so bad, however, the two are forced to take shelter and do so in the home of Confederate sympathizer and physician Dr. Samuel Mudd. Even though authorities still don’t have motives or suspects, aside from Booth, they begin trying to figure out what happened, even as Lincoln breathed his last breath. Atzerodt is the first trail they find. Atzerodt disposed of his knife and made sure not to return to his room. His only real crime is conspiring against the president, but he knows he’s been seen with Booth’s horse. He checks in to the Pennsylvania Hotel at 3:00 a.m., where his roommate turns out to be a man named Lieutenant Keim. Though drunk, Atzerodt pretends to be saddened by the news, and the lieutenant never suspects anything. But detectives who have been sent to protect Andrew Johnson find his room and his belongings, which include a ledger book from the Ontario Bank in Montreal with Booth’s name on the cover, thus linking him to the man who was seen fleeing the crime scene. Weapons are also found in his room, as well as other items linking Atzerodt to the plot.