Last performance at Ford's

[Tom Bogar]

Stanton ordered the reenactment, which took place on Saturday afternoon, April 22: the reenactment of Our American Cousin up to the moment of the shot for the sole benefit of detectives and other investigators who formed its audience. It was organized by Lt. Simon P. Currier, of Col. Ingraham’s staff, who assembled with stage manager John Wright and acting manager H. B. Phillips’ help as many actors from the cast as could be located in the city (with the likely addition of others brought down from Baltimore to fill in for the absent Keene, Dyott and Hawk, who were performing in Cincinnati). They performed in street clothes since the soldiers had impounded their costumes and props. Their collective fear and grief can only be imagined as they uttered each comic line and pantomimed each piece of comic business out into a stony silence. The express purpose of this charade was to determine whether or not Booth might have had assistance backstage, particularly in keeping the wings clear to facilitate his escape. At the close of each scene, before the scenery could be shifted, everyone on stage stood in place while the investigators measured various distances, especially the width of the stage right passageway Booth had used. Currier created a scale drawing and marked where personnel had been standing when the president was shot. Despite the earnest testimony provided by the Fords and others over the past week about the mechanics of scene shifting and the need to keep the wings clear for actresses with wide skirts, Currier concluded that Booth had had accomplices: “The carpenters and property man have it in their power to obstruct or keep clear the passage. . . . It appears to me that this passage was kept, to say the least, remarkably clear.” Currier’s sketch and conclusions carried considerable weight in the trial of the conspirators, counting heavily against Spangler.