Booth's Escape Route

[Linda Anderson]

Seward was aware of threats upon his life but, according to one of his nurses, George Vocke, Seward did not expect to be assaulted in his sickbed.

"Half an hour after receiving his own wound, Mr. SEWARD heard of the attack on the President, which his sharp ear gathered from the bystanders, and of the President's death he was at once informed, on Saturday morning. As during the catastrophe, so immediately thereafter, SEWARD displayed the composure of the philosopher. When he learned the death of the President, he remarked to the physicians around his bedside, that he had warned the President, and also had taken precautions as to his own safety, but had neglected these after his accident, because he never dreamed that they would assail a severely wounded man in his bed."

New York Times - "THE SEWARD FAMILY.; Interesting Facts and Reminiscences of Mrs. Seward by Mrs. Swisshelm. MR. SEWARD DURING HIS ILLNESS, AS DESCRIBED BY HIS NURSE INTERESTING REVELATIONS." July 20, 1865