I was thinking about JWB’s brother Edwin. I can’t begin to imagine what life must have been like for him after the assassination. And the other Booth family members? Yet from what little I know about him- he found his place in life again. Wasn’t he off stage for quite awhile?

About 8 months, returning on Jan.3, 1866. He was very well received, which I'm sure did a lot to ease his guilt.

Edwin, himself, was the target of a would-be assassin in 1879, while performing at the McVicker Theatre (owned by his second wife's stepfather) in Chicago. Dave Taylor did a lengthy posting about this years ago on BoothieBarn.com.

Two or three shots failed to hit Booth, and he walked in the direction of the sound and pointed to a man in the balcony. The crowd took over until the police quickly came.

The funny part (If there is a funny part to being shot at) was one of the slugs was dug out of a prop it had hit and Booth had it put in a casing and engraved "To Edwin Booth. From Mark Gray" with the date and wore it on his watch chain for the rest of his life.

(01-12-2020, 11:36 AM)J. Beckert Wrote: The funny part (If there is a funny part to being shot at) was one of the slugs was dug out of a prop it had hit and Booth had it put in a casing and engraved "To Edwin Booth. From Mark Gray" with the date and wore it on his watch chain for the rest of his life.

Now that is an interesting story!

(01-05-2020, 06:21 PM)L Verge Wrote: Edwin, himself, was the target of a would-be assassin in 1879, while performing at the McVicker Theatre (owned by his second wife's stepfather) in Chicago. Dave Taylor did a lengthy posting about this years ago on BoothieBarn.com.

Two or three shots failed to hit Booth, and he walked in the direction of the sound and pointed to a man in the balcony. The crowd took over until the police quickly came.

"Two or three shots failed to hit Booth..."
From the balcony to the stage must have been quite a distance using a pistol (which I'm assuming was the weapon). That's reality. The Western movies and TV shows we all grew up with portray shooting accurately quite differently-lol.