Stump the German

[Eva Elisabeth]

Good idea, Roger, but kudos, Bill - I couldn't resist that pun, and you got it...

On April 21, 1865, JWB wrote in his diary: "...with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why;For doing what Brutus was honored for and what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."

Booth had performed in Friedrich von Schiller's play " William Tell" on April 7+May 29, 1858 in Philadelphia, on Dec. 11+March 11, 1859 in Richmond, on April 11, 1861 in Portland, and on May 16 1861 in Baltimore.

Now why was Tell a hero? For convenience I greatly quote and summarize Wiki:

According to the legend, William Tell - an expert marksman with the crossbow - assassinated Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of Habsburg Austria positioned in Altdorf, Uri, Swiss, which the Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate. Tell was one of those who had vowed to resist Habsburg rule.

Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt (Govenor) of Altdorf, had raised a pole under the village lindentree, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before the hat or pay the penalty of death. On Nov.18, 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son and passed by the hat, publicly refusing to bow to it, and so was arrested. Gessler - intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship yet resentful of his defiance - devised a cruel punishment: Tell and his son would be executed, but he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son, Walter, in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow.

But Gessler had not finished with him. [Quotes from Schiller's play:] "A word with you, Tell, I saw you place a second arrow on your belt ... what was the object?" Tell replied: "If the first arrow had struck my child, the second would have gone through your heart."

Gessler was angered and had Tell bound, saying that while he had promised to spare his life, he would imprison Tell for the remainder of it. Tell was brought to Gessler's boat to be taken to the dungeon in his castle at Küssnacht. But, as a storm broke on Lake Lucerne, his guards release his bonds because he alone could take the boat through the gale. Tell steered to a shelving ledge, leaped out, and with his foot thrust his captors' boat back into the waves. Now, he told a fisherman, he was planning "a deed that will be in everybody's mouth!"

Tell ran cross-country to Küssnacht. Along a stretch of the road cut through the rock between Immensee and Küssnacht, now known as the Hohle Gasse, Tell assassinated Gessler, as he arrived, with the second crossbow bolt.
"From my first years of boyhood I have used
The bow—been practised in the archer’s feats;
The bull’s eye many a time my shafts have hit,         
And many a goodly prize have I brought home
From competitions. But this day I’ll make
My master-shot, and win what’s best to win
In the whole circuit of our mountain range."
Tell's blow for liberty sparked a rebellion in which he played a leading part, leading to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.

In Schiller's play, the shaft that killed Gessler ignites the signal fires of revolution, and at daybreak peasants and workingmen are tearing down the prisons. The liberated peasants throng Tell's home with the cry: "Long live William Tell, our shield and saviour!"

Schiller was heavily inspired by the French and American revolutions (and attending "The Maid of Orleans", another play by Schiller, this past Saturday, inspired me to this question). Here you can read Schiller's "William Tell":
http://www.bartleby.com/26/6/
   
The Hohle Gasse between Immensee and Küssnacht - "Through this ravine (= "hohle Gasse") he must come. There is No other way to Küssnacht. Here I'll do it!"

The statue BTW is in Tell City, the county seat of Perry County, Indiana. Tell City was founded by Swiss-German immigrants in 1858.

Bill, your prize is a lap of honor on Cola di Rienzi to Rossini's "William Tell overture", as this is (here at least) one standard music for the laps of honour at every horse show*:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ivg4SFn2-LY

[*Another is Johann Strauss' (father) "Radetzky march" - for Laurie who likes A. R.:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xToFOzD0M8E ]