Assassination Trivia

[RJNorton]

In his later years Withers claimed as follows:

"Before I could move he was upon me with his dagger, which he tried to plunge into my heart. I caught his arm, and the blade went into my left shoulder. That wound left me with a six-inch scar, which I carry to this day. I call it the 'Booth barometer,' because every time the weather begins to fix itself for a northeast storm that old wound starts to ache."

Withers stated:

"The dagger fell to the floor. I remember looking at it in a dazed way and wondering why Booth should have attacked me. After he stabbed me he recoiled and we grappled. If I had known then, when I had my hands upon him, that he was the murderer of Abraham Lincoln, he never would have escaped - Never! But I was so puzzled by his ferocious attack upon me that I fought only to free myself. I thought he had gone mad.

Booth threw me to the floor, and I lay there while he hobbled down the narrow passage to the stage-door, where a horse was awaiting him. With him went the greatest opportunity of my life."