Grant and Lincoln's invitation

[Susan Higginbotham]

From the testimony of John T. Ford, James Maddox, H. Clay Ford, and Thomas Raybold at the conspiracy trial, it doesn't sound as if there was a set policy of leaving the other boxes unsold when the President attended. None of them suggests that there was.

John T. Ford:

Q. Do you know the fact that none of the boxes were occupied that night except that occupied by the President?
A. I have only heard so.
Q. Is the play of the “American Cousin” a popular one? Does it attract considerable audiences?
A. It was, when originally produced, an exceedingly attractive play: of late years it has not been a strong card, but a fair attraction.
Q. Is it not a very unusual thing, when such plays are produced, for your private boxes to be entirely empty?
A. Washington is a very good place for selling boxes usually. They are generally in demand, and nearly always two or three boxes are sold.
Q. Can you recall any occasion on which a play so popular and attractive as that was presented when none of your private boxes, save the one occupied by the President, was used?
A. I remember occasions when we sold no boxes at all, and had quite a full house,—a good audience; but those occasions were rare. My reason for constructing so many boxes to this theatre was, that usually private boxes were in demand in Washington,—more so than in almost any other city. It is not a favorable place to see a performance; but it is a fashionable place here to take company.

Maddox:

Q. Do you know whether any of the other boxes were occupied that night when the President sat in there?
A. I do not think any of them were.
Q. Do you not know they were not?
A. I do not. I cannot say positively whether they were or not.
Q. You do think they were?
A. I do not think they were; but I would not say positively they were not. I never took notice only first of the President’s box, and saw that the President came in.

H. Clay Ford:

Q. You know the fact, I suppose, that the other boxes of that theatre were not occupied on the night of the assassination?
A. Yes, sir: none of the boxes were occupied, I think. I could tell by looking at my book. I am not certain of it.
Q. Have you not had particular attention called to that matter since the assassination?
A. Yes, sir: I do not remember of any boxes being taken on that night.
Q. Do you not remember the further fact that the boxes were applied for that evening, and the applicants were refused, and told that they had already been taken?
A. No, sir: I do not recollect it. The applicants did not apply to me.
Q. You sold all the tickets, did you not?
A. No, sir: there were four of us in the office who sold tickets.
Q. And you do not know who had applied for those other boxes?
A. No, sir.
Q. Are you willing to swear here that Booth did not?
A. To me? Yes, sir.
Q. To anybody, with your knowledge?
A. Yes, sir: I swear he did not.
Q. To you, according to your information?
A. According to my information, he did not.
Q. Nor anybody else for him?
A. Nor anybody else for him.
Q. There were no applications of any kind for the other boxes to your knowledge?
A. To my knowledge, no application was made for any box except the President’s? [stet]
Q. I understand you to swear, however, that there may have been applications made, and you know nothing about them?
A. Yes, sir: there may have been.

Thomas Raybold:

Q. State whether there were any box-tickets sold at the theatre up to the time of the opening on the night of the assassination.
A. To the best of my knowledge, there were not. I cannot say positively, for I do not know; but I know I sold none. I was not all the time in the office. I had been sick for three days with neuralgia, which I suffered from frequently, and I was not in the office all the time that day; but I was in the office during that afternoon, and I was there also in the morning when the tickets were obtained for the President by his messenger; but I do not know whether there were any sold, nor whether there were any applications made for them. Mr. Sessford is the best one to tell that: he knows it, I suppose.
Q. Would you have been likely to know if any of the tickets were sold?
A. Yes, sir: I would have seen in counting the house at night. I counted the tickets at the usual time, ten o’clock, on the night of the assassination.
Q. And you have no recollection of any of the box-tickets having been sold?
A. No recollection of it.