Click2Flicks - National Treasure: The Story Behind the Movie, Chapter 3, A SHOCKING DEATH

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS</i></p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - A SHOCKING DEATH</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">As Lincoln slumped forward, <a target="_blank" href="images/major_rathbone_rathbone.location.at.shooting_courtesy_National.Park.Service.jpg"><b>Major Rathbone</b></a> struggled with Booth. Using <a target="_blank" href="images/his_knife_courtesy_National.Park.Service_Booth.knife.jpg"><b>his knife</b></a>,  the actor slashed Rathbone’s arm. As the assassin <a target="_blank" href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrb/stbdsd/00500100/001.jpg"><b>jumped</b></a> from the presidential box, the spur of his boot caught a flag. When he <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/3a/hh3g.htm"><b>fell</b></a> to the floor, Booth apparently <a target="_blank" href="images/fractured_assassination.scene_Harpers.Weekly_29.Apr.1865.jpg"><b>fractured</b></a> his leg. Laura Keene, it is said, rushed to Lincoln's side. As she helped to care for the stricken President, <a target="_blank" href="images/his_blood_dress.cuff_courtesy_Smithsonian.jpg"><b>his blood</b></a> allegedly stained the <a target="_blank" href="http://civilwar.si.edu/lincoln_keenecuff.html"><b>cuff of her dress</b></a>. </p> <p>Undaunted, <a target="_blank" href="http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln36.html"><b>Booth</b></a> fled the theater <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/Alley.htm"><b>through</b></a> the <a target="_blank" href="images/back_door_Ford.Theatre_floor.plan_courtesy_Natl.Park.Svc.gif"><b>back door</b></a>,  escaping <a target="_blank" href="images/washington.jpg"><b>Washington</b></a> on <a target="_blank" href="images/horseback_courtesy_National.Park.Service.jpg"><b>horseback</b></a>  and <a target="_blank" href="images/crossing_Eastern.Branch.bridge_courtesy_National.Archives_civil.war.image.203.jpg"><b>crossing</b></a> the “Eastern Branch” of the river. The <a target="_blank" href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/28/19-2793a.jpg"><b>police blotter</b></a> reveals his name as the suspect.</p> <p>The President, meanwhile, was carried <a target="_blank" href="images/across_the_street_from_Perleys.Reminiscences_Volume.2_pg.173.jpg"><b>across the street</b></a>  to Petersen’s <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/3a/hh3r.htm"><b>Boarding House</b></a>.  Mortally <a target="_blank" href="images/wounded_drawing_courtesy_Lib.Congress_LC-USZ62-7443.jpg"><b>wounded</b></a>,  he was diagonally <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/fotha.htm"><b>positioned</b></a> on a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/hwld.htm"><b>bed</b></a> too small for his 6'4" frame. </p> <p><a target="_blank" href="images/shocked_courtesy_Library.of.Congress.gif"><b>Shocked</b></a>, his closest <a target="_blank" href="http://images.nypl.org/?id=813666&t=W"><b>advisors</b></a>  <a target="_blank" href="images/gathered_courtesy_Library.of.Congress.jpg"><b>gathered</b></a> round him. <a target="_blank" href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/8/12/08-1173a.gif"><b>Mary Lincoln</b></a> was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/archive/foth/foth7a.htm"><b>hysterical</b></a> and, for the most part, not <a target="_blank" href="images/with_the_president_courtesy_Lib.Congress_LC-USZ62-43633.jpg"><b>with the President</b></a>  as <a target="_blank" href="images/he_drawing_Frank.Leslies.Illustrated.Newspaper_courtesy_LOC_LC-USZ62-6933.jpg"><b>he</b></a>  <a target="_blank" href="images/lay_dying_courtesy_Library.of.Congress.jpg"><b>lay dying</b></a>. </p> <p> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hh/3a/hh3h.htm"><b>At 7:22 a.m.</b></a> the next morning, President Abraham Lincoln died of his wound. He never regained consciousness. <a target="_blank" href="images/in_his_pockets_courtesy_LOC_Treasures.Lib.of.Congress_tlc0070.jpg"><b>In his pockets</b></a> were <a target="_blank" href="images/reading_glasses_Lincolns.glasses_courtesy_LOC_Treasures_Lib.Congress_vc003975.jpg"><b>reading glasses</b></a> and other personal items. Ironically, his assassin had napped on <a target="_blank" href="http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln45.html"><b>Lincoln’s death bed</b></a>  one month earlier.</p> <p>America, while celebrating <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0195159012/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-3372875-2276827#reader-link"><b>the end</b></a> of a disastrous Civil War, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B00006B6E2/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-3372875-2276827#reader-link"><b>now faced</b></a> a different "<a target="_blank" href="images/national_calamity_courtesy_Lib.of.Congress.gif"><b>national calamity</b></a>." Despite the country's overwhelming grief at the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.alplm.org/museum/lying_in_state.html"><b>loss of her President</b></a> -  a mere six weeks into <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0743212991/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-3372875-2276827#reader-link"><b>his second term</b></a> -  a killer was still <a target="_blank" href="images/at_large_Booth.wanted.poster_courtesy_Lib.of.Congress.jpg"><b>at-large</b></a>. </p> <p>A killer, that is, who kept a diary.</p> </div> <center> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="national_treasure_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="national_treasure_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="national_treasure_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</p><br> </a> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align="center" valign="top"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.awesomestories.com/includes/ad_format.js"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>