The Writer's Life 4/14 - Conspiracy

Today is the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln. There's a three-page spread on the event in the NY Post. I'm embarrassed to admit ignorance of the fact that two other political figures, Secretary of State William Seward and VP Andrew Johnson, were also targeted. Here's a rundown, edited by yours truly, from a page on Seward at Wiki: "John Wilkes Booth had originally planned to kidnap Lincoln, and recruited conspirators, including Lewis Powell. Having found no opportunity to abduct the president, Booth assigned Powell to assassinate Seward, George Atzerodt to kill VP Johnson, and himself to kill Lincoln, which would slay the senior members of the Executive Branch. Another member of the conspiracy, David Herold, led Powell to the Seward home on horseback and was responsible for holding Powell's horse during the attack. Seward had been hurt in an accident days before. Powell gained entry to the house by claiming he was delivering medicine to the injured man, but was stopped at the top of the stairs by Frederick Seward, who insisted Powell give him the medicine. Powell fired at Frederick and beat him over the head with the barrel of his gun. Powell then burst through the door of Seward's room, threw the secretary's daughter aside, jumped on the bed, and repeatedly stabbed Seward in the face and neck. A soldier assigned to guard and nurse the secretary, Sergeant George F. Robinson, jumped on Powell, forcing him from the bed. Powell fled, stabbing a messenger, Emerick Hansell, as he went, and found that Herold, panicked by the screams from the house, had left with both horses. Seward was at first thought dead, but revived enough to instruct Robinson to send for the police and lockdown the house. All five men injured that night survived. Powell was captured the next day at the boarding house of Mary Surratt, and was executed on July 7, 1865, along with Herold, Atzerodt, who made no attempt to kill the VP, and Mrs. Surratt, all convicted as conspirators. They died only weeks after Seward's wife Frances, who never recovered from the shock of the assassination attempt."
Seward lived eight more years, dying in 1872 at 71. He previously had served as New York's senator and also as its twelfth governor. His final words to his family on his death bed were: "Love one another."


The floating book shop had a visit from Ol' Smoky today. He fixated on the term "rigomortis," asking if animals suffered it and, if so, why anyone would eat meat. He gave me an eight-and-a-half by eleven book on magic and witchcraft. As I fanned through it, I spotted a small XXX pamphlet. I removed it and said: "Do you want this?" He said: "Hell ya." I tittered, surprised the homeless life hadn't quashed that part of him. After he'd gone, Marie showed up and spotted the book. I teased that she and Smoky were apparently on the same page, as it was third time she'd shown interest in a book Bob had donated. She is sweet enough to laugh about something like that. My thanks, also to the gentleman who donated about 20 works of fiction geared toward adolescents, and the lovely young Russian blonde who purchased six books just as I was closing shop.

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/pdxwsnt

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/