This is the State Box at Ford's Theatre as seen from the front row in the theatre. The President and Mrs Lincoln sat in this box watching My American Cousin. During the second scene of the third act the actor on stage said the humorous line, "I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sock-dologizing old mantrap!". Laughter broke out in the theatre and unnoticed a man entered the box from the only door in the rear. The man held a derringer to the back of the Presidents head and pulled the trigger. Because of the laughter some people heard the shot but many did not. The President's head drooped to his chest and he stopped rocking. Mrs. Lincoln and others in the box, laughing, turned toward the noise. The assassin looked at the people in the box and said, "Sic Semper tyrannis!."
Photograph by: Stephen Van Lydegraf 9/ 26/1999