Ford's Theatre. It's still a working theatre — they stage plays here year-round. The presidential box has been restored to look exactly like it did on April fourteenth, eighteen sixty-five.
That night, Lincoln almost didn't come.
He'd invited Ulysses Grant and his wife — but Julia Grant couldn't stand Mary Todd Lincoln and declined. Lincoln tried several other couples. Everyone said no. At least six people turned down seats in the presidential box that night. Finally, a young couple agreed — Clara Harris and her fiance, Major Henry Rathbone.
Lincoln arrived late — the play stopped, the orchestra struck up Hail to the Chief, and the entire audience rose to their feet. Lincoln bowed, took his seat, and the play resumed.
Then there's the bodyguard.
John Parker was the Metropolitan Police officer assigned to guard the presidential box. His record was a disaster — fourteen disciplinary infractions, including being drunk on duty, sleeping on the job, and spending a week in a brothel, wh
ich he explained by saying he'd been — quote — protecting the establishment.
Parker was supposed to sit outside the box in the hallway. He couldn't see the stage from there, so he moved to the gallery. At intermission, he left the theatre entirely to drink at the Star Saloon — the bar next door. Lincoln's coachman was already there. So the president's bodyguard and his coachman were drinking in a
