Evening star., 1939-02-15
New Books at
Random
By Margaret Germond.

0V MuI yTcL 1CTNtO7tU.
THE MAN WHO KILLED LINCOLN.
BY Philip Van Doren Stern. New
York: Random House.
Each year at this season q new assort-
ment of books relating to Abraham Lin
coin appears. Among those in this Feb
ruarys publication list is this story Of
John Wilkes Booth and his part in the
assassination of the Civil War President
of the United States. 1t is a life Of
Booth presented in flctional style which,
while historically authentic, leans more
toward the drama of the conspiracy to
assassinate than toward the biographical
background of the assassin.
Since that tragic April evening in
1865 when Abraham Lincoln was shot
while witnessing a performance of "Our
American Cousin" in Fords Theater in
this city, almost countless volumes by
historians, biographers, novelists and stu
dents OF human behavior have been
written, and still the martyred Lincoln
and everything even remotely related to
the life and the death of the man and
to the Nation he served continue to in
spire unceasing research for new facts
and for basic causes for new theories
concerning some of the mysteries that
to this day remain unsolved.
While Mr.. Stern is not the first to
attempt to fathom the psychological
factors that actuated the murder of Lin
coin, his approach to the subject is
founded upon his acceptance of the
thought that Booth and not Lincoln
was the central character in the drama
Lincoln" says Mr.. Stern in a afterword,
had the passive role; Booth the active
one. Lincoln was delivered to his fate
unknowing, unheeding, blind. He
had only one function, and that was to
die. Booth, however, had to think, to
plan, to act in the full conscious realiza-
ton of what he was doing and, although
his mind was perhaps disordered, he was
have to weigh beforehand all the possible
consequences of his deed to himself and
to Others"
In setting up the framework for pre-
senting his conception of the character
of John Wilkes Booth the author has
builded substantial structure out OF
material collected from every available
source of authentic history. The struc-
ture is, in truth, so solidly integrated
with known facts that Mr.. Sterns re-
construction of the man and his effort
to delve into the mind of the assassin
succeed so well that it is possible to
accept the fctional conversations herein
set forth between Booth and his asso-
ciates. and the supposed thoughts of the
man himself as quite logical and prob
ably not so far removed from actual
truth.
There can be only a few people in
this country who are not thoroughly
familiar with the full authentic records
and the traditional theories that sur
round the story of "the most dramatic
| crime In American history" and also
with the occupations and characteristics
of all of those who were involved in
| the conspiracy. Yet there never can be
too much familiarity with the facts or
too much curiosity concerning the whole
| tragic affair, including those mysteries
which to this day have not been solved
Mr.. Sterns book Is therefore valuable
addition to Lincolniana even though 1t
adds nothing to history while explaining
from psychological angle the kinks in
a disordered brain. It proceeds in
chronological order from April IL. 1865,
giving an outline of the biographical
background and the character of the
mediocre actor who skyrocketed to un-
enviable fame and fell to an untimely
end. The story reconstructs the mind Of
| the man, reveals the probable psychologi-
| cal reasoning that gave birth to the will
| to murder, and carries on through the
| conspiracy, the assassination, the flight
| Of the criminal, the intensive search for
| him, the capture and the final curtain
| for him and for his co-conspirators.
*++
The volume is not illustrated except
| for an elaborate map on the inside front
cover showing the route taken by Booth
in his flight from the theater to CARROTS
farm, near Port Royal, Va. where, on
| April 26, 1865, the eleventh day after he
| had shot his victim, made his dramatic
leap from the presidential box to the
stage and escaped through the back door
of the Ford playhouse, he met an untime-
| ly and dramatic death. An illustrated
pamphlet, however, containing photo
graphs of the conspirators and others
involved in the crime, together with
associated scenes and documents and a
photography, accompanies the volume.
The pamphlet, by the way, is neatly
encased in cloth pocket bound in the
back cover of the book and bears the
| title "AfterWord." 1t is an explanatory
| addition "in which the author discusses
the sources used in writing this book,
tells what happened to some of the
| people who were involved in the assas-
| sination, and comments on the still un-
| solved mysteries surrounding the murder
| Of Abraham Lincoln"
AS to the sincerity of Mr.. Stern's effort
there can be no question. His work
shows prodigious amount Of research
| and study and the material is handled
in a scholarly and impressive manner.
I