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Talk:John Wilkes Booth

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jp347 (talk | contribs) at 23:00, 11 May 2005 (Boston link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

An event in this article is a April 26 selected anniversary (may be in HTML comment)

The Boston link could do with updating to point to the appropriate Boston article, but I'm not sure which it is. --John 23:00, 11 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There's a bit of folklore surrounding the assassination attempt, including:

After the shot, Wilkes leapt from the booth onto the stage, shouting "Sic semper tyrannis!" (Latin for "Thus always for tyrants.")

I'd put that in my original write-up, but on further research, I find that it is a disputed point whether he actually said that. (Some versions even have him following that with "The South is avenged.") I think the dispute should be part of the write-up. Probably more important, however, would be bits about his co-conspirators (who were supposed to shoot the Secretary of War and the Vice-President, as well as the stabbing of Major Rathbone. --Belltower
I added the part about the two phrases and I linked Sic semper tyrannis to its own article, which explains the meaning there. Also did some copyediting and tried to improve the flow and phrasing.

I agree the article would benefit from having more about the conspiracies Booth was involved in, to harm the President and others. Jonathunder 01:38, 2004 Nov 15 (UTC)


There was a recent episode of The American Experience on PBS that seemed to indicate that Booth was just a civilian who borrowed a friend's uniform in order to attend John Brown's execution. —Mulad 01:41, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)


Please someone fix the article!!! It is full of spelling and gramatical errors.

If you find errors, please correct them. Jonathunder 17:00, 2004 Nov 15 (UTC)

his mother

was there anything remarkable about his mother other than the fact that she was his mother? if not, then i submit that she should not have her own article

  • Agreed. Linking good, but no need to go overboard. --fvw 07:22, 2004 Jul 29 (UTC)

Bel Air

There seems to be two places called Bel Air, MD. In which one he was born?

The one in Harford County. Article updated to reflect this. Carter 16:40, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)
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