Episode 621: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Part I - All The World's a Stage

Summary

Last Podcast on the Left
Episode 621: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Part I - All The World's a Stage
Release Date: May 30, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 621, "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Part I - All The World's a Stage," The Last Podcast on the Left delves into the intricate and tumultuous events leading up to the assassination of one of America's most revered presidents. Hosted by Henry Zebrowski, Marcus Parks, and Ed Larson, this episode marks the beginning of a three-part series exploring the dark underbelly of history surrounding Lincoln's death.

Setting the Stage for Assassination

The hosts kick off the episode by emphasizing the gravity and well-documented nature of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Marcus Parks states, "There is zero ambiguity in this story. Like we know everything that happened. Like this is so well documented" (03:59). This assertion sets the tone for a detailed and factual exploration, contrasting with popular conspiracy theories that Booth was part of a broader, clandestine network.

John Wilkes Booth: A Complex Figure

Family Background and Early Life

John Wilkes Booth hails from a prominent acting family. His father, Junius Brutus Booth, was a celebrated actor known for his compelling performances, earning praise from literary figures like Walt Whitman. Marcus Parks likens Junius Booth to "the Daniel Day Lewis of his time," highlighting the father's significant influence on John's theatrical aspirations (07:02).

However, Junius's tumultuous personal life cast a long shadow over the Booth children. Junius's affair and subsequent abandonment of his first family introduced scandal into the family narrative, instilling in John Wilkes Booth a deep-seated inferiority complex. Henry Zebrowski reflects, "John Wilkes Booth was the ultimate faker in history. He was a full stolen valor, like... very similar to another actor I keep" (11:34), underscoring Booth's internal struggles and desire for validation.

Rise to Fame and Southern Affinity

Despite personal challenges, Booth carved out his niche as a leading actor, particularly in the South. Marcus Parks draws a parallel to modern acting dynasties, comparing the Booths to the Sheen family, and notes, "But the point here with Booth acting credentials is that most people were not at all inclined to believe that a mere actor could have pulled off a... to kill Lincoln" (07:58). Booth's popularity in Southern states like Richmond, Virginia, reinforced his pro-slavery stance, aligning his public persona with the prevailing sentiments of his audience.

Personality and Ideological Motivations

Booth's engagement with the Know Nothing Party—a secretive, xenophobic group deeply opposed to immigration and abolition—further radicalized his beliefs. Marcus Parks explains, "The Know Nothing Party were nationalist, populist and staunchly against immigration. But also like today's Republicans, what informed the Know Nothings beliefs more than anything were conspiracy theories" (62:05). This affiliation amplified Booth's anti-abolitionist sentiments, positioning him firmly against Abraham Lincoln, whom he viewed as the embodiment of abolitionist aggression.

The Christiana Riot and Its Impact

A pivotal moment in Booth's ideological formation was the Christiana Riot of 1851. The incident involved the attempted capture of four escaped slaves by Edward Gorsuch, the father of one of Booth's childhood friends. When Gorsuch's party arrived in Christiana, a fortified community led by William Parker fiercely resisted, resulting in Gorsuch's death. Marcus Parks outlines, "This quick become a microcosm of the rapidly growing divide in America over slavery" (43:09), emphasizing how the riot deepened Booth's hatred for abolitionists and solidified his support for the Southern cause.

Quoting Henry Zebrowski, the hosts highlight Booth's manipulation of historical events to justify his extremist actions: "John Wilkes Booth wanted to have that same passion for supporting the institution of slavery" (73:09). This mindset propelled him toward his ultimate goal of assassinating Lincoln.

Booth's Acting Career and Social Dynamics

While the Civil War raged, Booth continued to build his acting career, performing in both Northern and Southern cities. Despite the growing conflict, he remained a beloved figure in the South, often celebrated for his performances in plays like Romeo and Juliet. Henry Zebrowski humorously notes Booth's theatrical dedication: "Nothing makes me happier than ripping the breastplate off of Gerald Ford and playing with his fucking automatic guts" (04:39), blending dark humor with historical facts.

Booth's fame extended beyond the theater, as Marcus Parks compares him to modern action stars, stating, "The closest modern comparison to the Booths would be the Sheen family" (07:51). This analogy underscores Booth's larger-than-life persona and the national attention he garnered.

Political Climate and Lincoln's Presidency

Lincoln's election in 1860 was a catalyst for the South's secession and the eventual outbreak of the Civil War. Marcus Parks describes Lincoln's role as a unifying figure for abolitionists, which Booth perceived as a direct threat to the Southern way of life: "John Wilkes Booth wrote during his tour of the south that Northern abolitionists were the true traitors to the nation, whose treason must be stamped to death" (48:45).

Lincoln's commitment to preserving the Union and ending slavery was met with vehement opposition from individuals like Booth, who saw his actions as the final straw that led to his eventual assassination.

Conclusion: The Path to Assassination

As the Civil War progressed and the South's position weakened, Booth's frustration and obsession with Lincoln intensified. Despite his prominent acting career, Booth chose to focus his efforts on plots against the President rather than participating in the war directly. Henry Zebrowski summarizes Booth's cowardice and ultimate decision to assassin Lincoln: "But YOU know what's telling here? This is very telling for me... He's the best at killing Abraham Lincoln" (82:36).

The episode concludes with a promise to continue exploring Booth's conspiracy theories and the ensuing manhunt in the subsequent parts of the series, leaving listeners eager for the next installment.

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Key Quotes

• Marcus Parks (03:59): "There is zero ambiguity in this story. Like we know everything that happened. Like this is so well documented."

• Marcus Parks (07:02): "John Wilkes Booth was in modern parlance a Nepo baby, because Booth's father, Junius Booth, was one of the most celebrated and well respected actors of his time."

• Henry Zebrowski (11:34): "John Wilkes Booth was the ultimate faker in history. He was a full stolen valor..."

• Marcus Parks (62:05): "The Know Nothing Party were nationalist, populist and staunchly against immigration. But also like today's Republicans, what informed the Know Nothings beliefs more than anything were conspiracy theories."

• Henry Zebrowski (43:09): "Buildings a community. This is a good movie. Isn't one of these things that being a awesome movie to be a part of?"

• Marcus Parks (48:45): "John Wilkes Booth saw Gorsuch as the clear victim here. And in later Writings Booth would state that abolition was nothing more than, quote, 'the unwarranted constant agitation of the slavery question.'"

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Takeaways

• John Wilkes Booth's Motivations: Rooted deeply in his family's legacy and personal insecurities, Booth's pro-slavery stance and hatred for Lincoln were shaped by formative events like the Christiana Riot and his involvement with the Know Nothing Party.

• The Intersection of Fame and Extremism: Booth's prominence in the acting world provided him with a platform that he ultimately used to further his extremist agenda, illustrating how fame can be manipulated to influence significant historical events.

• The Pre-War Political Climate: The episode underscores the intense polarization of American society over slavery, setting the stage for the Civil War and Booth's drastic actions against Lincoln.

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What’s Next?

In the upcoming episodes of this three-part series, The Last Podcast on the Left will continue to unravel the intricate web of Booth's conspiracy theories, the manhunt following Lincoln's assassination, and the broader implications of this pivotal moment in American history. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into the dark motivations and the chaotic aftermath that reshaped the nation.

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Note: This summary intentionally omits non-content sections such as advertisements, off-topic banter, and humorous interruptions to maintain focus on the episode's substantive discussion.

Transcript

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[Marcus Parks]

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[Marcus Parks]

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[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. I mean, we all need that.

[Marcus Parks]

That's what Uber is all about. Not just a ride or dinner at your door.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's how Uber helps you show up for the.

[Marcus Parks]

The moments that matter. Because showing up can turn a tough day around or make a good one even better. Whatever it is, big or small, Uber is on the way. So you can be on yours.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Uber on our way. There's no place to escape to. This is the last on the left. That's when the cannibalism started. What was that, man? I was. God, I was thinking about this, about how my dad was one of these big memories that came up. One of my favorite bits.

[Marcus Parks]

Your deceased father.

[Henry Zebrowski]

My daddy's dead.

[Ed Larson]

Did it. Was it dysentery?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Actually, no.

[Marcus Parks]

Cholera dropsy.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He drowned. He drowned while they were fording a river. But he used to say a poem that. And I think it was from an old comedy special. And I've been thinking about it ever since we started on this series. And I think I've done it before here, but maybe not the Lincoln. Lincoln. I've been thinking. What the hell have you been drinking? Is it water? Is it wine? Oh, my God. It's turpentine. But that's the only thing I have.

[Ed Larson]

My dad used to say that one too. I think that's a northeast thing.

[Henry Zebrowski]

What is that from?

[Ed Larson]

I. I just like old man limericks. There was less entertainment back then.

[Marcus Parks]

Mike Complet nonsensical.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It really. I don't know what it is. My father was obsessed with dirty limericks.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, yeah. We had a song that we always sings As I sit in my cell with my fingers dipped in and the shadow of my ding dong on the wall as the prisoners pass are shoving peanuts in my ass and the guards are playing ping pong with my balls.

[Marcus Parks]

Welcome to last podcast on the left, ladies and gentlemen. It's a serious history show.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Hey. This is very serious.

[Marcus Parks]

We're gonna be talking about a lot of serious stuff today. Marcus Parks. I'm here with the grieving Henry Zabraski. Are you over it?

[Henry Zebrowski]

I am revised and reviled and Re and constituted by the power of the theater. The show must go on. Yes.

[Marcus Parks]

And the man with a mind for a thousand dirty songs, it's Ed Larson.

[Ed Larson]

Ah, yes.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, you dirty little bullet. Does your mother know? You're right. There's a hole in your britches. And the importance of history can't be understated when it comes to the show. All of this is history.

[Marcus Parks]

And yes, today we are going to be beginning a three part series. I'm so fucking excited for this. On the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Who did it? We're going to kill him again and again and again.

[Ed Larson]

This better not be like the Black Dahlia. I want to know what happen.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Actually, Eddie, unfortunately, just like the Black Dahlia, it does end in another Jewish cabal. And I hate that about history. But it always does, doesn't it, boys?

[Marcus Parks]

No, I'm very happy about this one. There is zero ambiguity in this story. Like we know everything that happened. Like this is. It's so well documented. There's just like it's. There's so much context. Oh, there's so much content, so much context.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Now the other problem here is that this is also one of those people, is one of these stories that if you don't believe what happened here, you're so far gone, like in the world of Lincoln conspiracy theorists that I have now ensconced myself in. These guys are like lost. They're lost.

[Ed Larson]

What? They think he didn't have a hat.

[Henry Zebrowski]

These guys still have like, they're getting wooden teeth made.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, when it comes to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

I think most of us know the broad strokes. No, we're, we're not. Stop being so excited about Lincoln getting killed.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Let's get him again. It was just so easy to kill a president then.

[Marcus Parks]

Back then it was.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, back now you got to do it at Disneyland. And there's a robot.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's so hard. But God, is it satisfying tearing apart coolants like that. Nothing makes me happier than ripping the breastplate off of Gerald Ford and playing with his fucking automatic guts.

[Marcus Parks]

The broad strokes that on April 14, 1865, just as the American Civil War was wrapping up, a well known actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth walked into Ford's theater during a performance of a play and fired a fatal shot into Abraham Lincoln's head. And yes, John Wilkes Booth is of course the main character in this story.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Ken, for these next two paragraphs, can you do this in a more Ken Burns style?

[Marcus Parks]

So really.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Right.

[Marcus Parks]

In a Ken Burns style. But what's lesser known about the conspiracy to kill the President was that Lincoln was not the only target that night. While Booth was killing Lincoln, a co conspirator was also making an attempt on the life of Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Seward. And that attempt came incredibly close to success. I can't do Peter Coyote. Peter Coyote is an incredibly difficult voice to do.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I totally understand. But you know what, that did kind of sound, I thought was interesting. Kind of sounded like, like what's his name from Rod Serling.

[Marcus Parks]

Oh, yeah.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, try to do Peter Roadrunner.

[Marcus Parks]

I could do Rod Serling. Additionally, later investigations revealed that the conspiracy had plans to go wide with a full on murder spree as it was discovered that Booth and his co conspirators had included the Vice President, the Secretary of War, and General Ulysses S. Grant as probable targets.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Where's the guy that Lincoln Wasn't Lincoln inside a guy named Kennedy. Ride a man named Kennedy that day to the to the theater.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, the scope of this conspiracy might lead you to assume that this whole operation was hatched by the Confederacy as a last ditch effort to take out the leadership of the Union either for the purposes of revenge or as a desperate attempt at a comeback. And indeed, people were flabbergasted at the time that the main assassin was John Wilkes Booth, because Booth was a fairly well known actor from a famous acting family.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Thank you for even saying, yes, I am famous by Booth. My cum was famous before me, even.

[Marcus Parks]

Though I sort of hate this term. It could be said that John Wilkes Booth was in modern parlance a Nepo baby, because Booth's father, Junius Booth, was one of the most celebrated and well respected actors of his time. Additionally, John Wilkes Booth's older brothers were also well regarded actors. They'd gained a certain amount of fame before John Wilkes had even decided on acting as a career. Consequently, the name recognition did help Booth reach fame faster. Because when John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln, when Booth was just 26 years old, he was indeed one of the most well known actors in the country.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's kind of wild.

[Marcus Parks]

In my opinion, the closest modern comparison to the Booths would be the Sheen family. Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Rock and roll.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, in terms of shock, John Wilkes Booth killing Abraham Lincoln at that point in his career would have been similar to Charlie sheen shooting Geor H.W. bush in the head while Hot Shots was still in the theaters.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Wow, that would have been an amazing day in the newsroom.

[Ed Larson]

More men at work?

[Marcus Parks]

No, I checked it out. It was 20 when Charlie Steam was 26 years old. Hot Shots was in the theater. It was like two years after minute work.

[Henry Zebrowski]

And then he killed the President. That's amazing.

[Ed Larson]

Talented.

[Henry Zebrowski]

What a huge year.

[Marcus Parks]

But the point here with Booth acting credentials is that most people were not at all inclined to believe that a mere actor could have pulled off a double assassination attempt on his own common sense. The public thought dictated that the Confederacy must have formulated the plan before hiring Booth to kill the President. Others believe that the conspiracy went even deeper, speculating that Lincoln's assassination was a Cabinet coup or a plot from the Jesuits or the Knights Templar or the ever present Jewish banking cabal. Any one of them, people thought could have killed Lincoln for their own nefarious purposes. Because it does seem like people were willing to believe anything to prevent themselves from accepting the fact that an actor had simply walked up to the President at the end of the war and blew his brains out with a fair amount of ease.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The main skill set that one must have is to be light of foot, fleet of mind, and to have written a script before where the ending is, and then John Wilkes Booth shoots the President. And that's how I knew I would be successful that day, because it was written down in a play.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, this yearning for a larger conspiracy is understandable, extraordinarily human, and still very present in today's America. As we've said many times, it's highly unsettling to accept that a few guys plotting in the shadows can shake the country's foundations to its very core. And at the point in its history where Lincoln was killed, America was in its shakiest position ever. The Civil War was by far the most harrowing ordeal our country has been through thus far.

[Henry Zebrowski]

What about Lynn? Sanity.

[Marcus Parks]

Insanity was pretty. In New York. It was pretty rough.

[Henry Zebrowski]

And what about when they. When. When KFC made the chicken? The bread.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, the double down.

[Marcus Parks]

The double down.

[Ed Larson]

That was bad.

[Marcus Parks]

That really was.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Shook a lot of people. And I feel like that actually set us quite a bit. I kind of blame that for Anthony Weiner's downfall in some way. I don't know how yet, but will read my book once it's done.

[Marcus Parks]

Interestingly, I actually remember the double down extraordinarily well.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Of course, we were all obsessed.

[Marcus Parks]

I lived across the street from a kfc. I was in Bushwick. Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Felt like my Manhattan Project. It felt like the biggest thing that happened to us, and it shook everything. We're like, chicken can't be bread. Bread's bread.

[Ed Larson]

It was the first time in my whole life I was like bread.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, bread. Stupid.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, back to the Civil War.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, thank you.

[Marcus Parks]

For the most part, people were relieved that it was over, as even the south was beginning to accept the inevitability of its defeat. But the assassination of Abraham Lincoln changed everything. The repercussions of Lincoln's murder are still felt in America today. Repercussions we'll surely discuss. But in the end, it really was just a small group of shitheads led by the modern equivalent of an action star that made all of it happen.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You know, what it all ties it back to now too, is how just being famous lends credence to you. John Wilkes Booth was the ultimate faker in history. He was one of these guys that he was a full stolen valor, like kind of just very similar to another actor I keep. He brings up to me in my mind is a Mark Wahlberg.

[Marcus Parks]

He's very similar to a Mark Wahlberg.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Type where he has played so many tough guys, where John Wilkes Booth was doing all these action based plays. He was like, he was just an actor fiction guy. And he began to believe he could just then be one in real life.

[Ed Larson]

But he's more like Donnie Wahlberg.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Johnny Wahlberg had that great turn in the Sixth Sense. I'm not saying he tickled the hell out of me.

[Ed Larson]

Yes, he did.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

You are ticklish.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. He was all over my body. This is real. That's like, that's a. I shouldn't even say that.

[Marcus Parks]

Donnie Wahlberg tickled you.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I told you this whole story.

[Marcus Parks]

What? When I did quickly, please.

[Henry Zebrowski]

When he would get between takes when I was working with him, he'd tickle me. And he kept calling me big fat boy. And then he jumped on my back, back and he called me fat boy. And he kept jumping in and tickling me. He's. Ah, yeah, laugh it up, fat boy. Laugh it up. That boy. And then there was mannequins on set and he.

[Marcus Parks]

What project was this on?

[Henry Zebrowski]

When I did Blue Bloods. Mannequins on set.

[Marcus Parks]

Blue Bloods. The same show that the pie shot that me and Jackie work for. Used to make all the pies for.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

With Tom's helicopter. And so he'd go up to the lady mannequins and they were nude in there because I was playing a serial killer groupie. And that's like a thing that I guess they thought I would have in the background like, like, like Herbert Baumeister. And they. He would go up to the mannequins and he'd tick them in the Area and go, I kick you in the pussy. I kick you in the pussy.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. Which is weird, but not as weird as crawling on your pack, tickling you and saying, I actually thought the tickling.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Made more sense than the kick. In the mannequins. In the pussy.

[Ed Larson]

I still owe him 50 bucks for that.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Hey, hey, that's work.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, one of the most fascinating aspects of assassination is that killing Abraham Lincoln was not the original plan. Initially, Booth's idea, conceived eight months earlier, was to kidnap Lincoln for use as a bargaining chip to gain the release of Confederate prisoners of war.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I have another idea, John.

[Marcus Parks]

What if we take.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Or, listen, I heard about this. I heard there's several ways to do this, all right? And we can create a facsimile of a bodily function by taking a bag filled with air. Listen. And we will destroy the inner sort of semblance of authority.

[Marcus Parks]

Are you talking about something that might make a sound like a whoopee?

[Henry Zebrowski]

I would say like a whoopee. Like a flatulence and a flatulence bag. You put it underneath him, spindly as he is. He will sit on it, and he will. He will bounce and fart, and that in itself will destroy his credibility.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, my God. He would have been the most annoying kidnap victim because he just would have kept telling stories the whole time.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'll tell you another thing. And here's another story about the time me and my best friend spent many months sleeping together in one bed in a cabin. Oh, we tussled and wrestled, went to.

[Ed Larson]

Kentucky, but I turned into Ken Fuckey.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yes. Because I was fucking my buddy Ken.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, Booth believed that if the South's manpower was restored, then victory would be inevitable. But when it became obvious that the war was unwinnable because Booth dragged his fucking feet because he was a coward, Booth and his co conspirators instead focused solely on taking revenge against the man that they believed was responsible for the death of America, as they believed it should exist. Their America was, of course, one where the institution of slavery was intact, because, as we'll see, there is no doubt that the defense of slavery was, more than anything, Booth's main motivation. See, Booth was radicalized by his belief in the institution of slavery and his hatred of the abolitionist movement. And these twin passions served as continued inspiration for both John Wilkes Booth's love of the Confederacy and. And his burning hatred for Abraham Lincoln.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Eddie, you touched upon this when we did that little guest spot on Sounds Like a Cult, where John Wilkes Booth needed slavery to feel important himself. He was so Mediocre. He was the least talented of the family. He was the one that kind of got into the biz, the family business late. And I think for a long time, slavery was what allowed him to feel better than a common slave. Like, having a slave and that no matter what, you're the top of a food chain societally. Anywhere you're always. You're born on third base.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, he doesn't even need to actually own any. Any slaves. Like, that was the thing about John Wilkes Booth. He never owned anything. Like, he never actually, like, owned another person. Like, he was just. He just liked it.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He just liked the idea of it.

[Marcus Parks]

And that's the thing, is that there were a ton of people in the south who just. Just liked it.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, there's a lot of people who still just like it.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, unfortunately, yes, very much so. Now they. They do enjoy having the. The hierarchy like that. That is very comforting to them. And that was one of John Wilkes Booth's defining characteristics, is like, just the comfort of having that hierarchy in place.

[Ed Larson]

Where's his statue?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Actually, Eddie, I have an unofficial statue of his in my backyard. I mean, slowly whittling it from the white sapling I could find.

[Marcus Parks]

But before we get into the history of John Wilkes Booth and the events that led him to become America's first presidential assassin, let's acknowledge the stack of sources that we use for this series.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's gonna be thick.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, we've got Blood on the Moon by Edward Steers Jr. The Madman and the Assassin by Scott Martell. That one is incredible. And I can't wait to talk about the guy who killed John Wilkes Booth, because he is a true American character.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

We also have My Thoughts Be Bloody by Nora Tatone. And all of these books, great for filling the gaps in Booth story, but our main source, the one we'd recommend above all, is American Brutus by Michael Kaufman. Just fascinating stuff. Great context.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Also, Blood on the Moon is why we're so hesitant to have female astronauts. Let's continue. Because once they get there, obviously, because moon controls their blood controls all of a woman's blood. Get too close to the moon, they just start shooting blood, and it just.

[Ed Larson]

Fills up their boots.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes. Back to history. And so let's get into the story of Abraham Lincoln's assassin. It's more of a boom. Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

One wore blue and one wore gray as they marched along the way A fifin drum began to play On a beautiful morning.

[Marcus Parks]

Civil War songs yeah, yeah.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah oh, yeah, yeah Two brothers I've been listening it's been fun.

[Marcus Parks]

Hell, yeah. No, we get. You got to come over sometime. I have this great record that's all, like Songs of the Civil War. Got a book. It's a Folkways recording. You'll love it.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, I have this great record I also just bought called the Sounds of Gettysburg. And it's just people going, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. I'm sick. I don't feel good.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, let's start with the fascinating history of the Booth Booth family itself. Now, John Wilkes Booth's parents were by no means what we'd call progressive or enlightened. But it must be said that Booth did not inherit his hateful philosophy from his family. Rather, Booth's parents were at their core romantics, star crossed lovers who had escaped to America from their home country of England, where scandal had marked the beginning of their relationship. This is truly a celebrity family story. But John Wilkes Booth's parents were not aristocrats, nor were they part of the nobility. Instead, John Wilkes Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, was incredibly famous on both sides of the Atlantic for being an actor considered the Daniel Day Lewis of his time. Junius had been acting professionally since the age of 17. Junius was also quite the Lothario. In the same year he performed for the first time on stage, was the same year he also impregnated a woman out of wedlock. His first of many.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He's the kind of guy too, is that he's an old timey fashioned version of what they viewed as like, exciting and handsome. Because when you look at him, he's a toad, right? Like he's a toad. But they're like. His broad chest allowed his lungs to fill with air that allowed his emerald like voice to carry for miles on end.

[Ed Larson]

His rectangle head was more beautiful with each pointed corner and the envy of.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Every gentlemen as the women fainted at the smell of his jacket. And knowing that his. His corpulent body held within the genius that they sought after.

[Marcus Parks]

They kept calling him compact and muscular.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, his compacted muscularity. It looks like me. It's like me trying to get my Alex Jones buddy.

[Ed Larson]

I just realized American Brutus makes more. Makes sense on multiple levels because his dad's middle name is Brutus. And obviously Brutus turned his back on Caesar.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Don't spoil the end of the show, Caesar. Link, the audience doesn't know what happens at 2.

[Marcus Parks]

Henry. Yeah, II now, Junius somewhat settled down with a wife and child after siring a second child out of wedlock. But not too long after his first legitimate Child was born. Junius met a poor 18 year old English girl named Marianne while she was selling flowers outside of a theater where Junius was performing. Junius won her love by reading her the poetry of Lord Byron. Very sexy for the time. Very. I wouldn't say pornographic, but highly erotic.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He sat upon a tuffet that made the squishing sound. We all knew that her breasts and butt were round. Everybody was excited, Everybody came around when old Betsy with her big sagging bumps and for she rattled her way into town.

[Marcus Parks]

Were you an English major in college? Too loud.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes. That's also how I talk to illiterate flower girls outside of my show. And then they said they go online. Oh, that sound real nice. That sound real nice. You big feet sucked. You know, she's sitting there all covered in grime and shit and she's like, I bet you would make a fine capsule for my seed, you dirty little girl. What a fine capsule you'll be. You like that poem? You like this other poem? Boom, boom, boom are the sounds in my room when I'm pushing you with my big man broom.

[Ed Larson]

That's for his father's last words.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'm just glad I got to use him here.

[Marcus Parks]

Before long, Junius Booth abandoned his first family to run off to Maryland to start a new life with flower girl Marianne in America in 1821. Mary Ann Booth will eventually Marianne Booth. She would give birth to 10 children in America, including John Wilkes, before she and Junius were allowed to get married, because Junius had run off without getting a divorce. Actually, I don't even know if divorce was allowed at that time. Church of England stuff. I don't think the Church of England allows divorce either way.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, it has to, because that's the one that he created in order to allow divorce to happen.

[Marcus Parks]

That's true.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, but they still don't like it.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, no, they don't. No one likes it.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. But anyway, Junius did not get divorced. And so most of the Booth children, all the Booth children actually were technically born out of wedlock. And Marianne's reputation in Maryland was destroyed when Junius's first wife appeared in Baltimore years later, where she told everyone the sordid tale.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, like she's the first loose woman in Baltimore.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, all this may just sound like gossip, and it is, but these are actually formative events when it came to forming the personality of John Wilkes Booth. See, the providence of John Wilkes birth and the scandal concerning his father's first marriage, these things instilled a sort of inferiority complex in our assassin, born from the idea that he may or may not be a real Booth. In fact. In fact, John Wilkes Booth was so insecure about all this that as a teenager, he had the letters JWB tattooed on his hand. And it's speculated that Booth did so to give himself a constant reminder that he was not just the bastard son of Junius Booth, but perhaps even more than the name. I would say that what John Wilkes Booth learned and inherited from his father more than anything, was the concept that all the world is a stage and that life itself is nothing more than a very long performance.

[Henry Zebrowski]

All I need is a pair of tap shoes, a wonderful sonnet by Shakespeare, and two human slaves. Those are all I need to be one of the best actors in America. Simple requests. Yes. May I please see the blood of a black person today? Otherwise I will not be able to sing.

[Ed Larson]

You would have done great on Twitter.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yes, I would have. Oh, please. It is X.

[Marcus Parks]

Impact confirmed.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The Slayer has been activated. Demonic threat level increasing.

[Marcus Parks]

Hold the line. All the power of hell.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Cowering of all one man. It's Software presents Doom the Dark Ages. Available now on Xbox series X&S, PlayStation 5 and PC. Rated M for mature. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace gives you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place. Seems amazing, right?

[Marcus Parks]

Right?

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's because it is. From consultations to events and experiences, showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Which is good, because let's just say I need it. You know, as you may or may not know, I lost horse picks.com in a very, very public and embarrassing auction to a young man by the name of Charlie Bucket, who has decided to take my horse picks and drive it towards the right. Some of the incendiary horse picks that I've seen, including Steve Bannon on a Clydesdale. One of the worst I saw was Ivanka Trump inside of a mayor. And I know that this is not the direction that I saw. Horsepix.com and. And that little boy, I didn't know that he'd become a full fledged Nazi and. And grow his hair into broccoli shapes and do all sorts of things I don't understand, which is why I've started emupaintings.com thank you, Squarespace. Because emupaintings.com are these really. It's an exceptional way for me to get you paintings of emus in various positions that emus would normally be. And in a way, I find it both amusing and inspiring to see what emus can do using the painter's brush and imagination. And if it wasn't for Squarespace I would be absolutely F'd to the gills. That's the term for being absolutely s out of luck. Squarespace, thank you for streamlining your workflow with built in tools because I would not have been able to get this website up fast enough due to the legal fees I've received and the personal heartache and my own health deteriorating. I just want to say thank you Squarespace for all your help and emu paintings.com is going to be just as good and just as funny and relevant. I promise. Had to squarespace.com left for a free trial when you're ready to launch, use offer code left to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Ed Larson]

Summer's just around the corner and when it's summertime, you know you're going to go out and do stuff, have a good time. You're going to concerts, you're going to the beach, maybe a vacation or two. So every dollar really counts. And you know where you waste a lot of money on these crazy cell phone plans. They're all so expensive. I just dropped out of one that I was paying 150 bucks a month for and the service wasn't even that good. So with just 15 bucks a month, you can do it with Mint Mobile. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Why overpay?

[Ed Larson]

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[Marcus Parks]

Now, Junius Booth's scandal with his first wife did not reach American shores for many years, so Junius was free to build a life as a pure entertainment phenomenon. Junius simply loved acting and would accept any engagement, no matter how small or remote the venue was. By the end of his career, Junius had given over 2,800 performances in 68 cities. In the process, he'd gained the praise of the poet Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman considered Junius Booth the greatest actor he'd ever seen. The papers all agreed. They stated over and over again that the compact and muscular Junius Booth was the most magnificent actor in the world.

[Henry Zebrowski]

To me. Oh, not to be. Not used to question who. You look nice. Yep. Slings and arrows and all that. I wish I could. I could go to sleep and I miss my daddy.

[Ed Larson]

Someone give me a fish.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The theater. I'm Hamlet.

[Marcus Parks]

I mean, joke, but, you know, if that's what he would do. And, like, he was said to be an electrifying performer, but he would also sometimes, like, snap out a character in the middle of a performance and do crowd work.

[Ed Larson]

That's kind of cool.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It has never changed. Like, we're back in the crowd work now. Like, it's only, like, the audience. They go to see all the Shakespeare, and, like, legitimately, they would say that. He would show up with, like, pages in hand and, like, just go, literally, like, a couple lines and be like, where are you from? What do you do? Yeah, tell me if you ever fuck a black guy, same thing, same bid as the other guy.

[Ed Larson]

I mean, 2,800 performances. How do you remember all those lines?

[Henry Zebrowski]

You don't.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, you break and talk to the audience a little bit.

[Marcus Parks]

But like many great artists, Junius Booth was no stranger to eccentric behavior. Most notably, Junius was a staunch vegetarian in a time when such a choice was considered freakish and deranged. And he was so passionate about his cause that even if one were to eat so much as an oyster in his presence, Junius would call you a murderer under his breath. What an.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, I was like, when you had dinner with Penn Jillette. Yes.

[Ed Larson]

He did that to me. I ordered a. I ordered steak frites, and he was. And he, like, chastised me for it.

[Marcus Parks]

Really?

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, it was a midnight. I mean, maybe it was an annoying order for the kitchen, but he was more upset about the cow.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, it's just like, yell at the kitchen, dude.

[Ed Larson]

I didn't kill the cow, dude.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Live your life.

[Ed Larson]

Life. He certainly. He was a Magician. But he certainly made all the fun disappear.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Funny.

[Ed Larson]

He also told me that Robin Williams didn't commit suicide, that it was auto erotic affixiation. I'm like, I just met you.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Let's start with what happened to Building 7.

[Marcus Parks]

First, when I met him in college, he was absolutely wonderful. He came by, or we were having a staff meeting for the college radio station, and he came by and he said the seven words that you can't. He said the piss. Well, you know, so. And it did it to Cheers.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yeah, man. I mean, he used to be funner. I think it's when he was using drugs.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, this is 2002.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, it was probably more fun then.

[Ed Larson]

Teller was great. He talked to me. I heard his voice. It was awesome. Yeah, it was cool.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, when an actor is quote unquote eccentric, that usually means they're also highly unreliable. And Junius was no exception. In addition to being an alcoholic, Junius would sometimes blow off performances completely, but not just so he could dive into a bottle. Instead, Junius would be found wandering the woods in full costume hours after he was supposed to be on stage, with no explanation as to why he didn't make curtain.

[Henry Zebrowski]

If they want the show, they'll come to me. They'll come to this log. That's where the show is. And I. I woke up today knowing I was gonna be Theodore Roosevelt. And Theodore Roosevelt's doing the show over here at the Bond.

[Marcus Parks]

It was almost as if he'd lost himself in the character so completely that he forgot that acting was his actual job. These eccentricities, however, were often written off as signs of Booth's so called genius. Junius Booth had such a reputation that when he did blow off a show without notice, members of the audience would justify his absence as a commentary on the play or as a piece of performance art. They'd sit there in the. They'd sit in the audience and cry out, booth is a genius. Yes. Like, just to justify not getting pissed off that he just didn't feel like coming.

[Ed Larson]

That's the dream, man.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, it is.

[Marcus Parks]

I mean, you got to earn that, you know?

[Ed Larson]

He fucking counted those towards the 6800 too.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Oh, yeah, dude. He's like, my presence played last night.

[Marcus Parks]

It must be said, however, the Junius Booth lived a life of tragedy when it came to his children. And not just because one of his kids ended up killing the president. Three of his kids died of colon. But Junius, in true actor form, took the opportunity to make the deaths all about himself. As so called penance for letting his children die. Junius would walk around with hard peas in his shoes.

[Henry Zebrowski]

These peas. So uncomfortable.

[Ed Larson]

How did he get his pee hard?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, I froze it.

[Marcus Parks]

On another occasion, he punished punished himself by affixing lead soles to his shoes before walking from Baltimore to Washington.

[Ed Larson]

It's all foot based punishment.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That is what I can reach. It's also what I like to call the Frankenstein March of sadness.

[Ed Larson]

Now, everyone turn away so I can have a burger.

[Henry Zebrowski]

All right now. Yeah, don't watch me while I'm enjoying myself on this trampoline. Oh, oh, oh. Wow, wow, wow. My boy, my boy.

[Marcus Parks]

The tragedy that pushed Junius over the edge, however, was when a fourth child died, bizarrely and horribly from a bee attack. Yes, when the Booth family was on a ship crossing the Atlantic to London.

[Henry Zebrowski]

They should die. My son died while my wife was still pregnant with him. And the bees crawled up her vagina. They must have thought it was a hive because of how sweet her ovaries were, how delicious and honey baked her eggs must be.

[Ed Larson]

Well, she stuck flowers in her pussy.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That was her biggest mistake. I told her it was the old fashioned. Honestly, it was the first version of douchey God damn Seabees.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, what made the tragedy even worse for Junius was that when he arrived in London, he spent most of his time in the city dodging the wife and son that he'd abandoned years earlier. As a result of the pain and anxiety that came from all this drama, Junius attempted suicide in 1838 by jumping off the side of a steamer ship. But was.

[Ed Larson]

I shall jump from the highest lido deck.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Goodbye, everyone. See you in hell.

[Marcus Parks]

But he was saved by a crew of quick thinking sailors.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I knew you'd save me.

[Marcus Parks]

Interestingly, Junius made this attempt while his wife was pregnant with Lincoln's assassin. And just two months after Junius tried drowning himself, John Wilkes Booth was born. Now, contrary to what you might think, John Wilkes Booth was not a Southerner. Not by birth, birth nor heritage, nor environment. Instead, Booth and his siblings were born and raised on the Booth family farm in Bel Air, Maryland, hidden away from society, lest Booth's career be ruined by the second family scandal. Interestingly, Booth's upbringing in Maryland, specifically in the years leading up to the Civil War, greatly informed his future worldview. See, it's not like there was some magical latitudinal barrier running across America in which everyone in a future Union state were abolition, while every future confederate was in love with slavery. Rather, border states like Maryland were more or less evenly split between Union supporters and Confederate sympathizers. And even though Maryland was not in the Confederacy, slavery was indeed legal in the state until after the Civil War began, until the Emancipation Proclamation.

[Ed Larson]

I recently learned that Kentucky never really joined the Confederacy, even though they're below the Mason Dixon line.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, it's crazy.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's all over the place. It really comes down to, like, John Wilkes Booth is the ultimate stolen valor. Like, like he really.

[Marcus Parks]

He identifies as Southern.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Please. Yes, that's the thing is that he's doing that thing. He's like, acting like he's, it's like even more so in an extremely divided state. It even shows, like, how much more of a antisocial personality he had.

[Ed Larson]

Well, you identify as a New Yorker, not really Florida.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, I'm like, I don't, I don't really identify as either.

[Ed Larson]

Interesting.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I identify as a holy warrior, a scholar and a police officer, if you ask me.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, I mean, with John Wilkes Booth, I would say, I wouldn't even go as far as to say that he had an antisocial personality. I would say he had a contrarian personality. Oh, yeah, that's, I think more what he, what he, he was about. Now, many people in Maryland had to choose when it came to supporting or decrying slavery. And John Wilkes Booth certainly landed on the pro slavery side when it came time for him to make his own decision on the matter. There were, of course, various reasons for Booth's choice, but it seems like his opinion on slavery and abolition were most greatly informed by an incident known as the Christiana Riot that occurred when Booth was around 13 years old. Now, the Christiana Riot was a pivotal event in the lead up to the Civil War. An incredible story, but the reason why the incident affected Booth so heavily is because it directly involved a man named Edward Gorsuch who was father to one of Booth's closest so called bosom friends from childhood.

[Ed Larson]

Titty friends, please.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Thank you.

[Marcus Parks]

Breast friends.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Now, Edward Gorsuch, is that any relation to the famous politician?

[Marcus Parks]

No, no, no, no, he's not. All right, well, you just wanted to know that you remembered that name.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes.

[Ed Larson]

What does that politician do?

[Henry Zebrowski]

I think he, he's Neil Gorsuch. Yeah. Nell Gorsic. I think that he's the guy that goes, hey, tay in a win.

[Marcus Parks]

18 supreme burrito.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Supreme leader of the orb. He's on Arby's Carnival Cruise Lines. He's on Carnival.

[Marcus Parks]

Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

[Ed Larson]

It's not him.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Is he important?

[Ed Larson]

Not anymore.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, as far as the Christiana riot story goes, Edward Gorsuch was a slave owner who ran a wheat and corn plantation north of Baltimore. But in 1849, four of his enslaved men escaped across the Maryland border into the free state of Pennsylvania. Two years passed with no word. Word. But then, out of nowhere, Edward Gorsuch received a letter from a freelance slave catcher informing. It's the worst job, and it is the most despicable job in the history of humanity.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I just. Dude, it's a side gig. I do it for the love. They really did.

[Marcus Parks]

I mean, these are the guys. It's like, you know what? There's really nobody going out there and just finding slaves.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I just gotta go find them. Yeah, I gotta find them and rouse them up.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, he would. That's what these guys would do is they would go around, they would try to find. And then they would. Would find the former owners of these people and send them letters and be like, hey, I know where your guys are. Give me some money, I'll tell you where they are.

[Ed Larson]

But if they're in the north, aren't they away?

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, because they can bring them back. Cuz technically, it's because they were. Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

The fugitive slave act of 1850, my friend.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, man.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. Which we'll get into here in a second. But Edward Gorsuch, out of nowhere, received a letter from a freelance slave catcher saying that he knew where Gorsuch's four enslaved men had escaped to. And for a fee, the hunter offered to aid Gorsuch in their capture and return. So Gorsuch paid for the information and thereafter set off with a team of men to attempt to bring the four guys back to his farm. As it turned out, these guys had fled to the town of Christiana, which had become both a refuge for fugitive slaves and a settlement for free black people. It was all led by a man named William Palmer Parker. William Parker was himself an escaped slave who'd organized the town of Christiana into an effective resistance group who rightfully met violence with violence. And by this point, the. The people of Christiana had been fighting back slave catchers for 20 years.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's awesome.

[Marcus Parks]

And not only that, like, they like, even formed like, missions to go, like, rescue enslaved people and like, yeah, like, we're go in, rescue these guys, bring them back. They're going to live with us.

[Ed Larson]

That's awesome.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

Building a community.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Dude. This a good movie. Isn't one of one of these things that being a awesome movie to be a part of?

[Ed Larson]

This is. I. This Whole episode is going to be filled with things that could be their own episodes.

[Marcus Parks]

Seriously. No, I mean, these were not people who around. And by the time Edward Gorsuch crossed the border into Pennsylvania, the people of Christiana had received word that his raiding party was on their way. They had people all over that, like, were just listening for, you know, slave, you know, slave catchers, slave hunter, whatever was going to come. And as such, when Gorsuch and his small party arrived at William Parker's home just before dawn, between 75 and 150 free black people from Christiana, as well as some white allies, were ready, armed and waiting.

[Henry Zebrowski]

We're here, too. Yeah. And we're having a good time, aren't we? Yeah. Listen, buster. Hey, there. You mind your p's and Q's, all right? Because my fellow black friends and I, we're celebrating community.

[Ed Larson]

And one day I will talk them into camping maybe.

[Marcus Parks]

And yes, they're friends, and I'm their friend, and he's my friend, and they're all my black friends, but they're friends. We're friends.

[Henry Zebrowski]

We're all friends. Friends.

[Marcus Parks]

Just so you know, we're friends.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Now.

[Marcus Parks]

Within minutes of Gorsuch's arrival, a member of the makeshift defense force struck him with the club and brought him to his knees. This prompted a response from one of Gorsuch's sons, the unfortunately named Dickinson Gorsuch.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, it's better than his daughter and daughter Gorsuch.

[Marcus Parks]

Gore suck.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

Dick and son gore suck.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

That's fun.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, it is. Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

He ruined his life.

[Marcus Parks]

Try saying it.

[Ed Larson]

Dick and son gore suck.

[Marcus Parks]

It's great, right?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, it's a great m of a guy who gets murdered.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, Dickinson raised his revolver to shoot his father's assailant. But another defender struck Dickinson's arm, which caused Dickinson to drop the gun.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, that's not fair.

[Marcus Parks]

And from what it seems like, the crowd of defenders decided that the time for talking was over. Dickinson Gorsuch was shot in the stomach with a shotgun blast. But he ended up surviving bullet and stomach Gorsuch. Edward Gorsuch, however, was not so lucky. By the time the melee died down, Edward Gorsuch was found kneeling in a pool of his own blood with a rusty corn cutter blade sticking out of the side of his neck. And he soon bled to death. Death as a consequence of his perverse quest to deny freedom to his fellow man.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. Get him. Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

It was fun.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. Now let's get the other one. The new one is Gorsic Bad.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Let's get him. Can I not say that?

[Marcus Parks]

No, not really.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Set.

[Marcus Parks]

No. Not really saying what we're going to.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Do when we get him.

[Marcus Parks]

I mean, we know what get him means.

[Ed Larson]

Donnie Wahlberg, you want a do.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The pussy. I want to play with his belly. Let's just get him and then have Juice up with him.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, let's just go to the house of a Supreme Court justice, climb on his back and tickle him.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Just get it. Just get it.

[Ed Larson]

Let's make him have dinner with Pen.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yeah. See if he can handle that.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, the press jumped on the Christiana Riot almost immediately. Naturally, Southerners saw Edward Gorsuch as a hero who had died in the defense of slavery, and they therefore demanded federal action. Now, technically, Gorsuch did have the right to pursue the escaped slaves due to the Fugitive slave Act of 1850. It had just been passed the year before. So the federal government ended up arresting several black people involved in the killing of Edward Gorsuch, in addition to three white people who'd been present.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I was there, too. I just want to be arrested as well so that everybody could see how much I support my community members. And I will be arrested post haste and then released hopefully immediately.

[Marcus Parks]

The trial was followed nationwide and became a sort of test of north versus south, slavery versus freedom. In the end, the people of Pennsylvania chose freedom because it took the jury just 15 minutes to return a verdict of not getting guilty.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Philadelphia freedom.

[Ed Larson]

Less time than Lori Valo.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Wow. Yep.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, to the people of the south, this was a gross miscarriage of justice in today's world. You might compare this to, say, like the Derek Chauvin case, where many on the right believe that the murder of George Floyd was justified and Chauvin's conviction was therefore a travesty. Many people in the north, however, believe that Gorsuch died for an evil cause and got what was coming to him. That's all to say that the Christiana Riot, which occurred about a decade before the Civil War began, it quickly became a microcosm of the rapidly growing divide in America over slavery. But perhaps more consequentially, the Christiana Riot was also fundamental in shaping the worldview of John Wilkes Booth. As I said earlier, John Wilkes Booth knew Edward Gorsuch. Gorsuch was the father of Booth's so called called bosom friend. And Booth would use Gorsuch's death as an example of what happened when people fought back against slavery, and he should.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Have learned from that.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, well, Booth saw Gorsuch as the clear victim here. And in later Writings Booth would state that abolition was nothing more than, quote, the unwarranted constant agitation of the slavery question. And there was, of course, no man in this world who had come to represent abolition more clearly than Abraham Lincoln.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I knew that I was being replaced by the black man when they dared, dared to hire a black man to play the titular role of Othello. As everybody knows, the whitest ruler of Shakespeare. We actually don't have any historical accuracy.

[Marcus Parks]

For what a Moor actually is.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He actually did play Othello twice. Really? Yes.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, my God.

[Marcus Parks]

Jesus Christ.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You think that give him some, like, understanding?

[Marcus Parks]

Nope.

[Ed Larson]

When, when did the North. We might not know the answer to this, but when did the north decide slavery was bad? Because obviously they had it in the beginning of the country.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, it was a slow roll, you know, as far as, like, when. And it was like state by state. Like, it wasn't. It wasn't. There was definitely no. Okay, we all decide at once that it's bad or we all decide at once that it's good. It's just, it was just sort of a slow roll. Like, like, you know, first England went, and then the states sort of like took England's cue. Like, okay, maybe we shouldn't be doing this anymore.

[Ed Larson]

They're the bigger pricks.

[Henry Zebrowski]

They had slavery for longer, but they kind of came to societal understanding in, in England about it being distasteful.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

So eventually that's like, that's the sentiment that came down at the time too. It's like they viewed Europe as the style center. Europe was the places where all the, the. All of this sort of like cultural things that were being adopted to America. So actually, I feel like the anti slavery view was kind of like a hip new thought process. Like, it was like this idea of like, I'm with it, I'm with the new stuff, because the Europeans were already working in that direction.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, it wasn't like a hip thing. I mean, it's like saying today that people believe in stuff just because it's woke. Like, it's, it is, it is definitely. Like people just came around to. It was like, oh, maybe this is a horrible thing.

[Ed Larson]

I know John Adams was vocal about it.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I just mean in hip in terms of like, like, you know, when movement takes place, it's like, now it's getting very. It is both probably on the, you know, it's probably however you view it. Like, leftist politics are now viewed as more like, cool. Right, Right. Like it's that style. Or if you're these. The. The Maga.

[Marcus Parks]

Let's say cool. I think. Let's say fashionable. I think is. Is probably a better way of putting it. Yeah. Yes, abolition did become, as, you know, the years went on as the, you know, 19th century with abolition, did become much more fashionable up North. And it was also very fashionable up north to call the Southerners a bunch of fucking hicks.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yep.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. And anything that was Southern was. Now, as far as the attitude that Booth's parents had towards slavery, it was just as bizarre and nonsensical as you might expect. Junius and his wife Marianne maintained that they were abolitionists by principle because they did not enslave anyone directly, but they did rent slave labor from their neighbors.

[Ed Larson]

It's not sugar.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Can I borrow a couple black men? I'm looking for a couple black men. I got a fence I gotta destroy.

[Marcus Parks]

They had a standing staff of six people. But anytime anyone pointed out to Marianne Booth that there wasn't really any difference between owning a slave and renting one, she would just fucking stonewall him and say, like, no, it's actually very, very different. And they would ask why? And they'd say, mean, it's very, very different. And. But you would never say why it was very, very different.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's because renting, you got to pay all the taxes, and you're going to do all the upkeep, See, with the. You know, that's the thing, is that when you own. You got to do all the repairs yourself.

[Marcus Parks]

It's not. Justification. No, I'm just a horrible opinion.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, that's why she's saying it's different.

[Marcus Parks]

No, that's not why she's saying it's.

[Ed Larson]

Different, because she was.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. Guilty.

[Marcus Parks]

Highly, highly guilty of directly participating in the very institution she said that she was against.

[Henry Zebrowski]

At least she felt guilty.

[Ed Larson]

I don't think she did.

[Henry Zebrowski]

John Wilkes Booth.

[Ed Larson]

So John Wilkes Booth did have slaves, kind of.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, he was around.

[Marcus Parks]

Around. Yeah, yeah, he was. He was around. He grew up with slaves in his. On his property and, you know, around the institution. But his parents saying, like, talking out of both sides of their mouth, saying, like, yeah, we don't believe in slavery, but. But, yes, there are slaves working for us right now.

[Ed Larson]

It's like liberals that drive a cybertruck.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, Junius Booth, he knew that acting was a difficult life, so he intentionally tried leading his kids away from the theater into any other profession. And, of course, he would only do this three months out of the year, because the other nine months, Junius Booth was on the road being an actor.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Listen, I know That, I mean, this is very difficult. It's so hard to travel that the, you know, in the highest level and the fanciest coaches and stay at the best hotels indiscriminately and mostly just kind of jabber for 45 minutes of time. For, at this point, hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is, you know, in the future. The hundreds of dollars, which is, you know, in the future, probably worth millions of dollars. But I honestly think that you, Son, I think that you. You should make big pumpkins or something. There's nothing.

[Marcus Parks]

I should be a pumpkiner.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, you should. You should do something that's harder and worse than this, even though you'll get a jumping off point into this business very easily due to how good I am at it, you know? So.

[Marcus Parks]

Despite Junius's best efforts, three of his sons would pursue careers as thespians.

[Henry Zebrowski]

What did I tell all of you?

[Marcus Parks]

And by the time John Willocks was 14, his two older brothers were already on the road, making names for themselves as the sons of the great Junius Booth. But before John Wilkes was to become an actor himself, he would be thrust into a leadership role in his family after Junius died, a very 1852 death by succumbing to dysentery aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi River.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Somebody tell the steam to come now. I'm covered in condensation and I'm nauseous.

[Marcus Parks]

Turn the steam down. Turn the steam down. Steam's too high. Steam too high.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Turn the steam down on the wall.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, just shit on over the side. No one will see more Notice more mud.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Hey, don't look at me. Certainly don't look at me. Famous actor Judas Booth, who is raining defecation upon the starfish like Dave Matthews Band.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, even though John Wilkes Booth was only 14 years old when his father died, he became the de facto man of the house because, as I said, his two older brothers had already left to pursue fame and fortune. Quite stupidly, Booth's mother, Marianne, let the teenage John Wilkes manage their farm for two years, which would be a disastrous decision for both the Booths financially. And when it came to further shaping John Wilkes's worldview.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I just never understand why we bother with corn. Can't the corn just grow naturally in its own state? Oh, look how hairy it gets. Look how vibrous all of the plantage that comes out of it. Ah, Mother, I do not need to fret about it with the corn. I simply must enjoy the corn while we have it.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, John Wilkes hired enslaved people, free black people, and Irish immigrants to work his family's farm all at the same time. Which wasn't all that strange in this era. But since John Wilkes was just a kid, he was not prepared to handle the conflicts that erupted. And he, in fact, usually just made them worse with his natural haughtiness. See, John Wilkes was a stickler for hierarchy and tradition. And he believed wholeheartedly from a young age that there was a natural pecking order when it came to racism, races, classes and nationalities.

[Henry Zebrowski]

And it's an absolute coincidence that I am at the very tip and height of that hierarchy. It is not something that I. It is just coincidence. It is just luck. And certainly, yes, I benefit from it, but we can't argue with it. Nor is it a coincidence that I.

[Marcus Parks]

Was born into it without doing a.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Single thing and will continue to succeed without doing anything else except for tickling little fat boys. The only thing I like best than when I'm upon the stage is that once I'm done threatening and fretting is having a fresh full titted little boy that I can pretubulate with my acting appendages. I go underneath his tendril chest meat. I feel upon his woman like bosom. I touch upon his cavern like armpits and I make him giggle like a little brand new otter freshly born from its mother's pussy.

[Ed Larson]

And he didn't even have the courage to finish you off.

[Marcus Parks]

Off.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, Donnie Wahlberg, if you don't want me to call Variety, I need you to come to my home and jerk me up. That's it. Ransom's been set.

[Marcus Parks]

I'm glad you're finally saying it because you've been saying that in private for years.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, I'm coming for him now. I want to get a. I want you to make me come.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, John Wilkes Booth, he held the fairly common opinion, it was very common at this time, that black people were actually happier as slaves, that they were better off in bondage than they were even free in Africa. And that giving black people freedom would only make them miserable and it would destroy America in the bargain. That's how a lot of people justified slavery. They would say, you know, the abolitionists would say, look, slavery is obviously evil. And the pro slavery people will come back and say, like, no, no, no, look at him. He's got a smile on his face. Everything's fine.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, why would you want to get rid of that? They're having so much fun. They invented grits. They obviously love it. They're singing songs.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, but Booth's prejudices did not stop There, see? Even though it was local tradition for landowners to invite the white men who worked with them to join the family dinner table during the harvest, John Wilkes was uneasy letting his British mother and sister eat meals with the Irish.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's how angry he was. That's how racist he was. He was. He was even racist against other white people.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, it was very common at the time.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, no. Irish people were not.

[Ed Larson]

Italians.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ed Larson]

And the Germans.

[Marcus Parks]

Yep. Why do they.

[Ed Larson]

I guess if you weren't British.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes, It's. If you're. It's mostly a Catholic thing.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Very much a Catholic thing. Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

So the Irish came to hate the Booths for their arrogance, while the Booths came to hate the Irish and immigration at large because the Irish didn't respect the hierarchy that John Wilkes was so devoted to.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Would you believe that they came. Not even one of them. Not even one of them danced a jig. I tell them if you. The performances, the fee for entry to dinner, and I thought, oh, grab your little shillelagh and your little green hat and do your little dance, you Irish slave. But then apparently they don't. They need to be massaged before.

[Marcus Parks]

Became one of those things where the Irish hate them because they're. And then they hate the Irish for hating. It became obvious by the time that John Wilkes was 16 years old that he was not cut out to be an overseer. Instead of forcing the issue further and taking the family completely into ruin, his mother ended up renting out the family's land to a local farmer. Therefore, John Wilkes was given the opportunity to live a life of leisure, very much typifying himself as the layabout progeny of a celebrity. Actually, now that I think about it, another analog to the Booth family might be the Hanks family, with Junius being Tom, Edwin being Colin, and John Wilkes being the unfortunate Jet.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes, I'm allowed to sometimes speak in a patois because I own several Jamaicans. It is going to be ire out there by the beach.

[Marcus Parks]

I will say, for John Wilkes Booth, every summer was indeed white boy summer. Now, after being given free reign to do whatever, Booth chose to spend most of his time in the local tavern place called the Traveler's Home. But rather than becoming a total deadbeat party boy, Booth latched on to politics whilst conversing with his fellow patrons.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Just stay a deadbeat party boy.

[Marcus Parks]

I would have been better for us all.

[Ed Larson]

Also, the Traveler's Home makes no sense.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, it's a whole. Don't worry. It's like the Wanderers in it.

[Marcus Parks]

It's A double on time.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Don't get angry wordplay.

[Marcus Parks]

Don't get angry.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Get even.

[Marcus Parks]

During Booth's gap year, he became enamored with one of America's early conspiracist political parties.

[Henry Zebrowski]

How does it all this sound so familiar?

[Marcus Parks]

It's about to sound extraordinarily familiar. This party was the highly successful Know Nothing Party, who were so named because members were required to say I know nothing in respects to the party's inner workings. And they would say so. And they would do that because the Know Nothing Party actually started as like a secret society. Like the Freemasons.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, like a. But a bunch of hate filled fuckers.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes.

[Ed Larson]

Weren't they successful for a little while?

[Marcus Parks]

Extraordinarily so. Like if you remember Gangs of New York, remember Bill the Butcher?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

No, Nothing. Bill the Butcher. Butcher. Know Nothing Party. Yeah, that was him. Now, the Know Nothings were actually pretty ideologically similar to the modern Republican Party. Which is ironic considering how John Wilkes Booth ended up killing. Killing the first Republican president. The Know Nothings were nationalist, populist and staunchly against immigration. But also like today's Republicans, what informed the Know Nothings beliefs more than anything were conspiracy theories. The Know Nothings believed that Irish and German immigrants were being sent to America as a Catholic plot to take over the country so every American could be made subservient to the Pope. Which is more or less the same bullshit people peddle today in the form of the great Replacement Theory Theory. John Wil's Booth lapped up this hateful and became a full member of the Know Nothing Party and was especially jazzed about how much the Know Nothings hated the Irish.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You see, that's the problem. It's just they. It just seems, Marcus, that all of this is not really about religion. It seems to really be. And a reason for them to be very racist.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, yeah, maybe I'm crazy. Yeah, yeah, it might be, but it's. It's just a. You know, it's xenophobia all over again. You know, it's the same shit. Just replace one with the other, replace Catholics with Jews, and it's the exact same thing as the Great Replacement Theory.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Today I know nothing.

[Marcus Parks]

Perfect. But after John Wilkes Booth spent a year absorbing the philosophy of the Know Nothings, it seems like the call of the theater finally became too strong to ignore.

[Henry Zebrowski]

An easy job most. Lucas, thank you.

[Marcus Parks]

And at 17 years old, Booth began his career as an actor. If you don't know about our flyer deals on Instacart, this message is for you. Flyer deals are like strolling through your favorite store looking for deals, but instead you're scrolling on your phone because getting.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Delivery doesn't mean you have to miss.

[Marcus Parks]

Out on in store deals like the.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Creamer that doesn't upset your stomach or the pasta sauce that you can't not buy when it's on salt. Download the Instacart app, shop flyers, and never miss a deal. Plus, get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes.

[Marcus Parks]

DQ presents how to Hit Summer Sweet Spot.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The new DQ Summer Blizzard treat menu is here. And as the official treat of mlb.

[Marcus Parks]

We'Re swinging big with our fan favorite.

[Henry Zebrowski]

S' mores Blizzard treat. Plus new mixing bowl mash up with brownie batter and chocolate chip cookie dough. And even more in our stacked summer line lineup. Hurry in today because nothing says summer like baseball. And our new Summer Blizzard treat menu.

[Marcus Parks]

Right now at dq. Happy tastes good participation may vary.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, by this point, Booth's oldest brother had made his way to California, and he'd staked that territory as his claim. But June Booths out in California? No one's fucking with California. Edwin Booth, the second Booth son to become an actor.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The tragedian.

[Marcus Parks]

He's often considered the best actor amongst the three. He was the leading tragedian of his day.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He's the Billy Skarsgard.

[Marcus Parks]

He's the Billy Skarsgard. Yeah, he took all the eastern states. But Edwin wasn't too keen on competing with another Booth for his father's legacy. So when John Wilkes Booth said, hey, like, hey, Edwin, I want to be an actor, too.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'm ready to perform.

[Marcus Parks]

Edwin divided the map of the United States into two territories, pretty much along the Mason Dixon Line, taking the north for himself and banishing John Wilkes to the South. See, Ewin Booth preferred the richer, more urbane cities, like of the north, like New York, Philadelphia, Boston. But this seemingly small decision, based mostly on taste would actually have huge consequences for American history. As the old entertainment adage goes, you play for the crowd. That shows. And once John Wilkes Booth began playing for Southern audiences, his ideology naturally grew to match that of the people who are giving him the most attention.

[Henry Zebrowski]

And another echo to modern times, which is just John Wilkes Booth, in the end, really was looking for attention. He liked any form of validation he could get. And anything that also made him feel special was just what the persecution complex of being on an unpopular side of the political spectrum gives you automatically.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Ed Larson]

And to this day, he's considered the worst actor, because the Booth Theater on Broadway is named after Edwin Not John Wilkes or. Or Julius.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, he's the good. But he was a good actor. Yeah, John Wilkes Booth was. Was just very, very good at killing Abraham Lincoln.

[Ed Larson]

You know, he didn't get away.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, no, but no one was going to. He was never going to.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, now that there was a Booth boy covering most of the American territories, the Booth name was more famous than ever. To give you an idea of just how famous the Booths were, it was massive news when Junius Booth's first wife died, because it gave the papers an excuse to gossip about the Booth family and bring up the scandal of Junius's abandoned family all over again. But the revival of the scandal did little to prevent John Wilkes Booth from ascending into fame in the City South. In 1859, two years before the Civil War broke out, John Wilkes Booth began a run of performances at the Marshall Theater in Richmond, Virginia, where he got rave reviews that also bizarrely mentioned his quote, beautiful hands and small feet.

[Henry Zebrowski]

They keep. They always talk about the small feet. And then they all. There was another one. They. They were like, he does a.

[Marcus Parks]

They say how. How graceful he is.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He. Because he was a physical actor, very physical. He said that was the difference between him and the other Booths was that he was like, very like. He jump and he'd run and stuff. And I don't think he was good talker, though.

[Marcus Parks]

Interestingly, though, there were cultural distinctions between the north and the south that brought John Wilkes Booth closer to his audiences and therefore closer to their opinions about slavery. See, in the north, and I find this fascinating, actors were placed on the outskirts of society, as I would assume as. Because it had been traditional in England and that actors were garbage.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Actors were prostitutes. That was a direct correlation. They were considered the lowest station. They were not supposed to hang out anywhere. They were not supposed to be given loans. They weren't supposed to. Actors were viewed as utter vagabonds that literally should not be trusted with serious opinion, like serious questions and serious responsibilities. Professional liars, which is what I hope to still have to this day, and that's what I would like to still receive. Just know that I'm too darn dumb and I'm too hot to be effective.

[Marcus Parks]

But in the south, in the American south, an actor had real social status. See, Booth had been burdened throughout his life by the shame of his birth and the periodic reappearance of his father's scandals in the papers. So he was amazed at how the people of Richmond, Virginia, had brought him into their society and accepted him. Actually, then that's a funny thing to think about is it's the American south that began the tradition of, of like, but you're famous, you can do anything.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, we like you.

[Marcus Parks]

It doesn't matter. You're famous.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Every single thing they accuse anybody else of, they were the ones doing it. Right. So it's like, it's always this constant need of like, they started this. I think it's partially. It's because no one was serving the Southern states properly. Yeah. So then when somebody as quote, unquote elevated as a John Wilkes Booth of the Booth family chooses the Southern states, doesn't know that he's being regulated, relegated to the Southern states.

[Marcus Parks]

He knew that he was being relegated to the Southern states.

[Henry Zebrowski]

John Wilkes did. The people didn't. They thought he's coming out of the goodness of his heart to bring some of that Booth magic to the South. He's going to. We're going to raise him up because he chose us. And then we're going to be in this feedback loop of choosing because like.

[Marcus Parks]

Very good. Yeah, it's exactly right. Because the, that. Because the. Richmond's acceptance of John Wilkes Booth made John Wilkes. Except Richmond and how Richmond worked. And how Richmond worked was entirely on slavery. John Wilkes Booth was also a ladies man in Richmond whose exploits were so well known around town that one critic claimed that Booth's popularity with women showed that he had a, quote, worthless moral nature that corrupted his acting. And if there's one thing we know an actor needs, it's deep moral nature, moral fibers. The greatest actors of our time, nothing but morality. Amongst them, Sean Penn. Jack Nicholson.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Jack Nicholson.

[Ed Larson]

Old Drippy Dick himself, James Woods.

[Marcus Parks]

Unfortunately, we actually don't know a lot about John Wilkes's love affairs because he was discreet in his correspondence. You know, he was also probably a little shy because of, you know, his father's scandals. Edwin Booth was not discreet at all. They talked Edwin Booth and the tabloids all the time. His romantic exploits were fodder for the gossip brags.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, he was cooler than his brother.

[Marcus Parks]

Much cooler. Yeah. But one thing that John Wilkes Booth was not afraid to write about in Richmond was how much he approved of slavery.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Right about the fucking.

[Marcus Parks]

Booth found that the strict racial hierarchy in Richmond was a relief. And he wrote that it was proof that slavery created only, quote, the happiness of master and man. This belief, of course, clashed wildly with the event that fully radicalized John Wilkes Booth. See, while John Wilkes Booth was certainly pro slavery, I think it might be more accurate to say that Booth was more anti abolitionist because the Event that pushed John Wilkes Booth fully into extremism was the assault on Harper's Ferry led by the radical abolitionist John Brown.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, I watched most of that show. That what's his name was Good Lord Byrd.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, man. With Ethan Hawke. That shows.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Amazing. He's an amazing. The character's fascinating.

[Ed Larson]

Awesome.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, John Brown's super fascinating.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He's an amazing character. And I know don't put it past John Wilkes Booth to absolutely hate black people.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, no, I said, I said that he was definitely pro slavery, definitely. But I think he, it was more an anti abolitionist thing, I think.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Well, that was definitely who he wanted to kill.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, he hated Abolet because I could. Because that's the thing is that you can't really have the world that he loves and the world that he enjoys without black people because you need black people to be slaves in his world.

[Henry Zebrowski]

But they have to be slaves.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes, they have to be slaves. They have to be. But in John Wilkes. But abolitionists are the ones that are trying to remove that world from John Wilkes. From John Wilkes. They're trying to take it away from. So those are the ones that he hates more. Well, as far as the assault on Harpers ferry goes, On October 16, 1859, John Brown led 22 men into a federal arsenal in Virginia to seize control of the facility and the weapons contained therein. Brown's hope was that the local slave population would rise up and join the raid. And using the arsenal's weapons, they would start a slave rebellion that would spread across the South. Admittedly, this was not a great plan. Even Frederick Douglass, John Brown got ahold of Frederick. Dougl Douglas is like, hey man, you want in on this? And Frederick Douglass is like, no, this is, he actually says like, this is suicide. It's not going to work. Well, as it turned out, Frederick Douglass was right. Because even though Brown and his men easily captured the arsenal, no one came to Brown's aid. The governor of Virginia soon sent in troops led by Robert E. Lee, future general of the Confederacy. And Lee squashed the rebellion and captured John Brown so. So he could be publicly tried and hung in short order.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Now didn't. Robert E. Lee was considered one of our like best generals right before he left. And then he went. And that's why he was such kind of like a formidable.

[Marcus Parks]

Even after, like even during the Civil War, he still can, he still was considered to be one of the greatest military minds in history.

[Ed Larson]

As far as, yes, as far as generals go.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's all. I'm not saying that he was a great guy. We're not yet.

[Marcus Parks]

There's no moral. Yeah, it's like he was good at being a general and so is, you know, Ernst Rommel, you know, the Desert Fox.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He was great, great general. I loved his work as a general.

[Marcus Parks]

But in the weeks between Brown's capture and his hanging, conspiracy theories began to swirl. The raid had been funded and planned by abolitionist politicians. Politicians like Lincoln's eventual Secretary of State, William Speaker Seward. If you'll remember, Seward was also the other man that John Wilkes Booth and his co conspirators tried to murder on the night of Lincoln's killing. As a result of these conspiracy theories, talk of southern secession from the Union increased dramatically after the assault on Harper's Ferry. And John Brown's raid has in fact often been referred to since as the dress rehearsal for the upcoming civil war. But as far as how John Wilkes Booth reacted to John Brown's raid, Booth had been preparing for a role in a play, a play with the scintillating title of the filibuster. And that's when the governor of Virginia announced that a group of abolitionists were planning to break John Brown out of prison. For some reason, John Wilkes Booth decided that this was his moment. Answering the governor's call to keep John Brown in prison. Booth immediately abandoned his commitment to the thing theater and boarded a train that was transporting the Virginia militia to where John Brown was being held. Further encouragement for John Wilkes Booth came when he found that his fellow militiamen were starstruck, that the John Wilkes Booth was going to fight beside them. And one soldier even lent Booth a uniform so Booth could join the battle.

[Ed Larson]

Would that guy fight naked?

[Marcus Parks]

He had an extra.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I thank you for this you uniform, but unfortunately it is not as form fitting as I would like. If I could, can I wear this fine, fine silk brage and these wonderful. All these are knickers all the way from Paris, France. And I will adorn these to inspire my fellow militiamen to, oh, so fight all the bad guys.

[Ed Larson]

And may I borrow one of your wool socks for my crotch?

[Henry Zebrowski]

My penis is cold.

[Marcus Parks]

If my uniform is not satisfactory, then may I make use of your malicious tailor.

[Henry Zebrowski]

How may I perform properly if I'm not inspired by my outfit? Now, I hate to be picky, but isn't gray a bit drabby?

[Marcus Parks]

I know that you are called the Virginia Grays. Yes, I'm aware of this.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'm aware of this. But what about the Virginia lime greens? Listen, Virginia vermilion. Think about it. Fun colors. All right. Well, I guess I'll go back to William Muskets.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, as it turned out, there was no abolitionist plan to break John Brown out of prison. It was just another conspiracy theory that was dreamed up by the increasingly twitchy Southerners. So John Wilkes Booth and the rest of the soldiers ended up doing. Just standing outside the courthouse to, quote unquote, provide security until John Brown was to be hung.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You heard him, boys. Everybody keep standing. Keep standing. Now, some of you may sit, the fatter ones. Now give the other fatter one sit for a little bit. And now I will sit because I am tired.

[Ed Larson]

Perhaps someone could go on a coffee run.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Perhaps someone. Have you heard of the Starbucks? Someone get a Starbucks run going.

[Marcus Parks]

That's what happens, you know, like. Like they. They get riled up because they hear this, you know, that rumors start to swirl. They start to hear these conspiracy theories. They think it's real. They go. And then they spend two weeks riling themselves up even more, convincing themselves that they have to be there, that they're serving some sort of purpose.

[Henry Zebrowski]

And they're cosplaying. Yeah, they're still like witches. Very, very similar to what we're dealing with right now.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes, well, John Wilkes Booth was cosplaying the rest of the guys. Many of them died in the Civil War very quickly. Good, good.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Because if they weren't at the theater anyway, then they weren't proper patrons of the arts, were they?

[Marcus Parks]

But yeah, Booth cosplayed. He stood sentinel, serving Virginia's so called states.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Cause this barrel is safe. This lantern is still lighting the way of slavery.

[Marcus Parks]

And it gave. It gave him the illusion of glory without any of the associated dangers. But he could convince himself that he was in danger the entire time. And when John Brown was finally hung, when he went out there with his head held high, John Wilkes Booth was in the crowd watching. Now, one of John Wilkes Booth's defining characteristics was the idea, as I said earlier, that life was a performance. And as a consequence, Booth was an inveterate liar who had a habit of inserting himself into his history after the fact. Of course, this actually began around the time of John Brown. His Booth started telling people that he'd been involved in Brown's actual capture, when in reality, Booth was in a theater running lines for the filibuster hundreds of miles away.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Just one more. Buster, come here. Buster, come here. No, no, no. Let me just try it one more time. Buster, come here. I have filling for you. Buster, stop. Come close up. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. Find somewhere where I could fight for slavery.

[Ed Larson]

Was it just him improving for two days?

[Henry Zebrowski]

You look over here. Come here. Where's my little fat boy? I can't rest.

[Marcus Parks]

Like many liars, Booth was also a born contrarian. Booth, for example, only became more pro slavery as the abolitionist movement became more popular nationwide. In my mind, I would imagine Booth called The abolitionist move 19th century equivalent of gay or woke. You know, one of those things that's kind of how. That's how Booth's mind operated. He's very much a bro. Booth's run towards the pro slavery movement at this point in time could have been Booth supporting Southern causes because the people who loved him as an actor were themselves Southern. But Booth also said that he was inspired by John Brown's courage in the face of death. He was also inspired by Brown's willingness to take action instead of just talking about as such. Booth claimed that he wanted to be his own version of John Brown. He said this out loud to people. But where John Brown was so opposed to the idea of slavery that he was willing to die for even the hope of putting an end to it, John Wilkes Booth wanted to have that same passion for supporting the institution of slavery.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's all I want. I just want to be John Brown, but a guy that John Brown would kill.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, like many Southerners, Booth became convinced that John Brown was a part of a vast conspiracy whose only goal was to ruin the south and the lives of all Southerners through the abolition of slavery.

[Henry Zebrowski]

But don't they understand that if you ruin the economy of half the country just to get them, it doesn't really make any sense. Yeah, because it seems that that that would affect everybody.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, it seems like it fucks everybody's lives.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. Fuck it all up for you. It's almost like, no, we're just trying to recreate a moral mandate, like maybe try to save some of the idea of country. Maybe.

[Marcus Parks]

Maybe. Booth, however, had two problems when it came to putting his money where his mouth was and defending slavery with the same bravery that Brown had in defeating it. Most importantly, like a lot of actors who pretend to be tough guys, Booth was a coward. And dressing up like a militia man and pretending to guard a courthouse against non existent abolitionists was the closest he ever got to actual fighting at any point before or during the Civil War. Civil War. Booth's excuse for not fighting, however, was that his mother had already lost too many children, and she supposedly made Wilkes promise that he would never go to war.

[Ed Larson]

So he didn't fight in the Civil War. Because of his mommy.

[Marcus Parks]

Because his mommy said he couldn't.

[Henry Zebrowski]

My mommy told me that I could not, all right? And I'm a slave to my mommy.

[Ed Larson]

I mean, even the way he killed Lincoln was cowardly. He shot him in the back when he wasn't paying attention.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, exactly.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

No, everything about him is extraordinarily cowardly.

[Ed Larson]

If he would have fought Lincoln, Lincoln would have kicked the out of.

[Marcus Parks]

Oh, my God. I would never in a million years fight Abraham Lincoln.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Lincoln would have pinned him down, not only would have beaten him, he would have been a cross lock. He would have kissed him, he would have married him. Like, literally. Abraham Lincoln would have destroyed his life. Abraham Lincoln's the strongest gay man since.

[Ed Larson]

Hugh jackman, phenomenal wrestler 301 or something.

[Marcus Parks]

Yes. Now, John Wilkes Booth is, of course, the main character in this series, but there is another half to this story. After all, who would John Wilkes Booth be without Abraham Lincoln?

[Henry Zebrowski]

You need me, Batman. You're not the same without me, Batman.

[Marcus Parks]

See, at this point in American history, this is around 1859, 1860. Lincoln was on his way towards earning the Republican nomination for president. And for those of you fuzzy on history, this was a time when the Republic with the party against slavery, while the Democrats were trying to keep it legal. It's all flip flop. Abraham Lincoln, however, still took the moderate opinion on John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry by saying that a violent approach to abolition would always fail. His moderation ended up unifying the Republicans, and it earned Lincoln the nomination for president in May of 1860.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Nice.

[Marcus Parks]

Hell yeah. Lincoln.

[Henry Zebrowski]

What?

[Marcus Parks]

Good work, Abe.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'm always here for you, Abe. I'm your number one fan. Need me to hold your hat? All right, well, I'll just stay over here. Hey, Mary Todd, how you doing? Lookin sad.

[Marcus Parks]

Booth, meanwhile, spent the year 1860 morphing into what would have been the 19th century equivalent of an action star. Like his father, Booth was naturally athletic, and he soon became a skilled fencer and fighter who was able to nail the sword. Fight choreography required. Required for certain Shakespearean performances.

[Henry Zebrowski]

At the time, Booth would definitely be the guy. That's why I keep thinking Mark Wahlberg would be him getting up every day, being like, I get up each morning, 5:45, I have nine eggs. Then you see me here, my cold plunge. Then I'm over here in my workout room. Then I go pray, get prayed up. Then I go, I spend time with the family I'm allowed to see. And then I act. Then I come back, back to the gym. Not eggs.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, as a result of his action star prowess, Wilkes earned his big break when he was given the title role in Romeo and Juliet in a production that toured across the South. But as you may have already guessed, John Wilkes Booth, he was kind of what we'd now call a bro.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Sure.

[Marcus Parks]

And he got himself in trouble for doing bro y shit on the regular. For example, right in the middle of Booth's highly successful run on Romeo and Juliet. This is his big break. This is when he's at the top of. Not necessarily at the top of his game, but he's getting, getting there. Booth was running his lines one evening when he noticed that his stage manager was carrying a pistol in his back pocket. Okay. Thinking that it would just be hilarious if he grabbed the gun and fired it in the air just to, like, scare the out of the stage manager. Like, scared the out of it. Like, it'd be so funny.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes.

[Marcus Parks]

Like, Booth grabbed the weapon. And the stage manager did not appreciate Booth's sense of humor.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, it's a funny joke. It's a funny prank. I'm gonna shoot your gun at you.

[Marcus Parks]

And so the two of them got into a tussle while the stage manager tried to wrest control of the gun back from Booth.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You'll never out wrestle John Wilkes Booth. Oh, I danced to the side. My beautiful feet. My beautiful small feet are uncontainable.

[Marcus Parks]

Boom. Gun goes off. John Wilkes Booth shoots himself in the thigh.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Holy fucking shit. Holy shit. This hurts. This hurts.

[Marcus Parks]

He spends three weeks in the hospital.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, my God. What's the guy doing with a gun in his pocket anyway? Get a holster.

[Marcus Parks]

It's 1859. Yeah, it's 1860. Come on.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, he's having fun with it. Why is everybody gonna have rules?

[Ed Larson]

I mean, how else are you gonna manage the stage? I guess.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, you gotta make sure it's at gunpoint. Curtains. Now. Let's go on.

[Marcus Parks]

In another mishap, Booth accidentally cut his co star's forehead with a dagger in the middle of a. Almost immediately after, fell on that same dagger, which slashed away three inches of flesh from Booth's armpit.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'm really getting fucked up. This is cool, right? I do my own stunts. Ow. Isn't this cool? Please, somebody tell me I'm cool. It hurts so bad. I need to be cooled. Please confirm that I'm cool and you like me.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, Booth finished the performance, and when the news broke, he was lauded for his dedication to his craft.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes, And I definitely did all of the Tempest while covered in blood.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, to Be fair. Booth was considered to be a phenomenal actor. Across the South. He was a crowd favorite. He was a critic's darling. But partly the reason why Booth was loved was because he appeared to be a tough guy who also had the right politics to be popular in the South. I would kind of compare him to, like, a. Like a Mel Gibson or like Clint Eastwood.

[Ed Larson]

Okay, so he would have been a better director than an actor, maybe.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You think a Clint Eastwood's a better. I actually think that Clint Eastwood's a better actor than a director.

[Ed Larson]

Actually won Oscars for directing. He's never been nominated for acting.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I love his. I love his acting.

[Marcus Parks]

I. I prefer his. Him as an actor to a director.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Man.

[Ed Larson]

Was the last time you saw Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's a good one. But I still. But I think Mel Gibson's actually, sadly, a better director than an actor technically. Apocalypto is a very impressive, phenomenal film.

[Ed Larson]

All right, we got to stop loving these guys.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Sorry, I'm just getting that John Wilkes Booth mindset.

[Marcus Parks]

You know who's great? Jon Voight.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, that's who. I like a guy who fucks his daughter and tells everybody about it. That's what I like. A proud molester. I'm sick of all these molesters hiding in the shadows. Come out and say, yeah, I fucked my daughter and she loved it.

[Marcus Parks]

John Wilkes Booth's world, however, would come crashing down along with all the other Southerners In November of 1818 60, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Lincoln won the entire north, but not a single state in the south, partly because the south, like a bunch of whiny little bitches, had refused to even put Lincoln on the ballot. No one can vote for Lincoln. I don't like him.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, No, I don't let you vote for him.

[Ed Larson]

Like, that's crazy. So he really just beat the shit out of the other guys.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. And the Democrat. Well, the Democrats were also split. Like, they were very fractured at this point because not every single Democrat was pro slave, but most of them were. So, you know, the party was split, and, you know, the Democrats kind of split the vote in the South. No one really got the majority. No. And they didn't get enough votes in the electoral college. But, yeah, Lincoln fucking wiped the floor of them.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Can I. Can I honestly ask, in this time period, were more people, like, is it kind of like the long. Like, the reasonable view was to be sort of anti. Like to be slowly anti slavery and that eventually. Yes, I know that. That's like the big fight that everybody says is it would fuck with the economy of the south, but wouldn't that also fuck with the economy of the North? I mean, I don't know.

[Marcus Parks]

I can honestly say I don't know. Yeah, I really don't know what that, what the prevailing opinion was at the time.

[Ed Larson]

I mean, if that's where all the cotton's coming from, the price goes up, it's going to affect the North. Sure. But, you know, at the end of the day. Fucking slavery.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, exactly. You'll have employees.

[Ed Larson]

No, it's a good. Another fun little fact about this election. Stephen Douglas, the guy who Lincoln ran against, he was with Mary Todd before Lincoln, and Lincoln fucking stole her and.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Then won the election. Whoa, he your girl? He's got the election. Andy's bi's tall.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, as a consequence of Lincoln's election, Southern cries of secession were immediate. Southerners projected. It's the same shit. They just started projecting immediately, saying that the north, they were the real disunionists. They were the ones who were actually tearing the country apart because they're trying to abolish slavery. Naturally, John Wilkes Booth agreed with this opinion, writing during his tour of the south that Northern abolitionists were the true traitors to the nation, whose treason must be, quote, stamped to death. And as it went after Lincoln's election, states began seceding en masse. And after the Confederacy was officially formed, the Civil war began on April 12, 1861, with the South's attack on Fort Sumter. Now, John Wilkes, As I said earlier, John Wilkes Booth would never enlist in the Confederate army, despite identifying as, as, quote, strongly Southern for his fellow actors.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Like, I'm more Southern than most y' all. Oh, y' all, I am. Oh, I love a good chitlin or two, don't I? But mother.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, instead of joining the Confederate Army, Booth would just talk a big game about participating in so called acts of resistance throughout the war. I bet you're here burning bridges, he said. I, I, I burned bridges. I burned a bridge last night. I tore up railroad tracks last night. Oh, that riot that was in over a few towns over.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I was there, I, and I always burn bridges to light the way of the, of the people that don't understand me. So it's actually kind of even more so. Not even really burning of physical bridges. It's more metaphorical. I'm burning bridges to the old thoughts I had. So, yes, I, but a lot of the times I'm acting.

[Marcus Parks]

Booth, of course, did none of this. He did nothing because he was far too busy building his career as an actor to take part in any resistance throughout the bulk of the war.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You prefer me to be on stage? I'm delivering the message. I'm helping the message of slavery by showing that I'm a slave to my mommy and the stitch.

[Ed Larson]

I tell you what. I'll entertain your wives.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Send your wives. Send the wives.

[Marcus Parks]

You would not like your wives to be bored during this war, would you, sir? I'll make them laugh.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'll make them cry. I'll make them shoot. I'll make them shit. I'll do everything you need.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, as one of his colleagues later put it, John Wilkes Booth would never have been able to handle. Handled the indignities of a soldier's life. Because Booth had no desire to give up his identity as Junius Booth's son to become an anonymous Confederate soldier shitting himself to death in a field somewhere in the ass into Pennsylvania.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Do you see these size 4 shoes? Do you see these absolutely delicate hands? This can't be in mud. I have a rash from silk. I'm wearing. I'm coveted silk. I have an active rash right now.

[Marcus Parks]

But ironically, it was during the war that John Wilkes Booth would become famous in the north as well as the South. Booth's brother Edwin, most likely sick of just dealing with America's fucking bullshit, left to Tour Europe in 1862. This left an opening in the northern cities for John Wilkes Booth to finally make a name for himself on both sides of the main. Mason Dixon. 1862 was actually the height of Booth's career, in which he performed in 33 cities in both the north and the South. This earned Booth nearly a half million dollars in today's money, which is great fucking cash for a theater actor.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

But eventually, Booth's mouth began to get the better of him. After a performance in Chicago, Booth was drinking in a saloon with his fellow actors when he. He remarked, seemingly out of nowhere, I'll.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Tell you something, what a glorious opportunity there is for a man to immortalize himself by killing Lincoln.

[Marcus Parks]

Booth's fellow actors asked him, hey, what the fuck are you talking about?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Killing the President of the United States of America. And I can't do it right now. Once I'm done with this gin and seltzer.

[Marcus Parks]

Booth, of course, refused to elaborate any further.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Do it. You don't have the cuts to do it.

[Marcus Parks]

But because of that bizarre statement made three years before Lincoln's assassination, Booth was never welcomed back in Chicago, which I would assume only fueled Booth's persecution complex. You can't say anything.

[Henry Zebrowski]

These days, everybody says comedy's illegal, Company's illegal. Now they got someone make comedy legal.

[Ed Larson]

Keep your dirty Italian beef.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I hate your deep dish. Your deep dish slop.

[Ed Larson]

You put pickles on hot dogs.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You.

[Marcus Parks]

Same shit that happens over and over again. People isolate themselves for saying by saying awful, and then blame everybody else when they don't want to be around them because they say awful shit.

[Henry Zebrowski]

But you don't understand, Marcus. You have to hear their shit.

[Marcus Parks]

That's right.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Only that, that's the only way you're free, is that you have to.

[Marcus Parks]

I forgot.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Engage with them.

[Marcus Parks]

I'm forced to engage with them. That's, that's what freedom is, is. I'm forced to engage with their bullshit.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, while hundreds of thousands of men were dying on battlefields across America, Booth continued playing the tough guy on stage.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I doubt you're to get within six feet of me on the, on the footboards.

[Marcus Parks]

He pretended that his so called sacrifices for his art were akin to being wounded in war. For example, during the 1863 season, Booth developed a tumor on his, his neck that needed to be removed. So he went to a surgeon, plopped himself down in the chair and dramatically told the man, quote, now cut away. But when the surgeon began slicing Booth's neck and dark blood gushed out, Booth went pale and lost consciousness. Against doctor's orders, Booth went on stage that very night where he tore open his stitches. His foolhardy behavior resulted in a nasty scar. But Booth used even that to further aggressive aggrandize himself with one of two lies about how he got that scar.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, you want to know how I got these scars? I'll tell you. I was absolutely railing your fucking mother and her whatever.

[Marcus Parks]

No, it couldn't just be that, like, oh, I got a tumor removed and I was an idiot because I didn't take the night off.

[Ed Larson]

It already sounds like badass.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, it does sound cool. Yeah, it does sound cool. Yeah. But he would much rather it be I got shot in the neck. Or he would say that when he got shot in the thigh, when he was playing with his friend's gun, that the bullet had traveled up through his entire body and had lodged itself in his neck. But Booth had worked the bullet out himself using his incredible throat muscles.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I think this is not an exaggeration. It did enter into the area just above my panis. It went and I felt it bounce off pelvis, off my right lung, up into my throat. But as I, as it came into my throat, I went. And using theatricality, I pushed the bullet out of my mouth.

[Ed Larson]

So, yes, sir, I can take your full penis.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Straight up to the jewels, right to the hilt.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, while Booth was fucking around on stage throughout the year 1860, the number of actual casualties in the Civil War were adding up to staggering numbers. And even when you convert those losses into modern proportions, it's almost impossible to imagine.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's almost like there's nothing civil about this war.

[Marcus Parks]

By the end of the war, 2% of America's population had died either in battle or because of disease. Taking that from today's population, population, this would be just about the equivalent of wiping the populations of Chicago, Houston, and half of Los Angeles off the map. Just gone.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Why'd you choose those cities?

[Marcus Parks]

Because they are in the top 5 of a population.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, wow.

[Marcus Parks]

In America?

[Ed Larson]

Oh, yeah.

[Marcus Parks]

They're amongst the top five.

[Henry Zebrowski]

It's just being very specific.

[Marcus Parks]

Chicago, half of Los Angeles. Guess which half?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Sounds like you have a plan.

[Marcus Parks]

I didn't realize Phoenix had such a large population. There should not be that many people living in that desert.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, man, it's just hard out there, buddy.

[Ed Larson]

It's the before picture for Mad Max.

[Marcus Parks]

It is. It's gonna get real hard out there in about 30 years. But while the overall numbers of the dead are unfathomable, even the number of dead soldiers in the individual battles were horrifying. In just the Battle of Gettysburg alone, the north lost at least a quarter of their active soldiers. And those numbers could not be replaced with regular enlistment.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Is it just because we just were throwing bodies at stuff?

[Marcus Parks]

It was the mechanization of war. It was the.

[Henry Zebrowski]

What's the, like, World War I tactics right before World War I?

[Marcus Parks]

Well, yeah, well, it's the. It's the old saying that, like, the. The strategies of the last war are. Are always used against the weapons of this war.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes.

[Marcus Parks]

So they're trying to. To do musket battle in an age where there are machine guns. Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Guys are just getting rolled over and hitting with cannons and. And they're going to explode.

[Marcus Parks]

And tens of thousands of men killed in a single day. You know, and not only that, but people are dying of disease left and right. So it's just so much disease.

[Ed Larson]

And how long were the battles? Like, I know they lasted days, but, like, the fight couldn't have lasted more than a couple of minutes. Right. Like, how long can a person fight? Fight to the death?

[Marcus Parks]

It's much longer than you think.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, people, it's. It's long.

[Marcus Parks]

And these battlefields are Fucking huge.

[Henry Zebrowski]

The number one cause of death was infection. Yeah, it was all the, the bullets were soft. They were made in giant presses and like they were made on mass and the bullets were made out of really soft lead. And so they used to hit you and they wouldn't even penetrate to the organs. They would stick into the first couple layers of your skin and flatten and then they would pop them out and then there would be bits and chunks of them still left inside of you and then that would get infected and then you die real bad.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah. If smells like cheese, you got to cut the limb.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's what they say.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, even though Gettysburg was considered the turning point in the war for the.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Is that a thing you say all the time?

[Marcus Parks]

This smells like cheese, you got to cut it off. Smells like cheese, you got to cut it off.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Smells like cheese, you got to cut it off. All right, well, good, Good to know.

[Marcus Parks]

I don't know why that's how my mind's been working lately. It's just turning phrases into songs. I'm just doing it constantly now.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, no, I've been, I, I, I saw the movie the Woman in the Yard, and all I do now is the woman in the yard. There's a woman in the yard.

[Ed Larson]

Well, you know what it is? If I'm not talking to you guys, I'm talking to dogs.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, like literally. Literally, I just talking to the dogs and to myself. Yes.

[Marcus Parks]

Nope. Like I said, Gettysburg was considered the turning point in the war for the unions, like summer of 1863. But the numbers of volunteers had dropped dramatically because people were all too aware of how many men were dying in battle. But the union couldn't win without more soldiers. So Lincoln instituted the draft, the first of its kind in American history, in which any man between the ages of 20 and 24 who could not afford to pay the government $300 or hire a substitute, any of those dudes were eligible for conscription. The announcement of the draft, however, set off a five day long riot in the streets of New York York City. And incredibly, both Edwin and John Wilkes Booth happened to be in New York when the riot kicked off. It's the end of Gangs of New York.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ed Larson]

Wild week.

[Marcus Parks]

Incredible. Yeah. Within earshot of the booth's front steps, men were lynched and their bodies were burned. And only blocks away, 5,000 people armed with stones and clubs entered a full battle royale with the cops.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Is Pirates of Penzance still going on for the evening? I don't know. Will anybody want to see you? Meet me in St. Louis.

[Marcus Parks]

Oh, but I've been so looking forward to performing alongside Jinx Monsoon soon. Well, the riots in New York, the Draft Day riots, they were pretty much the closest that John Wilkes Booth came to ever being involved in combat. And to be fair, it was said that Wilkes did step in during the riot to defend a wounded Union. Union soldier and the soldier's black servant. It was a friend of his. But Wilkes did so only to make people believe that he was not aligned with the South. As Booth was later heard to remark to his sister, quote, imagine me helping.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That wounded soldier with my rebel sinews.

[Marcus Parks]

The way he talks.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Rebel sinews. He's got, like. I just love him. I watched a really great old, very bad TV movie called the Lincoln Conspiracy. And it's like, that guy, he's just got a big mustache glued to his face, and that's all he does is being like this. Cannot stand this tyranny must be faced. And just like, that idea of him just going and being like. Cuz he's obviously helping a Union soldier. Yeah, he's helping a Union soldier. And still being like, can you even believe that I'm doing this? Me. Imagine me. Me helping.

[Ed Larson]

He got to sell tickets.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, yeah. And you have.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That is literally why now.

[Marcus Parks]

The draft made Booth hate Abraham Lincoln even more.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Damn you, Lincoln.

[Marcus Parks]

And not just because it had put Booth's life into danger indirectly. Lincoln, in Booth's view, wasn't playing fair because Lincoln was relying on the high rates of Irish immigration to grow the Union's ranks. And this, of course, also made Booth hate the Irish more as well.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Oh, you damn Irish. So many things.

[Ed Larson]

I'm starting to think they're not that lucky.

[Marcus Parks]

But the riots did mark a change in Booth's behavior. Whereas before, he'd been more or less like a harmless bro with shitty opinions, Booth was now getting physically violent and was known to end conversations about the war by pulling out his gun or physically choking the other other person. But in an amazing intersection in history, Abraham Lincoln. Ever the huge theater fan, he did actually attend a John Wilkes Booth performance just a few months after the Draft riots in New York. Lincoln was not impressed.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I'll give you my review. He's mid.

[Marcus Parks]

Lincoln's private secretary later commented that Booth's appeal was in his, quote, romantic beauty, but that Booth possessed no real talent.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, he's quite a looker. And he's got good. He's got a good, big, masculine SEM. Sort of even feminine chest. He's got a big, bulbous rump. That's what I like out of my actors.

[Marcus Parks]

Whatever, guys.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You both. There's an all. You all can't be the best I've ever done. No, no, no, that's good.

[Marcus Parks]

It's fine. Well, what's telling here? This is very telling for me. Lincoln never went to see another John Wilkes Booth performance. He had ample opportunity. But Lincoln did see Edwin Booth six times. Ooh, jealous. He had a preference, and that's a. And John Wilkes Booth knew that.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yep.

[Marcus Parks]

Now, there's been a lot of speculation over the years that John Wilkes Booth turned towards conspiracy because his career was on the Wayne. But that could not be further from the truth.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I don't think it helped.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, that's the thing. His career was never on the Wayne. Usually an article citing Booth's voice as horse is put forth as evidence for this theory, but that was one bad review in a sea of positive notices. Really, the only complaint people had about two John Wilkes Booth is that he went off book too much. But other people, that's exactly why they loved him.

[Ed Larson]

He's like.

[Marcus Parks]

He's the best improviser of his time.

[Henry Zebrowski]

You know what it was was that his relevancy was fading, much like we're seeing with a lot. But, I mean, he was saying in terms of the Confederacy going down.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Him being the cool, in his mind, Southern Confederate. Like, he's a Confederate actor.

[Marcus Parks]

But at this point, he's famous in the north now, too.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. So he's tenure, but he doesn't like the North.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, he doesn't like the North. That is true. He doesn't not like the North.

[Ed Larson]

But it's also like, you know how people like Schwarzenegger. You know, he's an action star, you know, but it's like. It's not. He's not, you know, Liam Neeson's the only guy could do both.

[Marcus Parks]

That is true.

[Henry Zebrowski]

AR Schwarzenegger. What are you talking about? Twins.

[Ed Larson]

Oh, yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Kindergarten.

[Ed Larson]

He was great in those.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He's great at twins, you know, you don't think Arnold Schwarzenegger is good? Enjoy it.

[Ed Larson]

But he's not good.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He's a junior. He's great.

[Ed Larson]

Junior Junior is one of the worst movies ever made.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Has an act. I think he's a funny guy. Jingle all the way.

[Ed Larson]

I enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger. Don't think I don't.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I like him. He's not good. He's a funny guy.

[Ed Larson]

He's very funny.

[Marcus Parks]

He's very funny. But.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Him and Sinbad in Jiggle on the Way can't be bested.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, because Sinbad's so good.

[Henry Zebrowski]

But they have good comedic chemistry. Sinbad brought the best out of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Ed Larson]

He was, he's so, he's bigger than him.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I think Sinbad's gigantic guy.

[Marcus Parks]

He had money. Well, really back to John Wilkes Booth.

[Ed Larson]

Great actor.

[Marcus Parks]

Really. What was on the Wane in the mid-1860s was the Confederacy. By 1864, the south was running dangerously low on manpower due to a series of battles that had resulted in large numbers of captured Confederate soldiers. The POW situation was of course, the moment of illumination for John Wilkes Booth. Perhaps thinking back to John Brown, Booth began to believe that he might know how to single handedly bring about victory for the South. Although again, it must be said that it was far too late for Booth to really do anything meaningful for the cause at this point. But before Booth could join the fight in his own way, at long last, even if it was too late, he had to free up his schedule.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That's the most important, important thing. Bring my me, my planner, hold the war. How about Tuesday? I can end the war on Tuesday.

[Marcus Parks]

Booth therefore began to wind down his acting career on his own accord. Booth's last big run was a highly successful 30 night engagement at the Boston Museum, performing the only play his father ever wrote, Ugolino, which was a dark little number heavy on murder and betrayal. It doesn't really sound that good. I read, I read the, the synopsis. Doesn't sound great.

[Ed Larson]

Someone really ugly, I imagine. An ugly boy.

[Marcus Parks]

No.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Glolino, I know I am ugly.

[Ed Larson]

Sure.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, that's. Let's go ahead and say that's the plot. It's a really, it's a really ugly 8 year old Italian boy who wants to marry a 50 year old woman.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. Played by John Wils Booth.

[Marcus Parks]

Both.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah. Oh. Uo.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, soon after that run, Booth wrote a letter to his sister in which Booth seems to try very hard to justify why he still hasn't contributed to the fight for his beloved Confederacy, even though the war has been going on for three years at this point. But he also, while he's justifying it, he's also simultaneously talking about how awesome he is. This is what he wrote.

[Henry Zebrowski]

My brains are worth 20 men, my money worth a hundred. I have a free pass everywhere. My profession, my name is my passport. My knowledge of drugs is valuable. My beloved precious money is the means. One of the means by which I serve the South. Money, drugs, hanging out, being me, having fun, hating anything in my sight. I hate, hate, hate. And they Just like they need me, they need me here again.

[Marcus Parks]

And so by the time the next presidential election rolled around in 1864, John Wilkes Booth was actively discussing plans with his Confederate friends to snatch Abraham Lincoln for leverage in a massive prisoner exchange that just might turn the tide of the war back to the South. Before long, though, that plan would fall to the wayside to be replaced with something far simpler. Let's just kill the motherfucker. And it's with the plotting failing and plotting again that we'll return to our series on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln next week.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, dude. And then we can also talk about it too. We're a lot of the conspiracy theories talking about how he was a spy and he did all of this. We do. We will bring that up, I think, next episode or the episode after.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah, maybe the next. The episode after when we talk about the manhunt.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Because he was always talking about how this was another big thing you'll find out later on, is that he was talking about being a spy. Well, he. The Confederacy used him.

[Marcus Parks]

Well, he was a liar.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yes.

[Marcus Parks]

At all times.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He reminds me of a certain other three names named Assassin. That is very, very similar.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah. Yeah. Which one?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Thomas Riddick Hardingly.

[Marcus Parks]

Lee Harvey Oswald. Yes. Oh, no. But I remember Thomas Riddick Hardingly. He killed. He killed Dr. Baroom.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yep, Dr. Baroom. And he was the Baroo Institute.

[Ed Larson]

Not an actor.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No. Yes. Singer with his feet. Tap dancer.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Senator.

[Marcus Parks]

Dr. Adrian Winston Guy. Yes, I remember him.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah. Very good.

[Marcus Parks]

Very good at killing Senator from the Bahamas.

[Ed Larson]

Please create the Wikipedia page.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Guys. Thank you for joining us. Very thick opening.

[Marcus Parks]

But you know what?

[Henry Zebrowski]

We did good too. Cuz it wasn't just context.

[Marcus Parks]

No.

[Henry Zebrowski]

We literally like are just telling the story.

[Marcus Parks]

I. It was difficult to not put it. I had to pull back on. On the con. My. I had to pull. Pull my context pants up quite a bit.

[Henry Zebrowski]

He did.

[Ed Larson]

I feel like John Brown could have been. He deserves his own episode. Deserves its own episode.

[Marcus Parks]

I actually had a very hard. I have a very hard time pulling back on both that and the Christiana riots. Like they're both fascinating stories.

[Ed Larson]

And then the New York draft riots.

[Henry Zebrowski]

That was the hardest one of all. That was the hardest one of all. We did a great job, guys. We're telling one of the stories.

[Marcus Parks]

There's whole books about it.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I know. There's a whole book about books about it.

[Marcus Parks]

Some books about the New York draft riots. I want to talk about the New York draft.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Right. We're gonna have so much time. We talk about all of it.

[Marcus Parks]

I love New York history because we're.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Gonna be doing the show for the rest of our lives. Go to patreon.com lastpodcast on the left. Give us money so that we can continue to do this for the rest of our lives. You can also watch us do our Patreon show live every Tuesday. We made a little bit of an announcement of our change of our streaming shows, but I want to just again say last stream on the left is exactly the same.

[Marcus Parks]

Exactly.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Nothing is changing about it. It is going to be live on Patreon every Tuesday and it's going to go to YouTube once it goes up on the. I believe it's every Thursday. So that is, that's nothing is changing otherwise. Go and see all of our socials LP on the left for some reason and then go to last podcast in the left.com to buy tickets for our live shows.

[Ed Larson]

That's right. We got Atlanta in June, Salt Lake City, July Charlotte and Durham and August, St Paul in September, Milwaukee and Oakland in October. Cleveland in November and two shows in Portland in December. Come see us live.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Very, very excited to be on the road.

[Marcus Parks]

Can't wait to go to Cleveland. The record store. This is. They're so good.

[Ed Larson]

I'm there for the burgers.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, I love Cleveland.

[Ed Larson]

They got really good burgers in Cleveland. That's what I hear anyway. I've never been to Cleveland but I, I hear about good burgers and Cleveland's got a good reputation for burgers.

[Marcus Parks]

You sir, are going to adore Cleveland. I love Cleveland. Cleveland, one of my favorite cities in America.

[Ed Larson]

I'm already buying spray paint.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yeah, that's the key. Leave your mark, Eddie. And thank you for being with us. Oh yeah, go see. Go get [e-mail] buyer for true crime cruise.

[Ed Larson]

That's going to be a lot of fun.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I go to contact of the desert and buy tickets for that as well.

[Ed Larson]

Yeah, and we promise not to die like John Wil Bo brother on that cruise.

[Henry Zebrowski]

I promise you we won't.

[Marcus Parks]

We're going to live father. And he was saved by some quick thinking sailors.

[Henry Zebrowski]

And so all we need is some quick thinking.

[Ed Larson]

No, I'm talking about about the one who himself to death on the Mississippi River.

[Marcus Parks]

That's also his father. So. Yes, please don't you neither one of you are allowed to yourself to death on a cruise ship.

[Henry Zebrowski]

No, I'm saving try. I'm going to save that for my family when I'm 90. How. How old is this shrimp?

[Ed Larson]

Not old enough.

[Henry Zebrowski]

Excellent. I only like shrimp that's old enough to drink.

[Marcus Parks]

Is this shrimp aged?

[Henry Zebrowski]

Yum. I love how you had fine air dried shrimp.

[Marcus Parks]

All right, let's. Okay.

[Ed Larson]

Hail John Brown.

[Marcus Parks]

Yeah.