Sunday, January 25, 2009

Booth Family Tradition?

This is an interesting item. It turns out that Junius Brutus Booth, the Father of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, wrote a letter to President Andrew Jackson, threatening to slit his throat if he didn't pardon two prisoners who were on trial for piracy.

The actual term used was:
I will cut your throat whilst you are sleeping.
Apparently, threatening to kill the President was not a crime back then. At least that is the assertion of biographer Robert V. Remini.

While not a key event in history, it is an interesting historical anecdote. And a hat tip to that famous resident of Tennessee, Professor Glenn Reynolds.

Regards -- Cliff

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please be forthright, but please consider that this is not a barracks.