Barb's Burblings

Did you know?

...A few months before he assassinated Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth went to visit a buddy at the Petersen boarding house. His friend wasn't there, so Booth laid down on the bed to wait. This would be the room--and the bed--in which Lincoln would die.

...Actors have always been overpaid. In his peak acting years (1861-1864), Booth earned between $25,000 and $30,000 a year. Which is about the same I earned at my first job after college--in the year 2000.

...Booth planned ahead for the assassination, down to the smallest detail. He realized that when he leaped from the president's box, he would most likely lose his hat. So he had an extra one stashed in the saddlebag of his escape horse. Thus, when stopped at a bridge to get out of DC, Booth himself appeared totally normal (as a man without a hat in those days would arouse suspicion.

All this and more in my upcoming book, John Wilkes Booth: Supersmart, Superhot! What? He Only Killed One Guy.