Assassination of President Lincoln and Trial of the Conspirators by Benn Pitman

Description: Assassination of President Lincoln and Trial of the Conspirators by Benn Pitman With an introduction by Philip Van Doren Stern with reproduction of original of 1865 text includedFacsimile Edition Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1954 On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. By April 26, eight of the ten people eventually charged as accomplices in Lincoln’s murder were in custody. Booth was killed resisting capture and John Surratt was in Canada, his whereabouts unknown to Federal authorities. In the days that followed, President Johnson issued an Executive Order directing that the persons charged with Lincoln’s murder stand trial before a military tribunal. During the fifty-day trial, over three hundred and sixty witnesses gave testimony. Benn Pitman, a recognized expert in the art of phonography (an early form of shorthand), was awarded a government contract to produce a true and accurate transcription of the testimony. Working with four assistants, Pitman produced transcripts that served the general public through daily releases to select members of the press as well as to the prosecution and the defense. Pitman was given the right to publish the transcriptions for public sale, and he edited the 4,300 pages of transcription into a single 421-page volume. Copies of the original 1865 edition, as well as subsequent reprints, are hard to find.

Price: 65 USD

Location: Bellmore, New York

End Time: 2024-02-07T20:17:23.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.87 USD