exclamation points. you made it so interesting. who would have guessed history could be fun? quote -- god of history. i'm impressed. quote -- this class is really helpful and it liked it so much. no papers, no homework, no stress. the final paper is so easy. i got a low grade in this class. [laughter] but i believe you will do a really good job. quote -- the funniest old guy i have ever met. [laughter] i had such a good time finding these. quote -- ah, as you can see there is over like what, 200 comments on this prof. he is so normal. he makes to when you

pinches -- the wants to make you pinches cheeks. this man is as close to god as is humanly possible. [laughter] >> alford was awesome. i had him fall semester and failed his class. not because he was bad, but because i did not come to class. don't expect to fail. that was just me being stupid. he's cool. [laughter] quotes -- alfred manages to be wet-your-pants funny at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. it is as if you are watching a movie, but it is him just reading the tapestry of american history. and finally, my favorite -- stop reading these reviews and sign up for his class before all the seats are taken. please welcome my friend and

fellow board member, dr. terry alford. [applause] professor alford: thank you for this great invitation. it is great to see such a large audience. he got invited to read his poems at 7:00 friday night at the community center. he was delighted and showed up at 6:30. no one was there. 6:45 tone was there. 7:00, no one was there, not even the person who invited him. [laughter] so, you know, finally at 7:051 person walked in, but they sat all the way back in this immense room. our good poet was mortified. he thought about leaving but

thought i cannot leave this one person here. the poet got up and said, i think i will get started. one of you come down front tier? the men backs it, no, -- the man in the back said, no, i i will sit here, i have to slip out a little early. [laughter] glad to see such a great crowd. my biography of booth got started a few years ago when i was teaching a class on great crimes. each weeks we would take a great crime, the kennedy assassination, the lincoln assassination and the lincoln assassination was the favorite of the students. i don't know if it was because were close to ford's, but the next thing i knew that had been expanded into an entire semester on the lincoln assassination and i would assign students find everything out you can find about booth, mrs. a rat -- mrs.

surrat, and they would report on what they would find out. our final exam would be a trial. we would put every one of these people, even lincoln on the stand, to explain what he had been up to. it was at the end of the spring semester when i was getting ready for commencement so i had my academic gown. i would put my down on like judge dredd. in the process i met a wonderful friends of mine, james hall. i dedicate this to james hall for all the encouragement. he loved coming to class. you take me on the escape route as we would follow booth's path. mr. hall could not go on the home of dr. mudd. that is because he had been hard on dr. mudd in his writing. the mudds did not want them

coming in. i said mr. hall, weight, you meet booth -- wait, you mean booth could go in but you can't? he would hang out in the cars when we win it. mrs. erhardt, one of mudd's granddaughters was very gracious. finally, she pulled me aside and said is that jame otis hall out there? she used his middle name, so i knew he was trouble. i said, your eyes are better than mine, i don't see anyone out there. god bless those people. i will say for the mudd children , if i get in trouble i want grandchildren like that. the booth story begins in 1821

when a young couple arrives from london and they settle in an area north of baltimore. i think everyone knows 95 going up towards wilmington, philadelphia. 30 miles up that way you come to bel air, maryland. often the country, the booth family built a cabin, a log house, and at 1851 they built a more substantial home known as tudor hall. he would spend most of his time there. also at a townhouse in baltimore. the townhouse is gone no. it is not there, but it was east of the city's commercial core. it was a substantial middle-class neighborhood. i'm sure some of us know the father, julius williams booth. maybe during the henry jackson era, the great actor of the

1820's and 1830's. when he was on, he was a successful actor. when he was off, he was very challenging. he could insult audiences, walk out on them, or simply sometimes refuse to show up. i think alcohol was the main thing in his life, but there seemed to be organic problems there ,too. was very challenging as a parent. maybe i do that, maybe i didn't, but as i got further into it i realized this is a really difficult dad. he could be violent with the kids. he is not a violent person 24/7 because he had great periods too, but he could be physically bad. and then he would punish his kids with silence. everyone in here has dealt with someone who would just shut up and clam up and freeze you out.

that was intimidating for his kids because he had actor eyes that could bore a hole in you. that shutting was another method you use. thank goodness that the mother, marion holmes, was a very good counterweight. she was loving open, tried to be cheerful. very good as a parent, very indulgent as a parent. i think what happened with her is that her hands were so full with her husband and her big brood of kids that as long as they were content, she was content. every parent knows that feeling. if it is good enough, leave it alone, right? she got through. never able to change her husband. how can you change a person like that? you tidy up after them. john and his siblings were taught to regard their father was -- with sympathy when he had these fits. john wilkes booth had three brothers. i reminded of the minister who

preached a funeral sermon. after the eulogy, he said is there anyone who would like to say anything about the departed? someone in the congregation said his brother was even worse. [laughter] i don't think john wilkes booth 's brothers are going to be hearing that. two were actors, one was not. one was the famous edwin booth. he had two older sisters. he was closest to the oldest sister. her name was rosalie. we know less about her than the other siblings. she was a sympathetic person, an unbeautified saint. he followed her around like a puppy. when you write a book, you have to do two things. you have to find new things, new materials, or come up with fresh

interpretations of old things. i believe i was able to do a little bit of both. one person that lived at tudor hall longer than the booze was ella mahoney. she died there in the 1940's. she's been 60 years in and around the booth house. one of the things that happened to mrs. mahoney is that in the 1930's, stanley kimmel showed up. he would go on to write a book titled the mad booths of maryland. i'm not sure if kimmel was not upfront with mrs. mahoney or whether she was too to appreciate the signs. she had a book in mind herself. she was greatly upset when he published his book and she resented the title. it was fortunate that she had

met a young woman named helen kofi who had come to visit at tutor hall. she and helen began to work together. they did a bit of work on a manuscript. it was titled "the house that booth built." then world war ii came along. helen got married. they moved. mrs. mahoney got ill. then she passed away. helen disappeared. for years, it was not known where all the research helen had done, the writing, the trask of things they had done together was. when i came on the research scene years ago, there was a outline of the book but none of the manuscripts. i made a mission to see if i could not find what happened to that stuff. i did not know if helen was alive because if she was, she would be quite elderly herself by that time. she had kind of disappeared from

the bel air neighborhood in the 1940's. i was reluctant to call them aboard drop them a line. one day, there she was. she had great memories of mrs. mahoney. very fond of mrs. mahoney. brought out boxes of work they had done together. the mother lode. literally boxes. just handed it over to me. there was the lost manuscript, the lost house manuscript which was wonderful. i was able to use it. i hope to some good effect in the book. john wilkes booth's childhood, i drew a little bit from there. one of the disturbing things from his childhood was cruelty to cats. i had read this in a source and thought, well, it was just one sentence. i don't know if i believe this or not.

and then i found a really in-depth second account from someone who was an absolute associate and comrade of his. he was abusive to cats and cruel to them. this must have been when he was 12 or 13 years old. oddly enough, and of course everyone in here knows that can be a bad sign, right? i mentioned john locke, the philosopher, and a comment he made back in the 17th century about this and what it might tell you about a personality. oddly enough, it is a complication with booth. he was notably kind to other animals. he was very fond of dogs. he went out of his way to avoid injuring lightning bugs and butterflies. his sister had an insect collection and she was about to skewer a katie did one time and he rescued the bug and put it in a tree. booth like horses better than he did most people. i remember an incident when he

was in his 20's. he sighed teamster beating a horse who could not point heavy wagon out of a model -- pull a heavy wagon out of a mud hole and booth jumped up, grabbed the whipe, punched the guy, and said let's see i you like being it. that is a complicated aspect to his personality. he enjoyed doing theatricals. he and his brother were doing "william tell" and he was supposed to shoot an apple off of his head. the apple was on the head of a kidney martin koerner who was -- yeah. [laughter] 12-year-old john wilkes booth is aiming an arrow at you. he was trembling but that went successfully. childhood of the ethics fun for everyone involved. john's education carried him through, as i interpreted, on a

modern frame, early high school. he went to a very good school in though air, maryland. he went to a school in sparks, maryland, run by quickerquaker elder and a military middle and high school run by an episcopalian priest. these are good schools. it was difficult for him. his sister said his older brothers were more intuitive but for john, he had to really force himself to learn things. it was not easy. i see all sorts of clues that he was a good auditory learner. he would listen, especially to people he respected. we know this. you can pay attention. you can learn a lot with your ears. people have made a fortune with her ears. he was very good about picking up things just by listening other people. he became an actor in his late

teens. he was in richmond for two years and was popular there. i was able to discover that the roles he played more than any other role was lord gundry in "our american cousin." it was not known what role he had until recently and i was glad to see that in a source. he knew that play backward and forward. while he was in richmond, the john brown raid took place. the militia company of richmond was sent up there. booth joined them. if you want to see how good an author is on the subject, see what they see about booth joined the grays. he was not an intruder, a enrolled soldier. he was a sergeant with the virginia first regiment and a friend and i found his pay voucher. i don't think that had been seen in 100-plus years. it was tremendous to find that

because i was pretty sure he was not a hangar-on but had an official role. i hope you have a chance to see the list ration of the flag of the richmond grays -- the illustration of the flag of the richmond grays. it shows the virginia seal and in dramatic letters, sic semper tyrannis. booth marched under that flag in 1859 during the john brown raid. when the civil war came along -- excuse me for sonata sizing -- synopsizing so much. one paper said fort sumter demanded everyone show your colors. what side are you on, here? booth, early during the secession crisis, had been opposed to secession.

he was in montgomery when lincoln was elected and got in a good bit of trouble because he did not want to see the union broken up. he did not think it was necessary. in that way, he probably shared the feelings of a lot of northern mid-atlantic, people that fit in with them. once the shooting started, it was a moot point. booth came back to his hometown and fell in with a militia company that was organized to go down south. according to the officer in that company, they were going to come with booth's assistance, going to destroy a bridge over the susquehanna river. it was part of the scheme to blow up the bridges leading out of maryland to prevent northern troops from coming down here. booth did not enter the confederate army. as almost everyone knows.

one of the ones i have not heard mentioned before is that booth hufford from hemophobia. he had an averse reaction to seeing blood and could not stand to see a dead face. you will see a lot of references to blood in his writings. he will refer to the flag as bloody gashes. i have speculation as to why that is. i think that would give anyone pause for someone who had such a physical reaction to bloodshed, but also the promise we made to his mother, who was a widow, and he was very fond of her. she had shielded her from his dad from time to time and he promised as a child that he would always see that she was happy. that was a promise he made, a promise he cap, although it went both against his instincts -- a promise he kept, and it went

against both his instinct and his police, and i think was bad for him in the country. booth had a confederate flag in this time. it is an 11-star confederate flag and it is in the museum at richmond. during the war breaking out, he gave that to a friend in hartford county and turned his back on the warm became an actor. his career kicks off when he goes to st. louis. there was a theater being run by bend of our -- ben devar,. this theater had a reputation of being cold drafty, a rathole. ben was supportive as a manager but he could vex you. i remember the complaint was made that your company was loaded with scrubs.

he said, hey, they have to work somewhere. sometimes devar would not pay them. one time his actors found him dining on quail and demanded their salary and mock surprise, he says something like what? demand salary when blackberries are in season? booth is very ambitious at this point. i'm reminded by that definition of ambition and determination. some remember the name of joe jacoby. use a great lineman for the washington redskins -- he was a great linesman for the washington redskins in his heyday. he said, to win the super bowl, i would run over my own mother. his teammate said, i would too.

i would run over joe's mother. [laughter] booth was a good actor. he was not perfect, but edwin forrest, who everyone agrees was a gigantic actor from this time, said an actor was great if he could play three major leads better than anyone else in the country and booth has no trouble doing that. richard iii had a apparel. -- had no parallel. i particularly like richard the third and the marble hard to get because richard newman will three -- richard iii. sincerity and openness are needed to be open at the other role. the fact that he could be the best in the country to such time

ethically-opposed rolls shows his ability as an actor. -- such diametrically opposed roles shows his ability as an actor. it is not true they loved him in the deep south and because of that, that sparked a love of the south in him. he was most popular, believe it or not, in boston. that was the place he was best known and most liked. i will say one last thing about booth as an actor. i don't think any actor in his time put more blood, sweat, and tears into a performance. his acting style was very physical. particularly the plays including with a sword fight would be quite protracted sometimes dangerous. he got knicked, he gave knicked.

when the curtain came down sometimes people said he would later five or 10 minutes without moving. you would be prostrate from the effort he put up. booth had a number of affairs during the civil war years. if i could go back and find people that i could meet from the period of my work, i would want to meet maggie mitchell, a diminutive actor-singer-dancer, a beautiful creature, very energetic. they say maggie was in her 20's when she got at the age of 81. [laughter] there was a story in the ford family that john and maggie are engaged. there are stories about booth being engaged to other women as well. i'm reminded thinking about john's affair and etc., i am reminded of a story of man

investors. she said, i think i will tell my husband everything about my romantic past. everything. her friend said, everything? you're going to tell them everything? she said, everything. everything? she said, yes. one fred said, what courage. another friend said, what honesty. the third friend said, what a memory. [laughter] the lengthy is political thing booth wrote was a speech. never had occasion to deliver it. right after lincoln's election. it is thousands of words. abraham lincoln's name is not mentioned in the document. he has become the most discussed man in the united states and he has not even hit booth's radar

you. at the war went on, he certainly did. in august of 1864 he began to recruit people to duct lincoln. -- abductor 20. john ford of ford's theater says this was not as crazy as it sounded, given that lincoln would travel without escort and he was regular about going to the soldiers' homes and ford thought it would be fair stroke in war. i don't have any reason to think lincoln would have resisted. what if there was a shootout or lincoln got hurt or killed in an adoption attempt? booth's feeling was that if they struck a blow most sufficiently daring and unexpected, they

would be able to pull this thing off. booth gathered around him. if you young marylanders, people from the d.c. area. some these people looked pretty common and low-order to their contemporaries. one of the people he recruited was david harold, who traveled on the escape route with booth and was hanged. my research does not suggest that harold was a dummy. one federal detective said he thought harold was naturally quick and smart. he is not a genius. i remember the redskin quarterback from the golden age. theismann said that not everyone is that smart. not everyone is a genius. the person -- a genius is someone like norman einstein.

[laughter] i'm not saying that harold was a norman einstein by any means. when the confederate army surrendered, richmond was captured, the confederates in virginia surrender. booth size -- saw his chance to murder. booth had been thinking about it. at the time lincoln was signed the emancipation proclamation who had been rehearsing. apropos of nothing, he put a prop pistol in the chest of the actors and said, if you were lincoln, by god, i could make some history. that was january 1, 1963. that had been bothering him sometime. the night in the theater, booth

came in after 10:00 as i reconstructed, dressed in ordinary clothing, had a pistol concealed in his hand. it is a touch less than six inches long. and a boeing i've -- bowie knife. there was an attendant at the box named forbes. he is an attendant, not a soldier. he is armed only with good intentions. people have been coming and going out of the box. forbes admitted i have a surprised exhalation for that, which i think i will teach you with an hope you buy the book. it is something that nobody speculated about before. i feel -- see if it makes any sense to you, about how we got in the box. it explains one kind of mystery about the assassination investigation. why was forbes never

interviewed? why was he not part of the trial? why did force not -- forbes? they are looking for everyone else and they did not ask the person who opened the door for booth. what happened there? that is a considerable distance, as you can guess. i think when i was a kid, i fell out of a tree about that far and i saw in an imax years ago that someone jumped from this side for the filming was doing and he had ankles heavily tapes, a gel pack in his shoe. it sounded like a cannon went off when hit the stage. my theory is booth broke his leg right there. after david harold scatchard, he told people booth broke his leg on the stage. i think was