Misinformation
In an era that just touched upon the revolution of communication, it wasn't always easy to get the news straight. With people twisting the truth every time they tell news to someone else, and newspapers not reporting accurately in the first place, it was often hard for the general public to get news shortly after the event happened. Set in the 1860's, this misinformation and confusion it made it all the more easier for John Wilkes Booth to escape after the incident. Eventually, the telegram is able to get the news that Lincoln had been shot to the Secretary of War, who then uses the same technology to report to remote areas on what to look for.
Fact and Fiction
Often, there is a fine line between fact and fiction - but not in this case. As an actor, John Wilkes Booth had plenty of experience in confidence, knowledge of the theater layout, and timing his assassination at the right moment. Booth knew at what time the audience would be laughing at the play, and used that laughter to mask the sound of a gunshot in the President's Box. The audience, thinking the sound must have been a part of the play, is at first unstartled. During the time it takes everyone to realize that the President had been shot, John Wilkes Booth easily maneuvers himself out of the theater and out of sight from any authorities for twelve days.
Violence
John Wilkes Booth believed that shooting the President would give him much honor, and, in the eyes of some, it did. Hoping to convince the Confederate side of the Civil War to continue fighting, now that Lincoln was dead, Booth believed that sacrificing his profitable acting career would give him even more power and honor. As we know, it does not turn out this way, and Booth is eventually found and arrested. Yet, like all of the people fighting in the Civil War itself, this instance just shows that violence is not the way to stand up for the things you believe in.
