Everyone knows the story of John Wilkes Booth.
He’s rightfully terrified, says Meltzer.
He firmly believes that he’s going to die in office, and he’s absolutely right.
Enjoy this excerpt fromThe Lincoln Conspiracy.
Cecil County, Maryland
February 23, 1861
There’s a secret on this train.
The land here is mostly rural, a mix of flat farmland and rolling hills.
Inside, there’s also nothing out of the ordinary.
The passenger cars are dotted with travelers, most with closed eyes.
In the rear sleeper car, a handful of passengers occupy the berths on either side of the aisle.
Yet much about this seemingly ordinary train is not as it seems.
The package remains tightly sealed, supposedly containing government documents of urgent importance.
In fact, the box contains something else entirely.
None of the train’s staff knows this.
Only one passenger on the train is aware of the package’s true contents.
The names written on their tickets are not real.
Yet the most unusual passenger is the young woman’s invalid brother, with whom she boarded in Philadelphia.
He wore a loose overcoat over his shoulders, concealing his clothes and torso.
Now, he lies behind a curtain in one of the sleeper berths, hidden from view.
Because of his unusual height, he cannot stretch out his legs, so he keeps them bent.
This man is not, in fact, an invalid.
Nor is he the young woman’s brother.
The engineer, conductor, staff, and other passengers have no idea he’s aboard.
But there he is hiding in their midst.
President-Elect of the United States.
The world is tracking his every move.
Tonight, however, he is vulnerable and nearly alone.
Tonight, his life is in danger.
And tonight, the President-Elect is the target of a sinister plot calling for his murder.
It is a story that is not well-known by most people today.
Even now, some aspects of the scheme remain mysterious.
This is about the future of a country.
The nation’s future is at stake.
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