Is J. W. Booth and the conspirators really in the Lincoln 2nd Inaugural Photo?

[book_worm]

http://lincolnfreak.blogspot.com/2007/08/lincoln-trivia.html

you be the judge.

[Bonobo]

1. This reminds me of that wacky Paul McCartney "double" post.

Anyone remember that one?

This guy has a website devoted to "proving" that Paul McCartney actually died and was replaced by an imposter.

[Virginia Dare]

2. It kind of looks like him...

and Booth was a celebrity, so it's conceivable he could have gotten a pass. Lincoln was definitely one of the oddest charactors who was ever President. I read recently that Lincoln's mother was illegitimate and that she was fathered by a man whose name was never known to Lincoln.

He was apparently a "planter" from Virginia who happened to be passing through and stayed at his grandmother's father's farm for a short time. Some people theorize he may have been part african or middle eastern thus that is where Lincoln got his dark skin and features. They haven't been able to get a DNA test from his remains yet, that is still in litigation IIRC.

[TwilightGardener]

3. I was informed on here that Lincoln may have been a Melungeon--

from his mother's side--which would have explained the darker skin.

[Virginia Dare]

5. That's one of the theories..

he may have had Melungeon blood through both his father and mother.

[MrSlayer]

4. According to a book I read on Booth, he was indeed there.

In fact, at that time, anyone could just walk into the White House and talk to the President. Booth was there and lamented not killing Lincoln on the spot.

[Bright Eyes]

6. Yes.

"Three months later, Booth attended Lincoln's second inauguration on March 4, 1865 as the invited guest of his secret fiancée, Lucy Hale. (Lucy's father, John P. Hale, was Lincoln's minister to Spain.) In the crowd below were Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold. There seems to have been no attempt to kidnap or assassinate Lincoln during the inauguration. Later, however, Booth remarked about "what a wonderful chance" he had to shoot Lincoln, if he had so chosen."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth#The_assassination

Interestingly, he actually intended to kidnap Lincoln at first, but abandoned it in favor of assassination; I guess because the Confederacy was defeated by that point.