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Abraham Lincoln's son was pushed off a crowded train platform and pulled back to safety by a stranger. The stranger was Edwin Booth — brother of the man who would shoot his father.

Robert Todd Lincoln and Edwin Booth

HistoryBiography

Why it matters

The idea in context

Robert Todd Lincoln told the story himself in a letter of 1909. Waiting for a sleeping-car ticket at Jersey City, he was pressed against a moving carriage and dropped into the gap; a hand seized his collar and hauled him out. He turned and recognised Edwin Booth, the most celebrated American actor of the age. Neither knew what was coming. Within about a year or two Edwin's younger brother John Wilkes Booth shot the president at Ford's Theatre — and Edwin, told later of the rescue, is said to have taken some comfort from it.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Abraham Lincoln'ün oğlu kalabalık bir tren peronundan aşağı itildi ve bir yabancı tarafından güvenliğe çekildi. Yabancı, babasını vuracak adamın kardeşi Edwin Booth'tu.
Robert Todd Lincoln ve Edwin Booth

Robert Todd Lincoln öyküyü 1909 tarihli bir mektupta kendisi anlattı. Jersey City'de yataklı vagon bileti beklerken hareket hâlindeki bir vagona sıkıştı ve boşluğa düştü; bir el yakasını kavrayıp onu çıkardı. Döndü ve çağın en ünlü Amerikalı oyuncusu Edwin Booth'u tanıdı. İkisi de olacakları bilmiyordu. Yaklaşık bir iki yıl içinde Edwin'in küçük kardeşi John Wilkes Booth, Ford Tiyatrosu'nda başkanı vurdu — ve olayı sonradan öğrenen Edwin'in bundan bir parça teselli bulduğu söylenir.

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Background reading: Robert Todd LincolnAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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