Murder at Ford's Theatre - Margaret Truman [135]
Bancroft was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was confined to a mental institution where, it was reported, he entertained other inmates with material he would have included in his one-man show.
A jury found Bernard Crowley guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced him to life; he would be eligible for parole in thirty years. It came out during his trial that he’d been dismissed from his former employment with the movie theatre chain in the Midwest for theft of funds, although no formal charges had ever been filed. Fearful of being sued for libel, the theatre chain’s management would only confirm his dates of employment when asked for a reference. Ford Theatre’s board of trustees contemplated suing the theatre chain for having foisted Crowley on them, but eventually dropped the idea.
THEATRE, or real life?
It is often hard to tell the difference in Washington, D.C., where “real” people hide behind theatrical masks and speak the words of others more gifted in drafting them, and actors expose their souls on bare stages and assume roles other than those into which they were born.
Shakespeare said, a bit verbosely, through his character Hamlet, that theatre should closely imitate life.
“… Suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature; for any thing so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as ’twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.”
In Washington, it’s too often the other way around, life imitating theatre. The “play” that is the nation’s capital never closes, high drama and low comedy, villains and heroes, all the stuff of compelling theatre. And in true theatrical spirit, the show must, and hopefully will, go on.
«——THE END——»
Table of Contents
Murder at Ford’s Theatre
Author’s Note
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN