is the person we think is john wilkes booth. you ll get your answer if the dna is good. lois, do you think that edwin booth s dna would match that of john wilkes dna if it is possible to extract it from these bone fragments? you know, i really i do not know and that s why we would like continue, you know, looking for the dna samples, and my feeling is that whatever the outcome is, i would be fine with it. it just history should be as accurate as possible. brad, i mean, is it possible that john wilkes booth actually got away with it, lived 40 years after the assassination of abraham lincoln a happy and free man, happy we don t know but a free man at least? if it were possible you wouldn t have all his family members on national television
he lived for many, many years. so she told you that blockbuster piece of information right away? yes, yes. i had no idea that john wilkes booth had survived. lois, did you hear the same story from your family about john wilkes booth? i did not. i never heard the escape stories. my grandfather never allowed john wilkes s name to be mentioned in the house. our family actually concentrated on edwin s accomplishments. why dig up edwin booth s grave? well, we do not have an unbroken matrilinial line for dna testing, so the next step would be to, you know, have edwin at some point exhumed. it s in the very preliminary stages of pulling the scientific components together, and it s
tonight from new york to boston due to the huge winter storm. amtrak says it hopes to resume service tomorrow. officials say the lines from new york to washington are for the most part not affected with a few exceptions in southeast virginia. so check before you head to the train station. now to a new debate on a piece of history many of us don t even know is at question. the textbooks say the man who murdered abraham lincoln was shot to death by union troops 12 days after the assassination. but his family s legend says john wilkes booth got away with it, killing himself 40 years after he killed the president. now booth s descendants want to exhume the body of his brother. they hope by digging up edwin booth s grave, they will unearth the truth, comparing edwin s dna to the dna of the body now buried in john wilkes grave in baltimore. to explain it all, brad meltzer is here, he hosts the history
will say that whoever they would brought up and whoever they captured at garrett s farm, that s whose bone fragment they have. that s the best evidence we have. whoever they captured that day is the person we think is john wilke zoo booth. you ll get the answer if dna is good. do you think edwin booth s dna would match that of john wil wilkes dna if it s possible to extract it from these bone fragments? i really do not know, and that s why we would like to continue, you know, looking for the dna samples and my feeling is that whatever the outcome is i would be fine with it. history should be as accurate as possible. brad, i mean, is it possible that john wilkes booth actually got away with it, lived 40 years
i cdid not. i never heard the escape stories. my grandfather never allowed john wilkes s name to be mentioned in the house. our family actually concentrated on edwin s accomplishments. what dig up edwin booth s grave? well, we do not have an unbroken matrilinial line for dna testing, so the next step would be to, you know, have edwin at some point exhumed. it s in the very preliminary stages of pulling the scientific components together, and it s also, you know, very important that our efforts be done properly, scientifically, taking into consideration all the sensitivities involved. so bad, obviously there s enough doubt out there that you dedicated an entire episode to