A detailed account of the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. This, in its day, was a "media sensation." The assassination of Abraham Lincoln launched John Wilkes Booth into infamy--not the kind of "fame" he was hoping for. Townsend was a writer for the New York Herald and used the pen name "Gath".

It was a time when Lincoln was being martyred, a Christlike figure, while his assassin was being demonized, a Judas figure. With the country still in mourning in 1866, Gath had no trouble rousing people to heights of fury over the crime. He does it in this book.
Even today it is difficult to look at John Wilkes Booth as anyone other than the assassin. We forget that he was a well-known and very popular actor, young and handsome, and making money.