Posted on 11/21/2004 9:54:04 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
A letter written by President Lincoln's assassin two months before the 1865 slaying sold at auction Sunday for a record $68,000. In the letter, dated Feb. 9, 1865, John Wilkes Booth asks a friend to send him one of his favorite pictures of himself, the one that later was used in his wanted poster.
The previous high for a Booth letter was $38,000, according to Stuart Whitehurst, vice president of Skinner Inc. auctioneers.
There are just 17 Booth letters not owned by institutions, Whitehurst said. This letter was addressed to family friend Orlando Tompkins of Boston. He tells Tompkins he "will get any letter sent to Fords Theatre."
The name of the buyer, who was conferenced into the auction via telephone, was not immediately announced.
Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and former actor, shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. in April 1865.
Also at auction Sunday was memorabilia from John F. Kennedy's personal doctor.
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