h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Death of Abraham Lincoln - A2879922
Author: Jodan - Go here. A2773866 Have I ever steered you wrong? - U201497

Three entries on Lincoln in PR now-

A2861345 Life of Lincoln
A2879931 Legacy of Lincoln

This one is supposed to be a thorough read through on Lincoln's assassination and death. Read and enjoy.

Hi Jodan

I'm enjoying the series!

This one, strangely, seems to concentrate more on Booth than simply the Death of Lincoln. If Abe's death is the focus, perhaps the stuff on Booth should be a separate piece?

A couple of possible add-ons to consider, either way:
John happened to have appeared on Broadway. He was in at least one production there with two of his brothers.
The man who ultimately shot Booth (who died some hours later) was an Englishman named Boston Corbett.

I'll finish reading them now.

'Nother good one

'lo both.
I added the Boston Corbett shooting Booth back in CWW

It focuses on Booth more than Lincoln for a reason.
Lincoln didn't do much. He was shot, became unconscious and died. Some things happened around him, some people came to visit, but he was unconscious when he died - with no dramatic last words and no screams. So there isn't much to say about his death.

However, Booth's story is somewhat complicated and is interesting (I think), and an entry on the Death of Lincoln wouldn't be complete without the story of the assassin, I should say.

Good enough for you?

wowee Fantastic reading! All three entries! However a couple of things - In the Legacy of Lincoln section on film, you forgot his exploits in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure!! And in music there's a music video by rockers Eletric 6 called 'Gay Bar' which is full of many Lincolns; poledancing, doing aerobics and being a - well - bit naughty. Something else that crossed my mind, but I don't think it's worth adding to the Entry were all the coincidences with Lincoln's assassination and Kennedy's. Like his vice being called Johnson and so forth. Look into it more and you'll be quite surprised. They're all coincidences I'm sure... Anyways, I couldn't see anything glaringly obvious editorially...
PGHF

I know. I wrote about it at the very end of my Kennedy entry. Should I mention it in the Life one?

I don't need to include all the references to Lincoln in popular culture, do I?

aww but the Bill and Ted one is excellent dude! 'Party...ON!'
PGHF

Hi Jodan!

Yes, I suppose that's about the same for any entry on someone's death. 'He died', just about covers it.

I guess that's why my thoughts were headed toward a title that better reflected the continuation of the entry, something like 'J.W. Booth - assassin of A. Lincoln', or 'The Assassination of A. Lincoln'.

With the current title, it sounds almost as if it should stop the moment Booth left the theatre, as the rest is no longer about Abe's death, but about Booth's attempt at avoiding capture.

I certainly wasn't worried about content. The entry reads very well.

Good luck with it. I expect to see it in the EG.

"Yes, I suppose that's about the same for any entry on someone's death. 'He died', just about covers it."

Tell that to Farlander. Did you see the size of his entry on the death of Mozart?

Well, firstly Lincoln didn't die until the day after he left the theater. And second of all, it would be incomplete without the full story on the assassin. The title 'The Death of Lincoln' covers everything as far as I see.

No time at moment!

Just theater = theatre (british spelling)

and there are rather a lot of them!!!

Will come back later.

Ah, I bet.
All I ever remember is colour, harbour, flavour and centre (sometimes). Me fix.

For your consideration:-

He found his life boring, and wanted fame, like his father had. >
He found his life boring, and wanted fame, like his father had had.
He found his life boring, and wanted fame, like his father had achieved.

to me seems to need another past verb thingy on the end.

Obviously, then, the prisoners of war that Booth wanted to exchange for Lincoln would not be useful.>
Obviously, then, the prisoners of war that Booth wanted to exchange for Lincoln would no longer be prisoners.
Obviously, then, Lincoln would not be useful to exchange for the prisoners of war.

This reads to me as if the prisoners of war were useful.

Rathbone threw off Booth?s balance though, as he jumped out of the box (a fair distance for jumping even if you?ve got perfect balance) onto the stage.>
Rathbone threw Booth off balance though, as he jumped out of the box (a fair distance for jumping even if you?ve got perfect balance) onto the stage.

A flag that draped the box caught him, and soon after he reached the ground he had a broken leg. >
A flag that draped the box caught him, and he broke/fractured his leg on landing.

Mary Todd screamed at the death of her husband.> Mary Todd screamed at the terrible injury to her husband.

He hadn't died yet.

He was taken outside, and a man who owned a hotel across the street offered his own room to Lincoln, when he heard what happened. It was a small room, and the hotel was not particularly good, .......
He was taken to a nearby house on Tenth Street, where he was given a bed and a room.

Was he taken to both places, one after the other? Couldn't have helped his injuries!

Watermusic

"This reads to me as if the prisoners of war were useful."
Wow, that's about a sentence that's meant to say the prisoners of war weren't useful. I must be a really bad writer I don't like either of your alternatives on this.

"A flag that draped the box caught him, and soon after he reached the ground he had a broken leg. >
A flag that draped the box caught him, and he broke/fractured his leg on landing."

The reason that it says 'after he reached the ground' is that I'm not a doctor... and I don't know when he broke his leg.

"He hadn't died yet."

Quite right, but instead of terrible, I'll say mortal.

"He was taken outside, and a man who owned a hotel across the street offered his own room to Lincoln, when he heard what happened. It was a small room, and the hotel was not particularly good, .......
He was taken to a nearby house on Tenth Street, where he was given a bed and a room.

Was he taken to both places, one after the other? Couldn't have helped his injuries!"

No, I believe that the room he was taken to was the room (house) that the owner of the hotel lived in. So he wasn't in a hotel. It never mentions Lincoln being in a hotel. I think.

How about:-
A flag that draped the box caught him, and soon after he reached the ground he had a broken leg. > A flag that draped the box caught him, and soon after reaching the ground he found that he had a broken leg.

Then:
He was taken to a nearby house on Tenth Street, where he was given a bed and a room. > He was taken to the hotel owner's house on Tenth Street, where he was given a bed and a room.

Otherwise to me there was no point in descibing the hotel if he wasn't taken there.

watermusic

Well.
I'll do the first one, but I'll look at the second part with my own eyes.

Not now. I'm doing something else now.

Sorry for the delay, but I've been... lazy.

How about, for the second one, "He was taken outside, and as a man who owned a hotel across the street heard what had happened, he offered his own bedroom to Lincoln in the hotel. It was a small room, and the hotel was not particularly good, but it was rather fitting of Lincoln, who was born on the dirt floor of a one room log cabin and loved the common people."

The hotel should be described because it was the building he died in. And the next part of the sentence makes it relevant.

The house on Tenth Street and the hotel are one and the same building.

It initially read to me as if they were not the one and same.
now!

Fabulous work, Jodan, as usual

A few more technicalities for you:
--the Confederate army under Robert E Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses Grant >> the Confederate army under Robert E Lee surrendered to Ulysses Grant
--10 May, 1838 >> 10 May, 1838,
--was formed to protect American white citizens born in the country >> American-born citizens, or citizens born in the countryside?
--Richmond, Virginia >> Richmond, Virginia,
--attempt a kidnapping there. >> attempt a kidnapping then. (because your sentence refers to the date, not the location of the attempt).
--On 14 April, Booth went to Johnson's home and sent a note to ask if he was home. >> Who's Johnson? Did he send the note to Johnson's home when he went there (doesn't make sense ) or send the note from Johnson's home (to where?)
--and quietly entered the box >> and quietly re-entered the box?
--‘Sic Semper Tyrannis!’ >> should this be in italics since all other quotes are in italics (and it's in Latin)?
--the bedroom in the hotel and the house on Tenth Street thing might be confusing because they occur in two consecutive paragraphs, and read like they are two consecutive events. Any way of clearing this up?
--simply to kill a Lincoln >> simply to kill Lincoln
--selflessness, honest and devotion >> selflessness, honesty and devotion

I'll have to make a point of reading the other entries in the series.

Nice entry. I would only add that Johnson is mentioned very early in the article before being introduced properly as VP Andrew Johnson. Rather than referring to him as just "Johnson" in his first appearance in the article it probably should be "Vice President Andrew Johnson" for the benefit of those that might not know which Johnson you're referring to. on another good article!

- JD

Done

Anyone have an authoritative translation of Sic Semper Tyrannis, by the way? From what I know of my Latin, I used 'Thus Always to Tyrants', but I have about as many translations as I have sources.