Edmund Spangler was a carpenter at the Ford Theatre in Washington, D.C., working there on the night of April 14, 1865 when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. Spangler was an admirer of Booth, who was from a great American theatrical family. Spangler also shared Booth's successionist views and was pro-slavery. Spangler was responsible with other carpenters for preparing the box where Lincoln was to see the show.
On the night of April 14th, John Wilkes Booth showed up at the theater at 9:30 pm while the show was going on, and called for Spangler, asking him to hold his horse, a temperamental rented mare. After Booth shot the President and hobbled out on his injured leg that he broke jumping out of the box, Spangler punched out another stagehand pursuing the fleeing Booth. He was arrested the next day, released then rearrested on April 17th. Spangler served six years in prison for conspiracy, until he was pardoned. He died of tuberculosis in 1879 in Maryland.
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