Consider The Elephant

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In this podiobook: The common wisdom is that the men who have attacked American Presidents - Czolgosz, Guiteau, Fromme, Hinckley, Moore, Oswald, Zangara - were disgruntled, disturbed loners. That wisdom includes John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, called a failed actor and a madman.B…

Aram Schefrin


    • Aug 20, 2006 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 24m AVG DURATION
    • 37 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Consider The Elephant

    Chapter 37 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2006 11:16


    -In this episode: Ned writes a letter to Wilkes. Finis.

    Chapter 36 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2006 23:42


    -In this episode: Bainbridge, Ruggles and Jett

    Chapter 35 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2006 40:58


    -In this episode: Escape: Thomas Jones gets Wilkes to the Potomac.

    Chapter 34 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2006 21:13


    -In this episode: Escape: Dr. Samuel Mudd treats Wilkes' broken leg

    Chapter 33 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2006 33:47


    -In this episode: The assassination

    Chapter 32 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2006 23:25


    -In this episode: Wilkes learns that Lincoln is going to the theater. He makes his preparations.

    Chapter 31 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2006 25:08


    -In this episode: Wilkes urges the managers of two Washington theaters to invite Lincoln to a performance on Good Friday night. Surratt tells Wilkes he will have to escape to Canada.

    Chapter 30 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2006 27:08


    -In this episode: As their cause becomes more desperate, the Confederates decide to kill Lincoln - but without involving Wilkes. Richmond falls, and Wilkes - despondent - disbands his crew. But the Rebel plan is thwarted, and Mary Surratt asks Wilkes to assassinate th

    Chapter 29 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2006 14:40


    -In this episode: Now Richmond doesn't want Lincoln snatched. Wilkes is devastated.

    Chapter 28 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2006 29:51


    -In this episode: Wilkes takes his crew to a play at Ford's Theater. An attempt to snatch the President on the Seventh Street Road fails when Lincoln doesn't show.

    Chapter 27 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2006 20:44


    -In this episode: Wilkes goes to the inaugural ball but, out of concern for Lucy Hale, decides not to snatch the President there.

    Chapter 26 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2006 24:04


    -In this episode: Wilkes and Surratt decide to snatch Lincoln at his inaugural ball, and Wilkes concocts a clever way to get into the event.

    Chapter 25 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2006 29:09


    -In this episode: Wilkes gets a tour of John Ford's new theater in Washington, then meets a new conspirator - Lewis Thornton Powell.

    Chapter 24 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2006 20:50


    -In this episode: Wilkes leaves an envelope with Asia in Philadelphia, then meets the conspirators in Washington.

    Chapter 23 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2006 22:24


    -In this episode: While the three Booths perform "Julius Caesar", Confederates raid New York City, setting fires on Broadway in the hotels and theaters.

    Chapter 22 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2006 20:47


    -In this episode: Lincoln is re-elected, and Wilkes meets Dr. Samuel Mudd.

    Chapter 21 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2006 23:02


    -In this episode: Wilkes tells Asia of the Lincoln kidnap plot.Wilkes meets Patrick Martin in Montreal, makes his first contacts on the route he plans to use to take the kidnapped President to Richmond, and gets details on Lincoln's routine.

    Chapter 20 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2006 19:15


    -In this episode: In Boston, Wilkes meets with Confederate agents from Canada and signs on to a plot to kidnap President Lincoln.

    Chapter 19 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2006 11:45


    -In this episode: Lincoln is nominated for a second term, and Wilkes prospects for oil in Venango County, Pennsylvania.

    Chapter 18 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2006 10:39


    -In this episode: Sick and exhausted, Wilkes tours Southern towns under Union occupation while General Grant cuts a swath through Virginia. In New Orleans, Wilkes hears the story of how his father died.

    Chapter 17 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2006 19:54


    -In this episode: Trying to get to St. Louis, Wilkes spends Christmas in Leavenworth, is stranded in a blizzard and fights off a wolf.

    Chapter 16 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2006 22:50


    -In this episode: Wilkes, Edwin and Adam survive the New York City draft riots.

    Chapter 15 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2006 27:47


    -In this episode: John Surratt, a Confederate spy, contacts Wilkes and shows him the courier route from Washington to the Northern Neck of Virginia through T.B., Surrattsville and the Maryland countryside, and across the Potomac at Port Tobacco.

    Chapter 14 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2006 15:22


    -In this episode: Since Mollie's death, Edwin has been seeing and hearing her. With Adam's help, he arranges a seance to try to contact her.

    Chapter 13 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2006 19:31


    -In this episode: McClellan invades Virginia, up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. The Yankees win the battles; still McClellan retreats, believing the Rebels too strong. Wilkes returns to smuggling contraband. Edwin returns to the stage, afraid he wil

    Chapter 12 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2006 11:20


    -In this episode: Following Adam's advice, Ned and Mollie go to Europe. But since Mollie is four months pregnant, they go to England, where they trust the doctors, rather than France or Italy. Ned searches the places where his father hsd been, but finds little trace o

    Chapter 11 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2006 22:59


    -In this episode: Wilkes triumphs in New York. He and Maggie go to Pfaff's Cafe to wait for the reviews.

    Chapter 10 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2006 15:39


    -In this episode: New York City considers seceding, since its economic fortunes are tied to the South. But the Union buildup brings new money into the city, and New York decides to stay in the fold. Adam enlists in the Union Army, as an aide to General Grant. His last

    Chapter 9 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2006 18:35


    -In this episode: Wilkes looks up a school friend, Michael O'Laughlen. He asks O'Laughlen to hook him up with Rebels in Maryland. O'Laughlen tells him that the attempt on Lincoln's life has failed and that Maryland is under Federal martial law and is not going to sece

    Chapter 8 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2006 28:33


    -In this episode: The family gathers at Asia's for Christmas in Philadelphia. Asia is rabid against Abraham Lincoln; she tells the others what she has heard: that Lincoln will be murdered in Baltimore on his way to Washington. Wilkes announces he is going to join the

    Chapter 7 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2006 32:59


    -In this episode: Desperately missing Mollie, Ned goes back on the booze. Adam Badeau gets Wilkes to intervene with Mollie, who quits Cushman's troop immediately and rushes back to New York. Ned asks her to marry him. She says "yes." After the wedding, Wilke

    Chapter 6 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2006 41:57


    -In this episode: Asia objects violently to Ned's marriage to Mary. Out of respect for his family, Ned gives her up. Before he leaves Richmond, he gives Wilkes the lead role in Othello, and Wilkes makes his first appearance in his own name. During Wilkes' second seas

    Chapter 5 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2006 31:52


    -In this episode: Ned comes to Richmond to star at the Old Marshall, and falls in love with an actress named Mary Devlin. Wilkes can't understand why Ned would want to marry when he could have any woman he wants. Ned reveals his awful past, and that Mary is his salvat

    Chapter 4 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2006 20:44


    -In this episode: Wilkes joins a company in Richmond, Virginia. While the local men talk secession, the women fawn on Wilkes.

    Chapter 3 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2006 28:25


    -In this episode: Wilkes begins his acting career in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

    Chapter 2 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2006 47:04


    -In this episode: Edwin goes to Washington to talk to the Federal police, and to visit June in the Old Capitol Prison. Jack is finally cleared of the crime, and Asia wangles June's release through Philadelphia friends. Edwin goes to Philadelphia. June goes home to San

    Chapter 1 - Consider The Elephant

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2006 35:23


    -In this episode: Edwin Booth, while acting Shakespeare in Boston, hears the news that his brother Wilkes has assassinated President Lincoln. The rest of his run is cancelled. He believes he will never work again. His sister Asia, in Philadelphia, collapses in grief.

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