Lincoln was an avid theater fan and loved Shakespearean plays. Booth and Lincoln met several times during his acting career. Booth once played Raphael in Charles Selby's act and he dutifully pointed his finger at Lincoln who was sitting among the spectators while he delivered his dialogue. Lincoln asked to meet him after the play but Booth refused. The dark chapter of Abraham Lincoln's assassination goes down in history and Booth remains the villain of American history. Although Booth had his own reasons, it is said that Booth became mentally unstable later in life and that insanity drove him to the point where he killed the president. Booth as an actor and family friend of John Ford had free access to the Ford Theater. He sneaked into the president's box and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a .44 pistol. Booth then jumped out of the box and shouted "The South is avenged" and fled to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd who treated his broken leg resulting from jumping out of the president's box in an attempt to save himself. To the knowledge of the government, Samuel Mudd was sentenced to