Although the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln happened a long time ago, a video on YouTube of the last surviving witness to that tragedy reminds us that not all history falls within the distant past, or at least as far in the past as we would often like to think.
The YouTube video is from a 1950s television game show called I've Got a Secret. On that show, random guests appeared and shared a secret that celebrity panelists had to guess. If no one guessed the secret correctly, the guest received a cash prize. Sometimes, those secrets were deeply personal, while others, like this one, are those that affected a nation.
In 1956, a 96-year-old Samuel J. Seymour appeared on I've Got a Secret and shared his secret: he saw John Wilkes Booth assassinate Lincoln in 1865. What makes this video so amazing is that it doesn't seem like the Lincoln assassination and television would even fall within the same time period, but it's a good reminder that parts of history are sometimes only just around the corner in the grand scheme of time.
Seymour was obviously just a very young child when Booth shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865, but that fateful day changed him forever as he heard the shot ring out that killed the nation's president.
Here's the video of Seymour's appearance on I've Got a Secret:
In the video, Seymour's age is apparently an issue: he suffered a fall just before the taping of the game show. Sadly, he passed away that same year, several months later, on April 12.
After the TV appearance, several newspapers published Seymour's eyewitness account of the incident that shocked a nation.
"Even if I were to live another 94 years, I'd still never forget my first trip away from home as a little shaver five years old," Seymour recounted.
Seymour originally saw the president in the balcony waving and smiling at people. However, then, he heard the shot that "always will be remembered," followed by a scream from the president's box. He witnessed Lincoln "slumped forward in his seat" and then saw Booth jump off the balcony. Because he wasn't sure of what happened, Seymour's initial concern was for Booth.
The I've Got a Secret host suggested that Seymour not appear on the show because of his failing health, but the elderly man had insisted. Thanks to that appearance, there is now a video of him that will continue to give students of American history a new perspective.
