Joseph H. Simonds, a close friend of John Wilkes Booth, was a sandy-haired, immaculately dressed cashier at Merchants Bank in Boston — until he gave up his job and moved to Franklin, Pa., to manage Booth’s oil investments.

Simonds aspired to be something more than a bank clerk. He had no clue Booth was conspiring against the president.

In fact, when Booth was preoccupied with the plot to kidnap Lincoln in the early months of 1865, Simonds chastised him for neglecting his acting and his investments.

Source: “Right of Wrong, God Judge Me: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth,” edited by John Rhodehamel and Louise Taper