Lt. A.S. Crawford told investigators he was sitting about five feet from the door of the president’s box, watching the play, when John Wilkes Booth interrupted during the third act. Crawford thought Booth was intoxicated. He also noticed a glare in Booth’s eye.

Crawford was about to make a remark about that to his companion when he heard a shot fired. He jumped to the door of the box but Maj. Henry Rathbone, the president’s theater companion, asked him not to let anyone in the box. Crawford sent for a surgeon.

Crawford’s description of the killer: “He very strongly resembled the Booths. What attracted my attention particularly was the glare in his eye… He was a rather good-looking, short-necked fellow about five feet eight inches high with grayish pants, I think.”