John Wilkes Boothe

From Encyc

John Wilkes Boothe was an assassin who killed Abraham Lincoln. The was an actor who sympathized with the Confederacy. During a play at Ford's Theater he shot Lincoln in the back of the head, then jumped down from the balcony saying, "Sic semper tyrannis!" = Ever thus with tyrants.

He escaped from the theater but was tracked down and killed.