Manhunt (2024) s01e04 Episode Script

1
I would like you to write a response.
Are you concerned the rumor that
you tried to assassinate President Davis
to end the war is what inspired
Booth to kill President Lincoln?
This dispatch which I supposedly
signed, were you able to read it?
Of course. Everyone has now.
Do you ever ask yourself why?
Because it's unencrypted.
A military order of that
magnitude? Direct from my office?
It is a fact that your
signature is on the
assassination order on Dahlgren's body.
So you want me to say it's a forgery?
There's your headline.
Secretary
did you order an assassination
of President Davis?
The Dahlgren order is
Confederate propaganda.
[SIGHS]
I'll pitch the forgery angle for my fee.
Get it printed. Tonight's edition.
I need to corner Sanders in a
way that's that's watertight.
I can't have any holes.
[STAMMERS] Sanders is our chance
to tie Booth to the Confederacy.
No holes.
[SIGHS] Levees breached
on Mulberry Lane.
Make me a coffee and I'll go back.
I noticed you haven't been
cleaning the mirrors daily.
And I needed you on Easter, so no more
holidays unless I know I can spare you.
[BREATHING SHAKILY]
Dr. Mudd, I'm done. I
quit. [BREATHES SHAKILY]
[CHUCKLES]
Very funny, Mary.
Where would you even go?
I got a land grant from
the federal government.
US Army seized it from a slave owner,
and they say that this is gonna make up
for you taking me and my family
and and and beating us,
and keeping us here all these
years and not giving us a dime!
I finally got my own I have
my own land. [BREATHES SHAKILY]
You can't quit just 'cause
you got yourself some property.
I was your property,
and you ain't wanna let me
go, so it got me thinking
there might be something
you're not admitting to.
Land don't make everything
hunky dory, girl.
Maybe you right, Dr. Mudd,
but maybe you wrong too.
And And I'm I'm
I'ma be a part of a community.
I'm I'ma be somebody,
so you [BREATHES SHAKILY]
Clean your own damn
mirrors. I'm I'm done!
Mary!
You come back here now! Mary!
But know this.
Lincoln won the New
York vote by only 1%.
That's a few farmers in Syracuse
and some abolitionist
sons of bitches in Albany.
Everybody's saying Lincoln's second term
means emancipation's gonna last.
But soon the tax burden on
regular Americans forced to pay
for Reconstruction,
on top of the war debt,
will bring to light the economic
cost of his moral agenda.
Why should those of us who made
Manhattan what it is lose our foothold?
We made sound investments
in cotton, gold, munitions.
Why should we be
forced to compensate for
less successful states
and the uneducated?
[SANDERS] Tonight, we convince New
Yorkers to secede from the Union.
[SANDERS] Your brothers in
arms will also strike tonight.
And we'll make Northerners
know what it feels like to
watch their own city burn.
[GLASS SHATTERING]
[TOWNSPEOPLE SCREAMING]
[GLASS SHATTERING]
[TOWNSPEOPLE CLAMORING]
[EXPLOSION]
[BYSTANDER] He attacked the
hotel! He's one of the insurgents!
- [BYSTANDER] Call the brigade!
- [BAKER] Did Sanders put you up to this?
I got multiple eyewitnesses,
spottin' him at the hotel
with a bunch of men all
on the way to Montreal.
"Sanders" who?
[BAKER] Search his bag.
Oh, Christ crucified. You mess with
New York City, you mess with me.
Oh. On his way to Montreal,
just like all the others.
- Get him out of here.
- Get the hell off me.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
Your Honor,
I'm trying to follow the money.
Booth left $500 in a Montreal
bank controlled by the CSS,
and I wanna know if George Sanders
transferred that money to Booth.
Now, George Sanders, as you know,
is the prime suspect in
the Manhattan Fire Plot.
He is currently funding Confederate
escapes out of the country,
and we believe that
he is a senior member
of the Confederate Secret Service.
Judge, I'm I'm asking
for a search warrant
- to investigate Sanders's transactions
- [SIGHS]
raid his properties.
I think he may be my
most likely path to Booth.
Baker had six hotel owners
and a damn conspirator
who testified against
Sanders in November,
and Baker couldn't get a warrant.
I understand that the local
judges are in Sanders's pocket.
That's why I'm hoping that the
case comes to your federal bench.
All right. Lincoln was my president too.
Well, then give me the warrant I
need to find the men who killed him.
Justice is a commodity for
millionaires. Sanders is untouchable.
This is America. No one is untouchable.
You wanna get Sanders? You
stop his financial streams.
And if you can't do that,
stop the financial streams
of the men who could stop him.
All right. Grab as many of these
anti-American robber barons as you can.
[GOLD ROOM MEMBERS CLAMORING]
[WHIRRING]
Thank you, sir.
[GOLD ROOM MEMBERS MURMURING]
[GOLD ROOM MEMBERS CHEERING]
In Dixie Land where I was born
in Early on a frosty mornin' ♪
Look away ♪
[SINGING CONTINUES IN DISTANCE]
[GOLD ROOM MEMBERS MURMURING]
- [MEMBER GRUNTS]
- Hands behind your back.
[ALL CLAMORING]
[GOLD ROOM MEMBER]
Take your hands off me.
You'll never stop the exchange of gold
any more than you can
successfully ban alcohol.
You can lower the
tide, but it will rise.
I respect that you're in
it for the money. It's fine.
But Sanders has turned your little
money club into a cell of terror,
and you will not be able
to spend one red cent
once we establish that
your link with Sanders
is soaked in the blood of politicians.
I assume you work for Edwin
Stanton. I'm his father-in-law.
[SIGHS]
I've been to his
Christmas parties. Stop lying.
First father-in-law.
Oh, Eddie's grandpa.
Now stop embarrassing yourself
and release me from this nonsense.
Does Stanton know that you're trading
Confederate gold against the US dollar?
We only speak when necessary.
But if you're asking if I believe
in making money speculating
when the Union greenback is in a
weak position against gold, yes.
I do indeed. I believe in
profits in any currency.
Go.
[CHATTERING]
I don't mean to offend, miss,
but how are you gonna teach
us if you ain't been to school?
Well, I spent one summer free at
my uncle's house in Pennsylvania.
I figured I'd teach y'all
everything I learned that summer.
And what I don't know,
I'll teach myself real hard.
How that sound for a plan?
- I cannot wait for tomorrow.
- [CHUCKLES] Me either. Come on.
All right. Gather around.
Look,
I assigned a security team to the
First Family yesterday at the funeral.
No one showed. They're AWOL,
and Booth is still at large.
Their absence is a matter of security,
and quite frankly, it's unacceptable.
Please send all the War Department
officers we can spare.
Report back to me.
Mary Lincoln is still
inside at the wake.
Secure her carriage and the area,
and then you'll escort the First Family
to Philadelphia with the coffin.
- Please stay alert.
- [OFFICER] Yes, sir.
He did have a line that
he asked me to say to him.
Hmm.
- May I share it with you?
- Mm-hmm.
[RECITING] "What a piece of
work is man. How noble in reason.
How infinite in faculties."
Abe loved your Hamlet performance.
It was a great weight on him,
sending boys to fight.
[INHALES SHARPLY]
Theater eased him. [SIGHS]
Your husband was a great orator himself.
I deeply apologize for
what my brother did to him.
My brothers are Confederates
too. We're not our brothers.
[STAMMERS] I do not deserve
your kindness, but thank you.
[PEOPLE AT WAKE MURMURING, SHUSHING]
It's him.
How are you?
Have you located the security team?
Working on it.
[STANTON] What is
Edwin Booth doing here?
Mrs. Lincoln is fond of him. He
saved Robert from an oncoming train.
Did you question Edwin?
Baker did.
Uh, listen, Robert wants
to have a word with you.
He's looking into institutions.
What do you mean?
Mental institutions for his mother.
I apologize for
interrupting your meeting,
but it's urgent that we resolve
our disagreement about Robert.
- [STANTON] I'll, uh I'll leave you.
- Edwin, please stay as the expert.
Robert's made a plea
to serve for the Union.
Abe and I are on opposite
sides of his aspiration.
Can this wait until after supper?
Robert refuses to go back to Harvard
tonight until we've made up our mind.
My mind was made by his courage.
He has my full support, I've said.
[MARY] But he doesn't have mine.
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN] Have
to let a boy become a man.
I want our first-raised boy to
live long enough to become a man.
Our obligation as a First
Family to set an example.
Our son is not more dear to us
than the sons of others are
to their mothers and fathers.
I agree with that.
I'm letting you know I
cannot bear another sacrifice.
Deny him for me.
Mars lets his son serve.
He's also lost two children.
He protects Eddie with a desk
job. He's not truly enlisted.
You both let rich men buy
their boys out of draft cards
while the Irish and Negro boys
serve. None of this is fair.
[STAMMERS] What's the point of
working so hard to be in office?
What's the point
of gaining privilege if we
can't give our children the odds?
[ABRAHAM LINCOLN] Frederick
Douglass, he lets his own sons serve.
There's mothers in slavery, had
babes plucked from their breast,
sold into plantations, never to reunite.
Those same mothers,
they sent to the fight those precious
sons that they were able to keep.
How can we deny Robert the
opportunity to join them?
All mothers are my sisters.
I'm not here to compare grief.
I'm letting you know I cannot
bear an ounce more of it.
Take my side, please.
I asked you to resolve this
with Robert, and have you tried?
- Before I came here.
- And what did he say to your argument
He accuses me of
cautiousness and anxiety.
I don't have the figures
to back up my claims.
Mars, what are the risks to Robert
if he serves? Do you have figures?
Uh, depends where he serves.
[STAMMERS] I can assign him
to General Grant's circle.
He would have better odds there.
War means choosing between
impossible decisions,
but we have to make them.
Robert has made this
decision for himself.
[SNIFFS]
Let him serve under Grant.
But both of you, I ask you.
Speaking for all mothers, find
a way to win and end this war.
Our boys shouldn't be at risk an hour
more than is absolutely
necessary to win.
We promise you that.
[PEOPLE AT WAKE MURMURING]
Robert. You, uh You
wanted to speak to me?
My mother is having emotional crises.
I haven't even finished
school yet, and
Robert, look at me.
I've been in your shoes. I understand.
But no excuses. She
needs your support now.
[EDWIN BOOTH] A word.
How do I restore my name? A
photograph with General Grant?
A White House performance perhaps?
You, um You close with your brother?
We stopped speaking.
[STANTON] Why was that?
Politics. And Wilkes always
played a victim to me.
[SCOFFS]
What your brother did to the
president, where he did it,
and how, that tells me that
he sees himself as a hero.
That's true. The last
time I saw him, he said,
"I have love only for the South."
He thought he could save it.
When did you last see him?
The day you defeated Richmond.
I suppose that's the day that we all
knew that the Confederacy would die,
but my brother took it so hard.
He mourned Richmond more than
I've seen him mourn a person.
[BOOTH] We had to evacuate tonight,
but I'm not leaving the play.
When you play the Northern stages,
word spreads that you
contribute to the Confederacy.
Most of my audiences have sent
their sons to fight for the Union,
or they're anti-slavery.
So when you play the same
theater with the Booth name,
they could confuse me for a
Confederate. You stain my reputation.
You have no right to tell me where
I can and cannot make my living.
I can play any stages you do. You
will not condemn me to obscurity.
Your acting condemns you. All
you have is rage or self-pity.
Fine. [BREATHES DEEPLY] I don't
need New York, Boston, Philadelphia.
I'll play Virginia.
I'll play to all the audiences
who support the cause.
Don't say that out loud here.
Oh, what, you think New York
isn't swarming with Copperheads?
Oh, you fool yourself,
Brother. We're everywhere.
You know what? I don't
need you. I never have.
[SCOFFS] You have always needed me.
Who would you even be without me?
Oh, please. I could get more
applause with half the lines.
[SCOFFS]
You believe in things
that will never happen.
May I have an autograph?
[EDWIN BOOTH] You may.
That was a good read.
[SIGHS]
What's missing?
You know, I'm curious
about your childhood.
My childhood?
How the boy became a star.
That's good. Very
good, David. [GROANING]
[GROANS]
It's silly, but it reminds me of a
game I used to play with my sister.
We would, uh
[GRUNTS]
gather my father's
slaves into the scullery,
and we would [CHUCKLES]
we would dress the
little ones up as royalty.
[CHUCKLES]
And we would, um we'd give
them a command performance.
I feel you've earned it.
Well, I like poetry.
Good man. [COUGHS]
I command a performance by our
favorite author: Edgar Allan Poe.
[GROANS]
I was hoping you'd say Shakespeare.
No, I commanded Poe.
You know, when I gave my Richard
III, the Boston critics hailed me
as the most promising
actor of our generation.
[CHUCKLES, SIGHS]
You remember the words?
[RECITING] "I have no brother,
I am like no brother.
And this word 'love, '
which graybeards call divine,
be resident in men like
one another, and not in me.
I am myself alone."
[APPLAUDS]
Stop. Stop, David.
I don't have the voice or
the feelings of a star. I
[SIGHS]
Well, truth be told, I'd be no
one if my name weren't Booth.
Johnny, you know that you're
much bigger than your name now.
Yeah. [GROANS] Stuck here? Who am I?
When we get to Richmond,
and you publish that diary,
it's going to leave a legacy.
[SIGHS]
And for now, you are important
to me.
Yeah, but Davey [CHUCKLES]
who are you? [CHUCKLES]
I'm no one.
But for some reason, out of
all the people in the world,
you chose me to be your guide.
[WAR DEPARTMENT STAFF CHATTERING]
[STANTON] Did anyone
witness the break-in?
So, I guess, uh, Sanders wasn't
happy about our raid on the Gold Room.
What did they take?
Oh, nothing, really.
The files were locked.
- That's interesting.
- Mmm.
What did we learn from
the from the raid?
Several of the traders placed Sanders at
some of Booth's oil investment meetings.
Oh.
Anyone confirm "oil investment" as
a code for the assassination plot?
Uh, if it is, they wouldn't say.
I saw Sanders in Montreal.
He said something about,
you know, reaching an
understanding with Johnson.
Hinted it was lucrative. Does
that mean anything to you?
It means I'm glad you finally
came around about Johnson.
I didn't say that.
Is this enough to bring Sanders in?
No, I don't think so.
We're getting closer.
Was, uh Was my father-in-law
trading when you made the raid?
Yes. And he was not happy.
- Good.
- Mmm.
Sanders has made some sort of
deal with our new president.
What do you know?
If I tell you, will you leave me alone?
I can do that.
The talk is Johnson gave Sanders
the summer uniforms contract.
Johnson's intimidated by the
race conflicts and murders rising.
He supports the army
staying in the South
to combat the violence he's afraid
is hitting too close to home.
That's a win for you.
The contract to distribute
my summer uniforms?
[LAMSON] Which means cotton value's
up and confidence in gold's up.
[STANTON] Yeah.
I have nothing to be ashamed of.
Except the mistake I made entrusting
you with my daughter's health.
You know damn well I would've
given my life for Mary.
She was mine too.
[EDDIE] Okay. We can move forward.
We all did what we possibly
could, and that's what matters.
Let's have a toast. Uh, to my mother.
Peace be with her.
[INHALES SHARPLY]
To my daughter, Mary.
To Mary.
- When will you take a wife, Eddie?
- [SCOFFS]
Uh [CHUCKLES]
I wonder, though, if your
options have diminished
since your father's
reputation is a public circus.
[EDDIE INHALES DEEPLY]
Are you getting the check or shall I?
What kind of man makes the worst times
of another man's life
fodder for amusement?
I'll see you back at the hotel.
- [BRANCHES RUSTLING]
- [PERSON WHISTLING]
[GUN COCKS]
It's time.
Keep quiet. Pack your kips.
[CONOVER] I heard you
and Johnson made a deal.
Why didn't you have me negotiate it?
We didn't need a middleman.
Well, Stanton caught wind.
Didn't I ask for a sandwich?
I can make exchanges
directly with this president.
We came to a deal a few days
ago. Just over a few telegrams.
Johnson overstepped.
Stanton's the one who approves
the army's uniform budget.
You won't get paid your
million without his approval.
You wanted to save 20%,
and now you may lose it all.
You should have gone with me.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
What does the war secretary want?
Well, he thinks you funded
Booth and the assassination.
What do you think?
I only think about two things:
Keeping my head down, and
who's hiring at a good rate.
Fine. I can make a deal with him.
I'd like to broker it.
I can get you 10% more.
Can I tell them that you have the map?
Stanton can meet me
here, end of day, alone.
I see.
Agent Wallace, I
promise you that our days
of doing deals are far from over.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
Well Well, I'll offer
you this for free.
Stanton will want to
meet somewhere neutral.
This is my city. There is no neutral.
He can meet me here.
Dr. Hammond?
- War Department?
- Yes.
Your office confirmed my security team
from Lincoln's funeral are
registered to your ward.
[PATIENTS COUGHING]
Do you have a diagnosis?
They contracted smallpox.
And do you know how?
I don't, and it's the only outbreak.
My other patients have influenza.
What I found in common
with your security detail
is that they took dock work.
But I should see more
dockworkers with smallpox,
and I don't.
The other thing they have
in common is new uniforms.
That's strange. We didn't issue any.
Well, they say they received
them the night before.
I assume you're familiar with the
yellow fever plot from last month.
We were able to trace a
delivery of new army blankets
back to a Confederate
doctor and officer.
Luckily, yellow fever
won't spread on cloth.
Yes, luckily. Is it
the same for smallpox?
Well, we don't know much about it.
But we think smallpox
spreads through animals,
moisture and, yes, cloth.
Okay, thank you.
Uh, Doctor, did they say
who supplied the new uniforms?
Sanders Clothiers.
[TWIG SNAPS]
Baker?
[GRUNTING, GROANING]
[GROANING]
[STANTON] Who are you? [GRUNTS]
[WHEEZING]
I want Robert to serve,
but she's also right.
There's only so much sacrifice
American families should
have to bear. [STAMMERS]
Can you estimate the
shortest path to victory?
My intention is always to, uh,
win as swiftly as we can, but to
It's unwise to to rush an endgame.
Mmm. All right, l-let's let's
just discuss it theoretically.
Um, well, uh,
theoretically the quickest way to win
would be to remove the chief
strategist behind their tactics.
If Davis were removed,
we could win because they
would lose their mastermind.
Yes.
What do the rules of
engagement say about, uh,
removing a sitting president?
[CLEARS THROAT] Um, capture
is is frowned upon,
but it is within the playbook.
What about a more
permanent removal by force?
Uh, outside the lines.
Well, understandably.
Speaking, uh, theoretically,
uh, the the legal question
I would raise is is this:
Is secession itself an
imaginary or a real legal status?
Or are the so-called Confederate
States a legitimate nation?
Therefore, uh, when
considering the removal by force
of a president in
wartime to end that war
I think the question becomes, "Is
Davis even a legitimate president?"
You've answered my question.
[SIGHS]
[STAMMERS] What are you saying to me?
I'm saying, win by
any means, Mars. Lead.
[STAMMERS] Um, how would
you want me to go about it?
Admiral Dahlgren, my
good friend, he has a son.
He's offered up his assistance
if we should ever need
someone we can really trust.
So I would like you two to meet.
Are we still talking theoretically?
You decide, Mars. [SMACKS
LIPS] But get it done.
- [SANDERS] You're so ♪
- [BIRD CHIRPING]
[SANDERS] Who's a sweet Lady?
Would anyone like a refreshment?
You can go home, Jim.
Secretary, have a seat.
I know. [CLICKS TONGUE] That's my Lady.
Wallace says you want a deal.
- Mmm.
- Let's discuss.
[CLEARS THROAT]
I'm not sure what Johnson has told you.
The summer uniforms
contract is my my largest.
Worth in the region
of a million dollars.
Well, I know the comfort and safety
of your officers are important
but something tells
me you wouldn't be here
unless there was more on the
table than summer uniforms.
You're right.
I'd prefer to contract
with a different clothier.
But I need information on the
whereabouts of John Wilkes Booth.
Information I think you have.
You know, I love a deal. But what
makes you think I have anything?
You met with Booth in
Montreal and New York
to discuss an oil investment.
You paid him $500, deposited
in your Montreal bank
in case his best escape on
the secret line was north.
So I'm here asking what's your price?
- You know what's odd?
- [BIRD CHIRPING]
- No.
- I'll leave Lady's cage open,
but she is so used to
captivity that she won't escape.
[CHUCKLES]
No questions asked. What's your price?
I have means to buy
almost any information.
And even I can't find a way to deliver
to you his exact whereabouts.
The map of secret agents
helping Booth escape.
Give me that,
and I will honor the uniforms
contract plus a quarter million.
Hmm. Where you went wrong
is that I can live on my interest now.
I don't need deals anymore.
I'll donate the uniforms
without even feeling it.
- And why would you do that?
- Because I am a patriotic American.
Is that why you attacked six
hotels after the election?
Funded April 14th? Patriotism?
It's like I told
Wallace, this is my city.
And this country
belongs to the white man,
and I will not sit by
and watch you give it away
without more of a fight.
Hmm. Well Hmm.
You're losing that fight as we speak.
[SIGHS]
Your forgery angle was pathetic.
The only person in
this room who everyone
thinks planned an assassination is you.
Catching some actor is not
gonna bring Lincoln back.
Look me in the eye and tell me
that you didn't have Abe killed.
[SCOFFS]
Good night, Lady.
There was only one Lincoln.
But do you know how
many of me there are?
Even if you catch Booth,
even if you stop me,
accept it, Edwin.
Confederate boys didn't die in vain.
And do you know how many
men would call me a hero
if I ended the man who
ordered Davis's death?
Go ahead.
Fire it.
You think that will make
you a hero? Go ahead.
I could fire this on Wall
Street in broad daylight,
and nothing would happen to me.
[GLASS SHATTERING]
- [OFFICERS CLAMORING]
- [OFFICER] Go, get inside. Come on.
[BAKER] You're done! Put your hands up.
You all right?
Charge him with sabotage
and domestic plots.
Got more counts on you than I can count.
This will only be paperwork for you.
[SIGHS] Glad our signal worked.
Can I wreck something
other than a window?
Do whatever you need. Just
make sure you find the map.
- [CLEARS THROAT]
- [SIGHS]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]
[OFFICER] Mind your step.
- What happened?
- Doesn't matter.
- Uh, have you seen the shipment?
- Yes.
Public health confirmed smallpox
contamination on the uniforms.
It's contained.
Did you find a list of distributors?
I wasn't looking for one.
Yeah. I need to know where
Sanders is sending the crates.
- Why?
- You uncovered a plot. I need that list.
All right. Well, they're
about to incinerate all of it.
What?
Stop! Stop!
Do not set those crates alight.
Do you have a shipping manifest?
[EDDIE] Here.
[STANTON] Bryantown, Maryland,
to Richmond, Virginia.
This is the Secret Line.
Sanders's distributors
are CSS agents on the Line?
Yeah.
This is the map. Has to be.
[CHIRPING]
[GRUNTS]
Good morning, everyone.
My name's Miss Simms,
and today we will be learning
how to write our names.
[GRUNTING]
[CLAMORING]
[BOOTH GRUNTS]
[THE RIVER GHOST] Virginia
will welcome you with open arms.
It's Poe you wanted, yes?
"Whether Tempter sent, or whether
tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted,
on this desert land enchanted.
On this home by horror haunted.
Tell me truly, I implore."
"Tell me, tell me, I implore.
Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.'"
[OFFICER GUIDE] To Virginia!