In 1797, John Wilkes, the English politician and champion of freedom of the press, died.

CNN: Thursday,

Architect John Wilkes, who lives in Dursley, said the flooding was the worst he had ever seen.

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In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, died in a shoot-out with federal troops 11 days after Lincoln's death.

CNN: Saturday,

On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South.

WHITEHOUSE: Abraham Lincoln

John Wilkes, of the Hell-Fire Club, faced a similar dilemma during the Gordon Riots of 1780, when an anti-Catholic demonstration in London escalated into an orgy of burning and looting.

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Legend has it that John Wilkes Booth was hiding outside in the shadows near the front door of Ford's as the presidential carriage rocked down the uneven dirt street and slowed to a stop, but no one really knows where he was at that precise moment.

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The exhibit, according to the museum, brings together an extensive collection -- more than 60 objects associated with Lincoln's life, including an iron wedge used to split wood in the 1830s and his famous top hat, which he wore the night he was shot at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

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