One hundred and fifty-eight years is a long time to hold on to a couple of ticket stubs. But the tickets in question were to one of the most notorious theater events of all time: the performance of the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on the night that Abraham Lincoln was shot.
Two tickets to the show that night hit the auction block this past weekend. The paper tickets are green, creased in the center and clipped in the corner, likely by the a doorperson. In pencil is scrawled the seat numbers: D 41 and 42.
