Booth statue removed from outside Lincoln library and museum

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A statue of John Wilkes Booth has been removed from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in the Illinois capital of Springfield.

Spokesman Christopher Wills told the (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/2p8ORia ) that the statue of Lincoln's assassin had stood in a central plaza inside the museum and library since it opened in 2005.

He says the prominent location was "an untimely reminder of a horrific act, and we felt any potential glorification, even if unintentional, was not acceptable."

Wills says the museum's executive director, Alan Lowe, consulted with Illinois state historian Sam Wheeler and decided the statue was inappropriate. It was removed last week and put in storage.

He says Booth's significant part in Lincoln's life and death is told elsewhere in the museum.

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This story has been corrected to state the statue was located inside the museum, not outside.

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Information from: The State Journal-Register, http://www.sj-r.com