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George Andreas Atzerodt ( in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln . Atzerodt immigrated from Germany in 1843 when he was 8 years old. He opened his own carriage repair business in Port Tobacco , Maryland . He was chosen by John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson , but lost his nerve and failed to make the attempt. He was tried and executed along with other conspirators Mary Surratt , Lewis Payne and David Herold . THE CONSPIRACY Some years after opening his carriage repair business, Atzerodt met John Wilkes Booth in Washington D.C. Atzerodt was willing to join in a conspiracy to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln , as he later admitted in his trial which took place May 1 , 1865 . According to the prosecution, Booth instructed Atzerodt to assassinate the Vice President , Andrew Johnson , on April 14 1865 . On that morning, Atzerodt booked a room at the National Hotel where Johnson lived, and Booth was staying. However, he could not muster the courage to kill Johnson, so he began drinking at the hotel bar. He presumably became drunk, and spent the night perambulating the streets of Washington, DC . , Lewis T. Powell , David E. Herold , and George A. Atzerodt), July 7, 1865, at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. .]] During his stay at the hotel, Atzerodt had asked the bartender about the whereabouts of Vice President Johnson. This aroused suspicion the next day after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. An employee of the hotel contacted the police regarding a "suspicious looking man in a gray coat". The military police then conducted a search of Atzerodt's room on April 15 , and found that he did not sleep in it on the night of April 14, had a loaded Revolver concealed under his pillow, and a concealed Bowie Knife as well. Furthermore, the police also found a bank book belonging to his co-conspirator, John Wilkes Booth, in the room. Atzerodt was arrested on April 20 . He was found at his cousin, Hartman Richter 's, house in Germantown, Maryland . Atzerodt's . REFERENCES The conspiracy
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