Eisenschiml was well published within the chemical and oil industries, authoring several articles in trade journals and magazines on various technical aspects of the business.

In it, he postulated that Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton had plotted to kill Lincoln due to marked political and personal differences.

[2] His theory, or one derived from it, was mentioned by the fictional detective Steve Crosetti in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.

Edward Hyam's book, Killing No Murder, which studied a number of assassinations, accepted this theory, with the added error of supposing Secretaries Seward and Stanton to be next in line after the Vice President.

Similar to the book, the film's premise was partially inspired by pages missing from John Wilkes Booth's diary.