Supposedly, someone in my family has a violin case that was punctured by the shell of the bullet used to kill (Abraham) Lincoln. I have my doubts because a shell (from a modern weapon anyway) probably wouldn't have the velocity to puncture a wood/leather/whatever material case.
Did "My American Cousin" even have an orchestra?
Thanks!
The firearm used to kill Lincoln was a .44-caliber muzzle-loading, percussion-cap Derringer-style pistol. The bullet -- a round ball -- would be forced down the barrel after a powder charge was poured, and a percussion cap affixed to the nipple.
As this was a cartridge-less pistol, there would be no "shell" (in that "shell" generally refers to the metal casing that contains the primer, powder, and bullet in more modern ammunition).
Moreover, even if there were a cartridge I have a very hard time picturing any cartridge having enough kinetic energy to puncture anything but wet tissue paper. The spent casing of a bullet carries only the kinetic energy of a few grams being dropped from shooting height.
As for the bullet itself, it was recovered from Lincoln's brain.
The FBI has a fantastic article discussing at length the firearm in question:
No, the weapon that Booth used to kill Lincoln was a single-shot pistol with a ball, powder and a percussion cap firing mechanism, called a Philadelphia Deringer. The bullet from Booth's weapon actually did not leave Lincoln's head, but stayed in his brain, so there's little chance that your relative's story is true. (Edit to clarify: The ball was recovered after Lincoln died, but the point I'm getting at is, unlike what we might expect with a modern pistol, it did not pierce all the way through his skull -- Donald describes the wound as diagonal, with the ball impacting the other side of his skull and lodging there.)
There was an orchestra there to provide musical accompaniment to the play -- we know that they played Hail to the Chief when the presidential party arrived -- but it's quite unlikely that a violin case was pierced by a shell or other part of a bullet, though it's quite possible to imagine scenarios where it was damaged in the confusion following the shooting and Booth's escape (he jumped from the box onto the stage before leaving the theater).
The best one-volume biography of Lincoln is probably David Herbert Donald's Lincoln, although I have heard Michael Burlingame’s two-volume work is also highly regarded. I haven't read that one myself.