(10-23-2015 04:05 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Yesterday I received an email from the grandson of Phillip Hanson Hiss. I wrote back and asked if I could have his permission to post his message. He kindly said yes. Many thanks to Richard O. Ames Brown for this contribution to the forum:

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Re: Phillip Hanson Hiss existed and was a bona fide serous journalist

Dear Mr Norton,

On a search on Lincoln I came across your website, and on it discussions of the article by Phillip Hanson Hiss.

The name Phillip Hanson was used (and is to this day) in successive generations in the Hiss family, and this must be born in mind when researching the name. However the grave In Greenmount Cemetery Baltimore identified by one of your corespondents is in fact that of the Phillip Hanson Hiss in question. I know the grave as it is among those of the Hiss and Ames families - my ancestors.

Phillip Hanson Hiss - the writer of the article on Lincoln - did exist, and was a lawyer by training (a graduate of Johns Hopkins). He and his brother had owned a manufacturing business, and after his family had lost its money in a lawsuit over a will, he worked as a writer and journalist.

There was at the time of his death much speculation about it, as he came from a very prominent Baltimore family. It had owned property in Cincinnati and I guess that could be why he was working there.

There were numerous lurid and contradictory accounts of his death (some mentioned on your website), but most cite no reliable sources.

Following his death, the account read as evidence in court was that he had left his office in the very early hours of the morning (in winter), and was found dead on the foreshore of the river. His hat and his coat were found at different places in the street along the route between his office and the river.

In court, the explanation given by the police was that he was trying a short-cut home and in the cold and without his coat he had died of a heart-attack.

At the time of his death he was working for the Cincinnati Enquirer. His colleagues there testified that he was working in his office late as he was near completion of his research exposing large-scale police corruption. They said that they were in no doubt that he was killed by the police.

The court found in favor of the police version and explanation.

I have researched the story very fully because I am his grandson, and my account comes from sources published at around the time of his death.

Richard O. Ames Brown

(10-24-2015 03:56 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Susan, I shall write him, ask, and post if he sends me one.

(10-25-2015 04:19 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Many thanks to Mr. Brown for sending a photo of Phillip Hanson Hiss:

(10-25-2015 04:19 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Many thanks to Mr. Brown for sending a photo of Phillip Hanson Hiss:

(10-26-2015 10:39 PM)Pamela Wrote:  John, thanks for the additional research which seems to tip the scales in favor of Lipman's version, when all the information is looked at together.

Quote:I interpret it this way. When John first proposed Lipman's version with nothing beside his (Lipman's) account to give it credibility, he was saying a tiny pebble was more reliable than the bricks of evidence on the other side. With John's research, the pebble has changed into a seed. The evidence against Lipman is still larger, but, if John keeps it up, that seed may grow into a tree that will outweigh the traditional story. Now John needs to continue his research on Lipman's time in the Zouaves and look at the movements of his regiment to see whether or not they were with Surratt's regiment at the times Lipman stated. He should check the names of the other guards Lipman mentions to see if they were stationed at Veroli when Surratt was arrested.

Right now John has proven that Henri Lipman was in the Papal Zouaves at the same time as John Surratt. It's a good start, but just because that small detail is true doesn't mean everything else Lipman states is true. If he keeps cultivating his seed, the evidence may grow but, as of now, the weight of evidence is still in favor of John Surratt's leap.

(10-27-2015 08:36 AM)Pamela Wrote:  "One has to put together ALL the pieces of the puzzle before assuming anything." -BettyO

One doesn't need to put all the puzzle pieces together, with history you will probably not be able to find them all. As I recall, Dave assumed that the following statement supported the cliff leap story. I can't find the police report, (Naples?) but this comes from it: "...he had been put in prison for insubordination, from which he escaped, jumping from a window or high wall." Presumably the writer of this report got his information from John Surratt near the time of his escape, who made no mention of jumping from a cliff, thus contradicting the cliff story rather than confirming it.

It's a very interesting story one way or another.