Clara Harris's Bloody Dress

[HerbS]

I feel that Mary Lincoln would not have let Laura Keene, "Over Step Her Bounds".She was OK with Dr's in the Box.But,then again,we were not there!

[Gene C]

This is a long thread, so I'm sorry if this has been mentioned previously.
What caught my attention to the article below is the last half which mentions Clara and Henry's final resting place and the comments about Clara's dress

http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/201...assination

[RJNorton]

(09-16-2014 09:55 AM)Gene C Wrote:  This is a long thread, so I'm sorry if this has been mentioned previously.
What caught my attention to the article below is the last half which mentions Clara and Henry's final resting place and the comments about Clara's dress

http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/201...assination

Thanks for the link to this article, Gene.

"In 1952, in accordance with the cemetery’s policy of unvisited graves, the couple’s bodies were exhumed and cremated."

Due to Eva's outstanding research we now know this is not true!

[Eva Elisabeth]

The article dates from Feb. 22, 2013, that was earlier (thanks for your kind words, Roger!).

[LincolnToddFan]

(01-17-2014 10:23 AM)HerbS Wrote:  I feel that Mary Lincoln would not have let Laura Keene, "Over Step Her Bounds".She was OK with Dr's in the Box.But,then again,we were not there!

I completely agree with you-in fact I made the exact same point in another thread!

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(09-16-2014 10:00 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(09-16-2014 09:55 AM)Gene C Wrote:  This is a long thread, so I'm sorry if this has been mentioned previously.
What caught my attention to the article below is the last half which mentions Clara and Henry's final resting place and the comments about Clara's dress

http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/201...assination

Thanks for the link to this article, Gene.

"In 1952, in accordance with the cemetery’s policy of unvisited graves, the couple’s bodies were exhumed and cremated."

Due to Eva's outstanding research we now know this is not true!

I cannot express how disturbed and revolted I felt when I first read this, and in fact a descendant of Clara Harris who I met online(and who frankly did not seem all that interested or informed regarding her famous ancestor told me it was true)

THANK YOU Eva, for getting to the bottom of it-no pun intended!

[BettyO]

Here is a photo that I've had for years (Chicago Historical Society) - URL: http://chicagohistory.org/wetwithblood/b.../index.htm

This site shows Laura Keen's dress fragments as well as Clara Harris' silk dress fragment (a part of the "haunted dress?!).....

The fragment with the stains (whether rust or blood is anyone's guess) seems different from the other proposed Keene fragment which is in the Chicago Historical Society -- can't remember where I got that one.....

Laura Keene Dress Fragment 01

   

Laura Keene Dress Fragment 02

   

Clara Harris Dress Fragment

   

The stain in the first photo on the fabric looks to me as something other than "blood" -- I have an original 1850s night dress which I bought in a Richmond antique store years ago. It has a similar stain across the front and the man from whose antique shop I bought the gown told me that it was a rust spot from having been folded across a wire clothes hanger for years (shades of Faye Dunaway; Mommie Dearest - "No More Wire Hangers!") The stain on this piece of fabric appears to be very similar.

The fabric of this particular dress fabric appears to be a watered silk and is a print which a friend of mine who is associated with the Costume Society of America referred to as akin to to a modern "computer print"; i.e. the design was printed into the fabric against the warp making it somewhat appear as if it bled or was blurred. She had an original 1850s period dress printed with a similar fabric design and told me that the printing design in the supposed Laura Keene fragment was popular in the 1850s and 1860s.

[L Verge]

Your description of the fabric seems to match my previous posting about something called Ikat fabric: Ikat fabrics are traditionally woven from warp yarns that are pre-dyed with intricate patterns. Ikat designs were popular during the Civil War following the refinement of commercial warp printing techniques in the 1820s. Ikat patterns characteristically have "bleeding" edges, as the warps are never perfectly aligned. The "blood" stain on the alleged Keene fragment is difficult to distinguish from the ikat pattern.

[L Verge]

I had posted earlier about the color of Clara Harris's dress, thinking that I had read that it was blue. However, in the blurbs I have read tonight on various sites, it appears that the dress was white? I didn't realize that there was actually a small book written about 1930 entitled The White Satin Dress. The author was the same lady who wrote The Perfect Tribute about Lincoln. One of the websites says this:

"There is no reliable description of the dress Clara Harris wore to Ford's Theatre on the night of the assassination.

"Author Mary Shipman Andrews described it as a 'white satin ball-dress, with a wreath of artificial roses and lilacs across the front' in her 1929 ghost story. (ANDREWS) Women's 1865 evening attire could have been either short- or long-sleeved. The lightweight white silk fragment is similar to inexpensive silks frequently used as sleeve linings."

When I saw that description, it reminded me of the three-quarter photo of the seated Clara Harris. In that photo, she is wearing a gown that would certainly fit that description. I don't know when the photo was taken, but it would have to have been before the assassination if that is the same dress. There is certainly no sign of blood on it. Clara may have kept that dress, but I cannot imagine that she would ever have worn it again - blood stains or no blood stains.

[RJNorton]

(09-20-2014 10:40 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I had posted earlier about the color of Clara Harris's dress, thinking that I had read that it was blue. However, in the blurbs I have read tonight on various sites, it appears that the dress was white?

In 2008 I wrote Gloria Swift. At that time she was Museum Curator at Ford's Theatre. I asked her the color of Harris' dress, and she replied that it was unknown.

[Gene C]

(09-20-2014 10:40 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I didn't realize that there was actually a small book written about 1930 entitled The White Satin Dress. The author was the same lady who wrote The Perfect Tribute about Lincoln.

"Author Mary Shipman Andrews described it as a 'white satin ball-dress, with a wreath of artificial roses and lilacs across the front' in her 1929 ghost story.

The Perfect Tribute - free audio version https://archive.org/details/ThePerfectTr...manAndrews

free e-book
https://archive.org/details/perfecttribute02andrgoog

Couldn't find an e-book for The White Satin Dress, but both books are available from Amazon. They are both relatively short books (less than 60 pages)

[BettyO]

I have a PDF of "The White Satin Dress" - and will see if Roger can upload it -

It's a fairly short, but interesting little ghost story -

[RJNorton]

Many thanks, Betty! CLICK HERE.

[LincolnToddFan]

Woo hoo! Just in time for HALLOWEEN in a few weeks!

Thanks Betty and Roger!