New Eyewitness Account?

[Finnigan]

(04-30-2018 03:47 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(04-29-2018 07:48 PM)Finnigan Wrote:  I can get a copy of this article for you. It may take about a week.

That would be great! Thanks, David.

Still waiting on this...

[Finnigan]

Microfilm arrived and I've just finished scanning the article. It's a long one. First page of this PDF is a booboo, just skip it. The original microfilming wasn't the greatest, and this strip is scratched, but you can zoom in pretty well.

Download PDF: "Assassination Night." Philadelphia Weekly Times, 29 December 1877

Let me know if there's any part that you can't read; I'll hold on to the reel for a week and can re-scan it if needed.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Thanks for posting this!

[Steve]

Thanks for posting this! Clara's account in the article that Laura Keene was not in the box can be read in full now.

[RJNorton]

If the following is accurate, Clara apparently told two stories regarding Laura Keene's presence or lack of it.

http://blog.nyhistory.org/attending-ford...-rathbone/

"The library at the New York Historical Society has a letter that Clara Harris wrote to her friend Mary describing that frightful night. She describes Mrs. Lincoln seeing blood on Clara’s dress and screaming, “oh! my husbands blood.” Only later would they learn that it was mostly Henry’s blood on Clara’s dress from his severe stab wound."

[Susan Higginbotham]

(05-20-2018 03:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  If this is accurate, Clara apparently told two stories regarding Laura Keene's presence or lack of it.

"The library at the New York Historical Society has a letter that Clara Harris wrote to her friend Mary describing that frightful night. She describes Mrs. Lincoln seeing blood on Clara’s dress and screaming, “oh! my husbands blood.” Only later would they learn that it was mostly Henry’s blood on Clara’s dress from his severe stab wound."

http://blog.nyhistory.org/attending-ford...-rathbone/

I don't see any mention of Laura Keene in either that letter or the one Clara wrote on April 29.

[RJNorton]

Looks like the writer of that article got it wrong.

Susan, do you know if this is the entire letter?

https://erenow.com/ww/the-civil-war-in-5...ts/47.html

[RJNorton]

Over the years I have wavered back and forth on whether or not Laura Keene was in the box as so many books plainly state. If one were to argue against it, how is this explained?

Seaton Munroe, an attorney, met up with Laura Keene as she was departing the State Box and related:

"Making a motion to arrest her progress, I begged her to tell me if Mr. Lincoln was still alive. "God only knows!" she gasped, stopping for a moment's rest. The memory of that apparition will never leave me. Attired, as I had so often seen her, in the costume of her part in "Our American Cousin," her hair and dress were in disorder, and not only was her gown soaked in Lincoln's blood, but her hands, and even her cheeks where her fingers had strayed, were bedaubed with the sorry stains!"

[Susan Higginbotham]

(05-20-2018 05:03 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Looks like the writer of that article got it wrong.

Susan, do you know if this is the entire letter?

https://erenow.com/ww/the-civil-war-in-5...ts/47.html

Just the first and third pages of the letter are in the photograph. The entire letter reads:

Washington April 25th.

My dear Mary,

I received your kind note last week, & should have answered it before, but that I have really felt, as though could not settle myself quietly, even to the performance of such a slight duty as that--Henry has been suffering a great deal with his arm, but it is now doing very well,—the knife went from the elbow nearly to the shoulder, inside,—cutting an artery, nerves, & Veins. He bled so profusely as to make him very weak. My whole clothing, as I sat in my box was saturated literally with blood, & my hands & face. You may imagine such a scene. Poor Mrs. Lincoln all through that dreadful night would look at me with horror & scream, oh! my husband’s blood,—my dear husband’s blood—which it was not, though I did not know it at the time. The President’s wound did not bleed externally at all--The brain was instantly suffused--

When I sat down to write I did not intend alluding to these fearful events, at all, but I really cannot fix my mind on anything else--though I try my best to think of them as little as possible--I cannot sleep & really feel wretchedly--only to think that fiend is still at large--There was a report here yesterday that every house in the District of Columbia was to be searched to-day--I hoped it was true, as the impression seems to be gaining ground that Booth is hidden in Washington--Is not that a horrible thought?

Mr. Johnson is at present living in Mr. Hooper's house, opposite us--a guard are walking the the street in front constantly--

It will probably be two or three weeks before Mrs. Lincoln will be able to make arrangements for leaving--she has not left her bed since she returned to the White House that morning--

We expect to be able to leave next week for New York--but on what day, it would be impossible yet to say--I will write you in time however, so that I shall be sure to see you, while there--

Please give my love too all the family, & believe me

Every truly yours,

Clara H.

The full letter, and another one dated April 29, 1865, are in Harold Holzer's "President Lincoln Assassinated!" In the April 29 letter, Clara talks about Lincoln's April 11 speech, mentions being covered with blood (without saying whose blood), and discusses Rathbone's injuries and, rather incongruously, an upcoming family wedding.

---

Spencer Bronson in his April 16 letter does mention that Keene "went around into the box holding the President head while an examination was being made."

[kerry]

Clara Harris seems certain Keene was not there, and she certainly was in a position to know, but I do think it is possible that she could have missed her, depending on where she was focusing. She may have been so concerned about binding her financee's arm or helping clear the obstruction from the door or pulling the doctors up into the box that she never perceived Keene's presence. It's clear that some of the details just don't match up among people who were definitely there - I'd say that's normal in a chaotic, traumatic event, or even in a normal one - people just notice different things. It strikes me that apparently no one offered Clara another dress or a pitcher of water to wash off her bloody face, which kept triggering Mary. I don't think people were thinking clearly.

There was a really good book about Lincoln's death written recently - I forget if Keene was determined to be there.

From my own research:

William F. Kent’s account was that “I rose from my seat and dashed for the president’s box. Two men were holding up the president’s bleeding head and lifting him out of the low, red plush rocker he occupied. Mrs. Lincoln was standing back against the wall writing her hands and crying, dry eyed: ‘Oh, my God! My God! He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead.’ ‘No! No! It can not be! He’s only stunned; he’ll recover all right,’ I said to the suffering woman, leading her to a seat, which she refused to occupy. ‘Oh, no; he’s dead,’ she moaned again.” At that point the call for a surgeon went up and was answered. Then Laura keen entered the box. “Oh, he’s not dead. He can not be dead!” she cried to Mrs. Lincoln, ‘but the faithful wife did not even look at her.” Keene took Lincoln’s head and her lap and tried unsuccessfully to give him water. “Then she stood up, her arms around Mrs. Lincoln. I shall never forge that scene ass long as I live . . . There was the actress, her silken gown stained with blood, there the choking wife who knew that her husband was past recall[1] . . .

A.B. Wood told Tarbell in 1896 that he helped Leale into the box, and that Laura Keene was the fifth person in the box who entered through the door

[1] San Francisco Call Bulletin, February 12, 1909

William H. Flood claims he was assisted into the box by Clara. "Then another man came in and they lifted Lincoln to the ground, while Laura Keene brought water.[1]



[1] February 28, 1909 NYT

Actress Kathryn Evans mentioned a co-star leading Keene to the box in 1920.

Doctor Leale remembered that “the President's head was raised to rest on [Keene's] lap. She assured Mrs. Lincoln that he was not dead, and tried to force some water down his throat, having brought a glassful from the stage.”[1]


[1] Indianapolis Journal,Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 December 1891 [I have to double check this source]

The second person in the box was First Lieutenant Benjamin W. Loring, who watched as Leale resuscitated the President. He remembered Laura Keene entering the box and calling for brandy, though Lincoln couldn't swallow it. Long remembered the “Miss Keene disposed of it by spilling a portion upon my back while was kneeling on the floor at work over Mr. Lincoln, which accident occasioned the request that she go, and, therefore, she attended solely to Mrs. Lincoln.” He was one of the four men who carried the body.[1]



[1] Thursday, January 29, 1903  Paper: Patriot (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

^^That one seems most convincing to me!

Col. John W. Nicholas, one of Lincoln’s guards, of Company K, also known as the Bucktails, raced to the theater where he saw Laura Keene holding the head of the President in her lap, and trying to bring him back to consciousness. Mrs. Lincoln was in a dead faint. Major Rathbone “was trying to staunch the blood” from his wounded arm, while Clara Harris was “trying to bring Mrs. Lincoln back to life.” Company K moved to guard the Petersen House.[1]


[1] The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio) 02 Dec 1894, Sun

^^Also convincing, and explains Clara's distraction.

Sarah N. Easton recalled that “In going out I reached the top of the stairs just as the President was being carried down on a stretcher. Laura Keene was following calling [“]Make way for Mrs. Lincoln,[“] who was crying [“]Let me get the assassin, Oh take me to him.[“][1]


[1] https://library.arlingtonva.us/2012/04/1...oln-slain/

^^Booth should have been locked in a room with Mary.

Augustus Clark remembered, “Mrs. Lincoln soon came over and was hardly sane all night . . . Laura Keene came over with her but did not stop[1]


[1] http://www.masshist.org/database/3042

Some newspapers reported that Laura Keene went with her to the Petersen House.[1]


[1] The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland. Mon, Apr 17, 1865 – Page 11




ETA: Major Potter is mentioned as carrying Lincoln out on the stretcher in the news coverage. Rathbone's deposition says Lincoln was carried out, and then he asked Potter to help him escort Mrs. Lincoln. So I don't know what went on there. I've seen it suggested that Rathbone's deposition was cleaned up to make him seem more in control than he was, to support his manly military image. Accounts of Mary crossing the street seem to indicate she was kind of left behind, and then a man named I think Mills and another man, maybe Potter, helped her cross, but she kind of broke ahead and entered alone, with Clara and Rathbone close behind, and he immediately passed out. I'm not sure Rathbone was ever able to actually assist her, due to his severe injury and the chaos. He may not have wanted to admit that. Some reports have Laura Keene assisting her. Actually, I can find no other signs of existence of this Major Potter in contemporary newspapers. Update: Apparently it was Maj. J.B.M. Potter. Can't find much on him.

[Steve]

The newspapers that were published immediately after simply just got Major Potter's role wrong, carrying Lincoln's body instead of escorting Mary. Errors always creep into the earliest accounts of a breaking news story by the media.

It turns out Potter did write an account of his experiences during the Civil War entitled "Recollections of a Paymaster of the Army During the Civil War" in 1896. As far as I can tell it's never been published; either an unfinished manuscript or an account written for his family. It's held by the Rhode Island Historical Society and was only cataloged in 1999. From the description of Potter written by the society, it looks like they are unaware of Potter's role in the events following Lincoln's assassination:

http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss629-6.htm

Is there any researcher here who lives in the Rhode Island area and would be willing to find out what Potter said?

[kerry]

(05-21-2018 12:36 AM)Steve Wrote:  The newspapers that were published immediately after simply just got Major Potter's role wrong, carrying Lincoln's body instead of escorting Mary. Errors always creep into the earliest accounts of a breaking news story by the media.

It turns out Potter did write an account of his experiences during the Civil War entitled "Recollections of a Paymaster of the Army During the Civil War" in 1896. As far as I can tell it's never been published; either an unfinished manuscript or an account written for his family. It's held by the Rhode Island Historical Society and was only cataloged in 1999. From the description of Potter written by the society, it looks like they are unaware of Potter's role in the events following Lincoln's assassination:

http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss629-6.htm

Is there any researcher here who lives in the Rhode Island area and would be willing to find out what Potter said?

I live somewhat nearby and can try and look into it - good find!

[RJNorton]

(05-20-2018 09:56 PM)kerry Wrote:  [1] Indianapolis Journal,Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 December 1891 [I have to double check this source]

The second person in the box was First Lieutenant Benjamin W. Loring, who watched as Leale resuscitated the President. He remembered Laura Keene entering the box and calling for brandy, though Lincoln couldn't swallow it. Long remembered the “Miss Keene disposed of it by spilling a portion upon my back while was kneeling on the floor at work over Mr. Lincoln, which accident occasioned the request that she go, and, therefore, she attended solely to Mrs. Lincoln.” He was one of the four men who carried the body.[1]

I tend to be very dubious of these claims. As far as I know there is no evidence Loring was the second person in the box (or even whether he was in the box at all). The box was so full I cannot envision a new name in it. There is also no evidence that I know of that Loring carried the body.

The book I Held Lincoln: A Union Sailor's Journey Home by Richard E. Quest makes all kinds of claims for Loring that simply are not true. Here are some of these false claims from what I could read on Amazon's website:

1. A naval officer named William Flood was the first to reach Lincoln.
2. Loring and Flood took hold of Lincoln and slid him out of the chair onto the floor.
3. Loring looked for the wound and found it in the back of Lincoln's head.
4. Keene spilled some brandy down Loring's back, and Loring yelled, "Get that woman away from here."
5. A man entered the box and proclaimed that a place for the President had been secured across the street.
6. Loring motioned for 3 men to help him carry the President.

[kerry]

(05-21-2018 12:36 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(05-20-2018 09:56 PM)kerry Wrote:  [1] Indianapolis Journal,Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 December 1891 [I have to double check this source]

The second person in the box was First Lieutenant Benjamin W. Loring, who watched as Leale resuscitated the President. He remembered Laura Keene entering the box and calling for brandy, though Lincoln couldn't swallow it. Long remembered the “Miss Keene disposed of it by spilling a portion upon my back while was kneeling on the floor at work over Mr. Lincoln, which accident occasioned the request that she go, and, therefore, she attended solely to Mrs. Lincoln.” He was one of the four men who carried the body.[1]

I tend to be very dubious of these claims. As far as I know there is no evidence Loring was the second person in the box (or even whether he was in the box at all). The box was so full I cannot envision a new name in it. There is also no evidence that I know of that Loring carried the body.

The book I Held Lincoln: A Union Sailor's Journey Home by Richard E. Quest makes all kinds of claims for Loring that simply are not true. Here are some of these false claims from what I could read on Amazon's website:

1. A naval officer named William Flood was the first to reach Lincoln.
2. Loring and Flood took hold of Lincoln and slid him out of the chair onto the floor.
3. Loring looked for the wound and found it in the back of Lincoln's head.
4. Keene spilled some brandy down Loring's back, and Loring yelled, "Get that woman away from here."
5. A man entered the box and proclaimed that a place for the President had been secured across the street.
6. Loring motioned for 3 men to help him carry the President.

Yeah, I was just reporting what my sources said - I can't vouch for the validity of the claims.

1. comes from Flood's interview with the NYT:

William H. Flood claimed “I remembered my sailing, and grabbed the side of the proscenium arch, shinning up it.[1] I yelled to the men to help me get up, but they didn’t do it.[2] I managed to get my hand on the edge of the box, but I couldn't get a grip because it was plush.[3] I was slipping when I felt a woman’s hand grabbing mine and helping me up.[4] That was Miss Harris . . . I finally mange to throw my leg over and vault into the box.[5] Mrs. Lincoln threw her arms around me as I got in and cried: ‘They’ve murdered papa! They’ve murdered papa! See if you can’t do something.’”[6] Flood fought back tears as he described what he saw next: Lincoln in the chair, his hands rested on his lap and his head bent forward on his chest.[7] Then another man came in and they lifted Lincoln to the ground, while Laura Keene brought water.[8]


[1] etc. February 28, 1909 NYT

4. I believe Loring said himself in an interview.

This is what I've pieced together from my research, assuming truthfulness, which I realize is a big assumption:

Rathbone was stunned, and Mary was supporting Lincoln.

Initially, no one could get into the box because the door was blocked.

Flood climbed in first, because he was the only one with the skills to scale the wall, assisted by Clara Harris, who was hanging out of the box calling for help. At some point, she removed the door block, or Rathbone did.

Loring came in either the same way or through the door, once it was cleared.

William T. Kent ran to the box. He saw two men lifting Lincoln from his chair and putting him on the floor. He went to the door and entered.

Augustus Clark was pulled up into the box by Clara Harris also. Clark saw that a few men had moved Lincoln to the floor.

A.B. Wood had chased Booth onto the stage. According to an interview with him: "Major Rathbone was at first unable to the get the door open. Wood says the he and others helped Dr. Charles A. Leale…into the box from the stage. He declares that contrary to Nicolay and Hay’s story [not sure what theirs is], Leale was the first man in the box…Wood says Laura Keene was the fifth person in the box who entered through the door…”

I am not sure if Taft or Leale (or Dale?) arrived first; it seems Taft did, but Leale claims when he entered Lincoln was not yet on the floor. Their stories conflict in a way that is not really reconcilable. Wikipedia says Leale was there first, moved Lincoln to the floor, and then Taft helped him look for the wound. Leale discovered the wound. Leale says two men helped him get Lincoln to the floor, and doesnt mention Taft arriving until later, along with Dr. King.

Taft, hearing a call for a surgeon, made himself known, and was pulled up by people in the box. I am not sure if he came in before the door was unblocked, or if he just did not know how to access the door. According to a 1909 interview with Taft, "Assistant Surgeon Charles A. Dale of the navy was already in the box, and Dr. Taft says that Dale’s quick decision in having the dying president laid flat on the floor of the box prevented his expiring of syncope within the first few minutes." So I'm not sure how this fits in with the Loring story, but maybe Dale ordered Loring and Flood to help. Taft's 1865 account says when he arrived Leale and King had it under control, and several other men were present.

Leale was waiting for the door to be unblocked, and entered. He saw Mary holding Lincoln up, and was introduced to her - possibly by Harris, but it may indicate that other men were already there. Mary asked him to take charge and moved away. Leale claimed to be the first one to enter the box, although he may have meant the first doctor, or that he was the first to enter through the door.

Rathbone asks Leale to help him with his injuries, clearly in shock. Leale ignores him and goes to Lincoln. I think Rathbone was really out of it and people later minimized this, although it clearly was in no way his fault.

Multiple witnesses reported that Laura Keene entered through the door with a glass of water, cradled Lincoln, spilled it on Loring, and was reassigned to comfort Mary. Unclear where Harris was at this time, but probably helping Rathbone tie his arm up. Possibly she was mistaken for Keene. But if she was the 5th person in the box (after Flood, Loring, Clark, and Leale, then where do Taft and Dale fit in?) If she was the fifth person to enter through the door, then Flood, Clark, Leale, and probably Loring don't count, so four other people entered through the door. Taft, Dale, possibly the captain mentioned below, and possibly Potter.

I do think the box got pretty crowded. Several doctors entered when Leale did. Col. Crawford was asked to admit no more. A Dr. Webb was said to have entered. Albert King apparently entered and proposed moving him to a saloon, which may be what 5. refers to.

Leale and three other men moved him - Clark said he was one, as did Albert Daggett. They were escorted by a captain with a sword, who volunteered to do everything he could. He later faltered in his bravery when he refused to speak to Mrs. Lincoln, with whom he'd apparently had prior encounters.

Someone called them in to the Petersen House.

Laura Keene walked ahead of Mary, who was escorted by two men according to some reports. One later claimed to be James N. Mills, a young soldier, who said he acted alone. Rathbone said he asked Major Potter. One man said she was escorted by two officers, though it seems like they would have had trouble escorting her, as she was throwing her arms around wildly.

Mary arrived at the house with Harris and Rathbone - I think Harris escorted Rathbone, who promptly passed out. Keene did not stay.

This is from the excellent Lincoln's Final Hours, which seemed to me to be pretty accurate:

"Recalling the shining blade the assassin had displayed on stage and noticing that the left shoulder of the president’s coat was saturated with blood, he supposed Mr. Lincoln had been stabbed. He loosened the president’s slip-on tie. Then he asked Major William Kent to cut away the president’s clothes with his pocketknife. No stab wound could be found. 13 With the help of some men who had entered the box, Dr. Leale laid the paralyzed president on the carpet, Mr. Lincoln’s head resting on the doctor’s spread handkerchief. Quickly passing the separated fingers of both his hands through Mr. Lincoln’s coarse, blood-matted hair, Dr. Leale touched the mortal wound."

Canavan, Kathryn. Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President (Kindle Locations 1324-1329). The University Press of Kentucky. Kindle Edition.

So I guess Kent eventually entered the box.

"Meanwhile, Dr. Charles Sabin Taft, another twenty-three-year-old army surgeon, had made it to the stage below. He was eyeing the wall for a way to get a foothold to the box when Daniel Beekman spotted him. “Do you want to get up there?” Beekman asked. When Charlie Taft said yes, Beekman instructed him to place one foot in his interlaced fingers and then step onto his shoulder. Dr. Taft was soon in the box. 15 Dr. Leale asked him and some others to manipulate the president’s arms to expand the thorax while he pressed on the diaphragm to draw air in and out of the lungs."

"With actor Thomas Gourlay as her guide, Laura Keene hurried through back passages to bring water to the box, but the president’s lips were already set in death when she arrived. When Keene first saw the long-limbed, muscular president lying on the carpet with his shirt cut open to waist and perhaps his arms raised, she thought how much he resembled Rembrandt’s classic The Lamentation over the Dead Christ."

"While Keene was cradling the president’s head in her lap, her manager-husband John Lutz was headed straight for her first-floor dressing room. Lutz found the door open and his wife’s diamond jewelry scattered across a dressing table. He systematically gathered up the jewels and locked the door. Then, as the president gasped for air, Lutz stormed off through the roaring crowd to upbraid his wife for her carelessness."

"Above the stage, Clara Harris was busy extending her hand to doctors and soldiers scaling the box to aid Dr. Leale. Kitty Brink was in her dressing room when she heard shouts and footsteps clumping through the scenery. When she walked out to see what was happening, she saw men being lifted to the presidential box."

"Someone suggested carrying him next door to Taltavul’s" [the tavern]

"Mrs. Lincoln scurried around the box, picking up the papers that had fallen from her husband’s hat. She turned to Captain Edwin Elzaphan Bedee, a New Hampshire volunteer, and said, “You are an officer. Won’t you take charge of these papers?” He did." So he was also there. Perhaps the one who didn't like her?

"Dr. Leale assigned Dr. Charles Sabin Taft to lift the president’s right shoulder and Dr. Albert Africanus King to carry his left. (Dr. King would later distinguish himself as one of the first physicians to recognize the link between mosquitoes and malaria.) Leale himself held the president’s head steady. Nineteen-year-old Private Jacob Soles and his fellow Pennsylvania artillerymen moved in to help— John Corey, Jake Griffiths, and William Sample. As they gently lifted the president’s body, Soles thought it felt limp in his hands."

"Major Rathbone sprang forward to escort Mrs. Lincoln to the top of the steps, but he couldn’t walk any farther. He asked some soldiers to escort her and his fiancé."

"Captain Oliver Gatch, one of the army men who had hold of the president, was surprised to hear the swarm fall silent as the bearers slowly crossed the street." Apparently Gatch and his brother Dr. Gatch's involvement is pretty suspect. They may have written themselves into the story.

Canavan, Kathryn. Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President (Kindle Locations 1456-1458). The University Press of Kentucky. Kindle Edition.

[RJNorton]

(05-21-2018 10:38 PM)kerry Wrote:  Canavan, Kathryn. Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President (Kindle Locations 1456-1458). The University Press of Kentucky. Kindle Edition.

Kathy is a member here and has posted quite often. Her username is Lincoln Wonk. In addition to Kathy's, another book I would recommend is A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours by W. Emerson Reck. These books clear up most of the false stories that have been told over the years, and people like Loring and Wood are not even mentioned in either book.