Witness To Lincoln's Assassination - Filmed in 1930

[Gene C]

I don't know who the gentleman is in this video, or the provenance of the film, but it's interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6IFEE_CM-I

[RJNorton]

Fascinating, Gene. Thanks for posting. Like you I do not know the man's name.

[Joe Di Cola]

It might be J.W. Epperson, a local newsboy (then age 11), who was present.

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Oops! Epperson was also filmed for an interview, but the man in the film clip you posted is CHARLES L. WILLIS. Hope this helps.

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Joe!

I found another link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6qNU0B-wJM

Willis' account is also in Tim Good's book entitled We Saw Lincoln Shot: One Hundred Eyewitness Accounts.

[Anita]

Thanks to Gene, Joe and Roger. Pretty amazing just to see eyewitness accounts on film.

There's a Washington Post article dated March 14, 1929. " Lincoln Assassination Narrated By Two Men Who Saw Tragedy." - The two men are C.L. Willis and J.W. Epperson.
https://archive.org/details/assassinatio...c/mode/2up

Here's part of the Epperson account you might find interesting!

Epperson Viewed Stage
Struggle; Took Drugs
to President.
Special to The Washington Post.
Brownwood, Tex., April 13.— The great and mighty of Washington were filing into Ford's Theater on the night of April 14, 1865.
Three newsboys stood near the en- trance. Two of them had "sold out' and the third had only one paper left. A tall, ungainly figure, with long coat and stovepipe hat, stopped and bought the remaining paper, smiling at the newsboy. It was the President, Abraham Lincoln. Secretary Stanton asked for a paper, too, and was slightly annoyed because there was none for him.
The President and his party proceeded into the theater, leaving the boy staring after them. The newsboy was J. W. Epperson, 11, now a 75-year-old carpenter of Brownwood, Tex., one of the two or three surviving persons who saw Lincoln assassinated.
Epperson and his two friends— one was named McClelland and the other Dougherty — both dead long ago — purchased tickets for the performance, and climbed to the balcony. It was their regular custom.
When John Wilkes Booth appeared on the stage, one of the boys whispered. "There's that crazy fellow."
Epperson had sold papers to Booth regularly and many of the theatrical folk knew them casually. He had sold a paper to the silent and moody Booth earlier that evening.
When the shot was fired the eyes of Epperson and every one in the theater were drawn to the President's box There they saw Secretary Stanton struggling with Booth, saw the demented actor thrown into the lap of a woman, pick himself up and hurry through the back of the theater.
The dazed theatergoers began to stir. Epperson left the balcony and squirmed his way to the scene of the excitement.
When the fatally wounded President was carried out of the theater and to a house across the street the newsboy followed.
Dr. Marshall, the President's physician, wanted an errand boy to run to the drug store. He saw Epperson staring wild-eyed l in the street. He called him, and all that night the little newsboy ran back and forth carrying medicine for Mr. Lincoln.
The next day Mr. Lincoln died.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Very fascinating, all of this!

[RJNorton]

Anita, the account you posted reminded me of what Mrs. Nelson Todd claimed had occurred that fateful night at Ford's Theatre.

[Anita]

HA!!! Oh my.

This was sold on Heritage Auctions April 9, 2015 but for some reason the sale didn't go through. It would have done better if there was a piece of "the rope" in the lot.

"[Lincoln Assassination]. Mrs. Nelson Todd Typescript Signed With Original Transmittal Autograph Note Signed. In 1928, Mrs. Todd was among the last surviving witnesses of the assassination of President Lincoln. This signed typescript, which features the text of the eighty-eight-year-old's address on radio station WOR in New York, offers her account of the assassination, which differs from the official story."

Mrs. Nelson Todd Typescript Signed With Original Transmittal Autograph Note Signed.... (Total: 2 Items)
https://historical.ha.com/itm/autographs...16-49120.s

[Gene C]

Great find Anita.
Encouraged by your post I dug a little deeper.

It seems the letter mentioned above came up for auction again and sold May 19, 2021.
However, since I have not signed up to bid on items on the Heritage Auction site, I can't verify if the letter actually sold, and what was paid for it.

https://historical.ha.com/itm/autographs...6236-14027

You also have to be a sign in to see a high resolution (readable) image of the letter

[Anita]

(10-05-2021 07:07 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Great find Anita.
Encouraged by your post I dug a little deeper.

It seems the letter mentioned above came up for auction again and sold May 19, 2021.
However, since I have not signed up to bid on items on the Heritage Auction site, I can't verify if the letter actually sold, and what was paid for it.

https://historical.ha.com/itm/autographs...6236-14027

You also have to be a sign in to see a high resolution (readable) image of the letter

Nice update Gene. It sold on May 19,2021 for $698.00. I'll ask Roger to post an image of the items.














Attribution: Heritage Auctions

[LincolnMan]

Great work!