Did Lincoln pick up Maj. Rathbone amd Miss Harris?

[John Fazio]

Laurie, Joe, Roger and Dragonfly:

A few comments:

1. Laurie, you must be thinking of Hanscomb. Here is what he wrote:

We went there for the purpose of delivering to the President a message...upon reaching the door we found no other person...than Mr. Charles Forbes...As the play was progressing we requested Forbes to hand the dispatch to the President. (National Republican, June 8, 1865)

Hanscomb is reported to have come 5 to 20 minutes before the assassination. (Letter of eyewitness A.M.S. Crawford, quoted in Good, pp. 29,30; Reck, p. 93; Pitman, p. 96; The Trial of John H. Surratt, Vol. 1, p. 129; and letter of George B. Todd to his brother, April 15, 1865)

2. Joe: I believe you are referring to McGowan and Crawford, and you make a great point: If Booth showed Forbes a writing (and the evidence is persuasive that he did), then he must have gained entry the first time without dealing with Forbes. Perhaps this was the time when he was reported by one eyewitness as having simply pushed the door open with his knee, no guard being present.

3. Roger, 13 years is enough time for the memory to fade, to say nothing of all the confusion attendant to the event. Keene was there. Harris is simply mistaken. Perhaps she was out of the box by the time Keene arrived. She was being comforted for shock just as Mary Lincoln was; perhaps she was simply unaware of who was there. Taft claimed he held Lincoln's head when the President was carried downstairs. Leale said he did. Both were honorable men, as far as we know. These kinds of discrepancies occur on occasions of great stress.

4 Dragonfly. Protocol, yes. I believe this issue is settled by my earlier message in which I cited, I believe, 6 references, attesting to the fact that all four of the presidential party left the White House together. Quotes suggesting otherwise are not being interpreted correctly, in my opinion.

Please refresh my recollection about the castor oil story. I am only vaguely familiar with it.

Thank you.

John