Rathbone's "Ailment"

[RJNorton]

Betty, I do not know what the doctors will say, but I first got the impression that Rathbone had a tendency toward mental instability after reading Thomas Mallon's Henry and Clara. This feeling was reinforced when I read Caleb's book. On p. 39 Caleb writes, "He (Rathbone) may have had difficulty managing feelings of anxiety even as a child. His father's death may have precipitated a nightmare of emotions for him, but he was able to hide away in a large house with little else to worry about. An affluent upbringing provided Henry the means to escape."

Caleb continues, "Rathbone's station in life rarely forced a need to overcome hardship, and it's possible that an underlying mental illness was present all along."

IMO the assassination added a huge burden to a man who may possibly have been predisposed to mental instability well before the tragedy of 1865. He may have had issues even without being in the box when the assassination took place; the assassination served to make his condition much worse than otherwise would have been the case. Just my opinion.