Who Can You Believe

[Linda Anderson]

(07-25-2014 11:10 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Stranger things have happened. No telling what she could have done in an adrenaline rush. We do know that Payne did have a sense of chivalrous behavior (except with the housekeper/maid in Baltimore) so it is questionalbe whether he would strike back at Fanny.

Maybe he was more dazed by the whallop she gave him than the fall from his horse. That could account for part of his confusion in trying to escape from Washington and his horse getting away from him.
And as far as the media playing things up, if it weren't for them, how else would we know about important issues like the daily exploits of the Kardashian clan? And speaking of that, is it now Kim West or Kayne Kardashian?

Was Payne's horse ever recovered?

It's Kimye, Gene.

Betty, have you ever found the source for Powell saying that Fanny stopped him from killing Seward or that he could not strike "that young girl watching there by her father?"

New York Times, 10/30/1866

"The fearless courage with which she threw herself between her father's breast and the uplifted knife of the assassin Payne, and the tenacity with which she clung to his arm, and sought to divert his deadly aim, attest this trait in her character. Payne afterward said that if he could have made up his mind to strike her out of his way he could have accomplished his purpose upon the Secretary, but that her face, between his weapon and her father disarmed him, and he had not the heart to take her life also."

Fanny Seward gave an interview "Not many months before her death," in which she describes Powell's attack.

"'A moment later I heard a scuffle, and started toward the door. Just then a man threw it open, ran past me, and jumped upon my father's bed. The nurse sprang after him, and caught hold of him. I saw the flashing of a knife, but did not see him strike my father. I could not stir; I could not scream with terror. He sprang from the bed and sprang past me out of the room, striking at everyone in his way except me.'
"'He afterward said he could not strike that young girl watching there by her father,' remarked Fred Seward."
Idaho Statesman, 12/11/1873

Fanny was not the only one who supposedly attacked Powell that evening. The housekeeper Margaret Coleman was reported to have "sprung upon him from behind" and suffered a broken collar-bone as a result. I think someone that would have noticed that night if Powell had actually broken her collar-bone.
Evening Star, 6/4/1887