The “rubber box” or did Laura Keene indeed held Lincoln’s head?

[loetar44]

Eva, your question "for what reasons could/would Clara Harris have lied?" is I think a logical question, and logically seen, there are two answers.

(1) Clara did not lie at all, Laura Keene was not in the box.
(2) Clara had a good reason to deny that Laura Keen was in the box

Ad (1).

I found at

http://www.hersheystory.org/lib/docs/his...jf-1st.pdf
“The diary of Laura Keene”. I don’t know if this is fabricated or a transcript. I’ve never heard before about a diary. Does anyone know more about the origin of this diary? Anyway the following says Laura was not in the state box:

“Although I was quite afraid I realized I needed to try to calm the crowd. I pulled back the curtains and promptly walked to middle stage and shouted to the crowd, “For God’s sake have presence of mind, and keep your places, and all will be well.” Most didn’t listen to me. They already had doctors helping carry Lincoln to a house across the street. I ran out the door with them to the small room where Lincoln died the next morning. It was the most horrifying sight in all of history. But one thing I will never forget is the knowing eyes that I was lucky enough to see, the very night our 16th president left us.”

This raises a new question: was Laura Keene indeed at AL’s death bed ? Does anyone have the answer? I always thought she went after the shooting to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church which was located across the back alley from Ford’s Theatre and after that to the Metropolitan Hotel where she was staying.

Ad (2).

If Laura was indeed in the state box, why Clara then said that she was never there? Maybe, and I’m only guessing, she wanted Mary to protect for more suffering and sorrow. Clara was greatly moved and had deep compassion on Mary. Why then to spread the news that it was not his wife, but Laura who cradled Lincoln’s severely wounded head in her lap. Why say Mary was not able to do, because she was totally out of control? How many questions would have raised that! Remember Clara stayed in Petersen’s House to stay close to Mary to comfort her, leaving her seriously injured fiancé Maj. Rathbone.

---

(09-11-2014 12:06 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  My question: if all the statements came later where did Townsend get this information in 1865?

Roger, how reliable is Townsend? For me was this Civil War reporter and author in the first place the man who sensationalized Keene's story:

“Miss Laura Keene... took the dying President's head in her lap, bathed it with water she had brought, and endeavored to force some of the liquid through the insensible lips. The locality of the wound was at first supposed to be in the breast. It was not until after the neck and shoulder had been bared, and no mark discovered, that the dress of Miss Keene, stained with blood, revealed where the ball had penetrated. The chief magistrate of 30,000,000 people - beloved, honored, revered - lay in the pent-up closet of a play house, dabbling with his sacred blood the robes of an actress …..”, etc, etc.

---

(09-11-2014 08:16 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  See, I'm right!! Rich Smyth, Tom Bogar and I believe Laura Keene was in the box. nuf said

I’m still not convinced. I tend to believe she was not there, because any primary evidence for this is still lacking. It still feels for me a cherished legend that evolved over time, knowing that the assassination of Abraham Lincoln is surrounded by so much myth and legend.