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

[loetar44]

(09-17-2014 05:01 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is another of the later accounts. It's from the Sunday, June 18, 1893, edition of the Chicago Inter-Ocean. The man's name is J. E. Coyel. He said he was sitting with a friend in the 3rd row of the Orchestra level. Part of Coyel's statement says:

"Her (Keene's) precise language as she strode to the front of the stage, with outstretched hand and in a commanding voice, was, 'Order, gentlemen: order, gentlemen.' She afterward obtained a glass of water from some source, and, as I was near at hand, I helped her down from the stage and she passed up to the box where the President was dying: the report at the time was that she took the dying President's head into her lap, the graphic description of which event will be remembered by all those who read the account at the time."

Obviously we have so many conflicting statements it's hard to know what to believe, but if this one is accurate, it would seem to support Ferguson's statement that Keene didn't get to the box via the back route.

Roger,

if Coyel is right than Keene followed the Ferguson way. Okay, Laura Keene was helped down from the stage by Coyel and “passed up to the box”, but did she reached that box? Your quote says: “the report at the time was that she took the dying President's head into her lap”, so Coyell did not witness that. He had it from a report. What report? Was this report based on personal opinion, personal interpretations, personal points of view, was it based on assumptions? Or was this report based on emotions? In all those cases Coyel’s statement is only based on subjective information and IMO ill-suited for describing what really happened. I’m sorry to say, but most (maybe all) newspaper articles, biographies and “statements of ONE person” are always subjective. Also in our modern time, all blogs are subjective, even all comments (e.g. on internet). The perception of one person is always governed by his (or her) senses, which are limited, flawed and always “coloured”. You can even ask if an objective reality exists? IMO yes, only if at least TWO persons (not related in any way and unknown to each other) describe exactly the same with exactly the same observations. Only that is fact-based information and in that way verifiable truth. In the “Keene-in-the-box” discussion this verifiable truth is lacking. There are too much conflicting statements of individuals. So is Coyel saying that Keene “strode to the front of the stage” and said in a commanding voice 'Order, gentlemen: order, gentlemen.' But eyewitness Thomas Sherman (who climbed the stage) saw how Laura walked to the midst of the fore stage, and screamed: "For God's sake, gentlemen, be quiet; keep cool". What is the truth? If you see in a forrest a fallen tree and someone is asking you “did it make a sound”?” when it fell, you probably will say “yes”. But suppose that you see the blood stained skirt of Laura Keene, and someone is asking you “is that Lincolns blood?, what will be your answer than? Anyway, both answers will be based on your personal opinion and always based on your assumption. Did Laura Keene follow the route of Ferguson OR the back route of Gourlay? I think we’ll never will know that. Because this also is based on personal opinions, personal perceptions and assumptions. I only can say what I think (it’s only my subjective opinion). I think: NO (for the Ferguson route) and NO (for the Gourlay route). Re. Ferguson: there were ca. 1700 people in parquet and dress circle and there was complete chaos. Soldiers closed the theatre, men were immediately arrested, some want to burn the theatre, nobody was on his seat, rumors that Johnson, Seward and Stanton were murdered too, rumors that Mosby’s rangers were in town, etc, etc, complete pandemonium. In the overflow of crowd it was in my opinion impossible for Keene to reach the box via the theatre. I even doubt that she was able to get off the stage in full dress gown. And the back route? Don’t forget that FOUR children of Gourlay were there! His daughters Jeannie and Margaret were listed in the playbill (resp. as Mary Trenchard and Skillet). Thomas (a teenager) and Robert (his younger brother) were in the audience (orchestra level). Gourlay’s son-in-law William Withers Jr. (he married Jeannie within 5 days) was stabbed by Booth. Would you leave your four children and future son-in-law in this pandemonium? I think a father does not. Would a father leave his children to accompany an actress to the box, amid the chaos of the theatre that evening (with no one knowing what was or would happening), or would he protect his children, who were maybe in danger? And would he help to carry Lincoln to Petersen’s? Would he took one of the flags draped over the front of the State Box and place this flag beneath Lincoln's head as a cushion? I really believe not. Is it harsh to say that these are all tales, inclusive the “Keene-in-the-box” story. Is it harsh to say that when the story was told by who knows who, the story continued to get embellished into a full-blown legend?

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