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BettyO · (This post was last modified: 07-13-2012 03:27 PM by BettyO.)

(07-13-2012 12:04 PM)RJNorton Wrote: Thank you for posting this, Betty. I have been reading Lincoln assassination books since the 1960's, and getting inside Lewis Powell's brain has always been a huge challenge for me. I think you have helped us all who have wondered what he was like as a person, why he was so brutal at Seward's, and what his behavior was like after being arrested. I believe his punishment was just considering his actions, but you sure have helped me understand what made him tick. Thank you.

Thanks, Roger! This variance in Lew Powell's character is what initially intrigued me years ago....I think this was the "real" Lew Powell.... at Seward's he was following orders and panicked -- he realized his mistake after he committed the deed - according to what he told Gillette.

(07-13-2012 01:03 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote: I wonder how many of the ladies who came to the trial developed somewhat of an "interest" in Lew? We hear so much today about women who form attachments to prisoners and correspond with - and even marry - them. Do you think Lew would have had such a following if he had been confined to prison instead of being executed?

I've wondered that as well, Laurie. This lady supposedly had attended the trial, noticed him sweating in the prisoner's dock and sent him the handkerchief. Whether or not she had "ulterior motives" is unknown. She definitely also wanted to let him know that she was thinking about him and praying for him....

I have found quite a few reports of ladies attending the trial - some of whom seemingly came JUST to get a look at Powell.... I'll post some of them here. I agree that he did seem to have a "following" by the ladies during the trial - even the reporters noticed it.

According to one report, the ladies would push forward eagerly when he entered the courtroom and "ooohed and awed" over him to the extent that he would blush and hang his head. There are also reports that the Commission and guards had a hard time attempting to keep the ladies back when he entered! So he must have been somewhat of a "celebrity" in the courtroom....

(07-13-2012 01:12 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote: Fanny Seward went with her brother Augustus to identify Powell on the Saugus the day after Powell was arrested at Mrs. Surratt's boarding house.

Dr. Verdi accompanied her. This is his account from the article "The Assassination of the Sewards," The Republic, Vol I, from March to December 1873. p. 289. Google Books.

"The scene was a solemn one-too solemn for man to utter a sound; a silence, broken only by the hissing wind and the surging waves, pervaded the whole ship. It was almost a weird transformation from a mysterious power.

"Miss Fanny was hanging on my arm. Did I feel a quiver? Probably I did, for I gently drew her from the painful scene. Conscientious even at this trying moment, she could not identify the man; her identification, she thought, might be his death. She had only seen him by a dim light as if a frightful vision. That is all she said."

Fanny wrote in her diary that she spoke to Powell just before he burst into the room.

"I did not stop to see if Father wakened thoroughly, but hastened to the door, opened it a very little, and found Fred standing close by
it, facing me. On his right hand, also close by the door, stood a very tall young man, in a light hat & long overcoat. I said 'Fred, Father is awake now.'
Something in Fred’s manner led me at once to think that he did not wish me to say so, and that I had better not have opened the door...The man seemed impatient, & addressing me in a tone that struck me at once as much more harsh & full of determination than such a simple question justified, asked 'Is the Secretary asleep.' I paused to look at my father, & replied 'Almost.' Then Fred drew the door shut very quickly."

She went on:

"The thought that such cruel & inhuman beings, as the man who had attacked my father & brothers, existed, made me wish myself dead, & out of such a world, anywhere seemed better."

I wonder what Fanny felt about Powell's execution. On July 7 Fanny was in Auburn. She had just buried her mother who had never recovered from Powell's attack and Fanny herself was weak and feverish. I've read her diary which she started up again in January 1866 until just before her death in October of that year but she never mentions Powell.

Thanks, Linda! I'm sure that Fanny simply wanted to forget Powell. If she had any thoughts about him at all, I'm sure that they were not pleasant ones. She would more than likely wanted to blot him out of her mind. And after what she went through, I can't blame her.