Louis Weichmann

[RJNorton]

(07-09-2015 01:13 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Some of the sisters' stories (including one about a "lady" in man's boots) are mentioned in "Myths after Lincoln" (see the link below, pp. 225-26). I find the one about Anna Surratt luring Weichmann to an address in Philadelphia to translate a letter for her to be a little far-fetched.

In her biography of Holt and in her book "Lincoln's Avengers," Elizabeth Leonard mentions Weichmann's letters to Holt, beginning in October 1865, asking for a government job as recompense for the trouble his testimony had brought on him. Leonard writes that Weichmann complained of being shunned by the Catholic Church, but doesn't quote him as complaining to Holt about attempts on his life. That seems to contradict the sisters' claim (p. 226) that Stanton obtained the government job for Weichmann (which he got in December 1865) in order to protect Weichmann better.

https://archive.org/stream/mythsafterlin...1/mode/2up

In Lincoln's Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, Trial, and Punishment author Roy Chamlee mentions that the sisters themselves were also harassed. Chamlee writes, "On one occasion a lady frightened the girls, accusing them of belonging to a family responsible for hanging a woman." I wonder if the sisters' experiences led them to possibly embellish the stories of the dangerous incidents involving their brother. I don't know this for a fact - admittedly just speculating.