Louis Weichmann

[Susan Higginbotham]

(10-10-2015 08:19 PM)Pamela Wrote:  I am not willing to minimize the inherent stupidity of his report, as do Susan and Laurie. For example, "I don't know who Stanton hated the most, Lincoln or the South, and to make matters worse, the large landholders, who had many slaves, gave a grand party in Washington, and of course many office holders were invited. But Stanton was not, and he vowed to get even with the South. Stanton was very jealous of Lincoln. He tried every way to belittle him in the eyes of the people, as he wanted to run the country himself."

So, Stanton hated the South and fought the South...because he didn't get invited to a party?? That must have been some party! (I bet the large landholders regretted snubbing Stanton) It's so dumb it hurts.

Gene, you can buy the 6 page report for a few bucks from the Surratt House Museum. I need a new printer/scanner. Maybe when I get one, I can scan the report.

I've heard more outlandish things about Stanton (not that I believe them). Quite possibly Abel over eight decades heard such stories as well, and unconsciously absorbed them without giving much consideration to their accuracy. He never pretended to be a scholar of the assassination, or of anything else.

I spent a while tonight on Newspapers.com browsing through the Anderson, IN paper, and there was quite a bit about Abel. As he was one of the town's older citizens, reporters liked to get his recollections about various subjects relating to the town's history, including Weichmann. They evidently had a higher opinion of his intelligence than you do. It probably helped, of course, that he was a gregarious man who was happy to reminisce.

After retiring (he was a glass blower), Abel could have parked himself in front of the TV. Instead, he chose to travel, first with his wife, and then, after his wife's death, with one of his daughters. He went to every state, Europe, the Middle East, and Cuba, and appears to have enjoyed himself thoroughly. There are newspaper photographs of him riding a donkey and patting a porpoise.

When he died on December 30, 1976, at age 94 (his obit picture is below), he had lived a long, full life. If that's stupidity, I'll take it.

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Here's a clipping from the February 19, 1959, Anderson Daily Bulletin in which Abel recalls his meeting with Weichmann. There are some factual errors, but given that Abel is recalling an encounter that took place about 60 years before, I think he can be forgiven: