New Eyewitness Account?

[kerry]

(05-22-2018 12:49 PM)Steve Wrote:  Kerry,
In regards to Jacob Soles account of carrying Lincoln's body, see this thread about his changing account printed over the years in newspapers:

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...70214.html

Thanks - I just reread "We Saw Lincoln Shot," and it seems Soles' account is pretty dubious. The author says no soldiers were mentioned carrying the body in any contemporary accounts, but the book had one that said Rathbone requested six soldiers to carry the body. He says Daggart is the only one confirmed, but from that thread it looks like Bedee was, also. We'll probably never know - strange that it wasn't reported at the time, given the other details known. The books is so good at showing how the stories evolved and how people picked up the narrative even when they were eyewitnesses.

There is not the slightest indication Booth broke his leg on stage in contemporary accounts. He fell awkwardly, but everything says he ran across the stage. That became conventional wisdom much later, and then all the accounts change to him limping across the stage. One guy says he didn't break his leg, but did break some of his small ankle bones. How on earth would he know that? The worst/best is the account of a 90-something woman, which really should have been excluded or at least acknowledged as probable senility. It's treated with a weird solemnity and used as evidence of certain points. She kept it a secret for 60 years, she said. What really happened was that Booth fell and broke his leg so badly the bone was sticking out, and he couldn't get up. Laura Keene patted his head. Then a lasso came out from offstage and whisked him away - the work of his co-conspirators. Quite a story!

It has a lot of great details - Stanton told one man not to admit anyone but doctors. Others kept coming to the door, and for the persistent ones, he brought their names to Stanton. Sometimes, Stanton would say "Admit them quietly." Other times, he would say nothing. He didn't mess around.