New Eyewitness Account?

[John Fazio]

(06-25-2018 04:40 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks to Steve for sending this article from the April 17, 1865, edition of the New York Herald. Steve writes, "She (Keene) does mention reaching the box, but doesn't mention holding the President's head. She does say that she tried to console Mrs. Lincoln, though."

One reaction I had to the article is I wonder when/where this interview with Keene took place. I know she departed Washington quickly (not sure exactly when), and she was arrested in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 17.

Roger:

Ms. Keene's address to the audience ("For God's sake have presence of mind...etc.) squares exactly with many other eyewitness accounts. We may regard this sentence, therefore, as certain. As for cradling the president's head, the evidence is not as clear. A 1919 newspaper article by Henry Mason and Timothy S. Good favor it, but one would suppose that this April 17 account, from her, would have mentioned it, unless she felt that mentioning it would have appeared to be self-serving. On the other hand, do we not have evidence of her dress being bloodied? Yes, we do. If she did not cradle Lincoln's head in her lap, from whence did the blood come? I would conclude by saying that it is probable that she cradled his head. As for her making her way to the box, there is conflict here too. One account has stagehand Ferguson escorting her through the dress circle (i.e. Booth's route); another has stage manager Gourlay escorting her using an outside staircase that bypassed most of the crowd. This April 17 account offers some of both, saying it was a "circuitous" route (consistent with Gourlay's account) through the dress circle (consistent with Ferguson's account). I tend to favor Gourlay's account, because the dress circle route to the passageway beyond the outer door and to the box itself would, by this time, have been jammed and all but impassable.

John