Assasination relics: Clothing, chairs, death-scene stuff, and other macabre items

[Rsmyth]

I would take anything Withers said with a grain of salt. He not only embellished but made things up and that was right after the assassination, not 40 – 50 years after.
The flag that Withers said he received from Peter Taltavull, which during the assassination was cut by Booth’s spur was in reality the Treasury Guard Regimental flag currently on display at Ford’s Theater. This flag was obtained from the Treasury Department and hung vertically in the center of the box by Harry Ford prior to Lincoln’s visit.
After the assassination the relic was returned to the Treasury and displayed outside the office of the Treasury Secretary. At some point the flag came into the possession of Emory S. Turner of the Treasury Guard who finally gave the flag to his daughter, Marie Turner Gavit of Santa Barbara, CA. She bequeathed the flag to the National Park Service in November 1932. At that time Emory was still living at 840 Park Avenue in New York City.
In regards to Jeannie Gourlay informing any family members of the relic, I interviewed Thomas Gourlay, the grandson of Thomas C. Gourlay (brother of Jeannie) who was also present at Ford’s Theater. It is to be remembered that Jeannie, Thomas and William Withers returned to the Gourlay home after the shooting and discussed the nights events along with Withers showing everyone the knife cuts in his jacket. There was no mention of the flag. In fact Thomas Gourlay (grandson) told me that the Gourlay family on Long Island and the Bronx, New York was very surprised to read about the flag in the newspapers in 1954 when the story appeared of the flag being donated to the Pike County Historical Society by Vivian Paul Struthers (Jeannie’s son). No one in the extended Gourlay family had ever mentioned a flag. Many of the Gourlay family travelled to Milford, PA to see the flag on display in the museum.
In the early 1900’s journalist Hamilton Busby travelled to Milford to interview Jeannie about the assassination. She described the event and her recollections of Booth, whom she knew. But, she never mentioned a flag.