The Gatch Brothers

[Steve Whitlock]

(01-22-2021 11:54 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  

(01-22-2021 10:58 AM)Steve Wrote:  Roger,
Don't forget that besides Dr. Leale's account, we also have Dr. Taft's contemporaneous affidavit which listed the names of the doctors who treated Lincoln in the box also doesn't list Dr. Gatch. I can't think of how Dr. Gatch's name was listed as one of the attending physicians at Petersen House if he wasn't there. If Dr. Gatch was attending at Petersen House, I don't see how BOTH Leale and Taft could forget to include Gatch among the doctors who were treating Lincoln in the box in their statements written immediately afterwards.

Did Dr. King make an affidavit at the time as well? If he did, I don't remember reading it and it's not in Good's book

By the way, who is "Dr. Neal"? I recognize the other doctors listed with Gatch at Petersen House - Abbott, Stone, Hall, and Lieberman.

Steve Williams,

I also have a 2 part article 20 Apr 2016 from the Community Journal of North Clermont for the Gatch brothers, which has significant differences in that there is no mention of a soldier guard summoning Oliver (I believe Lincoln's civilian guard was next door in a bar at the time, and I don't think there was a soldier guard at Lincoln's door) for Booth to brush past. Also, Oliver says he and Charles, with 2 others, carried Lincoln across the street. (No mention of the severely wounded Henry Rathbone doing the carrying.)

I'm also struck by the mention of a finger finding the bullet wound, which is suspiciously akin to Leale's testimony. There is no mention of Laura Keene in my article, although accounts have her present at some point, with considerable blood on her dress, which leads me to think perhaps Oliver has read some accounts and woven her into his story that you have.

It appears to me that the Gatch brothers were present, but I have no certainty for the level of their involvement. If we know, for certain, there was no soldier guarding the door to summon Oliver then I must discount the story as unreliable. Also, it appears that Charles was not in uniform that night, so he could not be the uniformed naval surgeon that Clara Harris mentioned.

At this point I have no information for Dr. King beyond what I presented, and there is a Wikipedia mention of him being in attendance as one of the physicians treating Lincoln.

Steve Williams,

So much for my declining memory! You will find mention of Dr. King in the statement of Dr.Charles A. Leale (attached). Dr. King is mentioned as having arrived at the same time as Dr. Taft, so he was also in the Lincoln box, as stated in the earlier article.

You will also find some familiar wording to the Oliver Gatch story, and an unfortunate error by Oliver when he mentions getting Lincoln's cuffs, which were stolen 15 years ago (in his recounting). You will also see Dr. Leale claiming those cuffs. One of them is taking liberties with the other man's story, or so it seems abundantly clear to me.

There was a Captain who cleared the way. Could that have been Oliver? It still seems to me that the Gatch brothers were there, but not in the manner described in Oliver Gatch's presentation. He would have served himself and his brother better by just saying they were present, rather than embellishing his story.

Dr. Leale does broadly mention several physicians being present, without naming them.

I know Dr. King was present with Leale and Taft, but I have no knowledge of him being the "Naval surgeon" described by Clara Harris.

There is also https://www.c-span.org/video/?460076-1/l...g-doctors, which is a link to a C-Span video presentation for "Lincoln Assassination Attending Doctors" by Dr John Willen, which features Dr Charles A. Leale in a general overview of the assassination.

In my opinion this is not the greatest presentation you'll ever see, but hang in there and you see some things of interest, including the mention of Dr. King, and the blood-stained Lincoln cuffs that Dr. Leale had.

It also seems that Dr. Willen is a friend of Ed Steers and gives Mr. Steers a plug during the question portion of the presentation near the end.