Clara Harris's Bloody Dress

[Linda Anderson]

(11-03-2013 12:44 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Thanks Roger for reminding me of that. Boy, that seems like a long time ago. When was it? As I was reading the excellent post that started this thread- i noticed that Clara's dress was said to have the blood of both Rathbone and Lincoln on it. Maybe this has been discussed before -so forgive if it has- did Clara claim to have Lincoln's blood on it? Did she have that kind of contact with him? How could the blood have been verified as from whom?

The New York Historical Society "has a letter that Clara Harris wrote to her friend Mary describing that frightful night. She describes Mrs. Lincoln seeing blood on Clara’s dress and screaming, 'oh! my husbands blood.' Only later would they learn that it was mostly Henry’s blood on Clara’s dress from his severe stab wound."

The Currier & Ives print shows Clara wearing a lavender dress. The print also shows Tad at his father's death bed which we know he was not.

http://blog.nyhistory.org/attending-ford...-rathbone/

Here is another article from the Schenectady Gazette titled "Lincoln Ghost Haunted Loudenville." There is an old photo of Loudon Cottage included in the article.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=19...19,7800179