Was there an assassin on Grant's train?

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-19-2015 08:35 AM)Rosieo Wrote:  

(07-18-2015 09:01 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(07-18-2015 08:07 PM)Rosieo Wrote:  This post quoted above was me putting in a good if speculative word for Mrs. Lincoln's ability to cooperate and exchange info.... I wrote it because I believe Mr. Lincoln would pick a wife with a good brain and a good heart.

And I think he did (which I have frequently stated in the past along with corrobating evidence). I don't see why Mrs. Lincoln's desire not to further investigate the assassination should be (have been!) contradictionary to this - what would it have changed or bettered about her life to know who the messenger was compared to the pain such memories caused her? The assassin was dead by that time, despite nothing would have brought her husband back to life, and Mary had partly died with him, too. Being in great, paralyzing emotional pain and depression IMO doesn't mean not to be endowed with a good brain and heart. (Did I understand correctly - you wrote this just to say something nice about Mr. Lincoln's "wedding choice"?)
However, I just read on p.168 in "Lincoln's Sons" that "Robert frequently visited the box at Ford's and sat there trying to figure out how it would have been if he said yes instead of no when his father asked him to go". This was new to me, unfortunately R. P. Randall's books are not footnoted. Does anyone know where this originally comes from?

I was thinking Mrs. Lincoln should have been asked whether she sent a messenger to Mrs. Grant regarding theatre plans. I think she would have cooperated if she was made to understand she was being asked a question dealing with the investigation of the potential assassination of Grant. This would-be assassin was not dead. This would-be assassin was not Booth nor people on trial. I am not saying I know she was asked. I think she should have been. I think she is written off as impossible to deal with and I cannot believe she was. Who can say that being asked to help would not have been good for Mrs. Lincoln? Smart women like to be respected.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Mrs. Grant mentioned the soup incident (publicly, at least) except in her memoir, which wasn't published until 1975.