Andrew Johnson - Mistress

[jparkuntz]

Attached is one of those apocryphal assassination stories that interests me for reasons not connected to that event.

In late 1885, stories surfaced that a certain woman, Eusebia Fitzgerald, had been a mistress of Andrew Johnson, and that he snuck out his hotel the night of the assassination for an assignation with this woman.

If this item had surfaced anytime earlier, I would discount it as another smear of a very unpopular president.

In truth, I think this was meant to smear both the woman and Johnson. I suspect this story originated from a Philadelphia detective who was briefly imprisoned in 1865 thanks in part to this woman. He knew that she had gone to Washington twice in 1865 to get pardons for her bounty forger husband, Robert M. Lee.

She actually did meet twice with Johnson. And newspapers even then strongly implied that she used sex to procure the pardons.

This woman had a very long history as a courtesan. But the headline is accurate: she was more a professional blackmailer than an escort. In Philadelphia, she was known as Annie Melville. In Washington, she was known as Nora Woolley, claimed to be a sister to R. W. Woolley.

She married Robert M. Lee before 1865. She divorced him in 1873, then married Edward Fitzgerald.

As mentioned, I don't put any credence in the assassination night story. But I would be curious to know if that story ever surfaced before 1885; or whether the names of Andrew Johnson's alleged mistresses are known (besides the sisters he was said to have shared with Booth!) Or if anyone recognizes these names.