Louis Weichmann

[Pamela]

I don't have a lot of "faith" in Conroy's account--Mrs Surratt's ghost on the wing, The Pope and the Southern Confederacy, the flaming hyena mouth,etc. It's possible that he manipulated the truth about his original source for the manuscript story. Maybe it would be improper for a priest to have discussions about Weichmann with his altar boy--abuse of power and authority and so on. Hence, Father Conroy wouldn't want to disclose that it was altar boy Abel who was the source of the manuscript story, which originally was told to him by Father Mulcahy, but Conroy could have talked with Abel later as well. There never was a young man secretary who talked to Conroy, just a young man, Joseph Abel. When Abel wrote his article which included a story about Weichmann's manuscript, his version wasn't as Catholic conspiracy oriented as it became in the version related by Father Conroy, who may have gotten it that way from Farther Mulcahy, or maybe that was his own embellishment. Anderson was a sleepy small town and even pastors might need drama and fantasy. It's compelling to me that both the Secretary 's and Abel's versions portray Mary as innocent, something that Weichmann never said.

I'm envisioning Weichmann in Anderson as the painting The Scream, at least to Fathers Mulcahy and Conroy.

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(10-16-2015 04:16 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  If Abel typed a manuscript for Weichmann, why didn't he say so in his 1959 interview? I can't think of any reason for him to conceal this fact, as he evidently had a good opinion of Weichmann.

Not sure what you mean about information being provided to two priests--do you mean Mulcahy and Conroy? What information was provided to Mulcahy?

I don't find it improbable that Abel and the anonymous secretary were different people--evening schools attract working people, and there could have been any number of people who did various jobs for Weichmann's school in exchange for tuition. Anyway, the always-chatty Abel doesn't mention moonlighting as a typist or selling office supplies in his recollection here (also from 1959):

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BTW, I came across this letter from Weichmann to Judge Bingham just now, reminding Bingham of the "meed of praise" to which Weichmann is entitled and asking him to send him a letter for his book. I wonder if Bingham replied.

http://alplm-cdi.com/chroniclingillinois.../show/8325

He wasn't getting much praise from the local clergy.