Did William Coggeshall Save Lincoln's Life?

[John Fazio]

(09-19-2016 05:54 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(09-16-2016 06:42 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Re.: "According to Mary's telling, the incident occurred when Coggeshall and Lincoln transferred from the Harrisburg car to the Baltimore car where they were to be 'by themselves'" - I quote from Mary's account:

"Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the presidential party was to change railroad cars and the train would be switched off to proceed to Baltimore. Lincoln and Coggeshall were the last to go out to the other car. 'As they neared the door, they heard a hissing sound and discovered a Hand Grenade just ready to explode. As Mr. Lincoln reached the door, Mr. Coggeshall grasped the shell and hurled it through the open window where it [had] been dropped into the car. As it struck beyond the tracks and exploded, no one was hurt.'"

Unless I missed it (I beg to apologize in case) I still miss someone (of those who think it possible) show up how the action was pulled through.
Assuming the trains were in motion - a horse rider approaching the train in full gallop? What does it need to make a "Hand Grenade just ready to explode"? Can you perform that while riding? From where/how if not from horeseback? Which other options were there, and how easy was it to throw such a ready-to-go item quickly through the window of a moving vehicle?

Thanks for any enlightenment!

Eva:

It strikes me that much of the issue turns on perception. As I read the account, I picture the "presidential party" (who are not identified with particularity, so it is anyone's guess who they are) filing out of a car of one train (the Harrisburg train) preparatory to crossing to and then boarding a second train (the Baltimore train). Lincoln and Coggeshall are the last to exit the Harrisburg train, but have not yet exited it. They are nearing the door. As they do so they hear the hissing sound from the explosive device. After 47 years, there is really no telling what it sounded like. Sputter or flutter may have morphed into hissing. No matter; what counts is that it made a sound of some kind that alerted Coggeshall to the presence of the device and the danger just as Lincoln reached the door. According to the account, the device was in the car, not outside of it, having been deposited there through an open window of the car. Whoever placed the explosive device (always assuming the authenticity of the story) could not have been on horseback, but must have surreptitiously approached the window and then dropped the device through it and into the car near where Coggeshall and Lincoln were standing prior to their exit. It is quite plausible for someone to have done this and then to have run like the devil to get away from the scene, to avoid the explosion and to avoid being detected. What is harder to explain is why none of the other members of the presidential party noticed what had happened or made any record of it, apparently. The account has them filing out of the Harrisburg train ahead of Lincoln and Coggeshall, but then says nothing more about them. Instead, it states that after Coggeshall threw the device through the open window, and after it exploded harmlessly some distance away, he sprang upon the Baltimore train where the President awaited him. They took a seat together and the train then leaped forward. They did not speak for a while, but then did. Again, nothing is said about anyone else in the presidential party. Perhaps Mary's silence about the others can be explained by the fact that she was concentrating on her husband and Lincoln, not on anyone else. She wanted to convey the story that had been told to her by her husband, i.e. the saving of the President's life. She had no interest in any of the others. Whether or not her husband did, when he told her the story, is not knowable.

To repeat: I find it hard to believe that Coggeshall and/or his wife, Mary, and/or his descendants Ralph Busbey and Freda Postle Koch, all lied. Accordingly, I believe the core of the story is true, but the details are not clear and may never be.

John