Clara Harris and Noah Brooks

[gshoub]

Roger, thanks. It was in Burlingame's book that I first read Brooks's column. Although, as J. Beckert correctly notes in his earlier post, there apparently is more to the story than Brooks reported in his article. Specifically the comment that Rathbone actually spoke to Booth when he entered the box but before he shot Lincoln. That is not in Brooks's dispatch. It may be in the May 5, 1865 edition of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. I'll poke around to see if anyone has posted that article previously. I have downloaded a copy of the May 5, 1865, Public Ledger but it is of such poor quality that I am unable to decipher whether there is an article in there or not about Harris's statements.

Thanks to everyone for responding. All good comments and I certainly understand the skepticism about what has been attributed to Harris. I still find it fascinating as it is such a different version of events from what I have previously read and understood. I'm going to keep looking.