Borne by Loving Hands

[Steve]

When I read Augustus Clark's description of going over the side of Lincoln's box at Ford's Theatre it seemed unbelievable to me. But I came across this account in George Bryan's 1940 book which describes the assassination which mentions a man going up the side of the box:

https://archive.org/stream/greatamerican...ch/Sherman

(Last paragraph page 210)

In that paragraph, Bryan is quoting witness Thomas Sherman about Laura Keene. But when I looked at Sherman's description of Keene from a 1936 newspaper account, it doesn't mention the man going up the side of the box:

https://archive.org/stream/assassination...5/mode/2up

Does anybody have any idea, where Bryan got that description? It's not sourced in his book.

[RJNorton]

Steve, I do not know. Offhand, the only person I recall reading about who was lifted from the stage to the box was Dr. Charles Taft.

[Steve]

(03-03-2018 08:19 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Steve, I do not know. Offhand, the only person I recall reading about who was lifted from the stage to the box was Dr. Charles Taft.

I checked Timothy Good's book We Saw Lincoln Shot, and Julia Shepherd's 16 April 1865 letter to her father and Spencer Bronson's 16 April 1865 letter to his sister seem to describe more than one person climbing to the box (pp. 55-58). So, I guess it's plausible that Augustus Clark could've also climbed into the box, like Dr. Taft, the way he described if he could've gotten to the stage all the way from Peterson House before the President was moved.

Here's a link to a transcription of Dr. Leale's original 1865 account of what happened:

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/262986...w=fulltext

I think Augustus Clark's description of Lincoln's treatment/condition while at Peterson House matches Leale's account pretty well. How would've he been able to do so in a 16 April 1865 letter if he hadn't been there? I don't think the autopsy results were released to the newspapers until 17 April.

So there's a different plausibility question raised whether you believe Clark's account or not.

[RJNorton]

I'll just give my opinion. I think the total number of people in the box was somewhat similar to the total number of men who carried President Lincoln to the Petersen House --> embellished. Over 20 men claimed to have helped carry the President across the street, and we know that is not realistic. I think the same is true for the total of people who were in the State Box after the shot. I noticed that Dr. Leale does not even mention Laura Keene's presence in his initial 1865 account. He says "As two gentlemen now arrived" and "The brandy and water now arrived" and "Dr. C. F. Taft and Dr. A. F. A. King now arrived and after a moments consultation we agreed to have him removed to the nearest house, which we immediately did, the above named with others assisting."

I have heard the box itself described as quite small by people who have seen it closeup, and I don't think there was room for too many extra people, especially women wearing hoop skirts. Leale's account keeps the "extras" at less than 10 in the box, and that seems about right to me. Even that seems a pretty large number given the tight space available.

[Steve]

Here's a link to a Voice of America story about the restoration of the painting "Borne by Loving Hands", which was made from a contemporaneous sketch by the artist:

https://www.voanews.com/a/painting-captu...12345.html

For what it's worth, taking into account artistic license and all, in the painting there are four men in civilian clothes carrying the President across the street on a makeshift stretcher being assisted by an Army Officer who is shown holding back the crown.

If Augustus Clark was meeting somebody at Peterson House before Lincoln was shot, I would guess it would be either Henry Safford or Thomas Proctor since they both were clerks at the War Department like Clark.