Assassination Trivia

[Jim Page]

What man whose name is part of the Lincoln assassination saga was charged with trying to fool the gas company?

The fellow who owned the stable where Booth rented his horse? I can't recall his name, but I read about him on Dave's fine blog!

--Jim

[RJNorton]

Correct, Jim! It was James Pumphrey. Indeed my source was Dave's site.

Jim, you win one rubber pipe to be used anyway you choose.

For anyone not familiar with Dave's excellent site, please go here.

[Jim Page]

Jim, you win one rubber pipe to be used anyway you choose.

Thanks, Roger! This is an honor I never expected, and I'd like to thank the members of the Symposium . . .

All kidding aside, Dave's blog is outstanding and of much importance. He has a knack for combining the precisely correct images with just the right amount of text to form a compelling narrative. Good stuff!!!

--Jim

[GARY POPOLO]

I read something that goes along with Assisination attempts. Most of you I am sure already about this attempt but When I was reading Blood on the Moon I read about Dr. Blackburn and his plan to infect the north with yellow fever.Also hiring Godfrey Hyams and having him deliver a speical package of clothing infected with yellow fever to Lincoln at the white house in the hopes to give the president yellow fever. This has to be the earliest form of chemical warfare. Or as it was known at that time Black Flag Warfare. WOW!

[RJNorton]

Gary, this is a fascinating topic! I think Blackburn mistakenly believed the disease was contagious and could be spread by contact.

[LincolnMan]

Didn't the package arrive in a trunk with the clothing neatly arranged inside?

[RJNorton]

In his assassination encyclopedia, Ed Steers writes:

"As part of his plan of germ warfare, Blackburn specifically targeted President Lincoln. He purchased several elegant dress shirts, which he exposed to clothing taken from yellow fever victims. The shirts were then packed in a special valise that Blackburn tried to convince an agent to deliver to Lincoln at the White House. Afraid of the risk involved in personally delivering the valise to the White House, the agent refused."

So did Blackburn then ask another agent to deliver it???

[LincolnMan]

He must've-because didn't it get delivered?

[RJNorton]

Bill, I think some trunks with "infected" clothing were sent to some cities where the clothing was to be distributed, but I do not recall anything specifically arriving at the White House. I may be wrong, however. I am going by a vague memory of an article Ed Steers wrote about 10+ years ago for North & South magazine. I have that magazine somewhere and will add specifics IF I can find it.

[Ed Steers]

I read something that goes along with Assisination attempts. Most of you I am sure already about this attempt but When I was reading Blood on the Moon I read about Dr. Blackburn and his plan to infect the north with yellow fever.Also hiring Godfrey Hyams and having him deliver a speical package of clothing infected with yellow fever to Lincoln at the white house in the hopes to give the president yellow fever. This has to be the earliest form of chemical warfare. Or as it was known at that time Black Flag Warfare. WOW!

---

Gary, It was the introduction of germ warfare in the Civil War, but such tactics go back to the Middle Ages when corpses of people who died of typhus or the plague were hurled by catapult over castle walls in an effort to infect the population inside the walls. Blackburn became known after the war as the "Yellow Fever Feind." His Hippocratic Oath stopped short of the Virgina state line. Ed

[L Verge]

While we have you on here, Ed, please discuss Dr. Francis Tumblety...

[GARY POPOLO]

Bill, I think some trunks with "infected" clothing were sent to some cities where the clothing was to be distributed, but I do not recall anything specifically arriving at the White House. I may be wrong, however. I am going by a vague memory of an article Ed Steers wrote about 10+ years ago for North & South magazine. I have that magazine somewhere and will add specifics IF I can find it.

Rob, I believe that no clothing ended up at the white house because Hyams was afraid to take this <gift> to the white house. But he did finsh his mission by taking I believe five trunks through Boston to Washington to a auction house to dispose of the infected clothing

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I read something that goes along with Assisination attempts. Most of you I am sure already about this attempt but When I was reading Blood on the Moon I read about Dr. Blackburn and his plan to infect the north with yellow fever.Also hiring Godfrey Hyams and having him deliver a speical package of clothing infected with yellow fever to Lincoln at the white house in the hopes to give the president yellow fever. This has to be the earliest form of chemical warfare. Or as it was known at that time Black Flag Warfare. WOW!

---

Gary, It was the introduction of germ warfare in the Civil War, but such tactics go back to the Middle Ages when corpses of people who died of typhus or the plague were hurled by catapult over castle walls in an effort to infect the population inside the walls. Blackburn became known after the war as the "Yellow Fever Feind." His Hippocratic Oath stopped short of the Virgina state line. Ed

Ed Thank you for the information on germ warfare. Hard to believe germ warfare was thought of even that far back in time. I Guess germ warfare has no ties to any time period. Thanks Gary

[RJNorton]

After searching through the unorganized mess in the closet I found Ed's article. It's titled "Terror: 1860's Style" in the May 2002 edition of North & South. Gary, the article says just what you said about the trunks. Hyams was instructed to take the trunks to Washington, Norfolk, and New Bern where the clothing was to be distributed, but he refused to take the valise to the White House. Blackburn then returned to Bermuda where he filled 3 more trunks with "infected" clothing and intended to ship them to New York. It's a really good article by Ed and includes a few pages on the attempt to burn New York City.

[LincolnMan]

Roger, you mention that Blackburn "intended" to ship the additional trunks-so they were not shipped?

[Gene C]

They were shipped Bill, but the post office did a "return to sender" due to "no mail receptacle" at the White House.