Poison and Herold

[AussieMick]

I see that there is a suggestion that David Herold tried to poison Lincoln.
https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2021/...death.html

This has a very good image of the pane of glass with the message about poison.

(Note the spelling of Herold/Harold ... one of the reasons for me creating this Thread)

"David E. Harold, the vainglorious, shallow-minded drug clerk who rode with Booth that night of April 1865, was employed in William S. Thompson's drug store at Fifteenth street and Pennsylvania Avenue, in Washington D.C. There the President was accustomed to having his prescriptions filled, and it was known that Harold was an easy tool in Booth's hands. It is believed that on one occasion during the summer of 1864, the President actually had unknowingly taken poison in the drugs which had been prescribed by his physician, and prepared by Harold, to no ill effect. "

Ive tried to check how much of this been covered before on this Forum but found only partially in the thread "What Was The Role of David Herold". Steve, Dennis Urban and Susan Higginbotham were among those that discussed the occupation of Herold and the address of a druggist.

The MCHenry House Window Pane thread discussed the window pane, as does
https://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln72.html

[RJNorton]

Vaughan Shelton, author of Mask For Treason, claimed that David Herold tried to poison John Wilkes Booth. He claimed the field glasses Mary Surratt delivered to John Lloyd contained poison that Herold put into Booth's whiskey. According to Shelton, Booth drank deeply from the bottle of liquor brought to him by Herold at Lloyd's. The slow poisoning of Booth went on for some time.

So did Herold try to poison Lincoln? Booth? Both? IMO, neither story is true, although Herold may have actually delivered a bottle of castor oil to the White House while working at Thompson's drug store.

[STS Lincolnite]

(11-08-2021 12:59 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Vaughan Shelton, author of Mask For Treason, claimed that David Herold tried to poison John Wilkes Booth. He claimed the field glasses Mary Surratt delivered to John Lloyd contained poison that Herold put into Booth's whiskey. According to Shelton, Booth drank deeply from the bottle of liquor brought to him by Herold at Lloyd's. The slow poisoning of Booth went on for some time.

So did Herold try to poison Lincoln? Booth? Both? IMO, neither story is true, although Herold may have actually delivered a bottle of castor oil to the White House while working at Thompson's drug store.

I am not familiar with this book (perhaps thankfully). What does Shelton state is Herold's motive for poisoning Booth? And what does he use for references to corroborate this theory?

[RJNorton]

Scott, it was probably 30 years ago when I read Shelton's book, so I have forgotten many of the details. Shelton's book is full of arguments and theses that the majority of assassination authors reject. As I recall he thought of Mary Surratt as a double murderess who was involved both in the plot to kill Lincoln and a plot to kill Booth. She tried to poison Booth to protect her daughter, Anna. Shelton felt Dr. May's observation that Booth's skin was freckled, yellow, and discolored as evidence he had been poisoned.