Lincoln Discussion Symposium

Hint #2: The connection is medical.

Antoine Marfan?

(02-15-2018 03:49 PM)AussieMick Wrote: [ -> ]Antoine Marfan?

That's my guess also.

Excellent, Michael and Laurie! It is Dr. Antoine Bernard-Jean Marfan. The first doctor to suggest Lincoln may have had Marfan syndrome was Dr. Abraham M. Gordon in 1962. In 1964 Dr. Harold Schwartz also suggested it. The vast majority of Lincoln writers (doctors as well as historians) do not believe Lincoln had Marfan syndrome.

What is this person's name?

William H. Crook

Excellent, Eva! Crook was a Washington policeman who was assigned as a White House guard starting in January 1865 and remained as a White House employee long after the assassination.

According to Crook, as Lincoln left for Ford's Theatre, he turned to Crook and said "Goodbye, Crook." Before, Lincoln had always said, "Good night, Crook." Crook later remembered, "It was the first time that he neglected to say ‘Good Night’ to me and it was the only time that he ever said ‘Good-bye’. I thought of it at that moment and, a few hours later, when the news flashed over Washington that he had been shot, his last words were so burned into my being that they can never be forgotten."

According to the late historian William Hanchett, Crook's reminisces are in the myth category.

This man has been mentioned on the forum. He was an author (among other things). Who is he?

Henry Kyd Douglas?

(05-16-2018 05:54 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote: [ -> ]Henry Kyd Douglas?

I second Susan. Really good looking gent...

Good try, Susan and Laurie. I agree there is a definite resemblance, but it is not Henry Kyd Douglas.

Guessing from what appears to be a cross at the base of the neck and the shirt collar, I will guess he is a priest or minister.

I understand your thinking, Gene, but this man was neither a priest nor a minister.

Hint #1: One of the people who has been discussed on this forum called the man in question a "rascal."

Hint #2: At various times in his life this man was physically present at Ford's Theatre, the Petersen House, and the Lincoln Home in Springfield.