Right after the assassination, the detectives and newspapers were trying their hardest to identify the conspirators and their backgrounds. Mistakes were made, of course, such as the names of the conspirators being confused. People wanted to know the names of those responsible for the assassination and while John Wilkes Booth was easy to identify, the others were a bit more difficult. Wanting to give their readers a name, however, it appears that some of the newspapers just provided random initials when they were in doubt. Here a few of my favorites:



Like the wanted poster, here's David C. Herold instead of the correct, David E. Herold. My hypothesis: the C stands for conspirator until they learn his real middle name.



Looks like someone slipped up and turned George A. Atzerodt into J(ohn) W(ilkes) Atzerodt.



Samuel Bland Arnold got a new middle name in this later newspaper engraving. What does the "G" stand for? My guess: "Go to Jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200"

But my favorite incorrect identification of a conspirator actually comes from a book released in 1901 entitled, "Our Martyr Presidents". It relates the assassination of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, and really should know better than to have this mess:



So here we have a drawing of Lewis Powell identified as "Samuel Atzeroth", who is not a real person, but rather a combination of Samuel Arnold and George Atzerodt. Ouch.

So that's why Booth and Herold were able to prolong their escape for 12 days. The Union was busy looking for Daniel C. Harrold. The mystery is solved

Quote:So here we have a drawing of Lewis Powell identified as "Samuel Atzeroth", who is not a real person, but rather a combination of Samuel Arnold and George Atzerodt. Ouch.

I love this one, too. Seems like here, Davey and Lew share middle initials - again, apparently "C" for Conspirator.....I also like Lew's long, long eyelashes. Looks like he's wearing "extensions!"






Of course, they were also attempting to tie Powell in with the infamous Kentucky outlaw Payne family......

Didn't he spell it Paine?

Yes, Kate. He spelled it "P-a-i-n-e" --- more or less phonetically.

Here is a signature comparison from the military records of his service with Mosby as "L. T. Powell" and the signature on his Oath of Allegiance as "L. Paine."

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I also own this version of the Washington Weekly Chronicle dated July 15, 1865

Rather a very unflattering drawing of Lew - with a rather heavy moustache (wouldn't have any need for that phoney one!) - as JAMES Thornton Powell.....don't know where the James comes from other than his supposed signature while staying at the Revere House in NY as "James Hall" - (according to Mr. James O. Hall, "Absolutely No Connection!" as he used to tell me.....)

Powell has Elvis lips in this drawing...

Betty, there were so many name misprints, some worse than others, and I'm not sure where most of them even originated from. How "Herold" became "Herland" still baffles me.

I suspect that some of the mistakes were made by typesetters who were working quickly amid hundreds of incoming articles, tips, etc. They made mistakes and no one proofread.

I, too, think most names were just spelled by the writer as he interpreted the pronunciation he heard.

As Laurie said, some mistakes may also have resulted from the print setting process. The movable letters of the alphabet that were used were placed in individual boxes within various trays. In addition to single letters of the alphabet, casts were made for abbreviations, punctuation marks etc., and some letter combinations. All together there were about 250 boxes to draw from. When a page of type was broken down, some letters ended up in the wrong compartment. Thus the next page of type set up would have typographical mistakes from the faulty redistribution.

Dave: that is just hilarious! Couldn't help, by the way, but to go back to my youth on the title of your thread- as there was a pop hit in the 1960's called "The Name Game." It was quite an interesting song because we would sing it using our own choice of names to come out with inappropriate rhyming words. Anybody remember the tune? Well, I suppose you had to be there...

Ah, I remember it well... (Isn't that what Maurice Chevalier sang in Gigi? How many of you remember him and the movie?).

The young'uns here on my staff don't sing, but they do a similar game where they say a person's first and last name, and you have to change one of the names to create another familiar person's name. It can go on for hours... or at least until I suggest that they return to business.

(09-11-2013 11:34 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Dave: that is just hilarious! Couldn't help, by the way, but to go back to my youth on the title of your thread- as there was a pop hit in the 1960's called "The Name Game." It was quite an interesting song because we would sing it using our own choice of names to come out with inappropriate rhyming words. Anybody remember the tune? Well, I suppose you had to be there...

Oh, I know the song well, Bill. My friends and I would dare each other to sing it with the name "Chuck" when we were younger.

EDIT: From Wikipedia; "Playing the game with names such as Alice, Dallas, Tucker, Chuck, Buck, Huck, Bart, Art, Marty, Mitch, Rich, Richie, Maggie, Judy, Ruby or, in British English, Danny or Annie, results in profanity, or rude or improper language"

Warning: Kid's don't try this with your parents around. They'll play it too and just embarrass you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJLi5_dyn0

Thank you, Gene. Thanks for the memories, as Bob Hope would sing.

(09-11-2013 01:09 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  

(09-11-2013 11:34 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Dave: that is just hilarious! Couldn't help, by the way, but to go back to my youth on the title of your thread- as there was a pop hit in the 1960's called "The Name Game." It was quite an interesting song because we would sing it using our own choice of names to come out with inappropriate rhyming words. Anybody remember the tune? Well, I suppose you had to be there...

Oh, I know the song well, Bill. My friends and I would dare each other to sing it with the name "Chuck" when we were younger.

EDIT: From Wikipedia; "Playing the game with names such as Alice, Dallas, Tucker, Chuck, Buck, Huck, Bart, Art, Marty, Mitch, Rich, Richie, Maggie, Judy, Ruby or, in British English, Danny or Annie, results in profanity, or rude or improper language"

Dave: you really are familiar with the tune! "Chuck" was always the favorite.