"Alias Paine"

[Linda Anderson]

(01-27-2013 07:48 PM)My Name Is Kate Wrote:  Not to change the subject too much, but I think Fanny Seward was probably another interesting character in the Civil War/Lincoln saga. I read somewhere, maybe it was in "Alias Paine", that when she was brought on the monitor to identify Lewis, all she said was that she couldn't be sure it was him, and she didn't want to incriminate a young man and ruin his life if there was any doubt about his guilt. That is a pretty mature and considerate thought for such a young girl to have, especially after what she had witnessed, and I bet she was very nearly sure that it was the same person, but maybe not 100% sure.

The story of Fanny being brought to the monitor to identify Powell is not in the first edition of Alias Paine. It was originally recounted by Tullio Verdi, the Seward's doctor, who accompanied Fanny to the monitor. It can be found in Google Books, The Republic, A Monthly Magazine, "The Assassination of the Sewards," Volume One, page 289.

"Conscientious, even at this trying moment, she could not identify the man; her identification, she thought, might be his death. She had only seen him by a dim light as in a frightful vision. That is all she said."