Mary Lincoln's presence at Abraham's death-bed

[wsanto]

Stanton certainly didn't handle the situation well, in fact I agree he was downright cruel to Mary, but I wonder if he thought that Mary was disturbing Lincoln. Perhaps he wanted to give the dying man some peace in which to die.

Lincoln died 20 minutes after Mary left. Perhaps she was holding him back in some way? I heard of someone who left their dying relative for a moment and that's when the relative died.

Maybe someone can address this who has experience with dying people being told it's okay to "let go."

Lincoln was apparently 'brain-dead' at @ 1:00 AM. There was a pronouced change in his breathing, his posturing, and both of his pupils dilated and became non-reactive.

I believe the relation of his physiological time of death to Mary's last visit was entirely coincidental.

That said--if you believe in the soul, walking toward the light, heaven and hell--then there may be some relation...