Lincoln and Ann Rutledge

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Lewis, I now remember the Derickson "story". When I read of this I assumed they shared one bed as A. L. did with Speed and others as it was not unusual in those days. At all, my first thought when reading about the "gay theory" was that someone was seeking for (selling? gaining fame by?) another sensation as people love that, especially the slippery or romantic ones.

I could give you an explaination for the "why-only-when-Mary-was-away", even with the background of shared bedrooms (didn't they already have shared bedrooms in Sprinfield after the house remodeling as it was a fashion of those days?). But most likely you would consider it far-fetched due to wishful thinking. But I don't mind whether Lincoln was gay or not, what concerns me (same goes for the Rutledge story) is what, in case such suspicions and claims are untrue, they do to the "victims" (A. L. and family) and their reputation. What would they think and feel if they knew about this? Would it have hurt their feelings? Would it be just and rightful towards them to spread such claims unless there was unchallengeable, 100% proven evidence, especially as they can't "defend" themselves anymore? This is probably a difficult point regarding political correctness - as if one says it might be harmful to suspect someone being gay (whereas suspecting someone being straight would most likely not be considered harmful) such discriminates gay people.

Well, I've never been interested in reading Tripp's book (like I've never been interested in reading M. Burlingame's "Inner World"), but I begin to work up curiousity.