Oddities of the Lincoln assassination

[Houmes]

Roger - You beat me to it! I know that others have tried to cite a legitimate source for this story that Lucy, Robert, and John Hay studied together in the afternoon of April 14 - and failed to find one. There is a Chicago newspaper article from years later in which Robert refuted ever having a relationship with Lucy.

I guess that is one of many secrets those three took to their graves.

Actually, that was a secret Robert "attempted" to take to his grave. He certainly had some kind of relationship with Lucy Hale because he gave her flowers from the White House garden and a book he signed, inscribed to her as a gift. When the Chicago Inter-Ocean article first appeared June 18, 1878, claiming they had a relationship, he was interviewed the following day and denied ever having met her, let alone having a relationship. But he was also quoted as saying her name was Lucy, not Bessie as stated in that article--remarkable knowledge for someone not knowing the woman. Then the following day, in another interview (this time in a different newspaper), he disavowed the interview he had given the day before, claiming he was misquoted. Lucy had several admirers, but the others weren't a son of an assassinated president, let alone in 1878 a successful Chicago attorney and prominent social figure, married with a family.