Sons and parents

[Eva Elisabeth]

(01-15-2015 03:16 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  What about the story that MTL did indeed try to commit suicide immediately after the verdict, before she was taken away? She reportedly tried to kill herself with an overdose but a quick thinking druggist gave her a placebo instead?

Toia, according to W. E. Evans, the story of Mary attempting suicide (and the drug-store chase) the previous day was published by the Chicago dailies on May 21, and he (Evans) writes there's no reason to disbelieve it. BUT he (being a physician himself) considers it a momentary urge. His assessment of her general disposition and risk for suicide is as follows (see pp.222/223 in "Mrs. A. L."):
"Many people have momentary urges to self-destruction - many thoroughly sane people. There's no evidence that these urges with Mrs. Lincoln were more than momentary, or that she ever had any trouble in resisting them. The nature of her mental malady was such that efforts at suicide were not to be expected. Prior to 1875 she had never had long periods of deep melancholia, if she ever had at any time...If she had wanted to commit suicide, she had ample opportunity..."
This was even concluded by the trial jury and stated in the verdict: "We, the undersigned, jurors in the case of Mary Lincoln...are satisfied that...she does not manifest homicidal or suicidal tendencies..."

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(01-15-2015 02:16 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  The jury was assembled by the judge. I don't see any indication that it wasn't neutral, except in the sense that it was an all-male jury, but that was the norm at the time. (In most states, a jury wasn't required for an insanity trial, so by the standards of the day, Mary was getting more due process than most people in her situation did.)

Certainly it would have been better morally for Robert to have given his mother more notice, but his advisers were urging that he act swiftly. It's worth noting that David Davis worried that the verdict might be in favor of Mary, but thought it a risk worth taking.

I'll shut up about the subject now, save to reiterate that it was a sad and difficult situation for all involved, and that I think the only real villain in the piece was the man who did more damage than anyone to Mary's mental health--John Wilkes Booth.

I am sorry, Susan, and you are right, the jury was picked out by the judge. I remembered there was something unusual about the selection but was incorrect in my statement Robert was involved in the process. The judge wanted only prominent men of a certain standing in the jury, no unknown "common people". So coincidentally amongst these were several men moving in the same circles as Robert did.

However, I do understand that a mainly rational point of view results in a different opinion on all this than mine. I admit mine is a rather emotional and emphatic one, and it's easier for me to imagine Mary's feelings in the trial "prologue and scene" than what Robert had experienced and witnessed before. What probably influenced me, too, is the unfairness of the unequal treatment and rights of genders in those days. It was so easy to confine a woman while in case Robert had been the one who went insane supposedly wouldn't have been dealt with that way.
Well, maybe y'all are rationally right then.

I had already pledged myself to shut up about the subject (especially Robert) some posts ago - it hasn't worked out yet, but now I will wholeheartedly agree on Susan's well-worded conclusion "that it was a sad and difficult situation for all involved, and that I think the only real villain in the piece was the man who did more damage than anyone to Mary's mental health--John Wilkes Booth." And I thank everyone for all your various comments and input on this topic!