Was Stanton a murder target?

[John Fazio]

(12-06-2016 01:59 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(12-06-2016 12:45 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  To thicken it still more, there is Julia Grant's account of a "White House messenger" who came to her suite in Willard's about mid-day, whom she later identified as probably Herold (and who fits the description), and of four men, one of whom was certainly Booth, another Herold and the other two most likely Powell and Atzerodt, in the dining room of Willard's, eavesdropping on her conversation with Mrs. Rawlins and her daughter.

Perhaps this is too far out, but I wonder if Julia Grant could conceivably have saved Abraham Lincoln's life on April 14, 1865.


Roger:

Yes, she could have, but it was extremely unlikely that she would do so. To begin with, it is expecting too much of human nature to suppose that Julia would abort her trip to Burlington to visit her children and head, instead, for the White House, on the basis of mere suspicion. Secondly, and more importantly, Julia disliked Mary Lincoln, as did many others in Washington (e.g. Mrs. Stanton), and had no wish to spend an evening with her in a theater box. Third, she had recently witnessed Mary making a complete fool of herself at City Point in connection with General Ord and his wife and was for this reason, and perhaps for a more personal affront, very unkindly disposed toward her at the time. In a conversation with Lamon in 1880, Grant said that while he was with Lincoln on the 14th, and right after telling the President that he would try to accommodate him as far as the theater invitation was concerned, he received a note from Julia stating that she wanted to go to Burlington that evening. Grant was known not to so much as flinch when a grenade exploded nearby, but he would do a lot more than flinch in response to a wish expressed by Julia; he would not deny her. Grant adds that "Some incident of a trivial character had influenced this determination..." (i.e. Julia's expressed wish not to attend the theater, but to go to Burlington). In her Memoirs, Julia mentions sending the note to Grant right after she had received the invitation to attend the theater that night from the "messenger", i.e. Herold. The bottom line is that Julia was bound and determined from very early in the day that she was going to Burlington, had made that desire known to Grant, and would therefore not be deterred by Booth's shenanigans that day, which did not, in any case, appear to portend anything particularly sinister.

John

1. A strange "messenger" (probably Herold) comes to her door at the Willard Hotel. He is wearing a shabby hat. Julia does not like the looks of him. She is suspicious of him - something about him does not seem right. The "messenger" says he's been sent by Mary Lincoln to tell the Grants they will be picked up at 8 to go to Ford's that night. Julia tells the "messenger" that the Grants will not be going and to convey this information to Mary Lincoln.

2. Shortly thereafter, at lunch, Julia again sees this strange "messenger" (probably Herold). He is sitting with four men, one of whom is dark and pale (probably Booth). The dark, pale man seemed very intent on what Julia was saying to her companions. He played with his soup spoon. He looked like he would eat his soup, but over and over never lifted the spoon more than half-way - never ate the soup at all. Julia thought the man acted crazy.

3. As the Grants were riding in a carriage to the train station the dark, pale man (Booth) again appears. In her memoirs, Julia Grant wrote, "Afterwards, as General Grant and I rode to the depot, this same dark, pale man rode past us at a sweeping gallop on a dark horse - black, I think. He rode twenty yards ahead of us, wheeled and returned, and as he passed us both going and returning, he thrust his face quite near the General's and glared in a disagreeable manner.' Mrs. Ruckner said, 'General, everyone wants to see you.' Grant replied, 'Yes, but I do not care for such glances. They are not friendly.' "

I realize Julia Grant did not want to go to the White House because she had turned down the theater invitation, but I wonder if she could have overcome her feelings about Mary Lincoln.

I wonder if she could put these 3 strange events together. "Why would the strange messenger be eating lunch with the strange man now harassing our carriage?"

I wonder if she could have ordered the carriage driver to go to the White House so she could tell Abraham Lincoln, "Something's up. Danger lurks. Stay home tonight."