New Eyewitness Account?

[Steve]

At first, I was inclined to believe Keene was in the box because some of the first-hand accounts of people in the audience, written within days of the assassination, say that Keene went to the box after her appeal for calm. So, the belief she was there comes from that very night. But after reading Clara Harris' emphatic denial that Keene was there, I'm inclined to believe she wasn't.

The two people who would be in the best position to know for sure would be Lt. Crawford, who was instructed by Rathbone to guard the door, and Maj. Potter who escorted Mary Lincoln to Peterson House if the newspaper accounts of Keene escorting Mary to Peterson House have any basis in reality. (The newspapers incorrectly had Potter as one of the people carrying Lincoln's body instead of escorting Mary.)

According to Emmerson Reck's A. Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours, Crawford wrote a an 1887 letter to John Hay about the assassination. Apparently, Hay tracked him down for more information. I'm going to try and see if I can find that a copy of that letter to see what it says.