Mary's Reputation

[Steve]

(07-20-2018 06:14 PM)kerry Wrote:  That letter was published in the American papers in June 1867. She had initially requested he not publish it, but apparently changed her mind, or it got out. I didn't realize he sent it to the Scottish papers - cool find!

She wrote Williamson on August 19th, 1866, that he should “write me, whether you showed to Wade . . . the letter — I wrote you relative to the distribution — of fair gifts . . . Do not fail to tell me — if you did so — I have some curiosity, on the subject & will explain to you, some other time . . .” I have no idea what she was referring to.

Where did you access the Scottish papers?

Williamson gave several interesting interviews, but somehow I never questioned his story of being present at the assassination. Now that it's called my attention, it does seem suspicious. But he later helped an artist reconstruct the scene and he sounded credible. Accounts of that time do have an unfortunate habit of failing to note the existence of people of lower social status, as Williamson would have been perceived by those present. Several accounts mentioned a crying "servant," and I was never sure who that was. He didn't say his son was with Tad, but that he was at the theater. I guess it was probably made up - that disappoints me. I enjoy Williamson's accounts, and now I'm not sure if I can trust them.

I found it by accident on newspapers.com; I was doing a keyword search - looking for newspaper accounts by Williamson or his son, William B. Williamson who was at Ford's Theatre of the assassination night. I couldn't find any firsthand accounts of William (only his father's accounts) but this newspaper account of the letter from Scotland just popped up in the search, I wasn't expecting it!