The “rubber box” or did Laura Keene indeed held Lincoln’s head?

[RJNorton]

Here is another of the later accounts. It's from the Sunday, June 18, 1893, edition of the Chicago Inter-Ocean. The man's name is J. E. Coyel. He said he was sitting with a friend in the 3rd row of the Orchestra level. Part of Coyel's statement says:

"Her (Keene's) precise language as she strode to the front of the stage, with outstretched hand and in a commanding voice, was, 'Order, gentlemen: order, gentlemen.' She afterward obtained a glass of water from some source, and, as I was near at hand, I helped her down from the stage and she passed up to the box where the President was dying: the report at the time was that she took the dying President's head into her lap, the graphic description of which event will be remembered by all those who read the account at the time."

Obviously we have so many conflicting statements it's hard to know what to believe, but if this one is accurate, it would seem to support Ferguson's statement that Keene didn't get to the box via the back route.