Killing Lincoln: The Real Story

[Steven Hager]

Hello fellow researchers,

I hold a masters in journalism from the University of Illinois, and have worked as a professional journalist since graduation in 1977. However, if you find my 25 years spent as a cannabis legalization activist as something to snortle and chuckle over, please consider my side has won that war and 70% of our country supports legalization, and patients are flocking to multiple states where taking natural medication is no longer illegal. Historians should research the history of cannabis prohibition, because the name change to a Mexican word when they launched demonization was an obvious attempt to fool people considering you could pay your taxes in raw hemp stalk when the country was founded, so vital was it to national security.

I was a huge Civil War buff as a teenager; during the anniversary my father had many Bruce Catton books around the house. His grandfather received a West Kansas homestead in appreciation for his Civil War service.

After becoming editor of a national magazine in 1987, I soon wrote an article for the 25th anniversary of the JFK assassination that attracted much praise from Judge Jim Garrison, Fletcher Prouty, Bo Gritz and many others on all sides of the political spectrum.

I never had interest in the exploring the Lincoln assassination until earlier this year when I saw a film called the Conspirator on Netflix. I ordered around 25 books and starting reading documents online from the Library of Congress.

After years of study, I'd been able to solve the JFK assassination to my satisfaction by following loose threads of the cover-up back to their source, and seeing if the dots pointed anywhere, which of course they did. I applied the same strategy to Lincoln.

I welcome constructive additions and corrections to my book and hope I get some, and I confess I don't buy the official story as told by Bill O'Reilly, whose book I wasn't even aware of until after I started my research.

From what I gather you'll probably typecast me as another "Eisenshciml" although I think the erroneous details of his work are over-stated, and ignore Roscoe and others who have contributed since.

It's misleading to list "Stanton did it" along with the Confederate and Catholic conspiracy theories as if they are all equal in weight and substance. The Confederate theory was concocted by the military tribunal, and they found Davis and his cabinet guilty (does that make it conspiracy fact?). But then they also found Mary Surratt guilty and made sure she hanged the next day. The Catholic conspiracy was invented by the head of the military tribunal in a failed attempt to wash Surratt's blood off his hands and shift the blame.

I don't buy the story of Stanton's death by sudden illness, and the conspiracy was never Stanton alone, but Stanton, Stevens, Wade and Eckert at a bare minimum, although it could have encompassed other Radical Republicans and Wall Street war profiteers.

best wishes for a happy holiday season to all,

Steve Hager

(11-13-2014 10:24 AM)Gene C Wrote:  the writer certainly has some impresive credentials

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Biography
I started out writing black comedy, but I'm best known as the first reporter to document hip hop and the instigator of the film Beat Street. I also founded the Cannabis Cup, organized the first 420 ceremonies outside of Marin County, and launched the hemp movement with Jack Herer while writing some landmark conspiracy articles. My most recent book is an investigation of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and I was amazed by some of the evidence I turned up. This is the most investigated murder in history, and most of the primary documents are available free from the Library of Congress.