New Eyewitness Account?

[RJNorton]

(06-26-2018 03:39 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  It is more than these two accounts that need to be reconciled.

John, I agree with you 100%!

(06-26-2018 03:39 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  I believe Dr. Charles Leale. He was otherwise an excellent witness, being the first doctor in the box and writing his accounts from notes he had made contemporaneously with the events. He said she was in the box and that she did ask for his permission to cradle Lincoln's head and that he gave it.

My problem with this is that you are using his 1909 account. There are several Leale accounts 1865-1867, and none of them mentions Keene being present in the box. The first time Keene appears in a Leale account is 44 years after the fact. I also wonder about the "circuitous" route claimed by Jeannie Gourlay regarding her father leading Keene to the box. Her account also says her father, Thomas, helped carry Lincoln to the Petersen House. This is not supported by other eyewitnesses regarding the names of the men who carried Lincoln across the street. Thomas Gourlay, himself, never made any of these claims; only his daughter did, and that was not until the 20th century (possibly 1880s, but I think the teens or twenties of the 20th century). As far as I know, Thomas Gourlay has no recorded statement of what he did after the shot was fired. I know that the Gourlay family lore is accepted by many folks, but I personally wonder about it. I may well be in the minority on this.