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

[Jim Garrett]

(09-12-2014 05:25 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(09-11-2014 09:16 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  See, I'm right!! Rich Smyth, Tom Bogar and I believe Laura Keene was in the box. nuf said

Hi Jim. I am still straddling this one. Do you have any idea why Clara Harris was so adamant in her denial of Keene's presence? She is the only one of the presidential party who made a statement on this. I did a search of Mary Lincoln's letters, and she never once mentioned Keene's name in a letter.

Also, I think RogerM (and others, too) once made the point of Mary's probable reaction to another woman cradling her husband's head. Do you feel she was in such a state of shock that she was numb to react?

At the same time I am mystified by GATH's inclusion of Keene's role in an 1865 book. I am thinking he must have talked to some of the actors in the play, and they told him what Keene did.

So a part of me thinks Keene was there and a part is still somewhat doubtful.

I think there may be several possibilities. First, it could be as simple as a faulty recollection. Think about the stress at that moment. The President has a mortal would, her fiance is bleeding all over the place, there is total pandemonium in a very confined space. I think her attention would be focused on Henry.

Second, and I can't take credit for this one, it may be from Rich. Laura was an actress! Actors and actresses were still viewd as a group just above gypsies. No actress should have, would have been in any proximity of the President.

Third, it could be just plain old jealousy. I've never been able to get to understand Clara. By the standards of the day, she would have been boardering on spinsterhood. I have always thought that Henry (who I think was always at best, somewhat unbalanced) was her last best chance at marriage. Did Clara consider Keene a social threat for the attention in the box?

I believe Clara is the only source that Keene was not in the box.