Killing Lincoln: The Real Story

[Gene C]

(12-09-2014 04:38 PM)Steven Hager Wrote:  He was mentally disturbed, as evidence, his penchant for keeping corpses in his home and dressing them up, not to mention moving the rocking chair Lincoln was assassinated in into his office so he could sit in it.

We've discussed this some before. According to Stanton by Benjamin Thomas, "Stanton allegedly exhumed Lucy's (his infant daughter) body more than a year after she had died and sealed the ashes in a metal box made for the purpose. He was supposed to have kept the box in his own room. This is highly questionable..."

(The source for this is W. S. Buchanan, a student in Stanton's office. His reliability as a witness is not without doubt.)

Thomas also writes, "His grief verged on insanity. Stanton ordered Mary's (his first wife) wedding dress altered and realtered. Moaning and weeping, he cried: "This is my bride and she will be dressed and buried like a bride." At night he would leave his room, tears streaming from his eyes, and taking up a lamp, search the house, crying over and over, "Where is Mary" He stealthily brought to her grave her wedding rings, jewels, and letters."

An excessive display of grief perhaps, but no corpses in his home being dressed up.
Benjamin Thomas is a highly respected historian.