The Bixby Letter

[Eva Elisabeth]

(07-22-2017 05:22 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I still hold out some hope (growing less by the hour admittedly) that Lincoln wrote the letter. In 1904 John Hay wrote a letter to John E. Chandler. Hay wrote:

"The letter of Mr. Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby is genuine, is printed in our edition of his Works, and has been frequently re-published; but the engraved copy of Mr. Lincoln's alleged manuscript, which is extensively sold is, in my opinion, a very ingenious forgery."

I wonder when if at all Hay knew the original (handwriting) letter would not show up anymore. If Lincoln wrote the letter and Hay couldn't safely know it wouldn't pop up anymore, would he have claimed authorship? (There's, of course, the possibility that Abraham Lincoln wrote what Hay verbally suggested.)