Your personal choice of "most tragic" character in the assassination story

[LincolnMan]

Herb: of course, you're right! Thanks for reminding me.

[Laurie Verge]

It has been a number of years since Thomas Mallon spoke at the Surratt conference, and I do not recall how he handled that aspect of Rathbone's behavior at the time of the crime. My personal feeling is that Mr. Mallon used that for dramatic effect to show that the guilt of not acting quickly to save the President drove him insane.

I have not done any in-depth study of the man, but the little bit I have read makes me think he had some issues long before this. I also don't remember if he was really a battle-hardened vet either. How much was he exposed to the front lines?

[BettyO]

Supposedly from what I've read/heard, Rathbone was seriously wounded at the Battle of the Crater.... I'll have to check this...forget where I read it.

[Claudine]

This is from Witness to an Era: The Life and Photographs of Alexander Gardner by D. Mark Katz.

"Like almost everyone, Gardner was apparently fascinated with Lewis Paine [Powell]. Not only did Gardner take at least ten photographs of him on possibly two occasions, but he also took the trouble of copyrighting six of these ten on May 17, 1865. Of all the photographs of the conspirators and their execution, these were the only ones he copyrighted."

Here is a link to a 2012 article on Gardner's photos of Powell.

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/arc...r_gardner/

A nice article. The author is "wondering what might have gone on in the ship that day". In any case someone had done Powells hair. It looks like someone greased (used hair oil) it. I don't think they took off the handcuffs from Powell to make it on his own. Weird. Again.

[HerbS]

Bill,Is Rathbone a classic case of dual personalities?