Joseph Hazleton - First Hand Account of the Assassination

[Rsmyth]

Those confederates are pretty good with ropes. Might be some truth to it.

[L Verge]

Those confederates are pretty good with ropes. Might be some truth to it.

If I weren't allergic to them, I would insert a toothy emoticon (or whatever their new name is) at this point in agreement with you Rich!

And speaking of rope: A large coil of it was among the items hidden at Surratt House on March 18, 1865, by the terrible trio of Surratt, Atzerodt, and Herold. I had always assumed it was to tie down the presidential carriage when it was placed on the boat to be used in the kidnap plot. Mr. Hall suggested that the monkey wrench (also stored at the tavern) was to take the wheels off the carriage to steady it - hence no need for the rope.

His theory was that the coil of rope was to be stretched across the road at some point in the escape (tree to tree) in order to create a traffic jam of fallen horses when the first line of cavalry in pursuit hit the taut rope. Sounds workable to me...

[emma1231]

Louisa Withers Beck was one of William Withers, Jr.'s sisters. She was in Ford's Theatre, as I recall, on the night of the assassination. In 1939 she appeared on a radio show, the name of which I can't recall at the moment. I have the transcript of what she said, but I have never been able to find a recording of the show. This is so frustrating because other episodes of the same show do exist!
William Ferguson's voice may not have made it to a recording device, but at least one of his silent films still exists. It is fascinating to watch him. E.H. Sothern made some recordings, Betty, but he had nothing to do with the assassination. His dad, E.A. Sothern, was in the orig. cast of "Our American Cousin," but wasn't with Miss Keene on the night of the assassination. E. A. did perform in a revival of the play (prob. Lord Dundreary) in NYC in the first or second decade of the 20th century, and guess who was in the audience? Jeannie Gourlay Struthers!

[Craig Hipkins]

I have always been fascinated with the eyewitness accounts of the assassination and the varying discrepancies that are floating out there. If I recall there was one witness (I forget who) that actually remembered Lincoln standing up after he was shot. I believe that this was in Goode's book but I could be mistaken.

Craig

[Anita]

While searching for additional Lincoln assassination eye witness voice recordings, I found instead this 30 min. radio broadcast on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehtyO65pVNA. This one is called "You Are There- The Assassination of Lincoln."

I remember watching the TV show "You Are There" with Walter Cronkite in the 1950s.

[J. Beckert]

I have always been fascinated with the eyewitness accounts of the assassination and the varying discrepancies that are floating out there. If I recall there was one witness (I forget who) that actually remembered Lincoln standing up after he was shot. I believe that this was in Goode's book but I could be mistaken.
Craig

I remember that too, Craig. I found it once on a a Gov't website, but haven't been able to locate it since. The report stated Lincoln attempted to stand and was assisted back into the rocker by Maj. Rathbone. I've brought it up before here and I think one of the forum Doctors shot it down as highly improbable.

[emma1231]

While searching for additional Lincoln assassination eye witness voice recordings, I found instead this 30 min. radio broadcast on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehtyO65pVNA. This one is called "You Are There- The Assassination of Lincoln."

I remember watching the TV show "You Are There" with Walter Cronkite in the 1950s.

The "You Are There" radio show you found was actually the pilot for the series, accord. to what I read recently. I had not known that. They did one about the capture of Booth, too. Only the latter became an episode of the TV series. I created a multi-media presentation about Lincoln';s NYC funeral I call "You are there at Lincoln's NYC Funeral." The "You Are There" series was largely my inspiration. Those of us old enough to have watched JFK's funeral on TV felt as tho we were eyewitnesses and were emotionally caught up in it. I attempt to do that in my "show," making the audience feel that they are witnessing Lincoln's as though they were watching it unfold on TV. I simply used all the old photos and woodcuts I could find and transpose the newspaper accts. of the following day into the present tense. It worked. "You Are There" was a great idea, wasn't it? (If anyone has a history group interested in booking me, let me know! I love presenting it, and am always tweaking it. (Do I have to pay you for this plug, Roger?!)

[RJNorton]

I have always been fascinated with the eyewitness accounts of the assassination and the varying discrepancies that are floating out there. If I recall there was one witness (I forget who) that actually remembered Lincoln standing up after he was shot. I believe that this was in Goode's book but I could be mistaken.
Craig

I remember that too, Craig. I found it once on a a Gov't website, but haven't been able to locate it since. The report stated Lincoln attempted to stand and was assisted back into the rocker by Maj. Rathbone. I've brought it up before here and I think one of the forum Doctors shot it down as highly improbable.

I found it. It is in the account of a man named W. H. Taylor. He talks about Lincoln being shot and the shrieks from Mary Lincoln. Then he says, "Meantime, the President had remained sitting in his chair with his head bent forward, but I distinctly saw him rise once to his feet and in a dazed sort of way attempt to take a step or two. He was not upright but half erect. Just then Major Rathbone came to his assistance, and supported by the latter, he sank back into the chair."

Source: p. 120 of Tim Good's book.

[J. Beckert]

Good job, Roger. That's it. He sounds adamant about it, but I wonder if it was possible with the massive brain injury he'd just suffered.

[BettyO]

I don't think that he'd be able to stand with such an injury - I do remember Dr. Lattimer stating years ago that there was a certain reflex that occurs with brain injuries where the arms come up together in front of the body - Kennedy had this reflex. Lincoln could have as well.... I disremember the entire conversation, but I remember that Lattimer stated that Kennedy had the reflex reaction upon the bullet impact - and you can see it in the photos/film.

By the way, Hazleton is buried in an unmarked grave in Hollywood, CA.