Why Not Fanny Seward?

[BettyO]

I'm working on a project and in the middle of it I suddenly thought, "Why wasn't Fanny Seward ever called to testify at the trial?" It was not due to her gender. Clara Harris testified, Maggie Branson testified as did Mrs. John Grant and several other ladies....

Anyone have any idea why not Fanny? Just curious....

[Linda Anderson]

I don't know for sure but I wonder if it was because she didn't identify Lewis Powell on the Saugus where he was imprisoned.

The Sewards' family doctor who accompanied Fanny on the monitor, Tuillo Verdi, gives a moving account of the moment Fanny encountered Powell.

"Conscientious, even at this trying moment, she could not identify the man; her identification, she thought, might be his death. She had only seen him by a dim light as in a frightful vision. That is all she said."

The Republic, A Monthly Magazine, Volume One, page 289, on Google Books.

Also, there may have been pressure from Secretary Seward to not put Fanny through any more pain than what she had already been through. She was not in good health.

There were reports in the newspapers that Secretary Seward himself was set to testify but the idea was nixed by his doctors.

[Jim Garrett]

I think Linda is on the right line. Fanny was of frail health. She died in 1866. To have any involvement in the trial may have been too much for her weak constitution.