The “rubber box” or did Laura Keene indeed held Lincoln’s head?

[Linda Anderson]

I came across this article in the May 5, 1897 Daily Argus News about Keene's granddaughter, Clara Jaccard, who died when she was just 20 years old. Clara was the child of Keene's daughter, Emma, and Emma's husband, artist A. L. Rawson.

"Death Is Like Life, Weird End of Hapless Mrs. Jaccard. The Granddaughter of Laura Keen [sic] the Actress, Died with her Newly Born Child on a Bed of Straw - Her Brief But Wild Life - Heredity Criminal Tendencies the Cause." (The headline implies that her newborn died with Clara but the New York Times notice from May 6 does not mention the child dying.)

According to the article, the "hereditary criminal tendencies" came from Clara Jaccard's father, A. L. Rawson, not her mother, Emma, Laura Keene's daughter.
"A constable stands guard over the body of Mrs. Clara M. Jaccard, at Hillsdale, N. J., pending an investigation to confirm or dismiss the authorities' suspicions that she was poisoned...When Mrs. Jaccard died, the cause assigned for her death was pleuro-pneumonia. Then the authorities remembered the circumstance that an unknown assailant shot at Mrs. Jaccard a month ago. A suit is pending against Artist Albert L. Rawson, father of the notorious Rawson twins [Clara Jaccard's brothers], now in jail for burglary, to remove him from the executorship of the fortune that his daughter would have inherited next May. A month ago Mrs. Jaccard had her stepmother, the third Mrs. Rawson, arrested on the charge of stealing articles left her by her grandmother, Laura Keene, the actress, who held the head of President Lincoln when he lay dying at Ford's Theater in Washington. The $25,000 which Mrs. Jaccard would soon have inherited was her part of the estate left by Laura Keene. Among the articles alleged to have been stolen was the famous "Lincoln" dress, the one worn by Laura Keene the night of the assassination, and which, it is said, still bears blood stains. When the Rawson twins were locked up in Hackensack jail for burglary, and their father was arrested and put under bond for having burglars' tools, Mrs. Rawson [Clara Jaccard's stepmother] was left alone. She gathered her things together and left town, going, it is said, to live with the queer sect, the Angel Dancers, on Lord's Farm."

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=23...955,146926

According to the the March 7, 1897 Boston Herald, Clara Jaccard would have inherited "half of the principal of a large trust fund." Laura Keene's daughter, Emma, bequeathed "'...all my jewelry, laces, furs, 'Lincoln dress,' pictures and furniture, to my said daughter, Clara May Rawson, the same to be and belong to her and her heirs absolutely and forever'...
"The 'Lincoln dress' referred to was the dress worn by Laura Keene in the play "Our American Cousin," the night President Lincoln was shot. It was described as a 'white silk gown, with colored figures,' and was said to have been stained by the martyred President's blood. It was regarded as a valuable historical relic, and the actress and her family had refused large sums offered them for it."

[RJNorton]

Actor E.A. Emerson, who played Lord Dundreary in Our American Cousin, recalled that she (Keene) "was one of the first to reach the box, and when I saw her she was holding the president's head in her lap and the handsome yellow satin dress she wore in her part was stained all down the front with his blood."

Is there a claim that Emerson was also in the (ever-expanding) box? If not, where (if anywhere) could he be standing to be an eyewitness to this?

[Jim Garrett]

If one were standing on the balcony level near the box, there is a very good view inside. I believe that while Laurie Verge claims she was in the box, she was in fact standing near the railing of the balcony looking in. I question her claims about having gotten Lincoln's blood on her parasol.

[L Verge]

I would question my own claims about getting blood on my parasol, Jim, since it was an evening performance and I would not be carrying a parasol to the theater with me!

Question to my doctors out there: If Laura Keene had that much blood on her dress (supposedly in the area where Lincoln's head had rested) and then the Petersen pillows, towels, etc. were drenched in blood, why have I seen it printed so much that the wound bled very little and that the doctors had to keep removing blood clots in order to reduce the pressure on the brain?

[SSlater]

Are we concerned with WHEN were all these people "in the box"? Some may have looked in, saw the gore, and left. Truly, they were there. Others may have visited after Lincoln was removed, and saw the results of the shooting. They could claim to have "been there". If some were outside, and talked to people as they came out - they could reconstruct the scene inside. I doubt that "Who was there" will never be determined. Anyone who was in the theater, that night, would claim, to be a witness.
(Would you admit, that you were in the Theater, and "didn't see nuttin' ") If I watched from across the street - I was there!

[RJNorton]

Good point, John. Additionally I have compiled a list of 26 men who either claimed or were given credit for carrying Lincoln to the Petersen House. He was tall but not that tall.

[loetar44]

(09-11-2014 07:16 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  Hi Roger: I do feel that Gourlay was more credible than Ferguson. There was a back staircase, somewhere on the downhill side of the theatre. I think that the fact that Gourlay did not leave a statement actually may work for him.

I can't imagine in all the chaos in the theatre, that Ferguson would have been successful in getting Keene to the Presidential box in any feasible amount of time. I haven't read Ferguson's book for a couple of years, but I think there were some statements inconsistent with most other statements. Ferguson wrote the book roughly 65 years after the event and I'm sure a few of his memories changed over that time.

Let’s suppose that Jeannie Gourlay is right, by stating that Laura (escorted by Jeannie’s father Thomas Gourlay) indeed reached the box via a route, “known to her father” and did exit the theatre from the stage via the backstage door, into the small alleyway that separated the Star saloon from the theatre, than climbed the outside staircase to the second level of the Star Saloon building, to enter here the lounge (situated above the Star Saloon). Let’s suppose that that all was indeed possible. But was it possible taking the architecture of the building(s) in consideration…. ? Was it possible to reach that outside staircase via the small alleyway? Okay let’s say that that was possible, then Laura was in the lounge, but still not in the presidential box. The lounge was (as I understand approximately at the same level) adjacent to the dress circle, but don’t forget that there is still that small alleyway between the two buildings. Was there a connection between the lounge and the dress circle? Could Laura easily traverse the side of the dress circle? Let’s say she indeed reached the dress circle, than she still was not in the presidential box. Therefore she had to “fight” a huge mass of people at the door …. remember even the doctors had trouble getting in. Can someone give the answers on the two following questions:
1. Was there indeed an easy possibility to reach the outside staircase from the small alleyway?
2. Was there a connecting door between the lounge and the dress circle?
And I have an additional question: I've once read that there was no small alleyway at all between the Star Saloon and Ford's Theatre, ..... , as is seen on the photo. Was the alleyway later removed?

   

[RJNorton]

In addition to Kees' questions I am curious if anyone knows if we can even agree on the color of Keene's dress. I hope Tom Bogar sees this. In Tom's book he writes, "Nodding numbly, she washed the blood from her face and hands and threw a cape over her bloodstained Act Three costume, a pale gray moiré silk dress, and drew her bonnet close around her face."

This matches the color mentioned by Keene's biographer, Ben Graf Henneke. And the piece of the dress held by the Chicago History Museum is described as "off white."

However, actor E. A. Emerson said, "Laura Keene, one of the leading members of our company, was one of the first to reach the box, and when I saw her she was holding the President's head in her lap and the handsome yellow satin dress she wore in her part was stained all down the front with his blood."

W. Emerson Reck also describes the dress as yellow in his book.

In an earlier thread Linda posted an interesting piece in which it was described as a "bridal dress" but no specific color was mentioned. Linda posted:

"...a statement by Billy Otis who was Laura Keene's dresser on the night Lincoln was assassinated, in an August 22, 1879 article from the San Francisco Bulletin titled "An Actor's Prayer: A Curious Reminiscence of the American Stage."

"When the shot was fired he was in the act of buttoning Miss Keene's glove as she was preparing to go on the stage in bridal costume. At first mistaking the shot, she sent a request that the carpenters should not fire pistols during the acts, and then, when the truth became known, rushed to the washstand, saturated the whole front breadth of her magnificent bridal dress, which she wrung out in a vain attempt to resuscitate the unconscious victim."

[Linda Anderson]

Here's another description from my earlier post in this thread:

"The 'Lincoln dress' referred to was the dress worn by Laura Keene in the play "Our American Cousin," the night President Lincoln was shot. It was described as a 'white silk gown, with colored figures,' and was said to have been stained by the martyred President's blood. It was regarded as a valuable historical relic, and the actress and her family had refused large sums offered them for it."

[RJNorton]

In Manhunt James Swanson writes that the President's wound "oozed onto the cream silk fabric spreading and adding color to the frock's bright and festive red, yellow, green, and blue floral pattern."

[L Verge]

The Chicago Historical Society has this on the web, and it's the first time I remember reading Dr. Henneke's comment that Laura sent the dress to its creator, Jamie Bullock, who held it in a closed box at his home until Laura willed it to her daughter in 1873. I wonder if Bullock ever wrote a description of it?

Also note the description of something called Ikat fabric at the bottom of this piece. It refers to a style of weaving patterns into fabric that can resemble "bleeding" similar to what is thought to be blood on the fragment of Laura's gown that the Chicago Historical Society claims to have.

Unfortunately, I am not talented enough to cut and paste the photos in this article. http://www.chicagohistory.org/wetwithblo...ments6.htm

Descriptions of Keene's dress are contradictory.

Ford's Theatre actor A.E. Emerson noted her "yellow satin dress." In Mark Twain's Autobiography Samuel Clemens describes a fragment of Keene's dress sold at auction as a "piece of white silk." Henneke describes a pale gray moire silk with a design of bunches of roses. (HENNEKE 212)

Laura Keene as Peg Woffington in "Masks and Faces," The Life of Laura Keene, John Creahan, 1897. Courtesy of Northwestern University Library.

Keene biographer Ben Graf Henneke wrote:

When it was realized that [Keene] had the dress on which the president had bled his life away, she received offers to sell it, to exhibit it, to capitalize on each browning spot. Her refusal made no difference to some. They simply exhibited dresses they had and claimed they were hers. Pieces of cloth with stains on them were sold to the public and letters attesting their authenticity were forged in Laura's name... At some unspecified time the dress was placed in a closed box and left in Chicago with its creator, Jamie Bullock. Not until he received a letter from Laura written on August 11, 1873, did he know that he had the "Lincoln dress." He assured Laura, "My wife says that she will not lone your Dress because it would get Destroyed but will take good Care of it until you send." Emma took charge of the dress after her mother's death, and on her death she willed it to her daughter. It was a part of what Emma called her personal estate and was listed as the "Lincoln" dress in her will... Emma's daughter, Clara Rawson, is supposed to have distributed panels of the dress to friends sometime around 1890. HENNEKE 218-219)

Laura Keene's daughter Emma Eliza Taylor Rawson. Illustration from John Creahan's The Life of Laura Keene, 1897. Courtesy of Northwestern University Library.

Ikat fabrics are traditionally woven from warp yarns that are pre-dyed with intricate patterns. Ikat designs were popular during the Civil War following the refinement of commercial warp printing techniques in the 1820s. Ikat patterns characteristically have "bleeding" edges, as the warps are never perfectly aligned. The "blood" stain on the alleged Keene fragment is difficult to distinguish from the ikat pattern.

Ikat patterned dress (CHS 1978.207.3) and detail of ikat pattern and stain on fragment attributed to Laura Keene's dress (CHS 1935.107).

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks, Laurie, very interesting! So this dress fragment is still there? Is it on display? (Sorry if I overread this somewhere, or read and forgot, I'm poor at memorizing locations of relicts.) Here are the pictures:
       
IMO:
1. It would make sense that the dress was cream white similar to the basic color of the dress above. This would match all descriptions from white to yellowish as people perceive colors differently, the witnesses saw it from different distances and maybe in different illumination.

2. Whatever the distance or illumination was, I hardly can believe no one would have seen and mentioned a(n ikat) design of (bunches of) of roses (or did I overread this in a witness' statement?).

[Jim Garrett]

(09-14-2014 07:04 AM)loetar44 Wrote:  

(09-11-2014 07:16 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  Hi Roger: I do feel that Gourlay was more credible than Ferguson. There was a back staircase, somewhere on the downhill side of the theatre. I think that the fact that Gourlay did not leave a statement actually may work for him.

I can't imagine in all the chaos in the theatre, that Ferguson would have been successful in getting Keene to the Presidential box in any feasible amount of time. I haven't read Ferguson's book for a couple of years, but I think there were some statements inconsistent with most other statements. Ferguson wrote the book roughly 65 years after the event and I'm sure a few of his memories changed over that time.

Let’s suppose that Jeannie Gourlay is right, by stating that Laura (escorted by Jeannie’s father Thomas Gourlay) indeed reached the box via a route, “known to her father” and did exit the theatre from the stage via the backstage door, into the small alleyway that separated the Star saloon from the theatre, than climbed the outside staircase to the second level of the Star Saloon building, to enter here the lounge (situated above the Star Saloon). Let’s suppose that that all was indeed possible. But was it possible taking the architecture of the building(s) in consideration…. ? Was it possible to reach that outside staircase via the small alleyway? Okay let’s say that that was possible, then Laura was in the lounge, but still not in the presidential box. The lounge was (as I understand approximately at the same level) adjacent to the dress circle, but don’t forget that there is still that small alleyway between the two buildings. Was there a connection between the lounge and the dress circle? Could Laura easily traverse the side of the dress circle? Let’s say she indeed reached the dress circle, than she still was not in the presidential box. Therefore she had to “fight” a huge mass of people at the door …. remember even the doctors had trouble getting in. Can someone give the answers on the two following questions:
1. Was there indeed an easy possibility to reach the outside staircase from the small alleyway?
2. Was there a connecting door between the lounge and the dress circle?
And I have an additional question: I've once read that there was no small alleyway at all between the Star Saloon and Ford's Theatre, ..... , as is seen on the photo. Was the alleyway later removed?

The alley between the theatre and the saloon was a covered alleyway. My understanding is that there was indeed a stairway leading up to the lounge that was part of the second floor. The Fords built the Star Saloon building as part of the reconstruction project after the December 62 Theatre fire. It wasn't a secret alley, it just that if you weren't employed or associated with the theatre, you wouldn't have a reason to know about the side stairway.

[RJNorton]

(09-14-2014 02:08 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  2. Whatever the distance or illumination was, I hardly can believe no one would have seen and mentioned a(n ikat) design of (bunches of) of roses (or did I overread this in a witness' statement?).

Eva, I found this:

"The Act III dress has never been located – only pieces, or fragments – some of which are in museums, and some of which are in private collections. The description of the supposed dress (Henneke, page 212) – “pale gray moire silk… bunches of roses… detachable cuffs” – is end-noted by Henneke as taken from a Baltimore Sun clipping of 18 August of an unspecified year from the Hoblitzelle Theatre Arts Library at the University of Texas. This is the only known description of the dress that has surfaced, but because the date of the clipping is unknown as well as the original source of the information, it is difficult to assess its validity."

http://civilwar.gratzpa.org/2012/02/the-...ura-keene/

[STS Lincolnite]

(09-13-2014 04:10 PM)SSlater Wrote:  Are we concerned with WHEN were all these people "in the box"? Some may have looked in, saw the gore, and left. Truly, they were there. Others may have visited after Lincoln was removed, and saw the results of the shooting. They could claim to have "been there". If some were outside, and talked to people as they came out - they could reconstruct the scene inside. I doubt that "Who was there" will never be determined. Anyone who was in the theater, that night, would claim, to be a witness.
(Would you admit, that you were in the Theater, and "didn't see nuttin' ") If I watched from across the street - I was there!

I have been on vacation and am trying to catch up on my “Symposium reading”.

In doing so, I have been reading this thread with interest. As I have been progressing through this thread, my thoughts have echoed what John posted above. In reading about people who claimed to be in the box that night, I never envisioned them all there at exactly the same time. I always thought of them as sort of moving in and out and milling about outside in the passage way.

In Dr. Leale’s 1865 statement (that is the version I have immediate access to), there are a couple of passages that may be pertinent to this point.

“Dr. C. F. Taft and Dr. A. F. A. King now arrived and after a moments consultation we agreed to have him removed to the nearest house, which we immediately did, the above named with others assisting. When we arrived at the door of the box, the passage was found to be densly crowded by those who were rushing towards that part of the theatre. I called out twice “Guards clear the passage,” which was so soon done that we proceeded without a moments delay with the President and were not in the slightest interrupted until he was placed in bed in the house of Mr. Peterson, opposite the theatre, in less than 20 minutes from the time he was assassinated.”

I think that if the passage way was “densely crowded”, as Leale described it, is very likely that there were people ducking in and out of the box (or at least immediately outside into the vestibule). Some of those people to help, some just to say they were there and get a look and probably some hunting souvenirs. I would suspect the attention of the physicians and most others directly present/involved would have been focused on Lincoln and not necessarily taking note of everyone that came in and out.

The other part of Leale’s above statement that is of interest to me is his assertion that the elapsed time from the moment Lincoln was shot until his placement on the bed at the Peterson House was less than 20 minutes. I am curious as to how he came to this assessment. I doubt he had the presence of mind (or the inclination considering the immediacy of the circumstances) to look at his watch regularly until reaching the Peterson house. It seems to me that I have read in the past that people involved in similar situations have a severely impaired sense of the passage of time. Only 20 minutes elapsed from the moment he was shot until he was placed on the bed at the Peterson house seems pretty fast to me but I do find Leale to be a generally credible source.

Earlier in the 1865 statement Leale reported:
“The theatre was well filled and the play of “Our American Cousin” progressed very pleasantly until about half past ten, when the report of a pistol was distinctly heard and about a minute after a man of low stature with black hair and eyes was seen leaping to the stage beneath, holding in his hand a drawn dagger.”

From what I have read, the typical assignment for the time Lincoln was shot was 10:13 pm. If I assign “about half past ten” as 10:30 that leaves a discrepancy of 17 minutes when comparing Leale’s account to what is generally accepted as the time of the shot. I concede that “about half past ten” is a vagary that probably could be anywhere from 10:20 to 10:40.

If the length of time between Lincoln being shot and his removal to the Peterson house was in fact longer than the 20 minutes he described, that might make it more likely that a greater number of people would have had the opportunity to come in and out of the presidential box.

Has anyone besides Leale actually reported a time frame from the moment of the shot to Lincoln’s arrival and placement on the bed at the Peterson house?