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Houmes · 08-03-2015, 11:04 AM

(07-31-2015 07:43 AM)RJNorton Wrote: Maddie, the only thing I can think of is something I read in Theodore Roscoe's The Web of Conspiracy. Roscoe wrote, "One day (we are told) a woman spy disguised in widow's weeds, heavily veiled, walked into Lincoln's office and tried to poison him with a kiss. Smallpox. The story may be apocryphal, but the President did, in fact, contract a mild case of varioloid."

Nothing new in the use of smallpox as germ warfare here. Major Robert Donkin, a British Army officer serving in America, wrote a book in 1777 (New York: Military Collections and Remarks) proposing on page 190 that arrows should be dipped in smallpox and shot at the "American rebels" during the Revolutionary War.

LincolnToddFan · (This post was last modified: 08-03-2015 11:55 AM by LincolnToddFan.)

(07-31-2015 07:43 AM)RJNorton Wrote: Maddie, the only thing I can think of is something I read in Theodore Roscoe's The Web of Conspiracy. Roscoe wrote, "One day (we are told) a woman spy disguised in widow's weeds, heavily veiled, walked into Lincoln's office and tried to poison him with a kiss. Smallpox. The story may be apocryphal, but the President did, in fact, contract a mild case of varioloid."

Hi Roger, do you remember reading a story about peaches and pears injected with poison and sent to the WH during the Civil War? I do, they were said to be a perfectly beautiful basket of fruit that never reached the president or his family because they were found out to be poisonous in the nick of time.

I can't remember where I read this...... Huh

I also read about dress shirts infected with smallpox and sent to Lincoln. Maybe MTL didn't like the idea of her husband wearing second hand clothes and tossed out, thus saving his life!

RJNorton · 08-03-2015, 11:57 AM

Hi Toia. I think it's in O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln.

LincolnToddFan · 08-03-2015, 12:01 PM

Okay....thanks Roger!

Mylye2222 · 01-01-2020, 05:09 PM

(05-14-2015 01:28 PM)Juan Marrero Wrote: I am still reading "Fortune's Fool" and learning quite alot.

As I read it, I keep thinking that Booth possibly suffered from a borderline personality disorder--a very inflated sense of self, volatile and destructive personal relationships, rapid mood swings and a tendency towards despair. This is certainly not new ground for I am sure that his mental state has already been brought up and discussed. Morever, anyone who shoots an American president has to be, almost by defintion, crazy.

At the very least, he was an adrenalin junkie. Hard to believe how many times he was stabbed, cut, shot, etc. His reckless sword play on stage suggests someone barely in control of himself. Did he have to drive himself that hard just to feel anything?

It's a wonder that he did not (apparently) drink as much as his father did. Someone living at such speed would llikely look for a liquid or chemical way to come down at the end of the day.

As an aside, I think that JWB looks physically much like Lee H. Oswald in the photo in which Booth is photographed with his two brothers wearing Roman togas.

Agree with your psycho analysis.
Booth seems to have been also a man craving for approval and esteem from his society. That's maybe why he wanted to get Lincoln only with a large crowd around. He wanted a show. Another type of profile would and could have simply used, for instance, the White House office hours.

LincolnMan · 01-02-2020, 08:15 AM

Beliefs drive actions.
Booth killed Lincoln because of his beliefs.

L Verge · 01-02-2020, 08:29 AM

(01-02-2020 08:15 AM)LincolnMan Wrote: Beliefs drive actions.
Booth killed Lincoln because of his beliefs.

Agreed. It is next to impossible for us to fully understand what drove our ancestors during this horrible period of our history. It's easier to claim that an assassin is just insane. I've wondered if the CSA started the "insane actor" story to try and distance themselves from their own man.

LincolnMan · 01-03-2020, 07:28 AM

(01-02-2020 08:29 AM)L Verge Wrote:
(01-02-2020 08:15 AM)LincolnMan Wrote: Beliefs drive actions.
Booth killed Lincoln because of his beliefs.

Agreed. It is next to impossible for us to fully understand what drove our ancestors during this horrible period of our history. It's easier to claim that an assassin is just insane. I've wondered if the CSA started the "insane actor" story to try and distance themselves from their own man.

Never thought of that possibility Laurie. Booth certainly was disappointed when he read newspaper accounts of the assassination while hiding in the swamp. He thought he'd be hailed as a hero but discovered that he was considered anything but.