"Stump the Yankee"

[Laurie Verge]

I know this is in a book somewhere that I have read within the past few years - or someone told me about it. We just have to beat Rich Smyth or Jim Garrett to the answer. They're the masters of Lincoln assassination "Whatever Happened To...?"

Joseph: I don't like that "sort of..."

[J. Beckert]

O.K., Laurie - I'll clarify that a little more. They were left in the death room. (My mother calls me Joseph when she's really mad). (Because I'm tired of losing, consider that crappy hint #1)

[RJNorton]

I just went through Robert Bain's book and don't see anything about socks. I guess I better go through it again. Must have missed it.

Were the socks part of the relics Fred Petersen sold for $1.12?

[J. Beckert]

No, Roger. (I hope you do better at the horse track than you're doing today)

[RJNorton]

You're aging me, Joe.

[Rob Wick]

Well, according to this website, at least one sock was sold in 1924.

Clothes Lincoln Wore When Killed Sold at Auction
Philadelphia , Feb. 19 [1924]—Clothes worn by Abraham Lincoln when he was assassinated in Ford's theater, Washington, by John Wilkes Booth, today were sold at public auction here for $6,500. They consisted of an old black suit, the collar stained with the life blood of the martyred president, the trousers wrinkled; a badly torn overcoat and a faded silk sock. Mr. Lincoln's clothes have been around. None the less, they are still in pretty good shape.

Anywhere near right?

Best
Rob

[Rsmyth]

I should have gone back and looked at my own notes:
Lincoln’s Boots – William T. Clark did not return Lincoln’s boots to Robert Todd Lincoln as he said he would. He kept them.. Shortly after the assassination, Clark moved out of the Petersen room. About this time Clark was volunteering his spare time for a Massachusetts agency that assisted wounded soldiers from that state who were recuperating in D.C. hospitals. There he met Justin H. Hatch, another volunteer who was an employee of the federal treasury department. As collateral for a loan, Clark gave Hatch the relics which included Lincoln’s boots, socks, a piece of bloodied towel and a clipping of the President’s hair.
After the war, Hatch returned to his Summer Street home in Lynn, Massachusetts with the relics. Clark moved to Boston where he worked as a bank clerk and a real estate agent. On April 4th, 1888 he died of a heart attack in a Boston store. The loan was never repaid and Hatch retained custody of the items.
At one point, Hatch’s wife, Caroline, fearful that Lincoln’s socks would attract moths burned them in the fireplace. Granddaughter, Ruth Hatch, as a student, brought the boots to school each year around Lincoln’s birthday. She and the other students would put them on and walk around. Later, as a History teacher, Ruth took them to show her students.
In 1947, when Ruth was moving from Summer Street to a new apartment on Franklin Street, picture frames containing the hair clipping and the bloodied piece of towel were accidentally thrown away. At this point, Ruth felt it was time to donate the boots to a museum that could take proper care of them. On April 30, 1947 granddaughter Ruth Hatch donated them to Fords Theatre.

[Laurie Verge]

Roger,

Don't bother going through Bain's book again. I had Joan Chaconas do it while I worked today, and she couldn't find it in there either. She did remember a letter that she found in the NPS files many years ago, however, and pulled out a copy from her files.

Dated April 17, 1865, it is a letter written by one of the men who made the simple pine box that was used to transport Lincoln's body from the Petersen House to the White House. It's long, but when I'm off the government clock, I will post highlights of it here.

Joe - does your mom call you by both your first and middle names when she's mad? That's what I do to my daughter. They also made the mistake of giving my grandson three names, so he gets all three thrown at him when grandma is on his case!

---

Rich - We cross posted! That's exactly the story I remember, so you must have been the one who told it to me. Thanks for breathing oxygen back into my fading brain - I didn't hallucinate after all.

---

Joe - Does this mean that you Yanks are catching up? Rich is from north of the Mason Dixon Line.

Rich - I now remember this was in a newspaper article at the time of the donation to Ford's. There's a picture of the presentation.

[Rsmyth]

You are correct Laurie. There was a picture of Ms. Hatch and a NPS employee accepting the boots.

[J. Beckert]

Well, another round has ended with the strains of "Dixie" in the background......

Roger - I was posting from my phone all day, which I hate, so a belated thanks for your kind words earlier. I appreciate it. If this is one of the most popular columns on the internet, somebody call Al Gore and tell him his invention is broken.

Laurie - Mom only calls me Joseph when she's mad. The way she says it does the rest. I have a brother and 2 sisters who still thank me for taking all the heat off them in childhood. Mom broke a lot of wooden spoons on me. And no, this doesn't help my score. Even though Rich is a Yankee, he has joined forces with you Rebs - if only for today, he's the enemy. Now to the question...

Rob did an excellent job, but what I was looking for was the whole story of the socks.

Rich knocked that one out of the park. I only recently learned this story, but Rich added the bit about the schoolkids wearing Lincoln's boots, which I'd never heard. Great job, Rich. The Correct Answer Review Board was very impressed and has decided to award you an Edwin Booth playbill from 1863 performance at the Boston Museum. It's pristine. Being you're nearby me, I'll send you a PM and we can either meet up or I will mail it if you like.

And all I gave out was one really crappy hint...........

Rebs 4
Yankee (Sigh) 1

[Jim Garrett]

Hi Team: I just got back home from a week in Jacksonville. Rich alerted me to this post. Ruth Hatch's intention was to just drop off the boots. She took them to the museum at Fords and if my memory is correct, had them in a paper sack. She essentially said, here's Lincolns boots and was going to leave. The NPS asked her to stay and they set up the donation/return as a photo op. I think the picture of Ruth returning the boots was taken at the Lincoln Memorial. Ruth lived in Hamilton Mass, where my wife is from. Do the Southerners get any add'l credit for color commentary? I couldn't respond sooner, I've been in an airport all afternoon.

[J. Beckert]

The Southerners don't need any extra credit, Jim. I'm getting my tail handed to me here. If the Civil War went this way, we'd all talk funny.

[Rsmyth]

I have to say, I really enjoy Joe's posts. He is hilarious.

[L Verge]

Why, Mistah Beckert, what evah do you mean? We folk in the wundahful land of Dixie speak much more distinctly than y'all of Yankee descent. Bless yo heart! Would y'all like red-eye gravy with y'all's grits?

[Rob Wick]

But Laurie, when a Southern woman says "bless your heart" isn't that code for "I'm going to do anything but bless your heart?

Best
Rob