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[RJNorton]

(08-03-2016 04:44 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Did both Richards and Forbes file charges?

I think Richards filed the neglect of duty charges against Parker, and both he and Forbes were listed as witnesses.

[Pamela]

What a pain it is to have books on kindle! I'm trying to find what you referenced, Laurie, but in so doing came across Kauffmann's mistaken belief that the "Clara" letter was genuine, and thus incriminating of Weichmann. He discounted Richards being in the theater but I can't yet figure out why. I don't recommend anyone getting books on Kindle if they think they might one day want to reference them. Kindle provides instant gratification and a cheaper price but a pain in the keester later.

[Anita]

This is just a point of information. While following the discussions here I happen to come across A C Richards's Bible, photos and a few misc. documents for sale on eBay. I wonder where the seller obtained the items.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HISTORIC-A-C-Ric...ot-/291624

[L Verge]

(08-03-2016 04:43 PM)Pamela Wrote:  

(08-03-2016 08:45 AM)L Verge Wrote:  

(08-02-2016 11:51 PM)Pamela Wrote:  Thanks for that information , Laurie. So, Richards didn't destroy Parker's files, as Roger theorized, to cover the "fact" that he didn't witness the assassination. Neither did Richards have a "revelation" 20 or 30 years later that he was in Ford's. He was on the record at the time. Stewart could not tell a consistent story about Richards. In one trial he went to the police station and talked to Richards right after the assassination. In another trial he waited outside the offices until he was told by an officer to come back the next day. Stewart lied about Richards like he lied about almost catching Booth.

I can only speak for what I saw forty years ago on a few Xeroxed pages that appeared to be from the Parker files. Until I see a full copy (or miraculously, the original), I'm not ruling anything out.

As for the rest of your statement here, you are taking mighty leaps based on a very little bit of information that I provided as to the existence of the files - not what was in them. You are falling into the same pit that many of us have in the past -- making snap judgments without sufficient evidence to back them up.

I'm going to ask a question here that I hope won't insult you, but would you be so interested in Richards if he was not in "cahoots" with the Weichmann story?

Can you explain your "cahoots" question? I know what the word means.

Bad semantics on my part. I should have said, "...would you be so interested in Richards if he was not tied into the Weichmann story?"

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(08-03-2016 05:13 PM)Pamela Wrote:  What a pain it is to have books on kindle! I'm trying to find what you referenced, Laurie, but in so doing came across Kauffmann's mistaken belief that the "Clara" letter was genuine, and thus incriminating of Weichmann. He discounted Richards being in the theater but I can't yet figure out why. I don't recommend anyone getting books on Kindle if they think they might one day want to reference them. Kindle provides instant gratification and a cheaper price but a pain in the keester later.

Please refresh my memory as to why you confidently state that the "Clara" letter was not genuine.

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(08-03-2016 05:55 PM)Anita Wrote:  This is just a point of information. While following the discussions here I happen to come across A C Richards's Bible, photos and a few misc. documents for sale on eBay. I wonder where the seller obtained the items.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HISTORIC-A-C-Ric...ot-/291624

When I clicked on, it said the item had been removed. Any idea who the seller might be?

[Susan Higginbotham]

The Bible and associated items are still on eBay (under another listing). Hope they go to a good home.

There's every reason to think that the Clara letter was genuine. About a month after the assassination, a young woman named Clara Pix Ritter was arrested in New York and charged with "charged with "holding communications with John Surratt and acting as his agent." Clara eventually admitted that she did know John Surratt. As for the "Clara" letter, it mentions Clara's uncle in Washington, and Clara Pix Ritter did indeed have an uncle in Washington, John Gould, who worked in the Land Office there. Gould, when questioned, named Weichmann as one of his niece's friends.

There's a very good article by Lee Gladwin in the National Archives' publication Prologue about Clara and the documents relating to her, some of which were misfiled for decades before being found by Gladwin's father.

[L Verge]

(08-03-2016 06:39 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  The Bible and associated items are still on eBay (under another listing). Hope they go to a good home.

There's every reason to think that the Clara letter was genuine. About a month after the assassination, a young woman named Clara Pix Ritter was arrested in New York and charged with "charged with "holding communications with John Surratt and acting as his agent." Clara eventually admitted that she did know John Surratt. As for the "Clara" letter, it mentions Clara's uncle in Washington, and Clara Pix Ritter did indeed have an uncle in Washington, John Gould, who worked in the Land Office there. Gould, when questioned, named Weichmann as one of his niece's friends.

There's a very good article by Lee Gladwin in the National Archives' publication Prologue about Clara and the documents relating to her, some of which were misfiled for decades before being found by Gladwin's father.

Thanks for your speedy reply, Susan. Proof yet again as to what an excellent and detailed researcher/historian you are.

[Pamela]

Susan, your explanation for the Clara letter was genuine is lacking in proof. I could write a letter to a person I know or a person my friend knows and say anything I wanted, and throw in names of relatives and where they live. That doesn't prove that I am genuinely corresponding with that person. If there is a letter from Weichmann to Clara referencing those persons and events, then the letter would likely have been really a letter meant for Weichmann, rather than a hoax written by a sleazy Confederate operative as a favor to "Captain Navarro" in an attempt to compromise Weichmann as a future witness.

[Susan Higginbotham]

So what is your proof that the letter (which actually doesn't strike me as all that compromising) wasn't written by Clara? And who was the "sleazy Confederate operative"?

Here is the original letter for those who are interested. Although I've read that the letter was found in Booth's papers, it's docketed as having been found among Weichmann's.

[Pamela]

I assume Clara wrote the letter at the behest of Surratt or Booth or someone in Surratt's confidence. It sounds odd, like there is some code involved with the dates in parentheses and underlined, or a hidden message. Where are the lengthy letters he wrote to Clara? And he should have had letters from her in his trunk. You can't actually think it's legit with zero proof.

John Surratt was preparing for being caught. I believe he transferred property into his mother's name. If it had been sent to Weichmann or planted in his trunk, detectives would have traced it to her and he would have been compromised, as Booth did with the telegram, Mary used him, etc. All part of their ugly games and Lincoln killing conspiracy.

[RJNorton]

(08-03-2016 09:31 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Although I've read that the letter was found in Booth's papers

This is also what I have read. I think this and the Father Menu letter were found among Booth's things in his room at the National Hotel.

[RJNorton]

Some assassination books mention the Clara letter, and others don't. Here is an example of what one author says. This is from Roy Chamlee's Lincoln's Assassins: A Complete Account of Their Capture, Trial, and Punishment: (p. 378)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"During the period of plotting in February 1865, Weichmann was being pursued by a girlfriend from New York named Clara. He exchanged letters with Clara, relating that his real interest was Anna Surratt. Clara responded that she hoped he had gained the heart he "seemed to court." Weichmann also wrote to Clara of his plans for an "appointment abroad." To this Clara expressed interest in knowing if perhaps Lou would be passing through Philadelphia or New York City. This trip, planned for July 1865, was a youthful boast, but the suggestion seemed strangely similar to John Surratt's frequently stated intent to leave the country.

Clara often included questions about Anna along with a clear indication of her own attraction to Weichmann. One letter ended, "reply please, especially about Miss S tt." Clara wanted to know if Louis was sure that Anna returned his interest. She sadly answered her own question, "I know and feel Miss S tt is worthy of you and they were all favorably disposed toward you I believe. Most sincerely, your friend Clara."

[L Verge]

I believe that one author, probably Kauffman, stated that Weichmann probably never saw either one of the letters. Both had incriminating evidence against the conspirators and were intercepted (by Mrs. Surratt??) before they reached her boarder.

[RJNorton]

(08-04-2016 08:59 AM)L Verge Wrote:  I believe that one author, probably Kauffman, stated that Weichmann probably never saw either one of the letters. Both had incriminating evidence against the conspirators and were intercepted (by Mrs. Surratt??) before they reached her boarder.

In AB he states his opinion that Sarah Slater wrote the Clara letter.

[Gene C]

I wonder why the letters would be in Booth's trunk?
For them to be in Booth's possession rather than Weichmann's seems a bit odd.

Unless they were written in code intended for Booth but sent to Weichmann so they wouldn't be intercepted by the Baker Boys and Stanton's spys.
I need to go back and see what Eisenschiml, Neff, Balsiger, and former member Steve Hager have to say about all this.

But these letters could have all been fakes, planted in Booth's trunk by the New York gang to implicate Booth and Weichmann.
Or, Weichmann was the mastermind behind everything and very good at it too. He manipulated Booth and the Surratt's in carrying out the nefarious plot of the Confederate Government, then later became the chief witness against them all. Diabolically clever. Booth didn't come to see Mrs. Surratt the day of the murder, he came to see Weichmann, but Mrs. Surratt conveniently got in the way by getting to the door first. (Which explains why Booth went to the house more than once that day) Weichmann's plans drastically change when he gets the chance to pursue Surratt in Canada and escape too, only to discover he likes Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts much more than Tim Hortons, and therefore decides not to make Canada his refuge from justice.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Clara married Henry Ritter later in February, not long after sending her letter to Weichmann. I wonder if the trip to Washington she talked about was to show off her new husband.

Sarah Slater's signature as "Nettie G. Slater" on her marriage license is on the thread "Sarah Slater's Second Husband" for anyone wanting to compare her handwriting to that of the Clara letter.

With regard to Pamela's point that Weichmann should have had other letters from Clara if this one was genuine, how do we know he didn't? The government didn't keep all of the letters it seized; for instance, we know that in June 1865, Nora Fitzpatrick signed a receipt for 44 letters addressed to her, and Anna Surratt testified during the Johnson impeachment proceedings that a number of her mother's papers were returned to her. Weichmann reproduces his correspondence with Father Dubreuil in his book, so he must have had his letters returned to him as well.