Relics

[RJNorton]

The Ulke brothers, Henry and Julius, who were boarding at the Petersen House actually took two deathbed images. When viewing the two images, the chair at the head of the bed is moved somewhat; enough to easily see the differences in the photos. The bloody pillow may also have been moved a slight bit. Look for the bedpost above the pillow in each image. The angle is also slightly different. One can google "Ulke Lincoln deathbed photos" and they will come up side by side. The comparison is interesting. While Julius is generally credited with taking the images, it was Henry who continued in the well into 1866 and perhaps beyond. He maintained a studio at 278 Pennsylvania Avenue. The backmark only contains Henry's full name and not that of Julius. I do not know their history but I suspect Julius may have been out of the business by that time.

Thanks, Dennis. In the Wikipedia article on Henry Ulke it says, "His New York Times obituary says, "Henry Ulke, whose portraits of Presidents and Cabinet Ministers at Washington gained for him the soubriquet of 'Painter of Presidents,' died ... as the result of a fall at his home... He was 89 years old. Mr. Ulke was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, and at the time of the assassination the dying President was carried into the famous Tenth Street house, where he was boarding."

Personally, I have not read that Lincoln and Ulke ever met, let alone were friends.

Has anyone read that Lincoln and Ulke were friends?

[Steve]

The obituary was a wire service piece that appeared in multiple newspapers, not just the Times. I've seen the claim that Ulke and Lincoln were friends in a bunch of places, but as far as I can tell they all seem to go back to the 1910 obituary. If Lincoln knew the Ulkes, one would think he might have had his photograph taken by one of them just once, or that fact mentioned in newspapers at the time of the assassination.

Here's an interesting article on the Ulkes from 5 years ago:

http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/relea...ln-for-sal

[Steve]

The Ulke brothers, Henry and Julius, who were boarding at the Petersen House actually took two deathbed images. When viewing the two images, the chair at the head of the bed is moved somewhat; enough to easily see the differences in the photos. The bloody pillow may also have been moved a slight bit. Look for the bedpost above the pillow in each image. The angle is also slightly different. One can google "Ulke Lincoln deathbed photos" and they will come up side by side. The comparison is interesting. While Julius is generally credited with taking the images, it was Henry who continued in the well into 1866 and perhaps beyond. He maintained a studio at 278 Pennsylvania Avenue. The backmark only contains Henry's full name and not that of Julius. I do not know their history but I suspect Julius may have been out of the business by that time.

Thanks, Dennis. In the Wikipedia article on Henry Ulke it says, "His New York Times obituary says, "Henry Ulke, whose portraits of Presidents and Cabinet Ministers at Washington gained for him the soubriquet of 'Painter of Presidents,' died ... as the result of a fall at his home... He was 89 years old. Mr. Ulke was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, and at the time of the assassination the dying President was carried into the famous Tenth Street house, where he was boarding."

Personally, I have not read that Lincoln and Ulke ever met, let alone were friends.

Has anyone read that Lincoln and Ulke were friends?

Perhaps the obituary writer was thinking of Robert Todd Lincoln. The Ulkes took several photographs of members of his family while they were in Washington that were preserved in the Lincoln Family Album:

Mamie:

https://www.lincolncollection.org/search...agesize=48

and

https://www.lincolncollection.org/search...agesize=48

Robert:

https://www.lincolncollection.org/search...item=44263

Photographs of reliefs of Robert Todd Lincoln and Mary Harlan Lincoln:

https://www.lincolncollection.org/search...item=49762

and

https://www.lincolncollection.org/search...item=56382

The Ulkes also took pictures of other members of the Harlan family as you can see in this article about a photo of William Harlan being mistaken for Tad Lincoln:

http://lincolncollection.tumblr.com/post...n-identity

[RJNorton]

Perhaps the obituary writer was thinking of Robert Todd Lincoln.

This sure seems logical, Steve. Thanks for posting those links.

[Lincolnphotog]

The hoods the conspirators wore while in prison. Macabre but fascinating.

[Wesley Harris]

What remains, if anything, from the stuff that was found in George Atzerodt's room at the Kirkwood House?

a black coat
a pistol, loaded and capped
a bank-book of J. Wilkes Booth showing a credit of $455
a map of Virginia
a handkerchief marked ''Mary R. E. Booth"
another handkerchief marked " F. M." or " F. A." Nelson
another handkerchief with the letter "H" in the corner
an envelope with the frank of the Hon. John Conness
a pair of new gauntlets
a colored handkerchief
three boxes of Colt cartridges
a piece of licorice
a toothbrush
a brass spur
a pair of socks
two collars
a large bowie knife

I don't know if any of those items still exist except the knife, which is on display at Ford's Theatre. There's too many spurs connected to the case to know which is which or which one(s) are legit.

[Jim Garrett]

the map of Virginia, toothbrush, and large Bowie Knife are still in the foth collection. The foth collection has lots of knives.

[Wesley Harris]

the map of Virginia, toothbrush, and large Bowie Knife are still in the foth collection. The foth collection has lots of knives.

Jim,
does FOTH attribute the toothbrush to a specific person?

[L Verge]

For some reason, back in the early-1980s, I thought the toothbrush was attributed to belonging to Lewis Powell??

Also thought you would enjoy knowing that this site: https://www.fords.org/for-teachers/teach...=artifacts lists Booth as having been shot at Boston Corbett's barn. Please note that it is an NPS site for Ford's Theatre...

[Wesley Harris]

Also thought you would enjoy knowing that this site: https://www.fords.org/for-teachers/teach...=artifacts lists Booth as having been shot at Boston Corbett's barn. Please note that it is an NPS site for Ford's Theatre...

and it was "two" revolvers and a carbine, not just "a" revolver.

[Dennis Urban]

The envelope with the frank of Hon. John Conness is a curious piece. Wonder how and when that was obtained by George. Conness was an abolitionist who wound not likely have an association with the conspirators. Also seems unusual that the senator would provide a pre-franked envelope. Wish we knew the story of this piece.

[L Verge]

I had never heard of John Conness until that dreadful movie (followed by equally dreadful book) The Lincoln Conspiracy was foisted on the public about forty years ago. I don't remember how Balsiger and Sellier connected him to the Lincoln assassination (and I burned my copy of the book), but they did claim that he was a member of the conspiracy -- perhaps based on this envelope?

I did learn something about Conness at that time, however. He was friends with Lincoln after switching to the Republican Party and was also instrumental in getting the first U.S. land set aside as a national park (Yosemite). I think Lincoln signed the act during the Civil War.

[RJNorton]

Another book that mentions Conness is H. Donald Winkler's Lincoln and Booth: More Light on the Conspiracy.

Winkler writes:

"Forty-four year old Conness reportedly was a 'skirt chaser' who had been seen with Booth on many occasions. Conness had no known connection with Booth's plots, but he obviously would have been humiliated and disgraced by any disclosure of Booth's writings that referred to their friendship and shared women. Their association may or may not explain the franked envelope from Conness's office that was found in Atzerodt's room after the assassination."

According to Winkler, the reference to Booth's writings was what was contained in the missing pages from Booth's diary. The implication is that when Stanton saw what was in some of the pages these pages then went missing. (The source for this theory is what apparently was in the diary of Congressman George W. Julian of Indiana. Maybe Julian's dairy is also the source for Balsiger and Sellier's mention of Conness. I do not have Julian's diary, so I do not know what it contains.)

[brtmchl]

Field Glasses.
Booth's Crutches.

Was there also a shoe given to Booth at the Mudd house to replace the boot that was cut off?

[RJNorton]

Collector's expanded Lincoln relics on display at Joplin museum

http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_ne...4b20b.html