Clara Harris and Noah Brooks

[gshoub]

So I am new to the Symposium. I having been trying to find an answer to this question and keep hitting dead ends. I hope someone can help me. In a column written on April 16, 1865 and published in the Sacramento Daily Union on May 17, 1865, the newspaper columnist Noah Brooks attributes statements to Harris that I had never read before. According to the column, Harris claims that she had seen Booth an hour or so before the assassination when he opened the door to the Presidential Box and briefly looked in as if to get a look at where the occupants were seated.

Does anyone know where Brooks would have obtained this information? Did Harris give a statement to someone immediately following the assassination? I can find no transcript of an interview of her in the National Archives, (or elsewhere for that matter). I know this statement is contradictory to what is contained in Harris's affidavit a couple of days later, which makes it all the more intriguing to me.

Any guidance, thoughts, directions, or theories would be most welcome. Thank you in advance.

[RJNorton]

Welcome, Grant. This does not answer your question - it's just my opinion. I find Clara Harris' memory suspect. In a letter written on April 29, 1865, she maintained that Abraham Lincoln gave his April 11, 1865, speech the night before the assassination. This is obviously incorrect. There are several eyewitness accounts of folks who were sitting close to the State Box, and none of these mention Booth making a "trial run." She also maintained that Laura Keene was never in the box, but the bulk of the evidence seems to point to Keene being there. IMO, Clara Harris' memory is off (at least in some respects) and not always to be relied upon.

[gshoub]

Roger:

Thanks. I have read that on some earlier replies involving Harris. I'm not convinced yet, at least as to this issue. The way it was described by Harris I am not certain anyone else would have seen it.

[J. Beckert]

Welcome, Grant! I find this incident equally intriguing. What seems to lend a little credence to it, for me anyway, is that Harris said upon Booth's return, Rathbone arose to ask him his business. Almost insinuating that Rathbone saw him the first time as well and found it strange that he returned. Good luck with this.

[gshoub]

I read that as well and that is what got me going on this. That was not in Brooks's article, at least, I couldn't find it. I got started on this after reading "Worst Seat in the House" by Caleb Stephens. He quotes that same portion that you did about Rathbone interceding when Booth returned. Where is that found? I'll certainly update the thread if I find anything more. I'm just short of ideas at this point as to where to look but I'm curious enough to keep trying.

[J. Beckert]

I thought Harris said that about Rathbone rising to encounter Booth was in the article. If you poke around a bit, I know I've seen that article posted here on Roger's site. If you have Ed Steer's Encyclopedia of the Lincoln Assassination, you might check there. If that doesn't have every eyewitness statement, it's close.

[AussieMick]

Ive read the suggestion that Clara Harris saw Booth before the killing. Not sure where.

I make the point that she and Rathbone accompanied the President and Mary to the theatre. So they almost certainly all went into the box at around the same time. Of course that doesnt prevent Clara from later claiming to have seen Booth. It could even be that Booth looked into the box when all were seated , she saw him and maybe Rathbone spoke to him (Mary Lincoln might not even have noticed). She certainly later had a very stressful life with her husband (Rathbone) eventually killing her during a mental episode.

---

I havent done a complete search of references to Clara in this forum , but this is relevant ...

(statement by Clara Harris in the May 5, 1865, edition of The Public Ledger)

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...l#pid16893

[RJNorton]

Michael, thanks for posting a link to that article.

I am still not buying it. In addition to the reasons that are in my previous post I would also offer these 3 thoughts:

(1) Offhand, I cannot think of even one reputable Lincoln assassination historian who includes this alleged first visit of Booth in his/her book.

(2) Some eyewitnesses stated that Booth handed something to Charles Forbes as he sought entry to the box. This may have been a calling card. I would therefore ask why Forbes would ask for the card if it was JWB's second request of the evening to enter the passageway behind the State Box.

Captain Theodore McGowan stated:

"I was sitting in the aisle leading by the wall toward the door of the President’s box, when a man came and disturbed me in my seat, causing me to push my chair forward to permit him to pass; he stopped about three feet from where I was sitting, and leisurely took a survey of the house. I looked at him because he happened to be in my line of sight. He took a small pack of visiting-cards from his pocket, selecting one and replacing the others, stood a second, perhaps, with it in his hand, and then showed it to the President’s messenger, who was sitting just below him. Whether the messenger took the card into the box, or, after looking at it, allowed him to go in, I do not know; but, in a moment or two more, I saw him go through the door of the lobby leading to the box and close the door."

If there had been a previous entry wouldn't McGowan have mentioned it?

(3) Most importantly, Rathbone left us with several accounts of the tragic events of April 14, 1865. This includes his testimony at the conspiracy trial. In none of his accounts does he back up what Clara Harris apparently thought she saw. I just think Harris became confused and didn't get her story straight.

Just my opinion.

[J. Beckert]

I think you're right, Roger and that was a very good point about the calling card. Some of the best witness accounts come from those that were seated very close to the box door. One witness account stated the man heard "There's Booth" indicating there was some excitement about seeing the famous actor shortly before the deed.
Could Parker or Forbes not been at the post if Booth made an earlier visit? Who knows. I think we'll have to put this in the forever unknown category with did Booth break his leg on the stage or when his horse rolled.

[Gene C]

Roger, I'm glad you mentioned Rathbone's testimony at the conspiracy trial.
If it's not there then I doubt it happened.

Plus, you saved me countless hours looking for it there.

[RJNorton]

(02-13-2023 08:42 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  Could Parker or Forbes not been at the post if Booth made an earlier visit?

Joe, I know Francis Burke (coachman), Parker, and Forbes all had a drink at Taltavull's, but I don't recall what time that was.

[gshoub]

So, does anyone know where these statements of Clara Harris originated.? James Tanner's transcriptions apparently have no record of her being interviewed by Stanton or Judge Cartter at the Peterson house. At least I have been told he did not transcribe any such interview. Is there any indication that she would have spoken directly to a reporter such as Noah Brooks? Brooks's column is dated two days after the shooting. Is it too wild of a speculation to believe he spoke to her directly?

[RJNorton]

I checked Lincoln Observed: Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks edited by Michael Burlingame. This is what it says on p. 189 where Clara Harris is mentioned. Unfortunately, Brooks never states where he got this information. It seems to sound like he spoke to her directly, but he never says so.

[gshoub]

Roger, thanks. It was in Burlingame's book that I first read Brooks's column. Although, as J. Beckert correctly notes in his earlier post, there apparently is more to the story than Brooks reported in his article. Specifically the comment that Rathbone actually spoke to Booth when he entered the box but before he shot Lincoln. That is not in Brooks's dispatch. It may be in the May 5, 1865 edition of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. I'll poke around to see if anyone has posted that article previously. I have downloaded a copy of the May 5, 1865, Public Ledger but it is of such poor quality that I am unable to decipher whether there is an article in there or not about Harris's statements.

Thanks to everyone for responding. All good comments and I certainly understand the skepticism about what has been attributed to Harris. I still find it fascinating as it is such a different version of events from what I have previously read and understood. I'm going to keep looking.

[RJNorton]

I thought I would post Otto Eisenschiml's take on this matter (from Why Was Lincoln Murdered):

Still further confirmation of Hanscom's entrance into the loge comes unexpectedly from Miss Clara Harris. In a statement made previous to her affidavit before Justice Olin and published in the New York Herald, April 16, she reported that, "Nearly one hour before the commission of the deed the assassin came to the door of the box, and looked in to take a survey of the position of its occupants. It was supposed at the time that it was either a mistake or the exercise of an impertinent curiosity. The circumstance attracted no particular attention at the time. Upon his entering the box again Major Rathbone arose and asked the intruder his business. He rushed past the Major without making a reply, and . . . fired . . ." 10

The supposed assassin making his survey was probably none other than the editor of the National Republican , and his survey nothing worse than a search for the President to whom he wanted to hand his message. This further substantiates the assumption that Forbes was inside the box and not at the door or outside of it.

What makes Miss Harris' statement to the press doubly remarkable is that it differs so radically from the sworn statement she made before an official investigator two days later. Then she made no mention of the unknown visitor whom she had taken for the murderer. She must have forgotten the man as completely as she did the fact that her fiance had risen to question him.

Or was it something other than forgetfulness which changed her testimony almost over night? If she had seen the editor, Rathbone must have seen him too. Then why, people might ask, did he not react energetically to the obvious absence of the bodyguard? When Miss Harris appeared before Justice Olin she merely stated that the sworn statement of her fiancé was substantially correct, so far as she knew. She was careful not to go beyond that; and by doing so she not only shielded her future husband, but incidentally prevented any further inquiry relative to the appearance of the mysterious intruder. Such an investigation unquestionably would have thrown Parker's actions into full relief, and might have led to further disclosures in regard to the curious story of his appointment, and to the still more curious fact of his immunity from punishment. Miss Harris probably was easily influenced to modify her original story. The young lady was the daughter of an ex-senator and could be depended on to know when silence was golden. In this case, the interests of her fiancé clearly outweighed those of historical accuracy.

All this would be of minor interest were it not for the fact that Miss Harris' deposition was not the only one to undergo a remarkable change in the days that followed the death of the President. Major Rathbone also suffered a lapse of memory between the time he stood before Justice Olin on April 17 and the moment he took the witness stand in the conspiracy trial on May 15. On April 17, he was emphatic in declaring that no one but Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Harris and himself had been in the presidential box. On the fifteenth of May he omitted all reference to this point. This is the more noteworthy as the two statements are otherwise almost identical in wording.11 The repetition of the same phrases on both occasions even suggests that Major Rathbone read his statement before the military commission from a prepared memorandum. An assertion made in the first account and deleted in the second must have been stricken out deliberately and for good reasons. For what reasons?

10 New York Herald, April 16, 1865
11 Laughlin, of. cit.y p. 289