DNA, Laura Keane and Sloppy Science

So sorry, missed this thread! Had no clue an entire show was built around this ' cradled head ' thing? Somewhere I have newspaper, eye witness accounts of Keene doing a wonderful job of calming an hysterical crowd, from the stage, making herself heard ( not the box? ). Seems like this kind of thing would be easy enough to find, with all the scanned papers. OH, and somewhere a letter, written by a doc who came to Lincolns aid ( but forget 100% of his account...., will go dig it up- used it the last time we had someone try to have CWT verify yet another ' Lincoln post mortem '. :angel: )
I watched a youtube video last year which showed the account given in 1912 I think of an elderly actor who was a stage hand at Ford's during the time in question. He was just a boy, but he described the events, Booth's outfit, and the fact that Laura Keene stood onstage and told the audience that Lincoln had been shot by John Wilkes Booth. His version of how Booth escaped justice is simply him enhancing the story.

There is a website devoted to the murder, and it contains lots of research into Kenne's tale. If I recall, both Mary and Clara vehemently denied Keene's ever being in the box. One of the doctor's said she was, but that was decades after the fact. The site contains reconstructions of what the stage was like at the time and how difficult it would have been for her to get to the box through the crowd. In her favor, the police cleared the crowd. So it's possible she could have gotten there before he was moved to the rooms across the street. [I'm not sure of the date the actor was filmed. It had sound, so probably later than 1912.]
 
A couple of articles written on April 15, 1865 indicate both versions of Laura Keene's involvement during the assassination may be correct. The first seems to validate @JPK Huson 1863 in her recollection of Keene calming the crowd but does not mention her location. Being on stage in the immediate aftermath seems likely.
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The second clip mentions Keene being in the company of Mary Lincoln as they carried the President from the theater. The possibility of her dress being stained by the President's or Rathbone's blood cannot be excluded bases on these articles.
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This can put Keene at the rooming house, but would she have been given access to the dying president?
 
I believe her dress is at the Smithsonian. I read article of all things they have that relate to Lincoln assassination. The write-up does say she held President Lincoln's head in her lap.

I will look up article.
Keene's story about the dress was something she came up with years later. It's like pieces of the "True Cross" in that the dress was cut up into pieces which were sold as mementos or given away in some cases. Many of them don't even match.
 
Awhile back I watched an episode of one of the old game type shows. They had on the last living person/witness to Lincoln's Assassination at Ford's Theater. It may have been on youtube. It was filmed sometime in the late 50's. It was kind of interesting.
 
Hang on- both Rathbone and Harris gave depositions. I'd always assumed the dress slash had-in-lap story must be true, until reading era accounts. They just do not mention her? In fact, Rathbone goes out of the way to say who was allowed in the box, after 2 men identified themselves as surgeons.

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Rathborne says no one else was allowed in, other than surgeons and I guess Crawford? Harris's is shorter.
 
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It sounds like the 2 surgeons entered the box from the front? Clara does not mention Laura Keene, either.

You know, by the time Keene came out with her story, the Rathbones were plunged in tragedy- I'm not trying to tell anyone anything they already know, Rathbone was a full time job for Clara, beyond keeping the children safe. Poor guy went mad over the events that night. Clara was dead, Rathbone in an asylum, poor Mary gone, who was to counter the story?

Maybe everyone missed it, somehow? Still, Rathbone was military, and a leader. He took control of the scene, ensuring no one was permitted to come in, except the docs.
 
Rats. For some reason I only have one page from a letter one of the docs wrote, after April 14th. Saved it years ago- he was at Ford's that night, I guess now known to history. His account is graphic. It doesn't seem to include poor Lincoln being takn from his chair, befor being carrid across the street. He examines the wound, in this single page I still have.

lincoln assin3 letter 1.jpg


Used this to make nonsense of that ' post mortem ' photo that was making the rounds, too. Supposedly poor Lincoln on his deathbed, that photo shows a man fully dressed, which this doctor states was not true.
 
The article is from Smithsonian Magazine. Title: "Blood Relics from the Lincoln Assassination". Laura Keane's dress is one of them.

See: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-blood-relics-from-the-lincoln-assassination-180954331/


Yes, it is odd they would not include the controversy, at least, isn't it? Cannot tell you how many events look different in 2018 from how they first appear, in print, in 1861 or so. Not, please know, that newspapers are terrific sources but for things like this, with reprints of sworn depositions, etc, it's significant, you know? Plus, Laura was so iconic, guessing it just did not occur to anyone she would not be entirely accurate? Does seem very weird.
 
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