Photo of Lincoln on his deathbed?

Woman is suing a Maryland museum and its director for discrediting her and an alleged photo of Lincoln on his deathbed.

She's representing herself in the suit. So ....

http://wvrecord.com/news/260746-woman-says-photo-of-lincoln-on-deathbed-is-real-sues-museum-director

She even has a website for the photo along with evidence.
http://www.historyhounddog.webuda.com/

 

Interesting, couple of thoughts:

1. It's the copy editor in me, but in the story, Mrs. Surratt was hanged in 1865, the same year of the assassination, not 1895.

2. At the house across from Ford's Theater, there's a pillow in the room which was supposed to be the one placed under Lincoln's head. There were considerable bloodstains. Maybe it's the lighting of this photo or they decided to just use a cleaner pillow, but there's no bloodstains on the pillow in the photo.

3. There was actually a photo taken of Lincoln in his coffin, but it wasn't the photog's intent to do so. On the tour of the body back to Illinois, they stopped off in one city, had a big display in a building. Photog took a photo of a couple of guards at the coffin from a second-floor vantage point, but the coffin was open and Lincoln's face could be clearly seen.

Stanton (being Stanton), threw a fit when the photo was published, threatened to court-martial the guards, who didn't know their picture was being taken, and ordered them to go to photog's studio, seize, and destroy the negatives (and here we think about government overreaching now). The photog gave them up, they got destroyed, except for one, which Stanton kept for himself. Nearly 100 years later, a teenager, going through Stanton's archives, found the plate.

 

Photos can be faked. I'm going to need to see the video.

 

Do yourself a favor and read Manhunt and Bloody Crimes, by James Swanson. Two incredible books -- first about the assassination and subsequent search for Booth; second about Lincoln's funeral and the search for Jefferson Davis.

They are two of the best books I've read in the last 20 years.

Carry on.

 

Citing several of Baron's reasons - esp. the pillow - I have little doubt the photo is fake and the woman is fraud and/or nutjob.
The fact she has to represent herself I think also says a lot about her case.

 

The face doesn't look like the face of Lincoln I've seen.

 

The photo is now on eBay, signed by Lincoln. Comes with a certificate of authenticity.

 

I've read Manhunt and a few other good books on the subject that offer detailed accounts from witnesses in the house. I don't remember reading anything about a photo like that being taken, which makes me very skeptical of this West Virginia woman's picture.

 

I'm not a photographic expert or a Lincoln expert, but it really doesn't even look like him.

 

Plus, it looks like someone was standing on a ladder and shooting down. Doubt if people in the room would have allowed that. Pretty much the entire cabinet, except for the ones who were injured that night, are there.