The assassination of Abraham Lincoln . ble. Two men standing at the headand foot of the coffin were identi-fied as Admiral Charles H. Davisand Assistant Adjutant General Ed-ward D. Towsend, who was incharge of the funeral train andgave Gurney permission to takethe DESTRUCTION Dr. Pratt said when Stantonlearned about the photograph, heordered destruction of the photo-graphic plate and any prints madefrom it. In the meantime, the proofprint had been sent to him and heevidently dropped in into his filesand forgot about it. The picture remained in theStanton papers until 1887 when
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln . ble. Two men standing at the headand foot of the coffin were identi-fied as Admiral Charles H. Davisand Assistant Adjutant General Ed-ward D. Towsend, who was incharge of the funeral train andgave Gurney permission to takethe DESTRUCTION Dr. Pratt said when Stantonlearned about the photograph, heordered destruction of the photo-graphic plate and any prints madefrom it. In the meantime, the proofprint had been sent to him and heevidently dropped in into his filesand forgot about it. The picture remained in theStanton papers until 1887 when hisson sent it to John G. Nicolay,one of Lincolns two secretarieswho had just begun publication oftheir ten volume life of the eman-cipator. The photograph was filed withthe authors papers which weregiven to the Illinois State Histori-cal Library in 1940 by Mrs. AliceHay Wadsworth, daughter of JohnHay, tJie other author-secretary. Only Coffin Photo Of Lincoln Fomid /^/j- SPRINGFIELD,year-oldknowncol A onlyaham Lin-was disclosed. author, said\d of Des Moines-year-old pictureJ^iagiFg through materialstate historical library said after thorough re-seafth into letters and newspapersof the period that the photograph,a four-by-six-inch proof print, isdefinitely authentic. The state historian said Jere-miah Gurney jr., of New York tookthe picture from a balcony 20 feetabove Lincolns body when theLincoln funeral train stopped inNew York en route to Springfield. The features and beard of themartyred Civil war president canhardly be distinguished in the pic-ture, Pratt said. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stan-ton heard about the photo and or-dered all prints as well as the platedestroyed. But he apparently for-got to destroy a proof that hadbeen sent to him. This proof remained in Stantonsfiles. Eventually it was obtainedby Mrs. Alice Hay Wadsworth,ivho gave it to the state historicallibrary with other Lincoln papersIn 1940. It remained among thismaterial undiscovered until y
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecad, booksubjectfuneralritesandceremonies
