Post by dex on Apr 24, 2022 19:04:56 GMT -5
Mystery lingers over Lincoln assassin’s visit to Newport
On April 5, 1865, nine days before he shot President Abraham Lincoln in the head, John Wilkes Booth checked into the Aquidneck House Hotel in Newport. He wasn’t alone; accompanying him was a mysterious woman whose name has been conspicuously erased from history. The couple, recently engaged, stayed in Newport only one day before moving on to Boston.
Her name was Lucy Lambert Hale, the beautiful daughter of abolitionist Senator John P. Hale of New Hampshire. Only 24, she was the belle of Washington, D.C., counting Robert Lincoln and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. among her suitors.
But it was Booth she craved.
It’s difficult to overstate the popularity of J.W. Booth, 'the handsomest man in America' in the 1860s. Woman routinely waited to see him as he exited his home at the National Hotel. He was a wealthy, captivating actor who 'cast a spell over most men with whom he came in contact and with all women without exception.'
The problem for the Hales, of course, was that commoner Booth was also considered a 'rabid successionist, gamester and whoremonger.' Still, the Washington elite and their lackeys in the press kept Lucy’s secret safe.
But there were other secrets. Since the onset of the Civil War Booth had spent thousands in enlisting radicals in a plot to kidnap President Lincoln and offer him in exchange for thousands of Confederate prisoners of war. By 1865 it was time to act.
Leveraging Lucy and Senator Hale, Booth was able to secure VIP passes to Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, placing the actor on the very stand with Lincoln as he delivered his speech — but not close enough to act. With the fall of the Confederacy on April 9 Booth’s kidnapping plot was stripped of its practicality and abandoned. It was time for more drastic measures.
While in Boston, Booth took target practice at a shooting gallery. Lucy took up with family in the city. Returning to Washington alone, Booth learned that the President would attend Ford’s Theatre on April 14. The rest is history.
In Edward Achorn’s magnificent book 'Every Drop of Blood' he suggests it was Senator Hale’s calling card that allowed Booth to dupe Lincoln’s guard at Ford’s Theatre and enter the presidential box unmolested, a stunning revelation if true. More astonishing, mere minutes after the death of Lincoln on the morning of April 15 Senator Hale met privately with Vice President Andrew Johnson and was one of only 11 in attendance as he took the oath of office as America’s new president.
Thus, many questions linger about the couple who signed the hotel register 'J.W. Booth and lady' that April day in Newport. What did Lucy Hale know about the kidnapping and assassination plots? To what extent was Senator Hale aware of Booth’s activities? Why didn’t they warn Abraham Lincoln?
Booth was hunted down and killed on April 24. Lucy Hale married a man who would eventually become a U.S. senator. She died in 1915.
Four people were hanged for their role in the assassination of Lincoln including Mary Surratt, a woman whose only crime was owning the boarding house where the conspirators met. Yet Lucy Hale wasn’t even questioned about her knowledge of the assassination plot.
Why?
The answer is the same today as it was in Lincoln’s April: The daughters of senators and the sons of presidents are immune to the Justice so readily metered out to the sprawling masses of lesser Americans.
Daniel F. Harrington (danielfharrington@yahoo.com), a monthly columnist, lives in Warwick.
