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he drifted in and out of consciousness. A surgeon who had been attending the
President finally examined Rathbone and realized his wound was more serious than initially thought. Booth had severed an artery located just above Rathbone's elbow and had cut him nearly to the bone. Rathbone was taken home while Harris decided to stay with Mrs. Lincoln. Harris later stated:
215:, and his first wife Louisa Harris (née Tubbs). Harris' mother Louisa died in 1845. On August 1, 1848, Ira Harris married Pauline Rathbone (née Penney), the widow of Jared L. Rathbone, a successful merchant who later became the mayor of Albany. Jared and Pauline Rathbone had four children (two of whom, Anna and Charles, died in infancy) including sons, Jared Jr. and
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351:, resigned from the Army in December 1870. The family settled in Washington D.C., where Rathbone's mental health deteriorated. Rathbone's behavior became increasingly erratic and he began drinking heavily, gambling and having affairs. Due to his behavior, Rathbone found it difficult to hold a job for an extended period of time.
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On
December 23, 1883, Rathbone attacked his family in a fit of madness. He fatally shot his wife in the head and then attempted to kill the children, but a groundskeeper prevented him from doing so. Rathbone then stabbed himself five times in the chest in an attempted suicide. Blaming his crime on an
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As time went on, Rathbone's mental instability worsened and he often became jealous of other men who paid attention to Harris and resented the attention Harris paid their children. He also reportedly threatened his wife on several occasions, convinced that Harris was going to divorce him and take the
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Although wounded, Rathbone escorted First Lady Mary
Lincoln to the Petersen House where doctors had taken the unconscious President. Shortly after arriving at the Petersen House, Rathbone passed out due to loss of blood. Harris arrived at the house soon after and held Rathbone's head in her lap while
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I understand his distress...in every hotel we're in, as soon as people get wind of our presence, we feel ourselves become objects of morbid scrutiny.... Whenever we were in the dining room, we began to feel like zoo animals. Henry...imagines that the whispering is more pointed and malicious than it
396:/Engesohde. Her husband was buried next to her upon his death in 1911. In 1952, the Rathbones' remains were disinterred and their remains disposed of in accordance with the German cemetery's policies, i.e. the couple's surviving family lived overseas and could not regularly tend their graves.
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President
Lincoln died the following morning. Although Rathbone recovered, he blamed himself for not preventing Lincoln's death. He spent the remainder of his life battling delusions and seeking treatments for other physical problems including constant headaches.
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Harris kept the bloodied white dress she wore on the night of the assassination. Unable to bring herself to wash or destroy it, she eventually stored it in a closet in the family's summer home near Albany. After experiencing what she claimed was a visit from
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shot
President Lincoln in the back of the head. When Rathbone attempted to apprehend Booth, Booth stabbed and wounded him. Rathbone lost a considerable amount of blood which stained Harris' white dress, face and hands when she attempted to aid him.
327:, Harris had the closet in which the dress was stored covered with bricks. In 1910, Henry Riggs Rathbone, Harris and Rathbone's eldest son, removed the bricks and had the dress destroyed, reportedly claiming that it had cursed the family.
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Poor Mrs. Lincoln, all through that dreadful night would look at me with horror & scream, 'oh! my husband's blood, my dear husband's blood'...It was Henry's blood, not the president's, but explanations were
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Every year on the anniversary of
Lincoln's assassination, journalists would contact the couple with questions about Lincoln's death, furthering Rathbone's feelings of guilt. Harris later wrote to a friend:
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Although Harris and Henry
Rathbone were raised in the same household and were related by their parents' marriage, they fell in love and later became engaged. Their engagement was interrupted when the
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intruder, Rathbone was charged with murder and declared insane by doctors. He was convicted and committed to an asylum for the criminally insane in
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177:(September 9, 1834 – December 25, 1883) was an American socialite. She and her then fiancé, and future husband,
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Protecting
President Lincoln: The Security Effort, the Thwarted Plots, and the Disaster at Ford's Theatre
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192:. Rathbone's mental state deteriorated after the assassination, and in 1883, Harris was murdered by him.
20:
606:
Protecting
President Lincoln: The Security Effort, the Thwarted Plots and the Disaster at Ford's Theatre
503:
Sensitivity and Civil War, the
Selected Diaries and Papers, 1858–1866, of Frances Adeline (Fanny) Seward
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279:. The couple, who had been friends with the President and his wife for some time, were invited after
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This article is about the American socialite. For the murder suspect known as Clara Harris, see
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in 1882. The family relocated to Germany where Rathbone's mental health continued to decline.
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Shown in the presidential booth of Ford's Theatre, from left to right, are assassin
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The Trial: The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators
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The dress Harris wore the night Lincoln was shot was the subject of the 1929 book
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Harris and Rathbone were married on July 11, 1867. The couple had three children:
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that year and became major in 1869 upon joining the 5th United States Infantry.
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On April 14, 1865, Rathbone and Harris accepted an invitation to see a play at
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and several other people had declined Mrs. Lincoln's invitation to the play.
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A Case of Mistaken Identity of the most Famous Photo of Clara Harris
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The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt's Flight from the Gallows
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The Last Lincolns: The Rise & Fall of a Great American Family
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Seward, Frances Adeline (1963). Johnson, Patricia Carley (ed.).
424:, a fictional account of the lives of Harris and her husband.
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People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
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in the Presidential Box at Ford's Theatre that evening,
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Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
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Genealogical Notes of New York and New England Families
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A Genealogy Of the Descendants Of Nicholas Harris, M.D.
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children. Despite his behavior, Rathbone was appointed
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Lincoln's Last Battleground: A Tragic Night Recalled
505:. Vol. 2. University of Rochester. p. 719.
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Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase to Catch Lincoln's Killer
659:. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 104–105.
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226:broke out in 1861 and Henry Rathbone joined the
634:. University Press of Kentucky. p. XLII.
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339:(born February 12, 1870), who later became a
117:Stadtfriedhof Engesohde (disinterred in 1952)
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519:. Essex Institute Press. 1891. p. 165.
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534:. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 301.
392:Harris was buried in the city cemetery at
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856:Pappas, Theodore (August 21, 1994).
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580:Pappas, Theodore (August 21, 1994).
932:Smith, Gene (February–March 1994).
753:Smith, Gene (February–March 1994).
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955:De Haven, Tom (August 19, 1994).
828:. Naval Institute Press. p.
532:More Matter: Essays and Criticism
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240:Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
1087:Women in the American Civil War
1052:American people murdered abroad
1047:American expatriates in Germany
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860:. chicagotribune.com. p. 2
822:Jampoler, Andrew C. A. (2008).
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584:. chicagotribune.com. p. 1
559:. Heritage Books. p. 634.
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908:. HarperCollins. p. 372.
883:. HarperCollins. p. 158.
858:"Henry And Clara's Cruel Fate"
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582:"Henry And Clara's Cruel Fate"
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555:Talcott, Sebastian V. (2001).
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16:American socialite (1834–1883)
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97:, Lower Saxony, German Empire
1077:People from Albany, New York
1067:Deaths by firearm in Germany
630:Steers, Edward, ed. (2010).
468:Ham, Mrs. Thomas H. (1904).
411:Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews
294:While they watched the play
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780:. AuthorHouse. p. 19.
21:murder of David Lynn Harris
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1082:People murdered in Germany
904:Swanson, James L. (2009).
727:. McFarland. p. 161.
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204:, one of four children of
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1006:American Civil War portal
723:Hatch, Frederick (2011).
683:Lachman, Charles (2008).
435:Eleanor Perkinson (2013)
275:and his wife, First Lady
183:President Abraham Lincoln
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776:Bain, Robert T. (2005).
443:Carrie Anne Hunt (2024)
430:The Day Lincoln Was Shot
427:Mercedes Herrero (1998)
154:Gerald Lawrence Rathbone
26:Not to be confused with
1062:Burials in Lower Saxony
879:Steers, Edward (2010).
655:Steers, Edward (2005).
1037:1883 murders in Europe
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156:Clara Pauline Rathbone
530:Updike, John (2009).
407:The White Satin Dress
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234:Lincoln assassination
196:Early life and family
186:the night he was shot
181:, were the guests of
175:Clara Hamilton Harris
62:Clara Hamilton Harris
961:Entertainment Weekly
803:Kauffman (2007) p.37
474:C.I.F. Ham. p.
331:Later life and death
260:, Clara Harris, and
151:Henry Riggs Rathbone
1057:American socialites
934:"The Haunted Major"
755:"The Haunted Major"
420:released the novel
375:Chester Alan Arthur
371:Province of Hanover
297:Our American Cousin
200:Harris was born in
168:Louisa Tubbs Harris
103:Cause of death
812:Talcott 2001 p.637
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224:American Civil War
938:American Heritage
915:978-0-061-80397-0
890:978-0-061-98705-2
839:978-1-591-14407-6
759:American Heritage
734:978-0-786-46362-6
700:978-1-402-75890-4
641:978-0-813-12724-8
541:978-0-307-48839-8
302:John Wilkes Booth
277:Mary Todd Lincoln
258:Mary Todd Lincoln
250:John Wilkes Booth
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43:Clara Harris
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28:Clare Harris
1042:1883 deaths
1032:1834 births
367:U.S. Consul
337:Henry Riggs
109:to the head
1026:Categories
453:References
400:Portrayals
383:Hildesheim
314:pointless.
228:Union Army
209:Ira Harris
165:Ira Harris
95:Hildesheim
68:1834-09-09
416:In 1994,
161:Parent(s)
965:Archived
345:Illinois
213:New York
147:Children
944:(1): 2.
765:(1): 1.
446:Manhunt
394:Hanover
387:Germany
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