Lincoln's Blood Relics-- Part 2: Getting Hooked on Lincoln

James L. swanson was essentially born to be an Abraham Lincoln addict.  he was born on Lincoln's birthday, Feb. 12th and even as a child, received books and souvenirs about him.  At age 10, his grandmother gave him and engraving of Booth's derringer with a clipping cut from the Chicago Tribune the day Lincoln died but the story was cutoff.  He then decided that one day he would know the rest of the story. He was hooked.On weekends, he tried to get his parents to take him to the Chicago Historical Society which had Lincoln's deathbed.

Here are some Blood Relics:

FORD'S THEATRE PLAYBILL

  Mary Lincoln notified Ford's Theatre on the morning of April 14, 1865, that she and her husband would be attending that night's performance of "Our American Cousin.  News of their attendance spread and a playbill was printed.

Swanson says Lincoln's arrival there that night was probably one of the happiest moments of his life.  Not only was this night to be Lincoln's death, but also Ford's Theatre would go dark for more than a century after that.

The Good Times Gone Bad.  --Old Secesh