# Lincoln assassination witness
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 13, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774 "2016-07-13T02:37:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/1 "2016-07-13T02:37:54Z")
Way back in the '50s a guest on the TV show “I’ve Got a Secret” was the last person alive that was present in Ford’s Theater when President Lincoln was assassinated. Here’s the[link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPoymt3Jx4) to the show.
For background, the [Wikipedia entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_J._Seymour).
So, my question is: Was Samuel J. Seymour actually there?
It’s one thing to say you were, but where is the proof? By his own admission he was only five at the time and the Wikipedia article hedges its bets. Has his presence ever been confirmed?
I checked the Dope archives and I did not see if this question has been asked before, so if it has, please forgive my lack of search skills.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/2 "2016-07-13T02:49:34Z")
[An old thread on this very subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=649962&highlight=Samuel+Seymour)
[And another one linked there](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=648407)
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### Author:  [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/3 "2016-07-13T02:52:34Z")
Well, dang. Sorry for the bother and thank you TriPolar for pointing it out.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/4 "2016-07-13T03:03:12Z")
np. I was sure this subject came up before.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/5 "2016-07-14T11:06:01Z")
How would one ever prove such a thing? I’m not trying to be snarky, but I cannot think of one single piece of evidence that would prove a 5 year old was at that play.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/6 "2016-07-14T11:48:49Z")
> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> How would one ever prove such a thing? I’m not trying to be snarky, but I cannot think of one single piece of evidence that would prove a 5 year old was at that play.
How about a little sailor suit with blood splatter containing Lincoln’s DNA?
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### Author:  [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/7 "2016-07-14T19:47:28Z")
> [@UltraVires](#):
>
> How would one ever prove such a thing? I’m not trying to be snarky, but I cannot think of one single piece of evidence that would prove a 5 year old was at that play.
I would have thought it would be pretty straight forward, just like ‘proving’ any historical fact. You find other primary sources that support it. Given it was one of the most important events in US history, it does not seem unreasonable that someone else at the theatre would mention in writing the small child who saw Lincoln get shot, or was next to them when they saw Lincoln get shot, or they took to the theatre where Licoln was shot, etc. etc.
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### Author:  [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/8 "2016-07-14T23:41:26Z")
> [@griffin1977](#):
>
> I would have thought it would be pretty straight forward, just like ‘proving’ any historical fact. You find other primary sources that support it. Given it was one of the most important events in US history, it does not seem unreasonable that someone else at the theatre would mention in writing the small child who saw Lincoln get shot, or was next to them when they saw Lincoln get shot, or they took to the theatre where Licoln was shot, etc. etc.
Maybe they mentioned a small child in the theater, but with all of the drama going on, would they have stopped and asked the young boy his name? Would this primary source material have survived nearly a century? (Keeping in mind that this probably wasn’t someone famous whose papers would have been kept).
Further, we can’t be reasonably certain that the primary source is telling the truth, either. There were about 1,400 people in the theater that night, but I would be willing to bet that 15,000 claimed to be there.
Also, why would anyone take a 5 year old to a play? Maybe he misbehaved and they were punishing him. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/9 "2016-07-15T00:53:21Z")
Surely not for the whole play, but the character is broad enough, and routines farcical enough, perhaps to make a kid smile.
[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3158/3158-h/3158-h.htm](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3158/3158-h/3158-h.htm)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lincoln-assassination-witness/759774/10 "2016-07-15T01:05:50Z")
I’ve read that Walt Whitman’s lifetime companion was in the audience of _Our American Cousin_ that night. Supposedly Whitman composed “O Captain! My Captain!” after hearing his partner’s eyewitness description of the event.