Show I I al alI I Scott on Released by Western Newspaper er Union That Famous Bixby Letter IT TT T HAS been called the lithe worlds world's 1 most famous letter also the lithe most sublime letter ever penned by bythe bythe bythe the hand of man and few persons who have read it will disagree with the aptness of either tion For both refer to the message which Abraham Lincoln sent to Mrs Lydia Bixby of Boston in 1864 when he was told that she had lost five sons on the field of battle This letter has also been called a lIa beautiful blunder because it was inspired by an erroneous report report report re re- re- re port of the facts in the case It is true that Mrs Bixby had five sons in the Union army However only two of them were killed in battle Of the other three one was honorably discharged after two years' years service and two were were deserters deserters I INow Now there is good reason to believe believe believe be be- lieve that another blunder has been made in regard to the Bixby letter- letter that Abraham Lincoln did not write it at all and that the often facsimiles including this one z t-z a tJ O run f I.- I. A. A J aG l. l fJ j iG t b e I t G Lt 1 11 1 d.-a- d. ea I IF F v l. rt of t. t I t C z f aG G. G 1 h. h Jl 7 It J Jf f- f PL r 7 t. t Jt- Jt u. l. IL oCy tt tL to t w. w J Jf Jh h i f r I 1 t. l t. t L J s eL GL I I C Lt Le 1 s. s t. cd aC Lr-A Lr L- L Ju r JJ 7 J f-J- f- f At I g- g are forgeries of the handwriting ot of the man who actually penned it Those are the conclusions of a historian historian his his- torian whose research has turned up some startling facts about this fa famous famous fa- fa epistle He is Sherman Day Wakefield secretary of the Lincoln Fellowship of New York and author of the book How Lincoln Became President Two years ago Mr Wakefield wrote an article for the February issue of the magazine Hobbies in which his conclusions were that we cannot be sure whether Lincoln wrote the letter to Mrs Bixby or not al al- it appears doubtful but we R r can be sure that r we have neither the original nor any true facsimile it y ile copy of the original and that none of the current cur cur- o rent reproductions was made Irl l v a from the nal Since then Mr Wakefield's investigations have confirmed hi his suspicions of the authenticity of the letter and led him to the conclusion that Lincoln was neither the author author author au au- au- au thor nor the actual writer of it The Theman Theman man who was both was J John olm Hay Lincoln's secretary Mr Wakefield presents the evidence evidence evidence evi evi- dence to support that conclusion in inan inan inan an article Who Wrote Lincoln's Letter to Mrs Bixby which appeared appeared appeared ap ap- ap- ap in the February 1941 issue of Hobbies For John Hay himself confided to at least two men that he he instead of Lincoln had written the Bixby letter One of them was Walter Walter Walter Wal Wal- ter Hines Page American ambassador ambassador ambas ambas- to England during Wilsons Wilson's administration and the other was Viscount Morley the distinguished British statesman and author Here we have two different accounts involving different men of unimpeachable unimpeachable unimpeachable un un- un- un impeachable veracity which agree that John Hay said he was the author of the Bixby letter writes Mr Wakefield If it were possible to doubt one story it is extremely extremely extremely ex ex- unlikely that both stories can be dismissed Mr Wakefield proves that Hay often imitated Lincoln's handwriting when he was the Presidents President's secretary secretary secre secre- tary and that many documents believed believed believed be be- to be in Lincoln's handwriting ing are actually the work of Hays Hay's pen It is not likely that any question question question ques ques- tion of the authorship of the Bixby letter came up while Lincoln was still living for his assassination occurred occurred occurred oc oc- oc- oc less than five months after it was written When it became so famous Hay naturally was reluctant reluctant reluctant tant to claim then that he he rather than the martyred President was the author But as Mr Wakefield points out he did feel Ceel that in justice justice jus jus- tice to the truth and to himself the fact of his authorship should not be lost to the world and so he chose to tell at least two outstanding men of his time that he had written it r The letter to Mrs Bixby was sent to General Adjutant Schouler of Massachusetts who delivered it in person to Mrs Bixby on November 24 24 1864 Its text was printed for forthe forthe forthe the first time in the Boston Transcript Transcript Tran script on Friday November 25 25 and the following morning both the Boston Boston Bos ton Advertiser and the Boston J Journal Journal Jour Jour- our our- nal carried it The first facsimile appeared appeared ap in 1891 when Michael F F. Tobin Tobin To To- bin of New York applied for a copyright copyright copyright copy copy- right for one but whether or not he had the original or if it is still in existence is still a 3 mystery |