Jun 27, 2024 - Sale 2675

Sale 2675 - Lot 185

Price Realized: $ 750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(ABRAHAM LINCOLN.) Scripps family papers including a letter on an anti-Lincoln conspiracy, and an illustration of the house where Lincoln died. 2 letters and a drawing in one folder; various sizes and conditions, as described. Various places, 1864 , 1900, and undated
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Additional Details

These papers come from the family of John Locke Scripps (1818-1866), a Chicago Tribune journalist who in 1860 wrote the first biography of Abraham Lincoln. He served as postmaster of Chicago from 1861 to 1865. Included are:

Joseph K.C. Forrest, a prominent Chicago journalist. Autograph Letter Signed to John Locke Scripps. 3 pages, 10 x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet; short separations at folds. "I had quite a lengthy interview with the President last night on some subjects of importance to him. There is an attempt by the disappointed politicians here to prevent the expression of the people in favor of Mr. Lincoln. Chase, Trumbull, Sherman of Ohio and many leading politicians are working to this end. John Wilson (formerly land commissioner and connected with the Illinois Central R.R.) is very active. He is disappointed, as he was an unsuccessful candidate for Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The plan of all these parties now is to prevent any further action of the legislatures of the various states in his favor. . . . They have sent delegations to various states, among them to Wisconsin & I understand Minnesota. . . . I mentioned your name to Mr. Lincoln, and promised to write you on this subject, also that you knew a large number of leading men in the northwest, and that your earnest desire for Mr. Lincoln's renomination would lead you to exert yourself to counteract their movement. . . . You might, if you thought it proper, write to some of your friends among the Wisconsin members of the legislature. . . . Mr. Lincoln may be fully trusted in the future on all the great questions of the day, as he has been in the past. . . . He desires to be kindly remembered to you. . . . Wilson, I forgot to say, is a sort of leader in a secret society called the Strong Band. But I learn in your city they have declared for Lincoln. The object of this society is partly to prevent the country's falling into the hands of the military men. Wilson, now I hear, however, is in favor of Grant, Banks or Butler; anybody but Lincoln." Washington, 28 January[?] 1864.

"House in which Lincoln Died." Ink and wash on paper, 14 x 9½ inches; brittle, folds, chips and tears to edges; unsigned and undated, but inscribed on verso "From the Tribune." Shows the Peterson House after it was transformed into a museum in 1893 by collector Osborn H. Oldroyd. It is a faithful rendering of an undated circa 1890s photograph of the site. The source photograph was reproduced in Holzer, "The Lincoln Assassination: Crime & Punishment, Myth & Memory" (Chapter 1, Figure 1). This piece was found among family papers of Chicago Tribune editor John Locke Scripps, but he died in 1866, long before it was drawn.

John Nicolay, former aide to Lincoln. Letter Signed to Grace Locke Scripps Dyche. Offers thanks for "the reprint of your father's life of Lincoln. . . . I shall examine it with much interest." One page, 8 x 5 inches, plus integral blank mounted to scrapbook leaf; minimal wear. Holderness, NH, 2 September 1900.