GARDNER ALEXANDER (1821 1882) Hartman Richter on board the U

Sale 2208 - Lot 36

Price Realized: $ 3,360

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 4,500

GARDNER, ALEXANDER (1821-1882)
Hartman Richter on board the U.S.S. Saugus (after the assassination of President Lincoln). Albumen print, 8 1/2x7 inches (21.6x17.8 cm.), with notations, in pencil, on verso. 1865

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Additional Details

Originally in a collection owned by Brady's nephew L.C. Handy (Handy sold the image in 1911 and thought that Richter was Dr. Mudd); acquired from a San Diego bookstore in 1996.
The Photograph and the American Dream 1840-1940, 19.

The notations on verso incorrectly identify this sitter as Dr. Mudd, who was also a conspirator in the plot to assassinate President Lincoln. It also notes that the print is from the collection of L.C. Handy and was made from the original Brady negative, though it was Gardner who was called upon to take pictures of all the suspects aboard the U.S.S. Montauk and Saugus.

Levin C. Handy (1855?-1932) was apprenticed at the age of twelve to his uncle, Mathew B. Brady (1823-1896). Handy became an independent photographer and over the years owned studios in partnership with Samuel Chester and Brady.

This young man was arrested on suspicion of participating in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, and is generally believed to be a German immigrant from Maryland named Hartman Richter. Richter's cousin had agreed to kill Vice President Johnson. After failing to do so, he went to visit cousin Richter for a few days. Richter was soon dragged in along with the conspirators, imprisoned in irons and a hood in a naval vessel on the Potomac. His slightly awkward pose here can likely be attributed to hand irons. Richter was soon released, as he had no apparent knowledge of the plot, and returned to Maryland to raise a large family.