LI man's family present night Lincoln shot

When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated 147 years ago Saturday night, at least four relatives of North Babylon resident Thomas Gourlay were in Ford's Theatre -- three as cast members in the play being performed.

And Gourlay's great-grandfather -- actor and stage manager Thomas C. Gourlay -- retrieved a historically priceless but gory souvenir: a bloodstained flag from the president's box.

"It's wonderful" to have his family so connected to such an important historical event, said Gourlay, 74, a retired New York City firefighter. "When we were kids there was always talk of it in the family."

While there are gaps in the historical record, assassination experts can confirm that four members of the family were in the Washington, D.C., theater when John Wilkes Booth fired a bullet into Lincoln's brain.

Thomas C. and daughters Jeannie and Margaret are listed on the playbill for "Our American Cousin," the comedy performed that night. One historian places Thomas C.'s son Thomas P. Gourlay -- the Long Island Gourlay's grandfather -- in the audience.

Family oral history and a 1906 letter from Thomas P. to sister Jeannie say his younger brother, Robert, was with him in the audience and even saw Booth drinking in a bar next door during intermission. The experts say they have seen no proof of Robert's presence, but most of the 1,700 in the audience are unknown.

When Booth fired his derringer, Jeannie was backstage talking to the prop master, the modern-day Gourlay said. He's not sure where his great-grandfather or Margaret were.

In his letter, Thomas P. wrote that he and Robert were seated in the orchestra section near the presidential box: "A pistol shot was heard, and immediately Wilkes Booth rushed to the edge of the box . . . immediately dropped from the box . . . then rushed to the center of the stage faced the audience and in a dramatic attitude flourished his knife over his head shouted sic semper tyrannis ["thus always to tyrants"] and then rushed off the stage . . . "

When Booth jumped from the box, one leg became tangled in the flag draped in front of the box and the assassin injured his leg when he landed.

The Gourlay family story goes like this: The flag in front of the box was removed, folded and placed under Lincoln's head. When doctors treating Lincoln asked for water, lead actress Laura Keene grabbed a pitcher backstage and had Thomas C. Gourlay take her to the presidential box where she cradled Lincoln's head.

The story goes on to say that Thomas C. helped carry Lincoln, flag still under his head, across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the next morning. The actor retrieved the flag there.

Historians have little doubt Thomas C. did retrieve a flag from Lincoln's box and later gave it to Jeannie, whose son donated it to a Pennsylvania museum. But they cast doubt on much of the remaining details.

"It's very interesting when I come across something new," the North Babylon Gourlay said.

Edward Steers, author of "The Lincoln Assassination Encyclopedia," says the flag Gourlay took was probably a spare not on display: "If the Thomas Gourlay flag was in the box, it was folded up, laying on the floor in the corner."

Michael W. Kauffman, author of "American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth And The Lincoln Conspiracies," said, "We know that the flag is associated with the Gourlays." But, he added, "I'm quite sure that the blood was that of Henry Rathbone . . . ," an Army major and guest in Lincoln's box whose arm was badly slashed by Booth as he escaped. Kauffman said there's no evidence the flag was placed under Lincoln's head.

Rae Emerson, the National Park Service site manager at Ford's Theatre, said, "As far as we know, it was actually soldiers who carried the body."

Told what the experts had to say, Thomas Gourlay said he was pleased that much of the family's account had been verified. "It's good news," he said.

As for the aspects that historians discounted, he said: "I kind of go along with it. They are the experts."