Hi Everyone,

This weekend I read "Downwind from Gettysburg". Robot Lincoln's user name inspired me to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and thought it was really creative. I've told several friends and my wife and kids about the story line and they all get a chuckle about it. For those of you familiar with the story, I have three questions for you.
1. What do you think about Booth being released?
2. Do you believe Booth's story about why he shot old Abe?
3. Why do you think would have happened if Abe's creator would have been able to get into the theater and confront Booth?

I went to the library after reading the story and checked out a book regarding the assination of the real Lincoln. It is a bizarre and sad story. Lincoln is one of the greatest men to ever walk this earth. The book had a listing of the personal items that Lincoln had in his possession on him at the time of his assasination. Would you believe that his wallet was empty, except for a singular Confederate $5 bill?

Best wishes.

Blind Henry

OK, I'll answer my own questions since nobody wants to play with me.

1. I think Booth being released was the ultimate punishment. Booth was a nobody, a coward, a nothing. Booth wanted his brief moment of fame from assinating Robot Lincoln. He was denied that attention and instead sent away as an even greater loser.

2. Yup, I believe Booth was telling the truth. He was a nothing and wanted some attention and shooting Robot Lincoln was the only think he could think of.

3. I think Abe's creator would have gone bezerk and violently attacked Booth. Keeping Abe's creator locked out of the theater was a great way to add a feeling of urgency to the moment. Way to build up the drama Ray!

If nobody's read this story, you should. Abraham Lincoln...Redeemer President...A great man, a Christian man, who lived in a time of lesser men...

Blind Henry

I really couldn't have said it better, good synopsis. Wasn't the Booth that destroyed RobotLincoln in reality related to the real Booth, his greatgreat grandson? I liked how it flashed back to the little boy on shoulders relaying the speach in the crowd. Those words are still moving outward in space. Reminds me of the beginning of Contact. I loved that, very thought provoking as this and all of Ray's stories are. I still have found no writer to compare to Ray!

Not sure what the story says, whether the man in the story claimed to be descended from Booth. In real life, Booth was unmarried and has no documented descendants, but that wouldn't stop such a claim. (At least 14 people have claimed to be the Lindbergh baby, and those who really believe it say the Lindberghs' refusal to undergo tests "proves" their part in a coverup.) Booth's brothers and sisters do have some living descendants. I can't imagine the family didn't suffer for his actions and perhaps continues to do so.

Nothing to do with Ray's story, but since, this being our way, we're bound to wander, it's been a letdown to find internet information bursting long-cherished conspiracy theories. Anastasia didn't survive the 1918 massacre of the Tzar's family, and John Wilkes Booth really is buried in Booth's grave: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.war.civil.usa/browse...0hotmail.com&rnum=1# Pretenders to other infamous historical characters, Billy the Kid and Jesse James, were buried under their names but disproven by evidence.

As for the new Jesus reliquary controversy: I suspect one of three possibilities:
--Coincidentally, another family may have had the same names as Jesus and his associates. By themselves, the names are common, as a group, the probability is small they would all occur together.
--Like the Jesse James/Billy the Kid/John Wilkes Booth/Lindbergh baby/Anastasia claimants, a person or group of people may have adopted the personas of famous historical figures to the point of being buried under their names.
--Even more likely, someone found a group of ancient reliquaries with either no inscriptions, or inscriptions so eroded by time as to be easily removed, and replaced with the names of famous historical persons who would bring the "discoverers" a lot of money and notoriety. Hold tight for the other sandal to drop!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dandelion,

Yup, I like the imagery of the kid on the father's shoulders too.

I live in the Washington, DC area and the amount of ground that Booth traveled on horseback with a broken leg that first evening is tremendous! After that he appears to have hidden for about 12-14 days. With the army hot on his tracks they somehow managed to force, I mean encourage local folks to leak the whereabouts where Booth was hiding. A very sad and strange story of events. Would you believe they sent a woman to the hanging gallows as part of the conspiracy?

How we do dearly love a conspiracy!
As to the "tomb of Jesus", I'm so aggravated by the illogicality of it all!
To think that the disciples would, assuming Jesus did not rise from the dead, for some reason want to fool as many people as possible; that they wouldn't have destroyed all the evidence is unbelievable. Then to not only not profit from any of this, but to be persecuted and die horrible deaths for a lie, is just ludicrous.