HENRY CLAY FORD - AUTOGRAPH ENVELOPE SIGNED 04/29/1913 - HFSID 87598

HENRY CLAY FORD
Henry Clay Ford signs and address an envelope.
Envelope signed: "From/H.C. Ford/Rutherford N.J." in return address, 6½x3¾. 2-cent stamp affixed, postmarked Rutherford, N.J., April 29, 1913. Addressed by Ford: "To Mr J.E. Boos/17 Dudley Heights/Albany,/N.Y." HENRY CLAY "HARRY" FORD, the brother of John T. Ford, the owner of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. was 21 years of age at the time President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. At 11:00 a.m. on April 14, 1865, Ford had met actor John Wilkes Booth, a personal friend of his brother who had stopped by the theatre to pick up his mail, and told Booth that both Lincoln and Grant would be attending a performance of Our American Cousin that evening (Grant would later bow out, taking an afternoon train to visit his children). Ford, who was acting manager of the theatre that day, then set about preparing a special program and decorating the Presidential box, including supplying a rocking chair for Lincoln's use from his own bedroom and boring a small hole in the door to the presidential box to enable the President's lone guard to keep watch on the presidential party without having to open the door (for many years, there was speculation that Booth had drilled the hole, but Henry's son, Frank, confirmed that the hole had been bored by his father). Shortly after 10:00 p.m., Booth entered the theatre and made his way to the presidential box. At the time, Ford, who was the treasurer of the theatre, was tallying receipts in the small office off the theatre lobby. Hearing the shot, Ford and ticket agent Joseph Sessford ran to a window overlooking the stage just in time to see Booth rising from the floor with a knife in his hand. Ford, who died in 1916, and his brother were held by Federal authorities for a month during the subsequent conspiracy trials. In February 1869, when Booth's body was exhumed to be returned to the Booth family, Ford was one of those making a positive identification. In 1921, five years after Ford's death, his widow petitioned the federal government for the return of her husband's rocking chair. After receiving it eight years later, she placed it up for auction. It was purchased for $2,400 by an agent of automobile pioneer Henry Ford (not a relation) and placed on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. In 1967, the National Park Service requested the rocking chair for the presidential box as part of its restoration of Ford's Theatre, but the Henry Ford Museum considered the relic to be a priceless part of their collection and would not part with it. From 1912-1937, JOHN E. BOOS collected documents and letters relating to personal experiences with Abraham Lincoln. This envelope was likely addressed to him in reply for a request for information. Boos published a book, Abraham Lincoln: Farewell to Neighbors, in Albany circa 1942. Lightly creased and soiled. Ink blot at the "J". in return address. Ink note (unknown hand, likely the recipient's) at lower left margin. Overall, fine condition.