Forensic probe affirms image is Lincoln

Features in 'Portrait of Young Man' match 16th president
In 1987, Albert who was then living in Paris, sought the opinion of Dr. Claude N. Frechette, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the American Hospital in Paris, to examine a daguerreotype Kaplan believed was the first known photographic image ever made of the youthful future-president Abraham Lincoln.

As WND reported, Kaplan purchased the daguerreotype in 1977 from a group of 100 being sold by an art gallery on 57th Street in New York City. The sales receipt described the daguerreotype simply as "Portrait of a Young Man."

Frechette presented his findings in a 13-page footnoted forensic report entitled "The Kaplan Daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln." It has been archived on a website Kaplan created for research materials on Lincoln and the daguerreotypes that he has collected over the past three decades.

"The evidence speaks for itself," Frechette concluded after an extensive analysis. "The nature and substantial number of identical characteristics of the man in the Kaplan daguerreotype, and those of Lincoln, tell us profoundly that the young man in the Kaplan daguerreotype is Abraham Lincoln."

At the start of his analysis, Frechette described the Kaplan daguerreotype as "a print of an exceptionally high quality, 19th century daguerreotype of a robust, confident-looking and smartly dressed young man."

Admitting the examination was of a150-year old case, Frechette explained, "The most objective approach in examining a century-and-a-half old image seemed to be that of a plastic surgeon who evaluates pre- and post-operative photographs and anthropomorphic data of patients with cranio-facial deformities."

Since both the Kaplan daguerreotype taken in the early 1840s and the Meserve #1 daguerreotype image made in 1848 feature the left side of Lincoln's face, Frechette selected for close scrutiny 15 of the known Lincoln images with poses that also featured the left side of his face.

Particularly useful because of the angle of Lincoln's head in the pose was a photograph made by an unknown photographer at Matthew Brady's gallery in Washington, D.C., taken around 1862.


Frechette re-photographed the three images and adjusted their sizes to standardize the distance between the pupils in Lincoln's eyes.

He then began a detailed examination of the features in each of the three photographs, concluding that the vertical dimensions of the mandible, maxilla, nose length and the positions of the orbits of the face shown in the Kaplan daguerreotype were the same as those of the face of Abraham Lincoln.

"Lincoln clearly had a unique face with a large forehead, a penetrating gaze, prominent cheek bones, a strong nose and a well-outlined jaw," Frechette wrote. "The moles on his face were also characteristic features."

In addition to the measurements Frechette made of Lincoln's facial features, he noted the similarity in facial characteristics, among which are the following:

* Regarding the mole on Lincoln's right cheek, Frechette wrote: "A faint circular shadow appears at the lower portion of the middle third of the right nasolabial crease, which is the precise location of Lincoln's characteristic nevus (prominent right mole) seen in later Lincoln images.

* In the Kaplan daguerreotype, the hair appears to be dark and thick. The style is identical to that worn by Lincoln in his early and late portraits. There is a characteristic "tuft" on the right, above the ear. The top of the left ear is totally covered by hair that is purposely combed forward, as it is in many Lincoln photographs.

* The forehead is broad and high, and the hairline in the left temporal region is also identical to those in later photographs.

* The eyebrows are heavy and have two different hair patterns, similar to the eyebrows in later photographs of Lincoln. The medial (inner) portion is dark and linear whereas the lateral (outer) half is more bushy. The left eyebrow, the one fully seen, extends over the entire length of the superior orbital

* The philtral columns (the edges of the vertical groove in the upper lip) are well marked and extend to the base of the nose in the Kaplan daguerreotype, a prominent feature in Lincoln photographs.

* In the Kaplan daguerreotype, the left half of the upper lip is somewhat thicker than the right – another prominent feature in Lincoln photographs.

Frechette's detailed discussion of facial features regarding the lips, cheeks and ears are presented in his paper archived on the LincolnPortrait.com website.

Frechette found important similarities when examining Lincoln's eyes.

At the age of 10, Lincoln was kicked by a horse, sustaining a major head trauma on the left side, with a loss of consciousness. As a result, Lincoln suffered from diplopia (double vision) and exophoria (outward deviation) of the left eye, both due to partial paralysis of the small eye muscles.

Frechette noted three fairly technical points regarding Lincoln's eyes, which he considered important in deriving his conclusion that the young man of the Kaplan daguerreotype was Lincoln:

* The gentleman in the Kaplan daguerreotype has a rare condition, bilateral ptosis (drooping eyelids), evident in many photographs of Lincoln.

* Two other findings are characteristic: the lateral extension of the free border of the upper lid beyond the outer corner of the eye (lateral commissure), and the well-defined upper and lower superficial heads of the medial canthal tendon, which attaches the inner corner of the eye commissure. The upper segment is easily seen in all Lincoln portraits, whereas the lower branch is only occasionally seen because of shadows or poor photographic depth-of-field. Photographic presentations of these features are rarely seen in pictures of individuals, but are seen in known Lincoln portraits and in the Kaplan image.

* There is a phenomenon known as Hirschbert's test of corneal light reflex, a white dot seen in both eyes that reflects the prime source of illumination. Usually the dots are located in the same spot in both eyes (with regard to the iris, or "black of the eye"). However, in the Kaplan, and in the other Lincoln images, this is not true. The left eye's gaze is in fact slightly more lateral, placing the dot in that eye toward the inside.

Kaplan noted that several Lincoln contemporaries recorded their observations of the deep-set nature of Lincoln's eyes, a characteristic Kaplan found as well in his daguerreotype.

Frechette also commented that numerous accounts have revealed that Lincoln underwent a noticeable change in his physical appearance beginning in January 1841, as a result of the grave emotional crisis that coincided with his reported failure to go through with his scheduled marriage to Mary Todd, leaving her literally waiting for him at the altar.

"This emotional crisis, just one of a series of such episodes to plague him throughout his life, was the cause of Lincoln losing a considerable amount of weight," Frechette wrote.

"To the shores of Tripoli"

"To the shores of Tripoli" refers to the Marine role in Thomas Jefferson's war against the Barbary pirates. The "Barbary coast" was a collection of Moslem mini-states on Africa's Mediterranean coast stretching from present day Algeria to present day Libya. The principal source of revenue for the Barbary states was attacking shipping in the Mediterranean, stealing their cargoes, and hold the crews for ransom or selling them into slavery.

The European powers of the day thought it cheaper to pay tribute to the Barbary states than to attack the pirates, and in 1784, the U.S. Congress followed suit. This was opposed by Mr. Jefferson, then the minister to France, who thought paying tribute would lead to larger demands. "It will be more easy to raise ships and men to fight these pirates into reason, than money to bribe them," Mr. Jefferson wrote in a letter to the president of Yale University in 1786.

Thomas Jefferson favored forming an international coalition to fight the pirates, but the Europeans wouldn't go along. When he became president in 1801, Mr. Jefferson refused Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000, whereupon the Pasha of Tripoli, Yussif Karamanli, declared war on the United States.

This turned out to be a big mistake for Mr. Karamanli. President Jefferson dispatched naval forces to the Mediterranean, and sent one of the most remarkable of American heroes, William Eaton, to Egypt to raise an army to attack Tripoli. The only Americans Captain Eaton had with him were seven Marines led by Lt. Presley O'Bannon.

Mr. Eaton led the seven Marines and a motley force of about 500 Arab and Greek mercenaries on a 500-mile trek across the Libyan desert to attack Tripoli's capital of Derna, which was captured on April 27, 1805 in large part because of the reckless courage displayed by Lt. O'Bannon and his Marines. The dress sword Marine officers carry is modeled on the Mameluke sword an Arab prince presented to Lt. O'Bannon after the victory.

American naval forces commanded by Commodore Edward Preble and Captain Stephen Decatur had successes against the other Barbary states. On June 5, 1805, the Pasha signed a surrender treaty and President Jefferson told Congress the threat posed by the Barbary pirates was at an end.

Seizures of U.S.-flagged ships on the high seas have been few and far between since Jefferson's time, thanks largely to his forceful response.

Classic gags discovered in ancient Roman joke book

Classic gags discovered in ancient Roman joke book


We may admire the satires of Horace and Lucilius, but the ancient Romans haven't hitherto been thought of as masters of the one-liner. This could be about to change, however, after the discovery of a classical joke book.

Celebrated classics professor Mary Beard has brought to light a volume more than 1,600 years old, which she says shows the Romans not to be the "pompous, bridge-building toga wearers" they're often seen as, but rather a race ready to laugh at themselves.

Written in Greek, Philogelos, or The Laughter Lover, dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes which Beard said are "very similar" to the jokes we have today, although peopled with different stereotypes – the "egghead", or absent-minded professor, is a particular figure of fun, along with the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad breath.

"They're also poking fun at certain types of foreigners – people from Abdera, a city in Thrace, were very, very stupid, almost as stupid as [they thought] eggheads [were]," said Beard.

An ancient version of Monty Python's dead parrot sketch sees a man buy a slave, who dies shortly afterwards. When he complains to the seller, he is told: "He didn't die when I owned him."

Beard's favourite joke is a version of the Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman variety, with a barber, a bald man and an absent-minded professor taking a journey together. They have to camp overnight, so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it's the barber's turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says "How stupid is that barber? He's woken up the bald man instead of me."

"It's one of the better ones," said Beard. "It has a nice identity resonance ... A lot of the jokes play on the obviously quite problematic idea in Roman times of knowing who you are." Another "identity" joke sees a man meet an acquaintance and say "it's funny, I was told you were dead". He says "well, you can see I'm still alive." But the first man disputes this on the grounds that "the man who told me you were dead is much more reliable than you".

"Interestingly they are quite understandable to us, whereas reading Punch from the 19th century is completely baffling to me," said Beard.

But she queried whether we are finding the same things funny as the Romans would have done. Telling a joke to one of her graduate classes, in which an absent-minded professor is asked by a friend to bring back two 15-year-old slave boys from his trip abroad, and replies "fine, and if I can't find two 15-year-olds I will bring you one 30-year-old," she found they "chortled no end".

"They thought it was a sex joke, equivalent to someone being asked for two 30-year-old women, and being told okay, I'll bring you one 60-year-old. But I suspect it's a joke about numbers – are numbers real? If so two 15-year-olds should be like one 30-year-old – it's about the strange unnaturalness of the number system."

Beard, who discovered the title while carrying out research for a new book she's working on about humour in the ancient world, pointed out that when we're told a joke, we make a huge effort to make it funny for ourselves, or it's an admission of failure. "Are we doing that to these Roman jokes? Were they actually laughing at something quite different?" .

Secret Message found in Lincoln Watch

WASHINGTON -- Curators at the National Museum of American History have settled a 148-year-old mystery once and for all.



On Tuesday, they opened up a pocket watch that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln and discovered a hidden message long rumored to be inside.

It read: "April 13, 1861. Fort Sumter was attacked by the rebels on the above date. J. Dillon." It then read: "April 13, 1861. Thank God we have a government. Jonathan Dillon."

Dillon, a watchmaker who was repairing Lincoln's timepiece, reportedly said he was moved to write a message inside after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

The story has been passed down through the Dillon family and was reported in 1906 by The New York Times.

Geronimo’s Heirs Sue Secret Yale Society Over His Skull

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

HOUSTON — The descendants of Geronimo have sued Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University with ties to the Bush family, charging that its members robbed his grave in 1918 and have kept his skull in a glass case ever since.

The claim is part of a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington on Tuesday, the 100th anniversary of Geronimo’s death. The Apache warrior’s heirs are seeking to recover all his remains, wherever they may be, and have them transferred to a new grave at the headwaters of the Gila River in New Mexico, where Geronimo was born and wished to be interred.

“I believe strongly from my heart that his spirit was never released,” Geronimo’s great-grandson Harlyn Geronimo, 61, told reporters Tuesday at the National Press Club.

Geronimo died a prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Okla., in 1909. A longstanding tradition among members of Skull and Bones holds that Prescott S. Bush — father of President George Bush and grandfather of President George W. Bush — broke into the grave with some classmates during World War I and made off with the skull, two bones, a bridle and some stirrups, all of which were put on display at the group’s clubhouse in New Haven, known as the Tomb.

The story gained some validity in 2005, when a historian discovered a letter written in 1918 from one Skull and Bones member to another saying the skull had been taken from a grave at Fort Sill along with several pieces of tack for a horse.

Ramsey Clark, a former United States attorney general who is representing Geronimo’s family, acknowledged he had no hard proof that the story was true. Yet he said he hoped the court would clear up the matter.

Tom Conroy, a spokesman for Yale, declined to comment on the lawsuit but was quick to note that the Tomb was not on university property.

Members of the Skull and Bones, who guard their organization’s secrecy, could not be reached for comment. Though the society is not officially affiliated with the university, many of Yale’s most powerful alumni are members, among them both Bush presidents and Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts.

“Of all the items rumored to be in the Skull and Bones’s possession, Geronimo’s skull is one of the more plausible ones,” said Alexandra Robbins, the author of “Secrets of the Tomb” (Little Brown 2002), a book about the society. “There is a skull encased in a glass display when you walk in the door of the Tomb, and they call it Geronimo.”

Some local historians and anthropologists in Oklahoma have cast doubt on the tale, noting that no independent evidence has been found to suggest that Geronimo’s grave was disturbed in 1918. Ten years later, the army covered the grave with concrete and replaced a simple wooden headstone with a stone monument, making it nearly impregnable.

Geronimo, whose given name was Goyathlay, put up fierce resistance to white settlers, fighting the Mexican and United States armies for nearly three decades. He finally surrendered, with only 35 men left, to Gen. Nelson A. Miles on the New Mexico-Arizona border in 1886 and spent the rest of his life in prison, dying of pneumonia.

Not all Apaches want to move his remains to New Mexico. The branch of the tribe that settled at Fort Sill after Geronimo died is fighting to keep the grave where it is.

“There is nothing to be gained by digging up the dead,” said Jeff Houser, the chairman of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe. “It will not repair the damage to the tribe caused by its removal and imprisonment.”

10 Weird Facts About Presidents

In case you didn’t get enough Presidential Facts from the mag, I have this whole collection of strange facts I’ve written down about U.S. Presidents. None of them really have anything to do with one another so I’ve never been able to tie them into a themed post before. But since it’s Presidents’ Day, I don’t think I really need a theme other than that.

1. James Monroe once chased the Secretary of the Treasury out of the White House with a pair of fire tongs.
2. Andrew Jackson may have looked like a hardened old soul, but he was quite the merry prankster: when he was in school, he invited a bunch of prostitutes to the annual Christmas Ball, just because he knew how much it would freak out all of the “proper” attendees. He also liked to move outhouses around so when people went out to use their bathroom, the bathroom was no longer there.
3. John Quincy Adams liked skinny dipping in the Potomac. He thought bathing and swimming in ice-cold water was good for his constitution.
4. Martin Van Buren’s autobiography doesn’t mention his wife even once.

5. Queen Victoria once declared that Millard Fillmore was the most handsome man she had ever seen. What do you guys think? Was Millard a hottie? My assessment: no.
6. James Buchanan is the only U.S. President to remain a bachelor his entire life. Some speculated that he was gay, and his extremely close relationship with Congressman William Rufus King didn’t do anything to dispel the rumors. The two of them were often referred to as “Mr. Buchanan and his wife.”
7. Rutherford B. Hayes and his family spent every single evening in the White House singing gospel hymns.
8. William McKinley’s wife suffered from epilepsy. When she had seizures at public events and dinners, McKinley would just drape his handkerchief over her face and carry on with whatever matters were at hand.
9. Teddy Roosevelt was a big eater. It wasn’t uncommon for him to take down a dozen eggs for breakfast.
10. Lyndon B. Johnson wore a watch with an alarm on it and liked to set it off when he got bored listening to speeches.

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