Most people aren't aware of the odd coincidences surrounding the 16th President, but there are several.
One such coincidence revolves around Edwin Thomas, a famous actor in the 1800's. He achieved acclaimed fame performing on New York stages in roles such as Shakespeare's Hamlet, and in one memorable performance of Julius Caesar, he starred with his brothers, John and Junius. The brothers never achieved notoriety through acting, though John is known around the world today.
Years later, when Edwin died, a letter was found on his person. It was a letter of thanks for a most heroic act. While waiting on a crowded train platform, a young man was accidentally shoved onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. Edwin braced himself and bravely grabbed the boy by the collar and hoisted him out of danger. The boy recognized the actor.
Weeks later, the actor received the letter found on him, a warm letter of gratitude from General Ulysses S. Grant, thanking him profusely for saving the life of Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son. Edwin's brother, world-reknowned, not for acting but as John Wilkes Booth, had killed the boys father.
Another bizarre incident happened years before Abraham Lincoln's birth. His grandfather, of the same name, was assassinated by an indian in the woods. The president's death seemed to echo the tragedy.
Some may have heard of the Lincoln-Kennedy connection. Below is a list of bizarre facts that link the two presidents through time and strange similarity:
~ Both presidents died on a Friday.
~ Both were shot with their wives at their side.
~ Both were shot with guns fired by southerners.
~ Lee Harvey Oswald was born exactly 100 years after John Wilkes Booth.
~ Kennedy was elected to Congress exactly 100 years after Lincoln.
~ Both presidents were activists for civil rights.
~ Both men's successors were named Johnson.
~ Andrew Johnson was born in 1808; Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908.
~ Both Johnsons were southern democrats in the Senate.
~ Booth and Oswald both favored unpopular ideas.
~ Lincoln's secretary, whose first name was John, advised against the theatre outing that night; Kennedy's secretary, whose name was Lincoln, advised against the trip to Dallas.
~ Both assassins were killed before their trials.
~ Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre and ran to a warehouse; Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and ran to a theatre.
Additionally, in the case of Lincoln's killer, Booth was engaged to Lucy Hale and met with her on the morning of the assassination. That same morning, Lincoln was visited by former Senator John P. Hale, Lucy's father. In modern day, theorists would be screaming conspiracy, but was it? Or just another of a long list of coincidences in Lincoln's life?
