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| Robert Lincoln, son of the 16th president |
Robert Lincoln nearly died on a
train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey, in late 1864 or early 1865.
He described the strange
synchronicity of events in a 1909 letter to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century Magazine:
“The incident occurred while a
group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places
from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the
car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of
course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some
crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting
my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was
twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the
open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously
seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform.
“Upon turning to thank my rescuer
I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I
expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.”
The famed Shakespearean actor did
not learn until some months later than the man whose life he’d saved was the
son of the president whom his brother would assassinate.
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