Samuel J. Seymour, Last Surviving Witness Of Lincoln Assassination, Appears On Television In 1956 (VIDEO)

Thanks to YouTube, this gem in American history has been preserved.

In February 1956, two months before his death, 96-year-old Samuel J. Seymour appeared on the CBS television show "I've Got A Secret." His secret: he witnessed Abraham Lincoln's assassination when he was five years old.

Sure enough, Seymour has been widely recognized as the last surviving person in America who had been present at Ford's Theatre the night of Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865.

According to the Washington Times, Seymour attended the Ford's Theatre performance as a young boy with family friends. He was told upon arriving in Washington, “Sammy, you and I and Sarah are going to a play - a real play. And President Abraham Lincoln will be there."

Seymour's recollection of the event includes a shot ringing out, someone in the President's box screaming and Lincoln slumping forward in his seat. He also caught a glimpse of John Wilkes Booth jumping from the box to the stage.

A Maryland native who later lived in Arlington, Seymour died on April 12, 1956, three days before the anniversary of Lincoln's death.

WATCH:

(Hat tip Holy Kaw)

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Seymour died two days before the anniversary of Lincoln's death. Lincoln was shot on April 14, but died on the morning of April 15, meaning Seymour died three days before the Lincoln anniversary.

Comments

[60s Dem]

07:01 PM on 08/11/2011

Gary Moore, Winston pimp, got throat cancer in 1976.

[OncologyRN]

04:09 PM on 08/09/2011

The 'correction' at the end of the article is incorrect. Samuel Seymour was my great grandfather. His actual date of death was April 13, 1956.

[James Babb]

03:19 PM on 08/09/2011

It's interesting that he was most concerned for the tyrannicidal shooter.

[OncologyRN]

03:57 PM on 08/09/2011

My great grandfather was only 5 years old at time.

[keemia]

07:36 PM on 08/08/2011

2 things:

1) that was the most obviously rigged game show I've ever seen.

2) isn't it funny how cigarette companies were pushing their products on TV guests.

[Muzzlehatch]

10:20 AM on 08/08/2011

Egad, that commercial bumper: "There is a certain freshness and good taste withal."

We shall ne'er hear its like again from the lips of a TV game show host (I doubt even Charlie Rose would use "withal" on camera).

Moments like this remind me how old I am and how much I've seen. This episode was a little before my time, but I remember watching "I've Got A Secret" (it ran through 1967 in its original form) and well remember Garry Moore and Bill Cullen, whose careers stretched into the seventies and eighties, respectively. Watching this clip, I'm reminded of those Russian nesting dolls; it's a piece of history enclosed within a piece of history.

Odd to think that after thousands of years of recorded human history in which very little history was actually recorded, we're less than 200 years into the era of photography and only about 130 into the age of recorded sound. Looking at the big picture, this electronically-mediated "information age' we now find ourselves in--wherein virtually everything is recorded--was a sudden occurrence indeed.

For today's historians, the challenge is piecing together what happened in the vast gaps between the fragments of the written record. For tomorrow's, it'll be sifting out the shards of truth and clarity from these vast electronic middens we're busy piling up today.

[meg tudor]

11:08 PM on 08/07/2011

Wow. This bit of historical trivia is one of the best ever by the Huffington Post!
Rest in Peace Mr. Seymour. I hope he got to shake old Abe's hand in the next life. :)

[HawaiianLady]

01:08 PM on 08/07/2011

History will never be lost to this generation because of blogs. Everyone can share in a blog what his or her life has been.

Years ago I became a fan of an Indian actor named Amitabh Bachchan. After my husband's death my friends would come to keep me company in the evenings, and we would watch his movies. They were delightful, full of music and dancing and action and silly plots, relying heavily on coincidence, but they took us out of ourselves and into a world of fun. We became great fans.

One day I learned that Amitabh had a blog. He had long loved his fans, but because of his immense popularity in India he couldn't walk around meeting people without causing riots. The newspapers regularly told stories about him which were untrue just to sell papers, which drove him mad, because even though he corrected them regularly they edited his corrections and only printed what they wanted. The stories were wild and exaggerated and had nothing to do with the reality of his life.

When he learned that he could actually publish his own feelings and the truth of his life as he wanted it known, without anyone to interfere with his thoughts, he was over the moon with excitement and began writing every day. He got hundreds of replies at once, and the number hasn't diminished in the three years since he started it.

He calls us his EF, or Extended Family.
http://bigb.bigadda.com

[lib4lif]

02:38 AM on 08/07/2011

Wow...gotta love the tobacco industry!

[HawaiianLady]

02:19 AM on 08/07/2011

Historic people over 100 years old: My mother's boss (Billy Connery of Massachusetts) was a Congressman in several administrations and was the author of the bill to put a guard on the Unknown Soldier's Tomb in 1926. He found two girls sitting on the tomb getting their picture taken one day, and vowed that would never happen again. He came back to the office that afternoon and put the bill in the hopper. At first the guard was only there during the hours the cemetery was open; during World War II they expanded it to 24 hours a day.

He also authored the Wage and Hour Bill of 1938 (the Fair Labor Standards Act) that established the minimum wage, the 40-hour week, and abolished child labor. Shirley Temple talks about it in her autobiography; she was at the White House as a guest, and President Roosevelt told her he had just signed a bill with her name in it ... the Shirley Temple Amendment was added to allow child performers to work under the minimum age of 14.

He died before its passage but was the moving force behind it. His brother, who ran for his seat and won it, saw it through to its end. It was co-sponsored by Senator Wagner and Senator Black. Billy would be 123 if he were alive today.

[paradigmvoice]

11:17 PM on 08/06/2011

The first questioner looks like Matt Damon.

[shmoonie]

12:04 AM on 08/07/2011

That's Bill Cullen. He hosted games shows when I was a kid. A very funny guy.

[60s Dem]

11:02 PM on 08/06/2011

That old man made it to 96 because he DIDN'T SMOKE.....so the show gives him a carton of Winstons!! LOL!!

[shmoonie]

12:10 AM on 08/07/2011

I think he won 20 whole dollars! I hope he spent it quickly.

[BN68]

04:03 PM on 08/07/2011

He won $20, but they gave him the whole $80.

[Muzzlehatch]

08:51 AM on 08/08/2011

He WON $20, but they gave him the whole $80, which in those days would have been enough to live on for the two months he had left.

[meg tudor]

11:10 PM on 08/07/2011

Actually, he said he didn't smoke CIGARETTES but he did smoke tobacco which is why they gave him a tin of Prince Edward Tobacco.

[GrumpyOldGeek]

10:41 PM on 08/06/2011

Here's some historical context that provides a little perspective.

When Samuel J. Seymour was one year old, the last surviving soldier present at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Ralph Farnham, died at the age of 104. In 1860, when Ralph Farnham was 103, he was invited to a celebration in his honor in Boston. While he was there, the Prince of Wales was also visiting Boston and Ralph Farnham received a personal introduction to the Prince.

That was Prince Albert Edward, son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. Yes, the namesake of Prince Albert tobacco sold in a can.

Ralph Farnham voted in every presidential election from Washington through Lincoln.

All about Ralph Farnham,
http://www.masshist.org/objects/2005october.cfm
And Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VII_of_the_United_Kingdom

[Trillian4210]

09:06 PM on 08/06/2011

Matt Damon looks pretty good for having been around since 1956. The crew cut's not really a good look for him,though. ;)

[ScaningTheWaves]

07:03 PM on 08/06/2011

Wow time flies by. Didnt take very long to mess up this country since back then. I'm sure Lincoln and our founding fathers would be proud today, NOT!

[Ptama]

06:52 PM on 08/06/2011

He was a witness and his name was Seymour?....See more?

[shespeaks]

08:50 PM on 08/06/2011

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Faved.