A dramatic case in point was Mary Lincoln’s effective campaign to have Isaac Henderson, publisher of the New York Evening Post, named to a lucrative post in the New York customhouse. On February 11, as Lincoln was about to board the train for Washington, she threw a tantrum that may have led to the decision to leave her behind that day. Henry Villard recalled that Lincoln at that time appeared “so careworn as to excite one’s compassion” in part because of “the inordinate greed, coupled with an utter lack of sense of propriety, on the part of Mrs. Lincoln,” who “allowed herself to be persuaded, at an early date, to accept presents for the use of her influence with her husband in support of the aspirations of office seekers.” (Others at that time reported that Lincoln’s expression was as “care worn, or rather thought worn as the face of old Dante,” and that he looked “thinner than usual.”) One such bribe was extended by Isaac Henderson, an unsavory self-made man who had sent Mary Lincoln diamond jewelry to enlist her aid in his quest for office. When Lincoln balked, she carried on in hysterics at the hotel suite where they were staying during their final days in Springfield. Her antics caused Lincoln to miss an appointment with Norman B. Judd and Herman Kreismann, a Republican operative. Curious about the president-elect’s tardiness, Kreismann called at the hotel and was shocked to find Mrs. Lincoln in the throes of a fit. Lincoln told him: “she will not let me go until I promise her an office for one of her friends.” The president-elect eventually acceded to her demand, nominating Henderson to the post he wanted. (Three years later, Henderson was dismissed after being indicted for corruption. He allegedly demanded kickbacks from contractors doing business with the Brooklyn Navy Yard; by one estimate, he extorted $70,000. Although eventually acquitted by a court in 1865, Henderson was believed guilty by Parke Godwin and other knowledgeable observers.)
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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