Henry Rathbone

Henry Rathbone File:Henry Rathbone.jpg Full Name: Henry Reed Rathbone Origin: Albany, New York, United States Occupation: U.S. Army officer Goals: Become a high-ranking diplomat (partially successful, later failed) Kill his wife and children, then himself (successful with his wife, failed with his children and himself) Crimes: Murder Familicide Domestic abuse Child abuse Psychological abuse Type of Villain: Family Murderer

Henry Reed Rathbone (July 1, 1837 – August 14, 1911) was a United States military officer and diplomat who was present at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Rathbone was sitting with his fiancée, Clara Harris, next to the President and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, when John Wilkes Booth entered the president's box at Ford's Theatre and fatally shot Lincoln in the head. When Rathbone attempted to prevent Booth from fleeing the scene, Booth stabbed and seriously wounded him.

Biography

Henry Rathbone was born in Albany, New York, in 1837. Rathbone joined the Union Army in 1861 and during the American Civil War reached the rank of major. After his father's death, his mother married the New York senator, Ira Harris. In 1865 he became engaged to his step-sister, Clara Harris.

On 14th April, 1865, Mary Lincoln, the wife of Abraham Lincoln, invited Clara Harris and her fiancee to the Ford Theatre to see the play Our American Cousin.

John Parker, a constable in the Washington Metropolitan Police Force, was detailed to sit on the chair outside the presidential box. During the third act Parker left to get a drink. Soon afterwards, John Wilkes Booth, entered Lincoln's box and shot the president in the back of the head. Rathbone grabbed Booth but he was slashed with a hunting knife. Despite a bad wound in his left arm, Rathbone continued to struggle with Booth and as a result he was unable to jump cleanly from the State Box. Booth landed on the stage eleven feet below at an awkward angle and as a result fractured his ankle. However, he was able to hobble out and get on his horse and escape.

Although Rathbone's physical wounds healed, his mental state deteriorated in the years following Lincoln's death as he anguished over his perceived inability to thwart the assassination attempt. He married Harris on July 11, 1867, and the couple had three children: Henry Riggs (born February 12, 1870, who later became a U.S. Congressman), Gerald Lawrence (born August 26, 1871), and Clara Pauline (born September 15, 1872).

Rathbone resigned from the Army in 1870, having risen to the rank of brevet colonel. After his resignation, he struggled to find and keep a job due to his mental instability. He became convinced that Harris was unfaithful. He also resented the attention Harris paid their children and reportedly threatened his wife on several occasions after suspecting that she was going to divorce him and take the children. 

Rathbone made multiple attempts to obtain a position as a U.S. Consul to a European city, but was always refuted. Rumors exist that Rathbone was appointed the U.S. Consul to Hanover, Germany. This is incorrect as the U.S. never established diplomatic relations with Hanover and seems to have stemmed from a mix-up between Henry and his brother Jared Lawrence Rathbone, who was the U.S. Consul to Paris in 1887 during Grover Cleveland's administration. The family relocated to Germany, where Rathbone's mental health continued to decline.

On December 23, 1883, Rathbone attacked his children in a fit of madness. Rathbone fatally shot and stabbed his wife, who was attempting to protect the children. He then stabbed himself five times in the chest in an attempted suicide. He was charged with murder but was declared insane by doctors after blaming the murder on an intruder. He was convicted and committed to an asylum for the criminally insane in Hildesheim, Germany. The couple's children were sent to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States. Rathbone spent the rest of his life in the asylum. He died on August 14, 1911, and was buried next to his wife in the city cemetery at Engesohde.