Book Description

This book started out with the most innocent of intentions until it acquired a life of it's own which left me with the impression that it had become something out of the movie, National Treasure. My 98 year old father of whom I love dearly is my oldest friend on the earth and has been put into an old age home through no fault of his own by ways and means too gruesome to depict in the public square. My king has been captured and imprisoned now and I am his courier for this book. Throughout the years my father has told me many stories in detail of yesteryear and one story in particular stood out since about 1990. That story of which this book is about was an event my father witnessed around 1932 at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My father witnessed certain pieces of fabric upholstery being torn and taken from the original Abraham Lincoln's chair in which he was assassinated in on April 14, 1865. My father further read at that time certain original Abraham Lincoln papers that were also there that were taken, of which the contents that were described to me I found to be disturbing. The problem is, the original Abraham Lincoln's assassination chair is believed for the last 85 years since 1929 to be at the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan. It is stated that Henry Ford, the automobile magnate, bought the original chair in 1929 and brought it up to Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan to be put on display and kept there ever since. Yet my 98-year-old father told me over and over again that he and his friends had seen and made contact with the original Abraham Lincoln chair in 1932 at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Upon my investigation, I was told from someone in the know, that the records at Independence Hall at that time, "of those that survived" were "spotty at best." So on one side of the equation stands Henry Ford's empire with all its resources and influential expert historians making claim that their chair is original while on the other side stand just my 98 year old father and myself who disagree. To begin with, I am not an historian and I say upfront that I can't compete with them nor is it my intentions to discredit them or anyone. What I am is a state licensed private investigator/private eye and a state licensed polygraph interrogator/examiner along with being a retired 25-year lawman. This is what I am and all that I make claim too. With this in mind I could not help but wonder that on one hand an automotive giant, Henry Ford, has claimed with 100% certainty since 1929, that the chair, which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in, is in his possession and is the original assassination chair. By claiming such has allowed Henry Ford to draw millions of people to his museum to pay $20 to $45 dollars a head, at present prices, to look upon and gaze at this perceived original antique with star struck eyes. Yet my father on the other hand I know as an honest man both sane and with clear mind has never lied to me and has nothing to gain by stating, "The original chair cannot be at two places at the same time, Richard. It cannot be at Independence Hall around 1932 and at the Henry Ford Museum-Greenfield Village since 1929!" With this statement, my investigative journey began.