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Hidden Message Found in Lincoln Pocket Watch (Abraham Lincoln)
Washington Post ^ | Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | Neely Tucker

Posted on 03/10/2009 3:15:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway

For nearly 150 years, Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch has been rumored to carry a secret message, supposedly written by an Irish immigrant and watchmaker named Jonathan Dillon.

Dillon, working in a D.C. watch repair shop in 1861, told family members that he -- by incredible happenstance -- had been repairing Lincoln's watch when news came that Fort Sumter had been attacked in South Carolina. It was the opening salvo of what became the Civil War.

Dillon told his children (and, half a century later, a reporter for the New York Times) that he opened the watch's inner workings and scrawled his name, the date and a message for the ages: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."

He then closed it up and sent it back to the White House. Lincoln never knew of the message. Dillon died in 1907.

The watch, meanwhile, was handed down and eventually given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. It didn't run anymore. No one had pried open the inner workings in ages. The old watchmaker's tale was just that.

And then Douglas Stiles, Dillon's great-great grandson, alerted Smithsonian officials to the family legend last month. He was a real-estate attorney in Waukegan, Ill., he explained. He'd heard the legend around the dinner table as a kid, but had just discovered a New York Times article from 1906, quoting Dillon as telling the story himself.

Truth? Lore?

This morning, in a small conference room on the first floor of Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, officials decided to find out.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: abelincoln; civilwar; despot; dishonestabe; godsgravesglyphs; greatestpresident; lincoln; lowestpresident; presidents; tyrant; warcriminal; watches
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To: gaijin
General Tojo was hanged by US authorities, but before that his USN dentist drilled into his dentures in Morse Code, “Remember Pearl Harbor”.

Almost Yes BUT ... here is a link to an active article about it and the Dentist, Dr. Jack Mallory. General Tojo, IJA, was imprisoned until he was hung on December 22, 1948.

The pertinent facts are quoted below ...

The military procedure for dental appliances was to engrave the name, rank, and serial number of the individual on the dentures themselves, Mallory explains. His colleagues pressured him instead to put the phrase “Remember Pearl Harbor” on the dentures.

After thinking it over, Mallory decided to go through with the prank, but to do it in a way that was less obvious and thereby safer—by using Morse code to write the message. He carefully drilled the dots and dashes into the dentures, engraving them with an unforgettable slogan forever ingrained in the American people’s minds. Only his roommate, Foster, knew what he had done, however.

However the outcome was that when the story got out locally, upper command had Dr.Mallory grind the message off of the dentures. I do find it interesting that one of the most notorious and defamed leaders of Imperial Japan got dentures from the US Government for the last 6 months of his life. Thanks for bringing this piece of history to my attention.

41 posted on 03/10/2009 4:01:24 PM PDT by SES1066 (Cycling to conserve, Conservative to save, Saving to Retire, will Retire to Cycle.)
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To: ml/nj

In 1861, Lincoln only sought to preserve the Union and the secession was driven by a desire to protect and promote slavery. The evidence is clear on both counts.


42 posted on 03/10/2009 4:01:36 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Better for me to be the first injector of silliness here

Yes, I've come to understand that you are a firm believer in pre-emptive silliness, over time. Particularly where the War Between The States is concerned.

Carry on.

43 posted on 03/10/2009 4:03:57 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: lowbridge

You beat me - I found the same story and got too deep in reading it! /smile


44 posted on 03/10/2009 4:04:44 PM PDT by SES1066 (Cycling to conserve, Conservative to save, Saving to Retire, will Retire to Cycle.)
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To: keepitreal
Thanks for the interesting post! I’m going to print the article for my husband who always puts secret messages/photos in our walls, etc whenever we remodel (he thinks someone will be interested someday when they tear down our house!)

I hope his wish comes true someday and someone finds his messages. That would be fun for everyone.

Whenever I hear about this sort of thing, I'm always reminded of the Warner Bros. cartoon titled One Froggy Evening. A construction working finds a frog (Michigan J Frog, for trivia buffs), which sings show tunes... but only when the man around to hear and for no one else. It soon drives him to ruin.

One Froggy Evening(^) at YouTube.

45 posted on 03/10/2009 4:06:28 PM PDT by mountainbunny
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

That’s an awesome picture of Lincoln.


46 posted on 03/10/2009 4:07:36 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater ("Get out of the boat and walk on the water with us!”--Sen. Joe Biden)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

But the hidden message didn’t mention slavery.

In fact, what he did write hardly seems worth the trouble.


47 posted on 03/10/2009 4:08:05 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: kalee
There is a hollow space between the floor and the downstairs ceiling. I would love to know what is in there.

Reminded me of this Gif I had in my collection


48 posted on 03/10/2009 4:09:09 PM PDT by IrishPennant
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To: nickcarraway

Pretty cool story,
Thanks.


49 posted on 03/10/2009 4:10:07 PM PDT by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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To: kalee
There is a hollow space between the floor and the downstairs ceiling. I would love to know what is in there.

If it were my boyhood home, you'd find (really) old Playboys, an Aurora slot car that pissed me off, and perhaps a fossilized doobie or two...

50 posted on 03/10/2009 4:13:26 PM PDT by lafroste (gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
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To: Arthur McGowan
But the hidden message didn’t mention slavery.

But the excerpt sure gave that impression for anybody too lazy to read the whole thing. :)

51 posted on 03/10/2009 4:14:46 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: giotto

Bummer, I hoped I might find a portion of the long lost Confederate Treasure. ;)
Mouse skeletons are interesting, (ever disect an owl pellet?) BUT gold and coins would be more useful. lol


52 posted on 03/10/2009 4:15:49 PM PDT by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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To: IrishPennant

Thanks nightmare tonight. lol


53 posted on 03/10/2009 4:16:52 PM PDT by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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To: lafroste

Once you put all that in there did you have plans to get it back out?


54 posted on 03/10/2009 4:17:36 PM PDT by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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To: kalee

No, of course not. They were intended to be lost forever.


55 posted on 03/10/2009 4:18:49 PM PDT by lafroste (gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Maybe the watchmaker did not know at the time, but . . .

If you first don't secede, obfuscate.

56 posted on 03/10/2009 4:21:07 PM PDT by Between the Lines (For their sins of 50 million abortions God gave them over to be an ObamaNation {Romans 1:24-32})
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To: keepitreal

Maybe I will put “I hate housework” on the back of a new cabinet I am getting for the kitchen. lol


57 posted on 03/10/2009 4:21:07 PM PDT by kalee (01/20/13 The end of an error.... Obama even worse than Carter.)
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To: maica

When we gutted the kitchen of our 1804 farmhouse in 1998, I left a letter in a canning jar and placed it in the wall above a door. My husband, son and mom and I signed it. I told the future residents what a terrible president Clinton was!!! LOL!!


58 posted on 03/10/2009 4:22:52 PM PDT by sneakers
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To: kalee

call nicolas cage.


59 posted on 03/10/2009 4:23:37 PM PDT by bravo whiskey (NO I WON'T)
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To: kalee

I hear ya!


60 posted on 03/10/2009 4:23:51 PM PDT by keepitreal (Obama brings change: an international crisis (terrorism) within 6 months)
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