[ Autographs ] (LINCOLN ASSASSINATION RELIC) An extraordinary relic from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, namely a 4.5in x 5" blood-soaked section of fabric cut by Laura Keene from the dress she wore on the night Lincoln was shot, bearing her handwritten provenance uponthe mount. The cloth bears a gay floral design, terribly offset by a copious amount of dark, dried blood scattered throughout. The fabric is mounted to a period backing with a gilt oval mat. At the top and bottom of the mount, just above and below the fabric, Keene has written: "The Blood of President Lincoln Assassinated April 14th 1864.Presented by Laura Keene". LAURA KEENE (1826-1873) headed the acting company onstage at Ford's Theater in Washington at the time of the shooting. According to the memoirs of one of the company members, at the moment of the shooting, Mrs. Keene was just offstage, standing near a back stairway leading to the area of the President's box. Afterthe shots rang out and in reaction to Mrs. Lincoln's cries, Keene rushed upstairs to aid the mortally wounded Lincoln, cradling his headas the first physicians arrived to tend to him. Without a doubt, this is one of the finest Lincoln's assassination relics available to the public, never before offered for sale.