GENERAL SCOTT FRAMED LAUREL LEAF, DATED DECEMBER 25, 1861

$950.00
Originally $1,350.00

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Item Code: 282-405

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This gold framed wreath on a background of silk was presented as a Christmas gift and reads, “TO RICHARD J. SMITH AND SISTERS, A PORTION OF THE WREATH OF LAUREL PRESENTED TO OUR BELOVED HERO LIEUTENANT- GENERAL SCOTT, ON HIS DEPARTURE FOR EUROPE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1861, BY SARAH C. BISHOP, WASHINGTON IRVING WELLINGTON BISHOP AND THEIR MOTHER, NEW YORK, DEC. 25, 1861.” Frame measures approx. 12”x 14”. Frame is embellished with stars, an eagle at the top, crossed cannons on the sides, and a patriotic shield at the bottom. Eagle has broken in the center, and the ends of the crossed cannons on the left have broken off, but this could be restored. There are some surface cracks on the face of the frame, but it is very solid.

Scott was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the Civil War, but after the defeat at Bull Run/Manassas, he resigned on November 1, 1861. We do not have any information on Richard J. Smith, the recipient of this gift.

The giver of this gift, Washington Irving Bishop, also known as Wellington (March 4, 1855 – May 13, 1889) was an American stage mentalist. He started his career as an assistant under the muscle reader J. Randall Brown, but was most well -known for his performance of the blindfold drive.

Bishop was born in 1855. In the early 1870s, Bishop was the manager of Anna Eva Fay's spiritualist acts, but in 1876, he exposed her trick methods to the media. He became an anti-spiritualist performer and wrote a book exposing the trick methods used by psychics and spiritualist William Crookes of being duped by Fay. Crookes defended Fay in a letter that was printed in the article. Bishop began performing the Fay act to the public with an explanation for all her tricks. Bishop later became interested in thought-reading after he attended a show by J. Randall Brown. Brown later hired him as an assistant. In 1880, he published a one shilling book called Second Sight Explained.

During his shows similar to Brown, Bishop would ask a member of his audience for an object to be hidden in a secret location, he would then hold the hand or wrist of the person and ask them to think of its location. Bishop would then search to find the object.  Bishop performed such famous "thought reading" demonstrations all over the world. He claimed no supernatural powers and ascribed his powers to muscular sensitivity (reading thoughts from unconscious bodily cues).

He arrived in London in 1881 where he was tested by William Benjamin Carpenter who commented that his talent may be great use to the study of psychology. George Romanes noted that Bishop was "guided by the indications unconsciously given through the muscles of his subjects."

On May 12, 1889, Bishop became unconscious for the second time in one of his demonstrations while performing at the theatrical society known as Lambs Club in Manhattan, New York. He was taken upstairs to a bedroom, where he was reported to have been in a coma and died at noon the next day. However, Bishop was alleged to have suffered from cataleptic fits, remaining in a trance state for many hours, he even carried a card on him that explained no autopsy should be performed on him until at least after 48 hours. The card was never found on his body. On May 13, the physicians John A. Irwin, Frank Ferguson and Irwin H. Hance who had examined Bishop, performed an unauthorized autopsy on him at a funeral home. John A. Irwin was reported to have wanted to study Bishop's brain with an autopsy for years. Bishop's death certificate gave the cause of death as hysterocatalepsy.

Bishop's mother Eleanor and his wife both claimed that he was not dead, but in a trance state whilst the physicians examined his body. They claimed that he was murdered by surgical instruments during the autopsy. They alleged that he had suffered from cataleptic attacks and could remain in trance up to 52 hours. These claims were denied by physicians who had examined the body. Eleanor brought charges against the physicians but the case ended in a hung jury and nobody was charged. Bishop is buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. As a tribute to the son she believed was murdered, Eleanor Fletcher Bishop has the inscription "The Martyr" carved above his name on his headstone, an eerie post script to a famed mentalist's last and most tragic illusion.   [sm]

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