The two sworn statements from the guests in Lincoln's box were taken by one Washington judge, three days after the shooting.
Abram B. Olin, born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, in 1808, was a former congressman from New York whom Abraham Lincoln named in 1863 as a justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, a court that is now the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia [1].
On 17 April 1865 he took the sworn statement of Major Henry Rathbone, the army officer who had fought the attacker in Lincoln's box, and the sworn statement of Clara Harris, who said Rathbone's account was accurate as far as she knew.
Both statements end with Olin's signature confirming they were sworn before him on 17 April 1865. A newspaper account printed in 1865 says a Judge Olin also went with Clara Harris and others to inspect the box, where a puzzling hole in a door was examined by candlelight. He served on the court until he retired in 1879, and died that July in Sligo, Maryland.
Printed copies disagree on his title: one 1865 printing of the Harris statement calls him Chief Justice, while a 1971 printing and the federal court records call him a Justice or Associate Justice. The 1865 newspaper line seems to call him Clara Harris's father, though her father was Senator Ira Harris. A 1940 history places the signed originals in the archives of the Judge Advocate General, the Army officer in charge of enforcing military law, but his exact title on them is still uncertain.
[Report #200] WHO. Federal Judicial Center: 'Born September 21, 1808, in Shaftsbury, VT' (
fjc.gov); 'Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)' (
fjc.gov); 'Nominated by Abraham Lincoln on March 10, 1863, to a new seat authorized by 12 Stat. 762.' (
fjc.gov) Before that: 'U.S. representative from New York, 1857-1863' (
fjc.gov). 'Service terminated on January 13, 1879, due to retirement.' (
fjc.gov) 'Died July 7, 1879, in Sligo, MD' (
fjc.gov)
17 APRIL 1865. 'Before Judge A. B. Olin, Justice Supreme Court, District of Columbia, on the 17th of April, Major Henry R. Rathbone subscribed and swore to the following statement' (
hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu). The 1865 Memorial Record prints the Rathbone statement closing 'H. R. RATHBONE. Subscribed and sworn before me this 17th day of April, 1865. A. B. OLIN' (
upload.wikimedia.org), then 'Clara H. Harris, being duly sworn, says that she has read the foregoing affi-davit of Major Rathbone, and knows the contents thereof' (
upload.wikimedia.org); 'And this deponent further says that the facts stated in the foregoing affidavit, eo far as the same came to the knowledge or notice of this deponent, are accu-rately stated therein.' (
upload.wikimedia.org) Closing: 'CLARA H. HARRIS. Subscribed and sworn before me this 17th day of April, 1865. A. B. OLIN, Chief Justice' (
upload.wikimedia.org). The 1971 Lincoln Lore print of the Harris statement: 'Subscribed and sworn to before me this 17th day of April 18G5. A. B. Olin, Justice Supreme Court, D. C.' (
upload.wikimedia.org) George S. Bryan (1940) cites 'Affidavit of H. R. Rath-bone before Justice A. B. Olin of the Supreme Court of the District (in the archives of the Judge Advocate General).' (
archive.org) The same days, per Stanton to General Dix: 'Chief Justice Cartter is engaged in taking the evidence.' (
upload.wikimedia.org)
THE BOX INSPECTION. A press account in the Memorial Record: 'Mr. Ferguson visited the theatre yesterday, and, with Miss Harris, the lady who was in the box with the President, her father, Judge Olin, of the Criminal Court, and Judge Cartter, examined the box.' (
upload.wikimedia.org) 'The puzzling hole in the unused door of the box was closely scrutinized by the light of a candle' (
upload.wikimedia.org)
HELD. His title on the Harris statement: Chief Justice (1865 Memorial Record print) against Justice (1971 Lincoln Lore print; Associate Justice, Federal Judicial Center): both held. The press line naming "her father, Judge Olin, of the Criminal Court": as printed, held; the father of Clara Harris was Senator Ira Harris ('United States Senator Ira Harris, of New York (1861-67), whose first wife had died leaving him with a daughter named Clara' (
upload.wikimedia.org)); would settle: the original newspaper. Not opened (Oct 2026): the signed originals in the archives of the Judge Advocate General; would settle: his exact signature and title.