A Man On The South Side Of The Capitol

[Dave Taylor]

(07-23-2014 09:15 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  Thanks again, Dave. So "the citizen who made this report [who] was not named" was probably John Fletcher and, as you say, "the assumption that one of these unnumbered "men" [that Fletcher mentions] is Booth appears to be incorrect."

It seems to me that the unnamed man who reported seeing "Booth" at the south side of the Capitol is actually the man or men that told Fletcher they had seen Herold.

I believe Fletcher is being honest in his April 23rd statement when he said that someone told him that they had seen HEROLD ride by FOLLOWED by another man. At the trial, Fletcher's testimony is a bit ambiguous. He only stated that someone told him to the affirmative that "men" had been seen riding by the Capitol. He did not specify at the trial that Herold had been seen first and then the other man and was not asked to elaborate. It appears that authors like Roscoe read Fletcher's ambiguous trial testimony and decided that one of the men seen by the south side of the Capitol was Booth followed by Herold. This assumption would be incorrect, however, based on Fletcher's initial statement as to the order.

Trusting Fletcher's initial statement and the write up by Foster, we can say for a fact that Herold was seen by the south side of the Capitol and was followed by another rider going fast. In order for this second man to be Booth, Herold had to deviate from the optimum route to the Navy Yard bridge, hence giving Booth considerable time to pass him and reach the bridge first. Perhaps Davy stopped somewhere to pick up Booth's hat and revolvers.

The line of reasoning leads to either the above scenario or to the conclusion that Booth was not the second man seen by the same group who observed Herold.

There is still the chance that Booth was seen by the south side of the Capitol, however, it would have to come from a completely different source than Fletcher.

[L Verge]

Would you like to speculate that Davy stopped at his own house to retrieve things? It was so close to the Navy Yard Bridge... Just checking.

[BettyO]

Excellent idea, Laurie! This could have been very well so. Especially since he was used to going "out into the country on hunting expeditions." Perhaps his mother and sisters, if they heard/saw him stop in, thought this - that he was on another of his excursions into the countryside and thus thought nothing of his stopping in late at night only to go out again. After all, he was 21 years old at the time so nothing was thought about it - just being his own young and irresponsible self....

[Dave Taylor]

I highly doubt Davy stopped at home. His sister Jane recounted that the family had not seen Davy since breakfast on the day of the assassination:

"He was last home on Friday at breakfast, but I did not see him. We take dinner at 5, and he told my oldest sister that he would be in at breakfast, and we have not seen him since."

If Davy did stop by his house, he would have required one of his sisters or his mother to let him in. Jane explains:

"He had to get home at 10 o'clock. If not he would be locked out. Always when he came he had a night key, but momma took it away from him..."