Booth's mistress, Ella Starr, and other "unknown" Booth ladies!

[JMadonna]

(01-14-2013 01:56 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Fascinating thread, Jenny!

One question --

Wonder why Doster was so interested in Ella? He was the council for Powell and Atzerodt. Do you think that perhaps Lew Powell or Atzerodt also knew her? Or visited her house, for example?

Just curious......

Atzerodt claimed that Booth told him the door to Johnson's room would be unlocked. The only way he would know that is if Booth had an inside man (Ella). If she collaborated that story it would prove Atzerodt was not 'lying in wait' and had no intention to kill the VP.

In his memoirs, Doster stated that the previous witness Edwin Booth testified that he barely knew his brother over the years. With Ella's written statement that she was not on good terms with Booth for a while, he expected more of the whitewash, so he declined to call her to the stand.