John Minchin Lloyd - Who was he...really?

[jonathan]

I agree that John Lloyd is one of those fascinating assassination characters, probably in particular because not too much is known about him. I heartily encourage all research to dig up some goodies on his life. I also agree that he almost had to have known more than he let on. As others have mentioned, Mary Surratt surely would have been careful who she rented to. Seems to me, the only realistic possibilities would have been that she rented to a) someone who knew what was going on and approved/helped, b) someone who wasn't bright enough to figure any of it out, or c) someone who knew but was too scared to blow the whistle. In that list, b and c are too risky, leaving me to believe that Lloyd must have had at least a general idea that some fairly serious shenanigans were going on. And Mary had to have known that he was not a risk to go to the authorities.

Concerning Stephen Root, the actor who played Lloyd in The Conspirator, he's been in tons of stuff over the years, and he's one of those guys who is almost always fantastic. One of my favorite parts he's done was that of the blind radio station guy in O Brother, Where Art Thou? ("Boys, that was some mihty find 'a pickin and 'a singin'. I tell you what, you come on in here, you (tap tap tap), you sign these papers here I'm gone give ya…ten dollah apiece.") That's a movie that I know some of us here just love, and as I always do when I get a chance, I recommend it to anybody who hasn't seen it. Maybe I'll watch it tonight.