Questions Regarding Mary Surratt

[Thomas Thorne]

As a person with bad eyesight with glasses I have some expertise with the problems associated with this condition.

Mrs. Surratt's defenders have used her eyesight to excuse her failure to recognize LTP on the nite of 4/17. Yet she did not routinely wear glasses. The foyer was well lit and Mary was familiar with LTP's voice. A person with bad eyesight might fail to recognize a person they know, might misidentify the person they saw as someone else or might seek to search her memory to recall apparent strangers who claimed they knew her. The emotions triggered in these situations would be bewilderment and embarrassment.

I don't know how well Washington area night and street lights were during this era but a person who had the visual problems attributed to Mrs Surratt would have had to be careful climbing up and down stairs at night. No witness ever mentioned this.

No one can say that Mary Surratt's spectacular reaction to seeing Lewis Powell conveyed bewilderment or embarrassment. She lost her composure which was so remarkable during her subsequent interrogations.
Tom