Did Lincoln pick up Maj. Rathbone amd Miss Harris?

[John Fazio]

Roger, Laurie, Betty, et al.:

I would like to comment on Clara Harris's reliability as a witness and, specifically, on her comment re Booth's prior entry to the box.

Granted some witnesses are better than others (e.g. Leale, Rathbone and Weichmann are good; Stewart (Joseph), Sleichmann and Ritterspaugh are bad), still, it is probably true that nothing is perfectly recalled. Ms. Harris, in my opinion, is a good witness if not a great one. She made two statements, one immediately after the assassination, one two days later. The first refers to the intruder, but says nothing about Rathbone addressing Booth when he attacked; the second omits reference to the intruder, but says Rathbone asked Booth what his business was when he attacked. I regard her reference to the intruder as historical and it is in my book, referred to as "the dry run", for the following reasons:

1. It is in her first statement when the events were freshest in her mind, before she had time to consider appearances.
2. She probably left it out of her second statement because it cast her fiancee in a bad light for not having followed it up with an inquiry.
3. For the same reason, she has her fiancee challenging Booth on his second visit, but not on his first. Both of these changes argue for authenticity of the first statement.
4. Booth needed to make a dry run because though he could see who was seated beside the outer door, he did not know what he would have to contend with in the passageway. It was therefore necessary for him to go into the passageway to make that determination, and while he was there he stuck his head into the presidential box (that's all Ms. Harris said he did) to determine the position of the occupants and the President's protection. Why didn't he strike then? Because he had a timetable. All strikes had to occur at about the same time, i.e. 10:15.
5. Ms. Harris positively identifies the intruder as "the assassin", and confirms his identity by saying "Upon his entering the box again...".
6. Ms. Harris had no motivation to fabricate this incident.
7. The intruder could not have been Hanscomb, as postulated by Eisenschiml, because Hanscomb could not be clearer: He found only Forbes in front of the outer door and he left the White House dispatch with Forbes; he DID NOT take it into the box. Furthemore, Ms. Harris places the intrusion at about an hour before the fatal strike; Hanscomb came 20 minutes before the strike. Furthermore, Ms. Harris said the intruder just looked in to take a survey; he did not come into the box and deliver anything to anyone.
8. Ms. Harris's first statement is accepted as true by Noah Brooks (Burlingame,p. 189) See also The Lincoln Assassination, pp. 43, 979; Bryan, pp. 178, 179.

I have the honor to be, Sir and Madam, your most obedient and humble servant

John