Did Rathbone get blamed?

[jonathan]

I don't remember ever having read that Rathbone was blamed for anything. I wonder how much different that would have been if he hadn't made the attempt to get Booth. I would imagine public opinion might have been pretty harsh, then throw in his battle scars and self blame, I expect he would have really been a mess.

But to me it's one of those situations where I just don't feel like he could really be expected to do much. Even if he did see Booth enter the box, what would there have been to be suspicious about? Practically everybody considered that the war was over, they've had the illumination, the city is in a great mood, he's having a nice evening with his fiancee and the first couple. Then throw in the fact that it would have been fairly dark in the box, he likely would not have seen a weapon until the gun was pointed at Lincoln and Booth was pulling the trigger. Who could seriously expect him to see Booth step into the box, immediately suspect foul play and jump up to stop the murder, all in the matter of a few seconds? It's kind of ridiculous. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just fairly unrealistic in my opinion. I believe that Rathbone probably never forgave himself, despite the fact that there was likely nothing more he could have done. What he did do was more than many would have, at least among civilians, though probably not soldiers.

It's one of those situations where, looking at it from Rathbone's chair, he did what he could do, it just wasn't enough. He should have let himself off the hook a little bit.