Lafayette Baker

[L Verge]

In the August, 1996, issue of the Surratt Courier, the late James O. Hall gave a brief synopsis of his working with the National Park Service, then-Vice President Mondale, and the FBI to examine Booth's so-called diary. Here's what he had to say: "The FBI photographed everything in the book under various kinds of special light. And, they confirmed that the "diary" entries and the samples were in the same hand - that of John Wilkes Booth. More importantly, since all existing pages were photographed, it was possible to lay them out to determine exactly which sheets/leafs had been cut or torn out by Mr. Booth (or others if you believe in the grand conspiracy). Everything from 1 January 1864 through 10 June is gone - cut or torn out. After that, only 4 and 1/3 sheets are missing. Booth began his so-called diary entries on the page for 11 June. It seems reasonable to assume that sheets previous to this were missing before he began writing. There is nothing on the page beginning 17 June and the page beginning 20 June. He picked up writing again again on the page dated 23 June (which he redated Friday 21) and continued to write on down to the bottom of the page beginning 29 June. There it ends. The next page missing covers July 17-22, then part of the page for August 10-15 is missing, two consecutive pages covering August 22-September 2, and finally a page for November 8-13, 1864."