Horses used on the Escape Route

[L Verge]

In an earlier posting, mention was made of horse faking - changing the appearance of a horse. Rick Smith and Bill Richter wrote on this in an article for the Surratt newsletter back in 2008:

They describe the technique as "the subtle art of altering the appearance of a horse, whether for good or evil," as "ancient as the horse itself. Stories of thieves altering a horse's appearance abound in the literature of antiquity and are the topic of modern day headlines.

"...in March of 2003, a Florida stable was raided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department and found to contain stolen and altered show horses, one of which was valued at over $100,000. One horse, a well-known 16-hand Oldenburg, was disguised in an effort to prevent it from being recognized. A large, white blaze running from its forehead and down its muzzle, and a large, star-shaped scar on its shoulder had been sprayed with brown Rustoleum. Another animal's legs and hooves had been painted...."

This could possibly have been done to Booth's and Herold's horses in 1865 with the use of paint and dyes, filing teeth, painting hooves, and even changing the stance or gait of the horse via means that would render the animal temporarily lame.

Rick believes that the horses were not destroyed and that Booth and Herold actually moved around a bit while hiding in the pine thicket. He references a statement by James Owens to Col. Wells. Owens was a hired hand of a Mr. Adams in nearby Newport and gave an exact description of the fugitives' horses - swearing that two men rode into the village of Newport on them on Thursday night, April 20. "It was pretty late, nearly supper time, when two men came there on horseback [Booth and Herold?] accompanied by a white boy...[Samuel Cox, Jr.?].

Owens stated that they spent about twenty-four hours in the pines near Mr. Adams's tavern and even took meals there. "They stayed in the pines near the house until the next evening, which was Friday night [April 21] and were at the house on and off at different times; they did not lodge at Mr. Adams's, but only got meals there....They left in the evening after dark and went towards Pope's Creek where Thomas Jones lives...their horses came back this way [to Newport] in charge of the boy. If I were to try to find them [the horses] I would inquire of the people who saw them..."