Lewis Powell: The conspirator who was "different."

[RJNorton]

Welcome to the forum, Keely! Thank you for joining. I am not defending Powell, but I am just trying to figure this out. Is it possible that the maid had seen Mary Branson sneaking into Powell's room for (use your imagination here), and threatened to "spill the beans" about what those two were doing? Or perhaps the maid threatened to reveal to the authorities that Powell might be a Confederate operative? And this caused Powell to "snap?" Does Swanson mention these possibilities? Once again, I am not defending the violence - Powell was totally wrong; I am just wondering if it's possible there was more going on here (inside Powell's mind) than what most books might say.