Lewis Powell: The conspirator who was "different."

[BettyO]

Quote:After reading your remarks it's the very first time I've ever allowed myself to believe that Mrs. Surratt might not have been as innocent as I've always believed she was. In fact when I first joined the Forum I made a very passionate and rather illogical defense of her, based mostly on her devout Catholic faith.

But now you have planted a seed of doubt....

Hello, Toia!

I simply don't believe that Mrs. Surratt was all that innocent. Powell, even though vocal about Mrs. Surratt's "innocence" told Father Walter, "She may have known something but I don't know how much."

There was Mrs. Surratt crying when the boys rode away during the kidnap venture; there was the business with Mrs. Surratt visiting Lew Powell at the Herndon House; and going to Surrattsville on the evening of the assassination (on Good Friday at that - couldn't she have waited a few more days?) which really looks suspicious.

I think and have always thought that she perhaps thought of herself as a "patriot" - doing what Rose O'Neal Greenhow did or Belle Boyd, but didn't consider the consequences - in her case, very grave. She was probably supporting or thinking she was supporting her son John, Jr.'s activities. She simply didn't realize how deeply she was getting embroiled in this mess.

Powell supposedly told Gillette, "She is a woman, and men do not make war on women."