John Surratt's real parents?

[Susan Higginbotham]

In his Rockville lecture, John Surratt claimed that he had sent a man to Washington to get in touch with defense counsel, and that the man upon his return advised him that his mother was in no danger and that he should stay away.

My own unprovable theory is that Mary, through her counsel, may well have sent a message that John was to stay away.