John Surratt's real parents?

[L Verge]

(03-05-2015 03:29 PM)HerbS Wrote:  As I sit here in my warm apt.and it's cold and snowy outside in the Copperhead area of New York State[Finger Lakes Region] during the Civil War.I agree with Laurie with some of the motives of Booth.He was a very slick, smooth personality,but was Mary Suratt really conned?Thoughts.

I am not sure that I would use the word "conned." My thoughts are that she was not totally "informed" as to the depth of the schemes and the possible repercussions. She did not have the benefits of mystery novels, crime shows, and CSI investigations to train her for what to expect. And, she was following a mother's instinct to support and protect a son who was fighting for a cause that she, herself, believed in.

Was she duped by Booth? Perhaps, but I prefer to think that she was naive enough to not think ahead to what repercussions might affect her directly. If Powell had not been clumsy enough to show up at her door at the most inopportune time, do you think Mrs. Surratt might have fully escaped detection? I think that could well have been the case -- and I wouldn't have my job 150 years later...