John Surratt's real parents?

[LincolnToddFan]

Thanks for any comments and thoughts on the following mind-game:

If Mary Surratt was male, not female - would her ("his") possible innocence be discussed the same way? Would we see and judge the deliveries and her ("his") question to the old farmer about the soldiers guarding the road differently?

Excellent Eva! I can honestly say that taking everything into account, especially the later statements of Father Wiggan I would personally still say NO. I can't help it, irrational though I am certain I sound at times. My heart and mind will not accept that a devout believer would blaspheme literally at the door of his/her Maker.

One of the many things that has always troubled me about the character of JWB was his utter willingness to let people far less guilty than himself twist in the wind, to reach back to an old Watergate era saying. He received some newspapers in the days immediately after the shooting while he was hiding in the swamp with Herold. He had to know about the arrests of Mrs. Surratt and the others. Yet nothing in his diary writings about them, not even the Widow Surratt?

I realize that there is little he could have said that would have helped Powell or Davy...both were toast after April 14 1865. But Atzerodt had strenuously objected to being involved in a murder plot(even though he foolishly missed a crucial opportunity to save Lincoln's and perhaps his own and Mrs. Surratt's lives by not going to the authorities that night as Roger pointed out.)