Why was Booth admitted into the presidential box?

[loetar44]

(04-23-2015 03:11 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  I'm back

Recognizing that eyewitness testimony is likely to be all over the board, as it is with respect to what happened in front of the outer door of the presidential box at Ford's Theatre between 10 and 10:30 on April 14, 1865, we have no alternative but to find truth in the preponderance of the evidence. On the one hand we have James Ferguson saying Booth walked right in, with no mention of Forbes or anyone else to contend with, much less that he actually contended with him. On the other hand we have Stoddard, Lincoln' Assistant Secretary, writing that Booth presented a card to "one of the President's messengers" at the end of the inner passage, adding that either Booth or the card stated that Mr. Lincoln had sent for him. Nicolay, the President's Secretary (with Hay) later wrote that Booth showed "a card to the servant in attendance". Both of those accounts, coming as they do from White House personnel, probably came from Forbes himself--who else? It is only reasonable that someone in the White House would have questioned Forbes pretty closely after the dust had settled. Further, we have already seen that Dr. Leale, who was only 40 or so feet away, said that Booth engaged "a man" and that the man put up some resistance before finally allowing Booth to pass. This accords well with Booth's saying, in his diary, that he was stopped, but pushed on. Further, McGowan, who was almost on top of the scene, said that Booth handed a writing to the "President's messenger". Further, another eyewitness, Koontz, said that Booth told "Lincoln's servant at the door" that Lincoln had sent for him. Further, in June, 1865, a Harper's Magazine article stated that Booth was stopped by the "sentinel", but was permitted to pass when Booth told him that the President wished to see him. Gath told essentially the same story in the New York World. Observe that the last four accounts all include the element that Booth told the person at the door that Lincoln wished to see him, which is consistent with Leale's, Stoddard's and Nicolay's accounts as well as with Josiah Gilbert Holland's 1866 biography as well as Abraham Lincoln's remarks to Col. Charles Halpine concerning the ease with which he could be accessed by means of a "pass". So why did Ferguson say what he said? Probably because he wanted to sound authoritative (he later wrote a book titled "I Saw Lincoln Shot"), for monetary gain, and/or because he witnessed only part of what happened in front of the door (after all, a play was being performed), the part that followed the tete a tete between Booth and Forbes. The preponderance of the evidence (Including Hanscom's newspaper article, previously referred to) favors the conclusion that there was someone at the door, that the someone was Forbes and that he engaged Booth, though too briefly and weakly, before he was persuaded by Booth's documentation to permit him to pass, does it not? What documentation? How about a carte de visite and an authorization signed by Lincoln? Can't get much better than that.

John

Once again thank you for your response. What you said is what you said in Chapter 16. And you are very convincing! Eyewitness accounts are most important. Of course I know that every eyewitness to an event is direct evidence, but I also know that eyewitnesses are often unreliable for many reasons (this also goes for Ferguson). People may lie, or, more often, they may not see things as clearly as they believe, especially if an event occurs quickly or at a time of high stress. Moreover, people tend to see things in a way that matches their expectations. Memory can change over time, and people tend to fill in gaps in their memory without realizing it. People are often susceptible to suggestion. That said, it's my true believe that the whole Forbes-story is speculation (which doesn’t make it untrue), because there is no documentary evidence. I'm a mathematician and contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time, e.g. the two propositions "A is B" and "A is not B" are mutually exclusive.