Why was Booth admitted into the presidential box?

[John Fazio]

(04-23-2015 08:33 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Kees, I agree about Forbes and his account being a mystery. T. S. Good comments in "We Saw Lincoln Shot" (p.102): "It is impossible to determine his [Forbes'] exact location at the time of the shot."

Re: "It...establishes that he was charged with guarding the presidential party" - IF anyone was actually charged, wasn't it most likely Parker?

Thanks to all who shared their assessment on Mr. Fazio's book - like Toia, "I simply cannot wait to read your book. To say that it sounds fascinating is an understatement"!!!

Eva:

Parker was most certainly charged with guarding the presidential party. He was the armed guard, armed with a .38 caliber revolver, like all the special policemen from the Metropolitan Police Department who were assigned to protect the President. His responsibility as the armed guard is spelled out in detail by other armed guards, namely Crook, Pendel and McElfresh. It is also established by Buckingham. It is also established by Richards and Forbes, who preferred charges against him for his failure to guard the presidential party. Forbes was not an armed guard. He was not even a guard, but he served as one, in some degree, even though it was not his duty as such and he was therefore unarmed, because he could and apparently did control traffic into and out of the presidential box. I should not have said that he was charged with "guarding the president". I should have said "attending to" the President.

John