Was there an assassin on Grant's train?

[L Verge]

Two questions: How old was Mrs. Grant when she wrote her memoirs? You know I'm questioning her recollections if they were written even ten years after the assassination. Also, given the critical nature of what she had to say, it certainly seems strange that she did not mention either the luncheon or the messenger details to anyone in authority (i.e. her husband) to have it thoroughly investigated after the assassination. How did the messenger get the Grants' room number without a hotel employee giving it to someone? If she had mentioned it on April 15, 1865, or a few days after that, there should have been a trail for investigators to follow.

Why are we assuming that David Herold had to be the one that was shabbily dressed? David's father had left the family very well-off when he died shortly before this. They had always been a well-respected family in society, and David had been sent to good schools that catered to the upper classes. Even the various men from Southern Maryland that he name-drops during his statement were upper middle-class landowners. He certainly was not on the same poverty level as Atzerodt (although we know Atzerodt was not the messenger due to no mention of language).

If my family's story is true that he spent the night of April 13 in our home, his clothes would have been wet when he arrived there since the purpose of his stopping was (supposedly) to get out of the rain. His sister said that he arrived home in D.C. in time for breakfast - which is consistent with him having left our house before the family (with a two-month-old infant) arose. Surely he would have changed clothes once he got home and surely those clothes were not shabby.

In my opinion, this little tidbit of one lady's recollections is not worth the time and effort of digging any deeper...