The hole In the door

[John Fazio]

Laurie, Jonathan, Roger, Eva, Lincoln Man, et al:

Responses to commentary:

Clara had to have made her statement on the 14th or 15th, inasmuch as it appeared in the New York Herald on the 16th and in Noah Brooks's Dispatch of the 16th. It was made, therefore, when her memory was at its freshest. Because it is not contradicted by anyone, the burden of proving it untrue is on anyone asserting that it is untrue. If the burden is not carried, the statement must stand as true. Omissions do not constitute contradiction, however puzzling they may be, and cannot, therefore, be said to be proof. I am sorry to be legalistic, but that is the law.

Forbes is said not to have mentioned seeing Booth twice. To my knowledge, he did not mention seeing him even once! I know of no statement by Forbes re the assassination until his Affidavit of 1892, in which he claimed to have been in the box with the presidential party, an absurdity, and in which he makes no mention whatsoever of Booth, though we know he confronted him in front of the outer door.

No one in the audience mentioned seeing the intruder. He is clearly said to have been quick and unobtrusive. He looked in to take a survey, i.e. he did little more than have a peek and then withdrew. For this reason, we may be certain that almost no one noticed him; eyes, after all, were turned toward the stage, though there is a possibility that the peek-in took place during an intermission, in which case much of the audience was gone and, in any case, gone or not, few, if any, would have paid the least attention to it.

Why the dry run? The reasons are given on p. 162 of Decapitating.

Why would Clara say she saw someone peek in if she didn't? An excellent question. The answer is: she wouldn't.

Perhaps she was confused about who it was. But she said, plainly, that "Upon his (the assassin) entering the box again..." Furthermore, the only other person it could have been was Hanscomb. The four reasons for holding that it was not Hanscomb are given on p. 163 of Decapitating. It could not have been Forbes or Parker, because she knew both men and knew what they looked like.

Thank you.

John