Christian Rath

[BettyO]

Quote:Betty needs to help me here, but for some reason I think that Powell's conversation with Dr. Gillette and his comment about Mrs. Surratt carried a caveat to the effect that the lady did not know the full details of the plans?

As far as showing up at the boardinghouse days later, I suspect that his being in hiding had kept him out of the loop as to what was going on arrest-wise. And, he was hungry and dirty and needed shelter. Her place was the easiest for him to find all three.

First, in the death cell, Powell had told Dr. Gillette that "Mrs. Surratt knew something, but he didn't know exactly what" - i.e. that she knew about the kidnap plot but not about the murder.....he was more or less out of the loop re: the arrests; hungry, dirty and cold and since he couldn't head directly to Baltimore (his escape route of choice, more or less), he headed to Mrs. Surratt's house. l

As for his "yellow hair"; it is my assumption (and this is just an assumption!) that since Powell had been given a "buzz cut" or crew-cut haircut right before the execution, that the strong sunlight reflecting on the shortened hair shaft created the affects of having blond hair. In reality, Powell's hair was a dark brown -