Stupid question?

[L Verge]

Laurie:

I recall the post. My understanding is that Booth obtained the arms and other items, probably in New York, where, according to Arnold, he went often to replenish "his squandering means", because of his "riotous living and dissipation". My surmise is that part of his financing came from Confederate agents in that city and/or Belmont and his circle of Copperheads. In any case, by January, he had the arms and tools he needed and gave them to Arnold and O'Laughlen in Baltimore, who promptly shipped them to Washington. They took up residence at Mary Van Tine's boarding house, at 420 D Street, on or about February 10, so the arms and tools must have been stashed elsewhere for the time being. On the morning of March 18, after the "failed kidnapping attempt", Surratt and Atzerodt went to look for Herold. They found him between Surrattsville and T.B., with the weapons and tools, which had somehow, somewhere, come into his possession (presumably on the 17th, after they had been retrieved by Arnold and O'Laughlen as part of the Campbell Hospital episode). This encounter could not have been entirely by chance. In any case, all three then went to the tavern, where they left everything with Lloyd for later pick-up. See American Brutus, pp. 187, 188.

Thanks, John. Mary Van Tine's boardinghouse is what I was trying to remember as to Arnold's and O'Laughlen's home away from home. Is there any good reason to discount that the weapons and supplies were hidden in or around her boardinghouse while they were there? IMO, chances are 50/50 that Van Tine could have been in the same Confederate spirit as Mary Surratt.