No need to question this Lincoln conspirator’s guilt

[Susan Higginbotham]

The defense should have questioned whom? If you mean Olivia, she didn't testify at the conspiracy trial. Again, Weichmann didn't name Booth as the evening caller until after the conspiracy trial, there was no need during that trial for the defense to call Olivia to contradict him.

Olivia's testimony at John Surratt's trial about her visitor was mostly consistent with that given by Mary at her interrogation on April 28--days after Olivia had been released from prison, so Olivia couldn't have known what her aunt said on that date. The only inconsistency is that Mary said that the servant took the papers, while Olivia said that Anna Surratt answered the door.

I can think of several reasons why the defense didn't produce Scott at John Surratt's trial: (1) On cross-examination, the prosecution didn't make an issue of the identity of the caller, so there was no need to belabor the issue; (2) Scott couldn't be tracked down; or (3) Scott was dead. Reading the cross-examination of Olivia, I think the first reason was the most likely.