Where was John Surratt on April 14, 1865 ?

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I learned that witness sergeant Joseph M. Dye was seen by the defense, as unreliable, with a “dark past” (with an indictment for passing counterfeit money). One of the arguments was that men from his own native town would not believe him upon his oath.

Barber Charles H. M. Wood had not sworn falsely, but he was according to the defense “clearly mistaken”, for John Surratt could not have been in two different places (DC and Elmira) at the same time.

Curious who the 13 persons were who placed John Surratt in Washington DC on April 14, 1865? Here they are:

1. Sergeant Joseph M. Dye. Saw, sitting upon the theatre’s platform, Surratt in front of Ford’s theatre that night under suspicious circumstances.
2. Sergeant Robert A. Cooper. Was with Joseph Dye.
3. David C. Reed, saw John Surratt at 2:30 pm on Pennsylvania avenue, near the National Hotel. There was a recognition and they nodded to each other.
4. Susan Ann Jackson (a newly hired black servant at the Surratt house), saw John Surratt (speaking with his mother) in the dining-room at the Surratt boarding house, 541 H Street, between 8 and 9 pm. Mary Surratt said to her that he was her son. Susan brought a pot of tea into the room and later served dinner for John Surratt.
5. Scipio Grillo walked with Herold to Willards, where Herold spoke with two young men. Herold says to one of them " You are going to-night, ain't you ?" The man, who resembled John Surratt, answered “Yes”.
6. John Lee, walking in Thirteenth street, passed a man whom he took to be John Surratt.
7. William E. Cleaver met John Surratt on horseback at H-street at 4 pm. Cleaver said "How are you, John” and Surratt nodded to him.
8. Benjamin W. Vanderpoel saw Surratt, Booth and 2 or 3 other men at a certain concert saloon on Pennsylvania avenue (Metropolitan Hall or Washington Hall, couldn’t remember) sitting and talking at a round table, a woman dancing at the lower end of the hall.
9. Charles H. M. Wood, barber at Messrs. Booker & Stewart's barber shop, on E street, near Grover's theatre. He shaved John Surratt and dressed his hair, about nine o'clock.
10. Charles Ramsell saw a man resembling John Surratt in the early morning on April 15 (between 4 and 5 am) on horseback, asking if there would be any trouble in getting through the pickets. The man gave a “sneering laugh” when he was told that Lincoln was murdered. The man (John Surratt ?) appeared to be very uneasy, fidgetty, and nervous.
11. Frank M. Heaton saw the President and his wife arriving at Ford’s theatre, and he saw (in the crowd) at the same time (between a quarter of eight and a quarter past eight) a man who resembled John Surratt.
12. Walter H. Coleman saw Booth around 6 pm on Pennsylvania avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets. Booth was sitting on his horse with his face towards Coleman, and was leaning over talking very earnestly with a man who stood on the curbstone. That man was a look alike of John Surratt “very much”. Coleman was with George W. Cushing Jr., but Cushing could not say that the man in question resembled John Surratt, because his attention was only directed to Booth at that time.
13. Last but not least: Theodore Benjamin Rhodes, an clock-maker, living since 1862 east of the Capitol. His testimony, together with the testimonies of Charles Wood (the barber), Sergeant Joseph M. Dye and Susan Ann Jackson (the black servant), struck me the most!! It contains (for me) astonishing elements which were all new for me. Rhodes tells that he visited Ford’s theater on the 14th April about mid-day. He declared:

“I went in merely to look at the theatre. I went up the steps to the second floor; went down in front where the circle was, to look upon the stage; whilst there I saw one of the box doors open a little and shut. I was anxious to see from that point of view, and supposing some one was in there, having heard some one stepping about, I went down to the box and looked out from that point. As I approached the box whoever was in there walked away out of the box, and I entered and looked from that point on the stage. I had been looking there about a minute or two when the same person, I suppose, who went out of the box returned and spoke to me. He said he was connected with the theatre. We then had a few words together, when my attention was again drawn to the scenery on the stage. They had a curtain down that had recently been painted, I believe, and I stood there looking at that. Then I heard this man behind me doing something. In turning around to see what it was he was doing—I supposed he was looking down as I was—I noticed that he had a piece of wood; whether he had it put in under his coat or was taking it out I cannot say. The piece of wood was about three feet long and about as wide as my two fingers—maybe a little more in the centre—slanting a little towards each end from the centre. As I turned round he said, "The President is going to be here tonight." That was the first intimation I had of the expected presence of the President that night. I said, " He is?" He then said, " We are going to fix up the box for his reception. I suppose there is going to be a big crowd here, and we are going to endeavor to arrange it so that he won’t be disturbed." He then fixed this piece of wood into a small hole in the wall there as large as my thumb. I should think the hole to be an inch or an inch and a half long, and about three-quarters of an inch wide. He placed one end of this stick in the hole and it being a little too large took a knife and whittled it down a little. He also gouged out the hole a little for the purpose of making it fit. Then he placed it against the panel of the door across to the wall, forming an angle. He says, " The crowd may be so immense as to push the door open, and we want to fasten it so that this cannot be the case." He asked me if I thought that would hold it sufficiently tight. I told him I should judge that it would hold against a great pressure; that a hole would be punched through the panel of the door before it would give way. The wood was either oak or of North Carolina pine. I am not acquainted with that kind of wood, but I am rather of the impression it was North Carolina pine, which is a very tough wood, I believe. After he had fitted that to suit him we had a few words more together. I then heard some one come across the stage, back of the curtain.”

Rhodes said that the man in the box was John H. Surratt, without any doubt! He went out and in the box two or three times while Rhodes was there.

Rhodes further testified: “I heard some one passing behind the stage curtain. This man with whom I had been talking as soon as he heard this noise behind went immediately out of the box, then a short thick set man came in, a man I should judge a little taller than I am and good deal stouter. He hallooed for some one. This man that came in. He says, "halloo, halloo, Ned," or D ick, I don't know which. I think however, it was Ned, " Halloo, Ned, come here, bring out them things;" but the man did not answer that he was hallooing for. He repeated the call some three or four times, may be more. Finally I heard some one say, "Halloo," away down back by the curtain, he said " come here right off," or something to that effect. Then the man came up stairs. Where it was I don't know, it was back of this box leading from off towards the stage. I think he had one of these black satchels about eighteen inches long with something in it. This thick set man says to him, "We are behind time." He said that they had not heard that the President was going to be there until about an hour before, and that they had but a very short time in which to fix up for the occasion. He says to this slim man, " Go down to my office " (or room, I don't know which he said,) "and bring up that big easy chair," and I think he said big rocking chair. The man replied that he did not think he could carry it, it was so heavy. This other man replied, " Oh, yes, you can carry it;" and I think he told him that there was some one down there who would help him. Anyhow he went and brought it.”

I suspect that the man who was called “Ned” was Edman “Ned” Spangler. The man with whom Rhodes was talking and went immediately out of the box after hearing the noise, never returned. Rhodes left the theatre after approximately 15 minutes, after Ned came into the box.

Quite a story! As I said: new to me. I have three questions:

1. was the theater always open for public, or was it kept locked, during the day?
2. why was Rhodes not seen by Spangler? Did he ever spoke of him?
3. the stick which Rhodes described, which he says Surratt whittled down and stuck in that hole, was that the stick found in the box (used by Booth)?

Looking forward to your comments!