Where was John Surratt on April 14, 1865 ?

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(03-12-2017 03:05 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Kees, do you have Kate Larson's Assassin's Accomplice? She feels Susan Jackson was confused and explains on pp. 98-99. Another author who feels Susan Jackson was confused is Bill Richter in Last Confederate Heroes. Please see the posts on this page.

Roger,
I’m sure Kate Larson's book is a valuable resource, but I have not read it. IMO Susan Jackson mistakenly said that three men came to Surratt’s house after the assassination, late Saturday morning. These men were Weichmann, Holohan and James McDevitt; Surratt not among them. But on June 18, 1867 she testified that she saw Mrs. Surratt (between 8 and 9 o'clock pm) and her son in the dining room of Surratt’s house on April 14, 1865. Did she retract this statement too? Part of her testimony is as follows:

Q. After that, on that evening, will you tell us whether you saw the prisoner here ?
Witness. That one sitting over there? (pointing to the prisoner.)
Mr. Pierrepont. Yes.
A. Yes, sir; I have seen him in the dining-room.
Q. Who was with him ?
A. His mother was with him.
Q. What did his mother say to you ?
A, I do not know.
Q. Had you ever seen him before ?
A. No, sir ; I had never seen him before.
Q. How long had you lived in the house ?
A. I had been there three weeks.
Q. What did his mother say ?
A. She told me that was her son.
Q. What else did she say to him, or about him ?
A. She did not say anything else. When I was gathering up some clothes to put in the wash, I asked if they were for Mr. Weichman, and she said no, they were for her son.

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(03-12-2017 10:48 PM)John Fazio Wrote:  Kees, Roger, John, Laurie and Gene:

This is one of the more intractable mysteries of the war years. In my judgment, we are more likely to arrive at the truth, not by hanging our hats on this or that item of evidence, but by thinking of the matter globally. I say that because the evidence is conflicting, especially anything coming from the mouth or pen of Surratt, whose lies rolled off his lips like water off a duck's back. He told at least three different versions of his whereabouts between April 6 and 18, probably with the express purpose of confusing everyone, then and for all time. Let us, rather, look at the forest rather than the trees.

The 13 witnesses who put him Washington cannot be ignored, especially the better, more convincing ones.

John

John,

I totally agree with you. Surratt was the most unreliable man re. his statements; and not all the testimonies of the 13 witnesses who placed Surratt in DC on April 14, 1865 can be false! But it's my opinion that we will never know the truth.