Where was John Surratt on April 14, 1865 ?

[Susan Higginbotham]

(03-29-2017 03:39 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(03-29-2017 02:27 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  I have a question regarding Mary Surratt when she returned to the boardinghouse after her trip to Surrattsville. On the trip home she said she was expecting a gentleman visitor at about 9 P.M. She wouldn't tell Weichmann who it was.

Was it Smoot? Or was it Booth?

Weichmann writes, "She was very anxious to be at home at nine o'clock, saying that she had made an engagement with some gentleman to meet her at that hour."

Yet, even though she was expecting someone, she agreed to go to Good Friday church services with Eliza Holohan. According to Kate Larson, the two ladies departed after Booth's (possible) visit but prior to Smoot's. According to Bettie Trindal, the two ladies got as far as Dr. Evans' house and turned around due to poor weather. They returned to the boardinghouse, and very soon afterwards Smoot arrived.

To me this makes Mary's visit with Smoot "accidental;" if the weather were good she would have been at church when Smoot arrived.

My question: if Mary meant Smoot when she told Weichmann she expected a gentleman visitor, why did she agree to attend church services with Eliza Holohan?

I have always had a question about this, but from a different angle: Even though it was Good Friday, did any church (even the Roman Catholic ones) have services after 9 pm? Were the ladies really going to service, or were they just going to sit in a semi-vacant church and contemplate the meaning of the Lord's crucifixion?

I am one step down from Catholicism (an Episcopalian), and our Good Friday services consisted of three hours during the day (noon to 3 pm) and then a 7 pm service for those who had to work during the day.

Wasn't the purpose of dismissing the War Department employees (i.e. Weichmann) early that day to allow them to attend early services?

P.S. I am really in tune with Kees now that Smoot was the 9 pm visitor.

P.P.S. Another point that I am now chewing on is the question of Surratt with his new, "fashionable" coat. How many did he buy? The businessmen in Elmira talk about what Kees thinks is a Garibaldi jacket, but in at least one of his letters, John Surratt speaks of his new French pea jacket. Did he own two new coats? Where did he get the money to spend like a Kartrashian?

Eliza Holohan testified at John Surratt's trial that Good Friday services at St. Patrick's began at 7:30 pm and lasted until 10 pm or later (vol. I, pp. 691-92). (She also testified that it was her suggestion that they go back home instead of continuing to church due to the disagreeable weather.)