Booth's visit to the Surratt Boarding House after the assassination

[Bill Richter]

This weekend, Roger Norton and I were discussing whether JW Booth stopped at the Surratt Townhouse (now Chinese Restaurant) before leaving town the night he shot Abe Lincoln? It is an assertion that I make in my historical novel, The Last Confederate Heroes, II, 116-20, 439. He though it might make for an interesting threat on the forum and asked me if I would consent. I do so now, although I realize that I am a poor authority compared to others who patronize the site regularly. But, nonetheless, here we go. . . .

The problem is at least two-fold. Where did JWB pick up two pistols (a .44 cal Colt's Army from 1860, and either another Colt's army or a .36 cal Colt's Navy from 1851, depending on what account one believes. I believe that Ford's Theater has a picture showing the Army and Navy models as JWB's weapons). The other problem is how did JWB get a hat having lost the one he came to Fiord's in the jump to the stage.

The supposition is as follows: JWB had a hat at the Navy Bridge--at least Sgt ST Cobb did not report him as hatless, a rare sight in those days. The pistols were not mentioned, one way or the other, as far as I remember. Lots of people traveled at that time armed to the teeth, anyway, especially at night in the Maryland Peninsulas with men like Rebel guerrilla John Boyle afoot.

I mulled over many solutions as to where JWB picked up the two pistols with holsters. He did not have them in the theater. They would have been noticed as they were relative bulky. And he would not have needed the derringer. He was not mentioned having or not having them at the Navy Yard Bridge, but he did have them at Mudd's as Frankie saw them in his bed, still strapped on and uncomfortable, she thought. No wonder his back hurt!

I have thought long and hard on this and wrote several scenarios to try and solve the problem. He could have gotten them at Mudd's. But Frankie said nothing of that nor did the Doctor. He could have had them stored at Indiantown with Hughes, hence JWB's turning the boat off the course Jones have him to get to Mrs Quesenberry. But that seems unlikely because Frankie saw them at Mudd's.

The next step was to go with Kauffman that he had his pistols and an extra hat in his saddlebags. Why would JWB figure he would lose a hat? Two pistols were quite a pkg to have in a saddlebag, although the size of JWB's saddlebags was never mentioned that I am aware. Actually, a rented horse in the city would probably not had saddlebags provided as a part of his tack at all. But I suppose Booth could have provided his own. But this seemed unproductive, too.

Where could he have picked up a hat before arriving at the Navy Yard Bridge. The only solution was the same person everyone turned to when the going got tough--Mrs Surratt.

JWB had seen Mrs S several times and just before he went to the dinner and heater. He could have left the pistols on her sideboard in the English kitchen. John's hats were there too on a cloak rack or nail near where the new black maid (two weeks on the job) Susan M Jackson slept. Richard M Smoot was in town several times that week looking for payment for his boat cached near Port Tobacco. Mrs S had was told to come and see “John and the boys” on Friday. He did so, and found Mrs S dressed in a big sunbonnet covering her face like a hood. Mrs S told him that the boat would be used that night and to get out of town fast.

What if JWB arrived at that moment? As a novelist I can do that. As an historian, irony is a quality to observe always. JWB arrives, Mrs S is talking to Smoot in the doorway of the English basement JWB dismounts and everyone goes inside after JWB is assured that Smoot is a safe participant. He picks up his guns and holsters, but needs a hat. The cloaks and hats are over by Susan M Jackson, the maid, who is faking her sleep. I find that the times given in various testimony not too convincing. But everything took place around 10:30 p.m. or so in hindsight.

But Susan Jackson’s face is covered and she does not actually see who came in. She later says several men showed up that night, particularly 3 men. But when she was shown the policemen who had come that night, she recognized none of them by sight or voice. Cousin Lette Jenkins was there and Mrs S has her get the hat and check on Susan, who snores for all it is worth, her face covered the whole time. JWB quietly leaves, as does Smoot, problems solved.

But wait, JWB's rental horse will not be tied. She has to be held. How do we get that done? Easy. The third man who never really came in. JWB and Herold, who is fleeing from Fletcher and the ruckus at Seward's, literally bump into each other where L-shaped Baptist Alley meets the street (E or F?) as JWB flees the assassination site. So Herold stays mounted outside as JWB completes his business, holding JWB's flighty horse. They then part company so as to arrive at the Navy Yard Bridge separately.

I would swear that some witness, Jackson or Smoot, told the Feds that only one man came into the basement and the other stayed in the street, but I cannot find that. Probably a figment of my imagination. Yet, after working with JWB and his cohorts for a few years, I believe that I understand them better than most and that my imagination is pretty darned good. But that is supposition on my part.

So there you have it. Proof? There seems to be precious little. My real problem is that I suffered a stroke before I "footnoted" what I had written and my chapter notes suffer accordingly. I hurried to get LCH published because there was real doubt I would last the year at the time and I never recovered my mind-set thereafter.

But then, I cannot prove that Mosby's men were at Garrett's with orders to hie JWB off to safety, or, barring that, execute him. That is in LCH and expanded upon in Rick Smith’s and my book on Tom Harbin (In the Shadows of the Lincoln Assassination). And I believe that we are correct in that, too.