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

[KLarson]

This is a fascinating discussion! From my research perspective, I believe that Booth went to Surratt's boarding house 3 times the day of the assassination. The first time was around noon to ask Mary to go to Surrattsville. The second is when he returned to give her the field glasses around 2-ish before she and Weichmann left. The third time was between 8:30 and nine when Mary answered the door herself and talked with an unknown person. If I recall correctly, Anna said something to the effect that Booth had been there that evening. Smoot arrived after Mary (with her big bonnet) and Eliza Holohan were returning to the boarding house after an aborted attempt to walk to church for Good Friday services. That was about 9-9:30 ish. Testimony by Weichmann reveals that he rest of the evening was spent in the parlor, with everyone retiring between 10:30 and 11:00 pm when Mary's agitation and impatience drove everyone to bed. No mention of another visitor. However, that doesn't preclude Booth coming - could the pistols have been stashed outside?
It seems improbable that Booth would have had those guns on his person when he killed the president. He had to have picked them up somewhere enroute - Surratt boarding house, T.B., Surratt Tavern, Mudds, etc. You would think, though, that Booth would want to be armed as quickly as possible after he assassinated Lincoln. Herold seems to be the likely source, but when and where would the transfer have taken place?
As for Susan Jackson and her testimony about the men, I always assumed that she was talking about the detectives who came to the boarding house with Weichmann the day after the murder. It was this confusion that sent the detectives back to the Surratt boarding house for another search. I have always felt that because of Susan's misidentification of those men (she knew Weichmann) and the timing of their arrival at the house combined with what she heard them talking about, was another bit of misfortune for Mary. That second search was her downfall because Powell arrived in the nick of time.
In support of the idea that Booth *may* have left guns at Mary's house to pick up that evening, I can't help but think about the bullet moulds and percussion caps that were found in her dresser. What would she have need for those?