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

[John E.]

This is a very interesting topic but I'm afraid its one that I haven't given much thought to in the past. I don't believe that two guys high-tailing it out of Washington would want to be slowed down by anything. Therefore, I would suspect that Herold was tasked with carrying the extra guns.

If you recall, Atzerodt stated that Herold wanted access to the hotel room to retrieve weapons. Atzerodt refused. This leads me to believe that Herold may have went elsewhere to get pistols and had them available when he met up with Booth. Perhaps he carried the extra hat as well for JWB.