Could John Have Spared Mary

[RJNorton]

My initial reaction is that she would have still hanged. Isn't John's overall situation similar to Arnold's and O'Laughlen's? They all dropped out after the failed kidnapping. Although I feel John may have pulled a fast one, and actually been in Washington on April 14, everyone says I am wrong. So wouldn't John get the same sentence Arnold and O'Laughlen did?

Mary, on the other hand, was doing Booth's bidding up to within hours of the assassination. Prior to Kate Larson's book I always thought Mary knew of the kidnapping plot but not the assassination. After Kate's book I began to think she may have even known more. Two people, Weichmann and Smoot, described her as very nervous and agitated after Booth departed the boardinghouse at 9:00 P.M. Certainly the brief discussion she had with Booth had an effect on her. We have even argued the possibility she may have been harboring Booth's pistols and hat. Did she know the president was about to be assassinated? It's possible. In my mind, at this point, she's more involved with Booth's plot than John was (assuming he's really in Elmira), and therefore it's my guess that John's return would not have changed Mary's death sentence.