Booth's women

[Steve]

(05-07-2018 01:21 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Jenny, I found it in the first place I looked - Baker's History of the United States Secret Service:

"I had not had my clothes off for nearly two weeks, and was granted leave of absence from the vessel, on whose deck was lying the corpse of the assassin, covered with two blankets sewed together like a sack, completely concealing it. Upon my return, I was greatly surprised and indignant, to find persons of high position, and some of secession proclivities, around the dead body, the coarse shroud parted at the seam, and a lady at that moment cutting off a lock of the black, curled, and beautiful hair. I seized the fair hands, and, after a refusal to give me the relic, forcibly took it, and then cleared the deck, to the amazement and displeasure of some of the party."

Well maybe she did come on board specifically to see the body... Although reading Baker's account the woman comes off more as a souvenir-hunting relative/friend of one of the officers onboard, not an acquaintance of Booth.