Booth's mistress, Ella Starr, and other "unknown" Booth ladies!

[Jenny]

(05-08-2018 03:45 PM)Steve Wrote:  

(05-08-2018 02:34 PM)Jenny Wrote:  

(05-08-2018 02:31 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(05-08-2018 02:21 PM)Jenny Wrote:  I know those days all too well, Gene!

Me, too!

There is a side of me that wants to think the Etta letter was legitimate. Apparently New York Police Superintendent, John Kennedy, searched many of New York City's brothels looking for a woman named Etta. But, in a city that size, I would think there had to be brothels JWB could have visited that Kennedy didn't search or didn't know about.

Plus prostitutes often had several aliases or variations of names so that could have added to the confusion. “Etta” might have been one of those.

The Etta letter says "I received your letter of the 12th (stating you would be in this city on the 16th inst.)", with "this city" being New York. That, along with its April 13th date but April 18th postmark, make me think that the letter is a fake and its purpose was to divert resources/people away from the hunt for Booth to follow a bogus lead that he might be headed toward New York. If this letter was really written by a prostitute/paramour of Booth, why would she wait 2 days to mail it - then find out Booth murdered Lincoln - wait 3 more days then bring attention to herself by mailing it. Also, by the 18th, due to the all of the news reports, she would know Booth was no longer in Washington DC. Why would she mail her letter to him there? The only logical reason for the letter to be mailed to Washington is for it to be read by investigators, not Booth. Also, if "Etta" is responding to Booth's "letter of the 12th" (April?), then how could she receive it in the mail in New York from Washington DC by April 13th?

I suppose it's possible that Booth was behind the "Etta" letter himself as a misdirect, but it could just be a crank who wanted to inject themselves into the story/investigation themselves without getting in trouble.

I suspect it was a hoax for the reasons you mentioned, Steve.