My Journey on Lincoln's Assassination

[L Verge]

I'm not going to split hairs with you, Mike. Been doing that with a lot of conspiracy theorists for the last sixty years or so, and I'm tired. I'm just going to stand by my point of what constituted "conspiracy" in the eyes of the military court.

However, Mary Surratt had spent the past four years running a safe house for Confederate agents in Surrattsville and continued the practice in her H Street home. In Surrattsville especially, she, like most of her Southern Maryland compatriots, were used to facing Union patrols and the like and knew how to do it with composure. Perhaps that is why she didn't flee the city? I consider myself a "tough old broad," and I think Mary was also. Circumstances had taught her to be a survivor.

Years ago, one of her descendants told me a family story about a Union patrol barging into the tavern and home searching for her son or any other Confederate they might catch. They searched every room and closet in the house - except for the most logical place, a fairly large closet under the main staircase. As they were preparing to leave empty-handed, Mary demanded that they search that one last closet also. She said she would report them to their superiors if they did not. IMO, that took hutzpa!

As for Lloyd's inebriated state on April 14, I think that has been exaggerated. He managed to make a ten-mile drive home without a co-pilot, wing man, or GPS. He also was sober enough to unload barrels of seafood from his wagon, and he certainly was capable enough to make necessary repairs to the Surratt buggy so that Weichmann and his landlady could make the twelve-or-so-mile trek back to H Street. He also was able to retrieve the carbines as Mary said and laid them out upstairs for easy grabbing.

Finally, the Metropolitan Police Force in 1865 was not made up of skilled officers, detectives, or even patrolmen. The best men were serving in the Union forces, and the police got the leftovers who needed a job. As for evidence disappearing, James O. Hall and Mike Kauffman would be the first to tell you how careless the investigations, gathering of evidence, and the care of crucial items were in those days. During World War II, Mr. Hall was introduced to the Lincoln case as part of his training in the field of military investigations. He recognized quickly how sloppy that case had been handled , and that got him intrigued and addicted. Back in civilian life, he became an investigator for the Department of Labor and was posted to D.C. and its treasure troves of historical documents. He always admonished us novices to try to think like a regular guy of 1865, who has not been exposed to years of Law & Order...