My Journey on Lincoln's Assassination

[L Verge]

Roger - I believe that your reference to Smoot's statement years later is accurate. First, Mary Surratt's actions the afternoon of the assassination were chiefly related to getting money due from John Nothey in order to pay the Calverts for land that Mr. Surratt had bought 13 years before and never finished paying on. Because it was Good Friday, Weichmann had the afternoon off and was recruited as the Uber driver for the trip to Surrattsville.

As he was leaving the parlor to get transportation, Booth arrived and shook hands with Weichmann, who then left to mail a letter and rent the rig. When he returned a short time later, Booth was still there talking to Mrs. Surratt, but left shortly thereafter. Weichmann claimed he never heard what was said. He and Mrs. Surratt then left - with the package that Booth asked to have delivered to the tavern.

The drive out to Surrattsvile would have taken about two hours in those days, and they arrived about 4:30. When Lloyd failed to arrive, Weichmann and Surratt were ready to leave; but then Lloyd showed up, unloaded fish and oysters, and had a conversation with his landlady and Booth's package was delivered. There was another delay in leaving while Lloyd repaired the buggy. I suspect that they never left Surrattsville until about six o'clock, which would put them back in the city around eight. The bridge into the city that they needed to use would be closed as of 9 pm.

The male visitor at the boardinghouse around nine might have been Smoot - or it more likely was James F. Scott, who lived about two blocks down H Street and had gotten mail for Olivia Jenkins by mistake. I certainly do not agree with some claims that it was Booth returning yet again. I have yet to figure out whether or not he visited once or twice that day - once in the morning when he learned of the proposed trip to Surrattsville and again in the afternoon to bring the field glasses OR just in the afternoon with package in hand.

Some folks ask why Scott arrived at 9 at night to just deliver mail. He was a government employee (who may not have taken advantage of having the afternoon off) and, with it being Good Friday, church services occurring all day may have made the visit more convenient to finding folks at home later in the evening?

Personally, I think Weichmann and Lloyd told the truth - probably tinged with a bit of self-preservation. And, I also think that Mary Surratt was guilty of "vicarious liability," the English common law that formed our definition of "conspiracy" in 1865. Each conspirator is essentially responsible for all the crimes committed by fellow conspirators, if the crimes were committed in furtherance of the original conspiracy.

An earlier comment was made about the investigation being sloppy. First, authorities were focused on war, not expecting the first presidential assassination in our country's history; who had jurisdiction - the Metropolitan Police Force or the War Department and the Union army? I have already expressed my opinion on the competency of the police force.Confusion caused delays as did the immediate focus on finding Booth instead of pinning down other participants and events. I would suspect that this might have caused the loss of some evidence even (such as John Surratt's April 12 letter from Montreal). Years ago, there was a local legend that a stash of letters with "disturbing" information was found by later occupants of the house under a squeaky floorboard. The letters were burned because of their contents.