My Journey on Lincoln's Assassination

[Rob Wick]

I really don't want to get too deeply involved with this, but one other question comes to my mind.

Years after the rewards were distributed, Byron Baker mounted a speaking tour touting his role in the capture of Booth. He did so in an attempt to play down the role of Everton Conger, who got $15,000 of the reward money compared to $3,000 for Byron. Throughout the lecture tour, why didn't Byron, who had talked with Booth throughout the night, make the claim that the man in the barn wasn't Booth, further negating the claim of Conger to the lion's share? By this point, Byron had nothing to lose by disclosing that given that all involved had received their money. With such a scandalous story, Byron could have cleaned up financially. Even Lafayette Baker, who lived for three more years after the capture, never claimed the man in the barn wasn't Booth, and he got much less of the reward money than Conger did.

Best
Rob