My Journey on Lincoln's Assassination

[mikegriffith1]

The Lincoln assassination is full of long-accepted assumptions that have never, or rarely, been critically examined and that make no sense. For example,

* Why would Booth have needed Mary Surratt to carry binoculars to John Lloyd when Booth could have easily carried binoculars in his saddle bag?

* Why would Booth have relied on a drunkard like John Lloyd to have guns waiting for him at Surrattsville?

* Why would Booth have stopped at Garrett's farm for one minute, much less many hours, when he knew every minute was crucial?

* Why would Booth have been lounging around at Garrett's farm, spending time relaxing on Garrett's front porch, when he knew every minute was crucial?

* If Dr. Mudd was trying to hide Booth's boot from the federal soldiers who came to his house, why didn't he just destroy the boot when he had plenty of time to do so, long before any federal soldiers showed up at his farm?

* If Mary Surratt was guilty, why didn't she run during the two days between the time police authorities first came to her house and the time they came back to arrest her?

* If Weichmann had incriminating evidence against Mary Surratt, why did the Metropolitan Police appear to know nothing about it after he gave a full statement to them on April 15? (After Weichmann gave his statement, the police showed no interest in returning to Mary Surratt's house.)

* If Holt and Baker really wanted to identify the body on the Montauk, why didn't they just have the Booth conspirators who were in their custody come up on deck and look at the body?

* Why didn't Holt and Baker have Booth's left boot brought to the Montauk to compare it with the boot that was supposedly on the body's right foot, especially since the left boot had part of Booth's name written inside it?

* Why did Stanton falsely tell Lincoln that Eckert could not be spared that night to go with him to Ford's Theater? And why would David Homer Bates, who saw and recorded the Lincoln-Stanton exchange, have lied about this, given that Bates admired Stanton? You see, the problem is that Bates had no idea that Stanton lied when he claimed that Eckert had vital work to do that night at the War Department. (Eisenschiml discovered that Eckert handled only a few routine telegrams that night and that he left not long after Stanton told Lincoln that he could not be spared.)

* Why did Stanton and Holt not use Booth's diary at the conspiracy trial if it contained nothing that was problematic for their case?

* Why did the War Department suppress Booth's letter to his brother-in-law? (The letter was printed in a Philadelphia newspaper, then War Department agents came and confiscated it, and it was never introduced as evidence at the trial.)