Unwanted Facts: Facts that Most Books on the Lincoln Assassination Ignore

[mikegriffith1]

(12-09-2018 02:15 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(12-09-2018 10:50 AM)mikegriffith1 Wrote:  * In his testimony at the conspiracy trial, Louis Weichmann, one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, did not claim (1) that Booth visited Mary Surratt at 9:00 PM on April 14; (2) that she was “nervous, agitated, and restless” after this alleged meeting;

Richard M. Smoot backed up Weichmann's claim that Mary was in an agitated state that night. He wrote in The Unwritten History of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln that he visited Mary's boardinghouse at 9:30 on the night of the assassination. Smoot recalled:

"The door was quickly reopened, and I was admitted into the presence of Mrs. Surratt. She was in a state of feverish excitement. I asked her if John had returned, and she replied that he had not. She then informed me that she was positive that the boat would be used that night, and that I would get my money in a day or two. She most earnestly besought me to leave the city and not be seen at her house again. Her manner caused me alarm. I felt that a crisis was at hand, and that I was facing some unseen danger."

IMO, it was apparent to Smoot that Booth's plan was to take action that very night, and Mary knew about it. It's possible Mary thought it was the kidnapping, not assassination; no matter what, she knew something was going down that night.

So you accept Smoot's tall tale here, but you reject other, far more credible and consistent accounts because they are problematic for the traditional version.

Now, did you happen to read the paragraphs before the one that you quote? Did you read Smoot's claim about why he was there, why he was at Mary Surratt's house at 9:30 at night on a Friday night?

Did you read where Smoot claimed that Anna told him that John Surratt "likely" would be back at the house on Friday night? Do you really believe she would have said any such thing? Did you read where Smoot claimed that Anna also told him that John wrote a letter to a "Miss Mitchell" in which he said that he would be back in Washington that Friday, "if he possibly could"? Do you really believe that as well? Really? The facts brought out at the John Surratt trial expose these claims as fairy tales.

So why did Smoot claim he went to Mrs. Surratt's house at 9:30 at night on a Friday night? Get ready: He said he went there to talk to John Surratt about payment for his boat! Oh, yeah, sure, makes total sense. You bet.

(12-09-2018 02:15 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Maybe Weichmann was never specifically asked what kind of state Mary was in that night after 9 P.M., and that is why it's not in his trial testimony. I'll have to check the trial transcript.

Weichmann volunteered plenty of information without being asked, so the explanation that he was not specifically asked about Mary's mood/state does not seem like a plausible excuse. He also initially failed to mention that Booth had given the package to Mrs. Surratt. He further initially failed to mention that Mary was supposedly "in the habit" of exclaiming that something was about to happen to Lincoln that would prevent him from filling his second term.

And, of course, he did not mention any of those things in his initial statement to the Metropolitan Police. In fact, after he went to the police station to tell what he knew and then told what he knew, the police saw no need to return to Mary Surratt's house. If he had told the police half of the stuff that he later said about Mrs. Surratt, they would have immediately returned to her house to arrest her.