Booth's visit to the Surratt Boarding House after the assassination

[Jim Garrett]

(11-13-2012 07:37 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-12-2012 06:38 PM)Peter Taltavul Wrote:  I do not know whether Booth knew that Grant was expected to accompany the President or not. Somewhere in the back of mind I think that I read that JWB rode alongside a carriage containing Gen. Grant and wife as they were leaving Washington that Friday and peered inside.

Mark, your memory is correct. In her memoirs, Julia Grant claimed at lunch she was disturbed by a man "with a wild look." He sat near her table and stared at her. She felt he was trying to overhear her conversation with her young son, Jesse. Julia claimed positively that the man indeed was Booth.

Then later, when the Grants were going to the train station, Julia wrote that, "This same dark, pale man rode past us at a sweeping gallop on a dark horse - black, I think. He rode twenty yards ahead of us, wheeled and returned, and as he passed us both going and returning, he thrust his face quite near the General's and glared in a disagreeable manner.' Mrs. Ruckner said, 'General, everyone wants to see you.' Grant replied, 'Yes, but I do not care for such glances. They are not friendly.' "

Assuming this was indeed Booth then he probably knew the Grants were not attending the play with the Lincolns.

Just as an aside, in his confession of July 6, 1865, George Atzerodt stated, "Booth told me that Surratt was to help at the box, that he expected others in the box." Of course, if Surratt were in Elmira, then either Booth or Atzerodt was lying.

When first entering the theater, and standing at the rear, is the line of sight good enough that Booth could tell how many people were in the State Box?

The theatre is small and the box is very visible from the opposite side of the stage. Booth entered throught the back door. He would have a pretty clear view of the box from the wings and been able to determine how many people were in the box.