Did Rathbone get blamed?

[RJNorton]

I agree with Anita. Personally I think he did all he could.

As Gene noted, Thomas Mallon, in his historical novel Henry and Clara, writes that Rathbone saw Booth out of the corner of his eye and had about 5 seconds to react. But Rathbone sat there frozen. He only reacted after the shot. Mallon seems to argue that Rathbone felt guilty about not reacting in time, but at the same time he "allowed" Booth to shoot Lincoln because he wanted "to hurt all the old men who'd made the war."

We discussed this once before, and Joe Beckert argued convincingly (in my humble opinion) that Rathbone did not see Booth enter the box. Rathbone said "he was intently observing the proceedings upon the stage with his back towards the door" when he heard Booth's gun fire. That was the first time he was aware there was trouble. I think Rathbone told the truth and shouldn't have been so tough on himself.

I am certainly willing to look at all angles. Bill, I am assuming the author you mentioned has gathered statements of other people who blamed Rathbone. I don't think I've ever read these statements.