JWB In Mercy Street

[SSlater]

(02-19-2016 03:00 PM)SSlater Wrote:  Stringfellow MAY have been involved in the assassination in some minor way, but, he left Washington before the 14th, so he wasn't there for the big show. He tells us about his trip down through southern Maryland, in "Stringfellow of the 4th" - so with captures and escapes and similar delays, he crossed the Potomac on the same night that Booth did, with guidance from Tom Jones. (That would account for Jones' being without a boat handy, for Johnny boy,)

A little more thinking about Stringfellow, and I think he was working with Harney. The timing is good. He might have been the agent who would provide the powder to Harney, so when Harney got arrested, Stringfellow was not needed. As I recall, Harney's cover story was that he was to meet with a diplomat from another country, and convince him to throw in some support for the South. I doubt that he was "qualified" to accomplish that. (A school teacher doing international diplomacy? I'm not faulting the Teachers, they just don't have the training.) But he could find the explosives and the Canisters that Harney would need.