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[Pamela]

(07-03-2016 08:37 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  In the same 1885 interview (in the April 17, 1885 Washington Critic) in which Richards claimed to have been at the theater, he also claimed to have gone to Mary Surratt's house on the evening of the assassination and found her in her usual dress, with no appearance of having retired for the evening. I simply don't believe that Richards would have suppressed such incriminating evidence in 1865 had it been true.

It's also noteworthy that in the 1885 account, Richards has the stage empty when Lincoln is shot, and also has Grant at the theater, as he claims that, "In a few seconds word went round that General Grant had been shot. Then we had it that President Lincoln had been shot."

I think Richards was suffering from "rubber room" syndrome.

The Trial of John Surratt, p 696, testimony of John Clarvoe: A. I went to the house with McDevitt, Lieutenant Skippon and others. McDevitt, myself, and Lieutenant Skippon entered the house after putting guard at the back and at each corner. We went up and knocked at the door. The door was opened by a man barefoot, in his shirt sleeves, and bareheaded. I asked him if John Surratt was in.
Q. Who was that man?
A. He gave me his name as Weichmann. Said he: No sir, he is not in the city. Said I: His mother is in. Does she live here?

Clarvoe knew that Mary was in the house because A. C. Richards had visited the house earlier with Clarvoe or others, and if Clarvoe wasn't there, he was told about the visit, as Richards stated in one of his letters to Weichmann.