Was Stanton a murder target?

[John Fazio]

(12-07-2016 06:02 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thanks, John. Your reply is excellent - much appreciated.

Still, however, I wonder why she didn't take things more seriously. She must have wondered why this mysterious "White House messenger" was eating lunch with a man whose behavior was making her extremely unsettled. It would have taken only a few minutes for the Grants' carriage to make a quick stop at the White House. Julia could have even remained in the carriage as Ulysses made a quick trip inside to say to Mary Lincoln, "Did you send a messenger to the Willard Hotel? If not, I am concerned for your safety. Something's up."

I wonder if Booth realized that he potentially could have raised a red flag by sending Herold to Julia Grant's room.

Roger:

I do believe Booth was risking some degree of exposure to send Herold to Julia Grant's room, but he obviously felt it was a risk worth taking, inasmuch as he was planning to decapitate the government that night and it was important for him, therefore, to line up his ducks. The risk would have been minimal and doubtless that fact figured into his plans. Remember that Julia couldn't simply pick up a phone. She would have had to go to the White House or send someone, and that would have been inconvenient for her. Furthermore, she did not have sufficient reason to doubt that the "messenger from the White House" was in fact a "messenger from the White House". When she saw him again at the luncheon, she might just have thought that the White House messenger was having lunch with a few friends, even if one of them was behaving weirdly. She was not likely to conclude that he was part of a conspiracy to murder someone simply because he was first at her door and then in the dining room.

John