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

[Peter Taltavul]

(11-12-2012 06:52 PM)Peter Taltavul Wrote:  

(10-22-2012 01:06 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  I tend to agree with Joe on this one about the revolvers being secreted on Booth's person, and the boot theory sounds good - has anyone inspected the boot at Ford's to see if there are pockets? I also agree that the Deringer was all Booth needed or intended to use in the presidential box. This wasn't supposed to be the shootout at the OK Corral. Walk in, hit your target, and exit. Use the pistols when bigger guns come riding after you -- and that wouldn't happen until farther down the road.

Question on the boots: Was it possible for Booth to have the legs of his trousers on the outside, over the boots? He would be "attending" a formal theatre setting with the President and First Lady in attendance. I would think that he would be dressed for that part, in top hat and more formal looking attire than trousers stuffed into the boots. That would mean discarding or losing the top hat at some point and still having a head covering. If he knew he wouldn't need the pistols, he could afford to have his pants legs over the boots that were hiding the heavier weapons. Does that make sense?

Just a note that Joe Beckert is a retired law enforcement officer who wore guns every day for 25 years. I'm not saying he's 100% correct, but I do trust his judgment call on this - even though I still think the pistols were picked up down the road and likely at Dr. Mudd's!

I am the amateur of the amateurs re: this subject. But here are few few simple thoughts.

I seem to recall that Gen. Grant and wife were expected to attend the theatre with the President and Mrs. Lincoln that night and that it was not till mid afternoon that the offer was declined. John Ford had even expanded the Presidential box to make room for the guests. Sometime that Friday JWBD has prepared a brace so that he could block others from gaining entrance to the box when he closed it behind him. And if he indeed worked at cutting a small hole in the door to be able to view the President before he entered the box he would have seen that the seating arrangement has been expanded. 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. Regardless - it would be important to know who would be with the President that night for the obvious reason. Perhaps a lookout as the Lincoln's and guests arrived.

My point is that even though the President was Booth's target wouldn't he have been prepared to encounter any obstacle that would thwart his escape? The single shot derringer would do the job for his ultimate purpose, but only relying upon a knife - even to make the short way from the box, across the stage and to the back door - seems a little ill prepared to me. Of course the events happened very fast. I do not even know if Rathbone was armed that night, but if he was the speed and surprise of the attack surely caught him by surprise. And as another mentioned in a previous post whay not use a revolver for the deed?

Please accept my elementary thoughts on this subject. I await to be educated by those much more knowledgable than me. ...Mark