JW Booth and Quinine

[SSlater]

(10-11-2016 09:29 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Personally, I think that the research done on Sarah is sufficient to make her the operative who floated between Canada, D.C., and Richmond, touching base with the Surratts in the process. To say that other female agents didn't do the same thing would be turning a blind eye to the underground activities of the Confederacy.

We need John Stanton and Jane Singer to chime in here with their mountains of research on these Southern supporters.

Laurie, you rang?

I think I have some "news" on Booth and Drugs, BUT it isn't confirmed. At this point, it reflects my fumbling with LOGIC.

In early April 1865, after Booth was removed from the "Get Lincoln" scheme, in favor of Harney, he made a wild, unscheduled trip to Boston, and other places, all unexplained.
While in Boston, it is said that he met with "visitors from Canada". OK, no problem, no questions, yet, he had time and inclination to visit with an old friend. ORLANDO TOMPKINS. He must have been very special, to warrant a visit during these trying times. WHO HE/

A little research identifies him as a Druggist-Merchant.

Was Tompkins, Booth's source of the drugs? Another possible angle, did Thompson deliver the drugs and Booth picked up the tab?

Do you know what a SWAG is? Here's a SWAG.
Booth had recently been aced out of an assignment, which he wanted to be part of and which he may have been in line for a reward. Was Booth compelled to cancel, or just delay, a payment?

This is my technique to put fun into a research. I develop a scenario - then destroy it, confirm it, or maybe modify it. We will see.

[SSlater]

(10-11-2016 03:55 PM)SSlater Wrote:  

(10-11-2016 09:29 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Personally, I think that the research done on Sarah is sufficient to make her the operative who floated between Canada, D.C., and Richmond, touching base with the Surratts in the process. To say that other female agents didn't do the same thing would be turning a blind eye to the underground activities of the Confederacy.

We need John Stanton and Jane Singer to chime in here with their mountains of research on these Southern supporters.

Laurie, you rang?

I think I have some "news" on Booth and Drugs, BUT it isn't confirmed. At this point, it reflects my fumbling with LOGIC.

In early April 1865, after Booth was removed from the "Get Lincoln" scheme, in favor of Harney, he made a wild, unscheduled trip to Boston, and other places, all unexplained.
While in Boston, it is said that he met with "visitors from Canada". OK, no problem, no questions, yet, he had time and inclination to visit with an old friend. ORLANDO TOMPKINS. He must have been very special, to warrant a visit during these trying times. WHO HE/

A little research identifies him as a Druggist-Merchant.

Was Tompkins, Booth's source of the drugs? Another possible angle, did Thompson deliver the drugs and Booth picked up the tab?

Do you know what a SWAG is? Here's a SWAG.
Booth had recently been aced out of an assignment, which he wanted to be part of and which he may have been in line for a reward. Was Booth compelled to cancel, or just delay, a payment?

This is my technique to put fun into a research. I develop a scenario - then destroy it, confirm it, or maybe modify it. We will see.

Laurie. I found more on Tompkins. In addition to being a Druggist, he was also the manager of a theater in Boston. Booth sent him a letter in Feb 1865, and asked him to send some photographs. A bit later Tompkins sent the pics, to Ford's theater, for Booth. When Booth picked up those Pics, is when he learned that Lincoln would be in the theater on April 14. Did he "really" send Pics???? I still have not eliminated Tompkins as the possible source of the drugs. If I wanted to buy drugs, I would pick a source that I could trust. The letters could be "purchase orders", coded to give directions for delivery.

[Gene C]

Could one of the reasons Booth included Herold in his plans be his experience at the "drug store"? Do we have some idea of what he did there?
Was he more than a delivery man?

[SSlater]

I just finished reading this "topic" from the beginning, and back in 2015 Betty O (Post 6) was looking for a druggist in Baltimore. Wasn't Lewie's handler - a Druggist? Those Posts discuss other people who might have been "carriers".
This is exactly what it takes to discover what those people were doing.
Read - read - read- etc.
While reading - think! For example, how much of any letters that we can read - is CODE? The typical code is "zgrmttixyz" and is easily recognizable as a code. But if the Code is "Have you heard from my Cousin?" is not recognizable as a code. How about - "I got the pictures that you sent?", is that a code?
This is how I feel about Tompkins. Booth was far too chummy, with him to be a casual acquaintance. Booth had quit the stage, so he wasn't looking for a gig. This topic needs work.

[BettyO]

Lew Powell's contact in Baltimore, David Preston Parr, was a China/Pottery Merchant by trade. I'll have to go back through my records to check and see which druggist I was researching last year.

Thanks, John!

[PaigeBooth]

(10-12-2016 09:19 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Could one of the reasons Booth included Herold in his plans be his experience at the "drug store"? Do we have some idea of what he did there?
Was he more than a delivery man?

In their museum, Ford's Theatre says that David Herold's job as a pharmacist's assistant was one of the reasons Booth saw him as an asset to the plot against Lincoln. So, what exactly was the "job" of a pharmacist's assistant during the nineteenth century? Well, I believe it consisted of a variety of duties, such as greeting customers, informing the pharmacist of which medications people wanted, and taking care of sales (which could have meant selling anything from soap to apothecary cabinets)
Therefore, although pharmacists performed all aspects of medication construction and distribution, they strongly depended upon the assistant's help throughout the day.