What if Booth Escaped?

[Peter Taltavul]

What if Booth had escaped? No. Not as in George/St. Helen. Although if true it would be a fascinating story. But what if Booth and Herold had succeeded in crossing the river into southern territory? The Civil War has just ended. A well known actor with southern sympathies had killed the President. What would the ramifications be? How would Stanton and Jefferson Davis have reacted ?

[Gene C]

What do you mean, what if?

I think they would have eventually caught him. To many people were looking for him, and Booth and Herold couldn't keep their mouths shut.

You might enjoy reading the Cosgrove Report. The ending was just a little to far out for me. (don't spoil it for those who haven't read it)

[Jim Garrett]

There was a very real fear among his pursuers that if he was able to get into Virginia (a day or two after the assassination) they would lose the opportunity to capture him. I agree with Gene, it would have been a matter of time.....You can run, but you cannot hide.

[HerbS]

Wasn't he headed for Bermuda[his trunk was ready]?After the war,didn't many high ranking Southern officals go to South America[Argentina]?If he wasn't caught, he could have lived out his life writing books about how he pulled off the greatest Assassination ever!

[LincolnMan]

Booth could've kept his mouth shut-but would he have? I think a trial would've given him another stage to make public the reasons for his actions-that might have proved too tempting to avoid.

[jonathan]

I think if he had fled to Mexico or South America he may never have been caught. I think people would have known he was there, it just depends on how the citizens and government of the country he was in felt about it. Could they have been bothered to extradite him to the U.S.? I think if he had stayed in the U.S. he certainly would have been caught eventually, but the question is how long would it have taken? Suppose he managed to stay underground in the deep south or out west, and it took 30 years to root him out of there? What would the government have done? I suppose justice would still have to be served, but would he have hung? Life in prison? I really have no idea, as I know virtually nothing about how the law works in these different scenarios. Personally, I believe that if he had stayed in the U.S., he would have been caught in relatively short order, less than a year at least, possibly within weeks of when he actually was caught). With the war over, I imagine there were still plenty of Southerners ready to get on the good side of the "new" government, and I think Booth's ego would have sold him out by making his whereabouts common knowledge locally wherever he was. After making an initial escape into whatever part of the country he was in, he would have let his guard down and that would have sealed his fate.

[HerbS]

Jonathan,I agree with you 100%

[John Stanton]

No matter where he went, he would have been caught. (Think Surratt, first in Italy and then Egypt.)

[Jim Garrett]

While some former Confederates did flee the country, none had killed the President. The most prominent was probably Judah Benjamin. He had several huge advantages. First, he had not killed the President. Second, he was a veery wealthy man and had the financial means (and maybe all that missing Confederate gold...he was on the same train as the gold leaving Richmond). Three, he didn't kill the President. and Last, politically connected. And besides, he didn't kill the President.

The U.S. Government launched the largest manhunt in American history. They would have used every means at their disposal for as long as necessary to bring in a Presidential assassin. In addition, the reward money would probably become so enormous that someone would turn in the lead to find Booth. To let a Presidential assassin escape justice would set way too dangerous a precedence.

[Gene C]

I believe I have addressed this issue before. The true source of my information is some recently discovered, old, type written pages stored in attic of an outhouse. The papers are covered with dirt, bird and mouse droppings, and smell really bad. We refer to these papers as "The Potty Papers"

(07-12-2012 10:54 AM)Gene C Wrote:  According to the latest copy of the National Gullible Supermarket Tabloid Reader, John Wilkes Booth escapes to Argentina, where he meets up several years later with Etta Place. She introduces him to Butch and Sundance, where they team up to rob banks and mine payrolls. He manages to escape in the shootout with the Bolivian Army who was hunting Butch and Sundance, but they were killed. He returns to Argentina, goes into real estate and becomes rich helping to relocate ex Nazi officials. Somewhere in the timeline of the story he is abducted by aliens and through some kind of time transformation, he is able to retain his youth, and finally passed away quietly in 1953 or 54, when he was cryongenically frozen. His body is now in the same govenment warehouse where Louis Paine's hat is stored.

[Jim Garrett]

(11-14-2012 04:44 PM)Gene C Wrote:  I believe I have addressed this issue before. The true source of my information is some recently discovered, old, type written pages stored in attic of an outhouse. The papers are covered with dirt, bird and mouse droppings, and smell really bad. We refer to these papers as "The Potty Papers"

(07-12-2012 10:54 AM)Gene C Wrote:  According to the latest copy of the National Gullible Supermarket Tabloid Reader, John Wilkes Booth escapes to Argentina, where he meets up several years later with Etta Place. She introduces him to Butch and Sundance, where they team up to rob banks and mine payrolls. He manages to escape in the shootout with the Bolivian Army who was hunting Butch and Sundance, but they were killed. He returns to Argentina, goes into real estate and becomes rich helping to relocate ex Nazi officials. Somewhere in the timeline of the story he is abducted by aliens and through some kind of time transformation, he is able to retain his youth, and finally passed away quietly in 1953 or 54, when he was cryongenically frozen. His body is now in the same govenment warehouse where Louis Paine's hat is stored.

I wonder if you got Ted Williams' frozen head and Lewis Powell's skull together, if they would have much to talk about? Both lived in Florida.

[Laurie Verge]

I tend to think that, if Booth could have made it to Mexico or South America, he could have stayed hidden for several years or longer. The confusion in Mexico at that time would have given him a good cover there, and Confederate exiles would take him in other places. But, I think his desire to see his mother and sister would eventually cause him to stick his head out of the hole and make contact in some way. However, were there any extradition agreements with countries south of our borders at that time?

I would have to go back and re-read the ups and downs of the case of the escaping John Surratt, but I think that his being turned over by the Vatican had a lot to do with the fact that Pope Pius IX needed a lot of U.S. help at that point in the warring that was going on with the Italian states and John-John became a bargaining chip for U.S. aid. That made it easier to catch him - and it still took two years.

If I remember correctly, there was a Surratt trail through Europe that the U.S. gov't knew about but didn't act on, until their hand was forced. It almost seemed like they didn't want John-John brought back because it would stir up the controversy (especially of his mother's execution) all over again?

Again, we're getting into legal ramifications here - and the word "legal" freezes my brain!

[jonathan]

The word "legal" also freezes my brain, but I had the same question about extradition. I simply don't know how it worked at the time, not that I know much of anything about how it works today. I realize that John Surratt was caught in Italy and then in Egypt, but I've got to believe that Mexico and points south would have some mighty fine lairs for an American fugitive to hide out in. Much more so than Europe I would think. I believe Surratt could have gotten away if he had actually made it into Egypt, but as I understand it they knew he was on the ship and were waiting for him when it got there. So while it's technically correct that he was captured in Egypt, it's not as if he was hiding out there and they tracked him down. As far as Booth though, while I believe he could have found himself in some perfect situations for eluding capture, I just don't think he had it in him to lay low for the long haul. Ego and family (as Laurie pointed out) would have coaxed him out into the open. And of course, I assume that Herold would have been with him, and who knows what kind of monkey wrench that would have thrown into the situation. Herold was a real asset for the 12 days, but as those 12 days turned into 30, then 90, I'm not sure how Davey would have handled it.

[Rogerm]

If Booth's father had still been living in 1865, do you think he(John Wilkes) would have assassinated Lincoln?

[Craig Hipkins]

Remember this everyone...Booth was an actor. I don't know if he was as good as the man of 1000 faces (Lon Chaney) but if he had escaped to Mexico, or some south american country he could have stayed in hiding for a long time. I do believe, however, that Booth's ego would have eventually blown his cover.

Craig