What Was The Role of David Herold

[John Fazio]

(02-02-2013 01:52 PM)J. Beckert Wrote:  This is very interesting, but Booth had no guarantee he was going to get into the box without violence. Why would he have to be certain he would be guaranteed to cross the bridge without treating Cobb the way he reacted to Rathbone or even worse? He was armed and left behind one man that was shot and two who were viciously stabbed. If Cobb denied him permission to cross, I don't see him wheeling his horse around in disgust.

Mr. Beckert:

A very astute observation and one that I had given little thought to before; not enough thought. Thank you very much for this insight. Do you believe Herold would have resorted to violence too? There were two or three men on duty that night. For that reason, Booth might have had his hands full if Cobb had said "no passage". Still, with his life in the balance, he might have done what he could. His readiness to fall back on violence and a forced passage does not preclude the possibility that there were others in the area prepared to assure his passage if it were denied him by the sentry. In support of your view is the exclamation made at the Gautier's Restaurant meeting by Booth in response to Arnold's objection on the grounds that the sentry at the river crossing would block their passage. Booth said, please recall: "Shoot the sentry!"

John C. Fazio (please call me John)