What Was The Role of David Herold

[John Fazio]

(02-02-2013 06:34 PM)J. Beckert Wrote:  That's a very good point, Bill.

Thanks for your earlier comments, John. Mr. Beckert is my Dad. I'm Joe. You raised a good point about Herold crossing at a different time than Booth and if he was also capable of shooting his way across the bridge. I think Bill has made my earlier points moot by throwing Fletcher into the mix.

Joe:

Thanks for your response.

Please see my comments to Gene C., below, in which I discuss rethinking the forced passage scenario because of resistance on the other side of the river and because it would jeopardize Herold's crossing, or Atzerodt's, if he had been inclined to follow them.

John

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(02-02-2013 09:09 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  Well, I certainly can't argue with Laurie's 'instinct' nor that clearly written military orders were secretly meant to apply to only one end of the bridge.


I guess that means that it's perfectly understandable that a General would look the other way to protect a Sergeant who allowed his Commander and Chief's murderer to escape by not following the rules.

But what do I know? I'm just an old grandpa.

Jerry:

Hey, we're both grandpa's, so you can't top me there. (Hint: My grandfather was born 3 years after the end of the C.W. That's as much as I will tell, because if I tell more you will all show up at my door with oxygen tanks.)

i hope Laurie won't mind my speaking for her, but I don't think she meant that the lax enforcement on the city side was a "secret". Rather, I believe it was a case of its just being a reality because the sentries and the city population in general were in a celebratory and devil-may-care mood because of the successful conclusion of the war. It is just a normal and expecteed thing in those circumstances to be less strict with the traffic, now that virtually all danger had passed, or so it appeared, especially for outgoing traffic. Do you think anyone was enforcing the traffic laws (or any other laws) in Times Square when everyone was dancing in the streets to celebrate the end of WWII? You've seen photos, I'm sure, in which that sailor is planting a big smooch on that dish in the white dress. Do you believe the policiman who failed to arrest them for public indecency was reprimanded?

As for Augur, I don't think he looked the other way; he reprimanded Cobb severely, but in the end nothing more serious than that was done because Augur, too, must have known that enforcement of the rule had eased and that the sentries had discretion in the matter. To a degree, the facts speak for themselves. But I still maintain that there has to be more to the story than this, because there are too many coincidences as it stands. It is not possible that Booth left so many things to chance and they all fell his way.

John