One more post, on one broken leg.

[Troy Cowan]

(09-22-2013 10:04 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  I believe Ford had the hole drilled for the guard well before the night of the assassination.
I also believe the man on Grant's train was Donelson.

I find your statement interesting. I don't know if you intended to implicate Ford in Lincoln's assassination, but to my mind you did. It is known that Ford's employee, Ed Spangler, installed the brace on the hallway door and that brace kept people from entering after the gunshot was heard. Spangler installed the brace at 11:30 on the day of the assassination. It seems to me that it was also the time the hole was drilled in the door and the door lock was loosened.

At the same time, 11:30, Booth was sitting on the steps of the Theatre reading his mail. He had no part in the preparations going on in Lincoln's box. He was still a part of the plan to kidnap Lincoln, Johnson, and Seward. When Ford walked up to Booth and told him that Lincoln was going to attend the theatre that night, it was the first he knew of Lincoln's attendance and it re-energized Booth to notify the kidnappers to take action. He crossed over the Navy Yard Bridge into Maryland. He had to notify the thirteen men in Maryland that tonight would be the night they had been preparing for.

There is some speculation that O'Laughlen boarded the train to kill General Grant. I find that very hard to believe. Mrs. Grant was planning to leave Washington at 4 o'clock. At 4 o'clock, Booth's associates were planning to kidnap Lincoln, Johnson, and Seward. They had no plans to kill anyone at the time Grant left Washington. They could care less about Grant, as long as he wasn't in the box with Lincoln. There may another person that wanted Grant dead, and that was Stanton.

As for Booth drilling the hole in the door, it seems unlikely. Booth had no plans to take an active part in the kidnapping on the 14th. He was a supervisor and there was no need for him to drill a hole in the door. At 5 PM, when the plan changed to murder, it seems to me that there was no time for him to drill the hole. The only person that would find the hole beneficial is Stanton's assassin.