Surratt Courier

[RJNorton]

(08-31-2014 11:22 AM)Jill Mitchell Wrote:  And, with respect to "Peanuts" whose last name is thought possibly to be Burroughs: there is a listing for "Burroughs, John, col'd [colored], laborer, living in SW D.C. at "h [house] 1st west near O south."

Hi Jill. That's interesting as two folks (despite the bulk of evidence he was a white boy) claimed in later statements that he was black. A.C. Richards said he was at Ford's Theatre and, after the shot, made his way across the stage and out the back to the alley and came upon a colored boy. He questioned the boy and "he disclosed the fact that the clatter of a horse's feet which we then heard some distance down the alley, was that of a horse that a man had found some difficulty in mounting, and which he (the boy) had been holding." Also, in later years William Withers mentioned "Peanut John, the Negro chore boy at the theater." Both Richards' and Withers' statements were made 20+ years after the assassination, and based on what I have read, neither man is considered a reliable source.