Wilkes Booth Came To Washington

[Thomas Thorne]

I find the idea that a healthy Booth intended a head fake south and then board a train and head north in relative comfort most attractive. No doubt he would be disguised and assume some persona but the egocentric ham actor in him would find such a prospect irresistible.

If JWB had escaped, could he have tolerated a life of anonymity? A person who would shoot the President of the United States in a crowded theater,bellow theatrical justifications to the audience,leap to the stage and make a dramatic escape, was not a candidate to live the rest of his life as a hermit in the Canadian wilderness,the Mexican countryside or Enid,Oklahoma.

It was said of Lawrence of Arabia that after WW1 he sought to lead a life of "flamboyant obscurity." Joining the RAF as a private under an assumed name-with everyone knowing who he was-but once going AWOL to have a private lunch with the Air Force Chief of Staff to discuss defense policy might have been too tame for Booth.

Under my scenario,JWB might have escaped to Canada,flung off his disguise and been shocked and dismayed when he was thrown in jail and deported to the US for trial.
Tom