David Rankin Barbee

[BettyO]

I feel that Kate's book is far more unbiased (she takes more of a stance that most of us do i.e. that Mary was not a total innocent) and perhaps a tad bit more well researched than Bettie's book on Mrs. Surratt.

Re: Mrs. Surratt's recognition of Powell. I've always agreed that Mrs. Surratt had to know Powell that night. He was one big, tall lanky kid - I would also think that she most certainly knew his voice. She had spoken to him, fed him, more or less conversed with him at her dinner table and in the parlor. Supposedly he had a rather boyish, tenor voice. For one, I would have thought to myself, "I've heard that voice before!' Simply put, I feel she did recognize and know him that night, but didn't want to let on; especially if she had known "what was coming down" in regards to knowledge of the conspiracy.