Herold Photograph

[Barry Doohan]

The original photograph of a young David Herold that was plastered on the reward poster was obtained by Detective McDevitt and Louis Weichmann from the Herold family home. On page 258 of the Surratt Society's "In Pursuit of" it says that on April 28th Alexander Gardner came on board the Montauk and took pictures of Herold. One of these was substituted for the "boyish" photo on a second reward poster issued by the War Dept. My question is why? Why would the war dept. bother if Herold was already in irons on the gunship.

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I think you got the reason with your reference to 'boyish'. Perhaps those in control of the posters wanted to eliminate any chance of sympathy for the accused. An older version of Herold, a little worse for wear after the chase, provided more of the 'look' that they wanted.