Maybe Booth didn't want to escape. Perhaps he thought right up to the last moment, he might be hero in some way. Perhaps he wanted to go on trial, the ultimate platform for staging his ego. He couldn't just give himself up easily...where's the drama in that?
‘I’ve danced at Abraham Lincoln’s birthday bash... I’ve peaked.’ Leigh Boswell - The Open Doorway. http://earthkandi.blogspot.co.uk/