Clara Harris and Mary Lincoln

[J. Beckert]

Great job, Steve. I think you've come as close as anyone is going to in trying to explain Clara's supposed statement.
It sounds like Crawford and McGowan, both members of the Veterans Reserve, were close enough to stand up, take a step and touch the door. I've wondered why, as military men whose suspicions Booth had aroused, they didn't get involved. Maybe because an American politician had not been assassinated yet.