Breaking a leg

[Laurie Verge]

Joe, I have asked that same question before and the only answer back is one that I thought of on my own: The diary (which only became a diary during the escape) belonged to Booth, was filled with his ramblings, and had nothing related to any of the conspirators who were on trial - except the one "brave boy" statement that you just quoted. Nothing was in the diary that Stanton and others thought pertinent to the prosecution of those conspirators -- and they already had passed judgment on the dead Booth. Does that make sense?

The only phrase in Booth's writings in that diary that I think the prosecution could have run with was his claim that he had every mind to return to Washington and "clear his name." Now, you Stanton or Johnson theorists can take that and run with it.

One more comment, and this is related to a previous post about Booth heading somewhere other than south. Someone (wsantos?) asked why the carbines and supplies would have been stashed at Surrattsville if Booth had intended going north. To me, that is an excellent point. And, once he left D.C., he was leaving rail lines behind - nothing ran into Southern Maryland until late in the 1870s (and much of that was courtesy of the efforts of Col. Samuel Cox).