Why was Booth admitted into the presidential box?

[Eva Elisabeth]

(04-27-2015 03:30 AM)John Fazio Wrote:  I have already said that apart from Booth and John Surratt, I have sympathy for all of them. They were all victimized by their circumstances. I like to quote the Spanish philosopher, whose name is something like Jose Ortega y Gasset, who famously said: "I am I and my circumstances." Booth and John Surratt, however, were not victims, in my judgment; they were the victimizers. They were in control of their circumstances, and they used that control to destroy other people's lives. Arnold was right: Booth was their executioner. Fortunately, he survived, to return to his still-living mother and father and his beloved Dash, who waited for him .

Well said by Jose Ortega y Gasset, and I wholeheartedly agree, also on Booth and Surratt being victimizers.

I sure have a lot of sympathy for human weaknesses and failures, however, when it comes to murder (unless acting in self-defense) I cannot simply excuse the fellow conspirators this way (especially not Powell). Understand from their point of view perhaps, but have sympathy? I believe it inherent to deep inside feel that murder is wrong and a sin (despite it's a crime by law and all knew it). It's a pity that Atzerodt, who evidently felt this, didn't have the courage to turn himself in (would it have safed his life?).
Booth's victims (despite Abraham Lincoln himself) were first of all those who suffered from the deed although they were truly innocent - the Lincoln and the Seward family, his own brother and family, the Ford brothers, the conspirators' families, and many more.
And Dash, who had to wait so long for the return of his master. Dash however sure loved him without caring for his past record and gave him a new start and chance he sure then deserved.