Escape speculations

[Jim Page]

(06-14-2015 04:55 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  did Mary Surratt ever consider trying to escape?

A fascinating question and one I've never heard (seen) asked before, Roger.

Let's look at the Lincoln assassination enterprise as consisting of three levels. Those levels might be:
• Top level: The folks who set this plan in motion to achieve certain objectives, and recruited the mid-level players, or at least the main one (Mrs. Surratt). Don't know who those folks were.
• Mid level: The players who planned the deed and recruited the low-level players. Includes Mary Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, perhaps John Surratt, Jr, and maybe unknown others.
• Low level: Players who followed orders and did no recruiting. Includes Powell, Herold, Dr. Mudd, and the others we know of. There may be unknowns at this level, too.

Some after-the-fact players aided the enterprise in a support role. These include Thomas Jones and certainly unknown others.

Theory: Mary Surratt had not planned an escape because she felt she would not be implicated. She was caught flat-footed by the speed with which the low-level portion of the enterprise came unglued and by that point, it was too late to plan or do anything. The federal government had her in their sights within hours of Lincoln being shot. Was there a tip-off from the top level to the federal government?

Mary Surratt's declining health was likely a factor in her not trying to escape, too. She wasn't the energetic, clear-headed person she had been just months before.

After hearing Booth's on-the-run report after he shot Lincoln, Mrs. Surratt sits in a darkened room waiting for what is to come. She waits for more reports from the other low-level players for her after-action report to the top level. In a larger sense, she waits for her fate. When Powell comes to report, it is all over.

Interesting subject for speculation, Roger.

--Jim