The hole In the door

[John Fazio]

(11-12-2015 06:10 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  IMO Booth made the hole, but I remain unconvinced that he made a dry run at c.9:30 P.M. I cannot understand why no one else claimed the dry run other than Clara Harris. As I understand the seating arrangement, Rathbone was sitting on the couch at somewhat of an angle - I would think he would be first to see someone peering in at the box. But I do not recall Rathbone claiming Booth made a prior trip. Also, we have many eyewitnesses to Booth approaching the box at c.10:15 P.M., but none other than Clara noticed the dry run? This does not make sense to me. At this point I think Clara was confused. Keep in mind that Clara also was adamant that Laura Keene was never in the box after President Lincoln was shot; this statement is also in conflict with other eyewitness accounts.

Roger:

We have to go where the evidence takes us, which may not be where we would prefer to go. Rathbone's vision was directed toward the stage. His position favored it. Recall that he did not even see Booth when he struck until the assassination had already occurred, when he noticed the smoke and heard Booth say something like "Freedom". Clara, on the other hand, was facing Mary and the President. She could thus observe the action on the stage, on her right, but the peripheral vision of her left eye could easily pick up something happening at either door (7 or 8, the latter being the one most likely used by Booth). Her statement is unambiguous:

"Nearly one hour before the commission of the deed the assassin came to the door of the box, and looked in to take a survey of the position of the occupants. It was supposed at the time that it was either a mistake or the exercise of an impertinent curiosity. The circumstance attracted no particular attention at the time. Upon his entering the box again..."

This does not sound like a statement made by a "confused" mind; it is too definite for that. As to the business that follows about Rathbone's inquiry, that, I believe, can be explained as an attempt to cast her fiancée in a favorable light and to neutralize an imputation of negligence. I do not believe it mitigates against the veracity of the first part of her statement. There is no contradictory statement to be found anywhere. The only doubt is that which is created by omission, i.e. Rathbone did not mention it. The great likelihood is that he did not mention it because he did not see it. No one, in fact, except Clara, because of her vantage point, saw it, so only she recorded it. Brooks apparently found her account credible inasmuch as he repeated it in his dispatch of April 16. So, too, did newspapers, which also repeated it. As for Clara's statement re Laura Keene, I agree that the evidence is against her, but that episode is at least contestable, i.e. Clara says one thing and Leale and others another. But there is no one saying that the assassin did not make a dry run. Consider, too, that Leale said nothing about Laura in his earlier accounts; his first mention of her is in a lecture he gave in 1909. That is a point in Clara's favor, but it is not conclusive.

John