The hole In the door

[jonathan]

Yeah Laurie, that's exactly what I meant. I haven't read the argument that Booth made a dry run an hour earlier, but the thought of it brings some obvious questions immediately to mind. Why would he have done that? What is the benefit? He knew the theater. He had been there that afternoon so he likely knew the setup of the box. If he had entered the box at 9:30, wouldn't many people have seen him and reported that in the aftermath??

Again, putting myself in his place, I have no real need for a dry run. I'm intimately familiar with the theater, I've been there in the afternoon so I know the set up, I've got my hole in the door to peek in just before I do the deed. That's all I need really. Why go through the trouble of entering the box twice and drawing extra attention to myself? As far as Clara's statement, it sounds like she's saying that Booth actually opened the door and either stuck his head in or stepped inside, looked around and then left. If that was the case, surely someone else in the box would have noticed that. Although Mary was too distraught to think straight, it seems like Rathbone would have recalled this at some point and verified Clara's story.

I'm curious to read the argument for the dry run, but just off the top of my head I see a number of shaky bridges to cross to arrive at that conclusion. Some of them I can get past, but I have a hard time seeing how Booth could have made a dry run at 9:30 and Clara Harris was the only person inside the box or out who noticed it. Or at least she's the only one who noticed and mentioned it.

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It's a very curious statement from Clara though. What reason could she possibly have for saying that if it didn't happen?? Would it be she was just mis-remembering? Could it be someone else opened the door to look in and after the assassination she got confused about who it was? Was she just embellishing? At what point was that statement made? Was it in the immediate aftermath, or years later, or at the trial? Did she even testify at the trial?