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[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-23-2016 03:03 PM)Pamela Wrote:  

(07-03-2016 08:37 AM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  In the same 1885 interview (in the April 17, 1885 Washington Critic) in which Richards claimed to have been at the theater, he also claimed to have gone to Mary Surratt's house on the evening of the assassination and found her in her usual dress, with no appearance of having retired for the evening. I simply don't believe that Richards would have suppressed such incriminating evidence in 1865 had it been true.

It's also noteworthy that in the 1885 account, Richards has the stage empty when Lincoln is shot, and also has Grant at the theater, as he claims that, "In a few seconds word went round that General Grant had been shot. Then we had it that President Lincoln had been shot."

I think Richards was suffering from "rubber room" syndrome.

The Trial of John Surratt, p 696, testimony of John Clarvoe: A. I went to the house with McDevitt, Lieutenant Skippon and others. McDevitt, myself, and Lieutenant Skippon entered the house after putting guard at the back and at each corner. We went up and knocked at the door. The door was opened by a man barefoot, in his shirt sleeves, and bareheaded. I asked him if John Surratt was in.
Q. Who was that man?
A. He gave me his name as Weichmann. Said he: No sir, he is not in the city. Said I: His mother is in. Does she live here?

Clarvoe knew that Mary was in the house because A. C. Richards had visited the house earlier with Clarvoe or others, and if Clarvoe wasn't there, he was told about the visit, as Richards stated in one of his letters to Weichmann.

Interesting, but given the strange syntax, I think he probably said, or meant to say, "His mother lives here. Is she in?"

Compare McDevitt's testimony from the same trial:

"Q. Will you state whether on the night of the ]4th of April, 1865, or the morning of the 15th, you took any steps to discover and arrest the assassins of the President?
A. I did. I received information that J. Wilkes Booth had fired the shot.
Q. Did you go to the house of Mrs. Surratt?
A. I did.
Q. Who went with you?
A. Lientenant Charles M. Skippon, sixth precinct, then sergeant of the precinct, and a squad of his men, Mr. Clarvoe and myself, and Mr. Donaldson, one of our detective officers.
Q. State at what time you arrived there, and give as well as you recollect a narrative of the incidents that occurred.
A. I think after the bell was rung, a lady [Mrs. Holohan] put her head out of the second story window—that is the window over the parlor—and asked us who it was. We asked for Mrs. Surratt, if she lived there; she said, she did; we said, we wish to come in immediately; the door was then opened by Mr. Weichmann; he was dressed in his shirt sleeves, and I think he was in his stocking feet; his shirt was open in the bosom; I think he had one suspender on, but I am not certain; we asked for John Surratt; he said, he was not at home; we found a shawl lying there in the passage, and asked whose shawl that was. It was covered with mud."

It also strikes me as very unlikely that Richards would bring a party of men to the boardinghouse, speak to Mary Surratt, find her behavior and appearance suspicious, and then leave without waking the sleeping Weichmann and the other boarders for questioning. For all Richards knew at that point, the sleeping man might have been John Surratt--and Richards' leaving would give Mary the opportunity to coach the other occupants of the house, especially her daughter, her niece, and Nora Fitzpatrick, in what to tell police in case they returned.