An interesting trip to Surrattsville

[John Fazio]

(08-29-2016 03:39 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  John, what do you make of William Withers' allegation about Spangler and the gas lights. Tom Bogar writes, "...he (Withers) had caught Spangler trying to turn off the gas lights and plunge the theater into darkness but had valiantly fought the stagehand off and prevented this from happening."

I know Withers was known to be very embellishing and "creating" in some of his later statements - do you think this is another one?

Withers is quoted in the June 3, 1881, Bismarck Tribune:

"I was just giving the stage manager a piece of my mind when Spangler, the scene shifter, came forward to the gas box and took hold of the handle with which they turn the gas out. Knowing he had no business there, I pushed him away, and saying, ‘Get out of here! Go back to where you belong!’ I closed the box and sat on the lid. I sat there a minute talking, then started down the stairs to my place."

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/83114768/

Roger:

All I can say is that a bona fide attempt by Spangler to turn off the gas is totally inconsistent with all the other evidence we have relating to his involvement (actually, non-involvement) with Booth's conspiracy. I see that Tom has already weighed in with his opinion of Withers's credibility. A total fabrication is a distinct possibility, for the purpose of establishing Spangler's guilt because Withers believed him to be guilty despite the fact there was no real evidence to support such a belief. But another possibility, perhaps a stronger one, is that Spangler did approach the gas box, or found himself in the vicinity of the gas box, for some reason unrelated to Booth's conspiracy, and was shooed away by Withers, who then turned the incident into something malevolent for his own purposes or the perceived purposes of others. Even if we postulate Spangler's complicity, would he brazenly attempt to shut off the gas in the presence of others, thereby revealing his complicity and establishing his guilt beyond all doubt? I don't think so.

John