Timeline Needed for Ms. Slater

[Susan Higginbotham]

(03-10-2017 08:32 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 05:46 PM)SSlater Wrote:  Laurie. Since you have come through for us on many occasions----I wanted to return the favor. Thank you for all you do.
I would be interested in knowing why your researcher thought she was in Albany. There may be a story there. She might have been sneaking around - on a different date. (even a day or two earlier).

As far as I know - Sarah never stayed at the Saint Nicholas Hotel.
That does not mean she never did. I doubt that she stayed at ANy hotel in NYC. - because her Mother lived in New York.
Her mother gave a NYC home address when she applied for a pension based on her huband's military service. (That's a story for another time)

Some thoughts on that Barry Guy. Barry was expected to escort Sarah to Richmond, because Surratt was busy on something else.
(Remember, Watson wanted him to meet Sarah in NY, but Surratt couldn't make it.) Booth brought her to D.C. Surratt was polite and traveled along to keep her company - as far as the Potomac. But Sarah told him some secrets, and he wanted to know more, so he discharged Barry and he took her to Richmond. (He stayed with her, every day for the next month. I would like to believe that she told him about the new Lincoln Plans).
Was Surratt trying to keep her out of trouble? Was Surratt trying to worm into then new plans? I wouldn't be too far from the truth if I guessed that he was ORDERED to take care of her, until after they mined the White House. Thus when they got to Montreal, and didn't have any pending assignments, E. G. Lee sent them to Elmira to do him a favor and to get them out of the way. After the war, they were still together in Canada, until Lee sent her back to New York - to get her away from Surratt. (That's another story that needs work.)
Any other thoughts on this situation?

John - I have spoken to this researcher many times; but this time, he called directly to Colleen at our research center, so I don't know the gist of the entire conversation. I believe this person is concentrating on the Judah Benjamin angle.

It never dawned on me that Sarah would stay with her mother while in NY, but that is a logical assumption - unless she did not want to involve her family in her covert actions.

As for E.G. Lee's concern about Sarah and John, Jr., from the standpoint of John's "intentions," I suspect that Lee had good reason to warn Sarah. Those intentions may have been part of the reason why John dismissed David Barry from escort duty. Didn't someone (Weichmann?) mention that John had a female on his mind - or words to that effect?

In a letter written to Brooks Stabler on March 26, 1865, John, who had returned his team to Stabler, wrote that he had "women on the brain" and might be away for a week or so. Whether he actually was thinking of a woman, or whether this was just a nice, masculine-sounding excuse, who knows?

I've said this earlier on the forum, but I don't think the lady Lee warned against John Surratt (if he did indeed issue a warning) was Sarah. In his diary, Lee makes several mentions of a Miss Young, a New Yorker who was staying with John and Sarah Lovell. On August 18, 1865, he notes the arrival of "Mr. Armstrong" (Surratt), and mentions a visit to the theater to see Kean in the role of Richard III; apparently the party included Miss Young and Surratt, although the entry's worded rather vaguely. On August 21, Lee writes, "Mr. Armstrong very devoted; made an opportunity for him in the library." Later he adds, "Had very confidential conversation with 'the Young' after returning from theater at 11 p.m." Miss Young had left Montreal by August 30. On that date, Lee, who described her in a letter to his mother as "remarkably pretty, sings, is said to be rich, tries to be a belle," wrote in the same letter, "She behaved so well and seemed so determined to make a friend of me, that when she left Montreal and asked me, when saying goodbye, if we didn't part friends, I told her 'yes' most heartily." He added, "But the other Yankees I have met haven't found much favor at my hands."

I don't see any reason to assume that the Yankee Miss Young was Sarah. It also seems improbable to me that Lee would be "making an opportunity" for John Surratt to have a tete-a-tete with a married woman--especially since John would have had plenty of opportunities with Sarah during their travels without any help from Lee.