A little-known person

[RJNorton]

(07-24-2021 09:48 PM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  The last one also has the beginning of the James A. McDevitt testimony.

Thank you to Steve Whitlock for sending the McDevitt testimony at the 1867 John Surratt trial. In it he does not say a tipster in the street directed the group of detectives to the Surratt boardinghouse.

Steve also included the Clarvoe testimony. I am including the beginning of this testimony in which Clarvoe does not say anything about a tipster talking to the detectives.

Thus, it appears neither man testified a tipster in the street cited the Surratt boardinghouse as a suspicious place. Apparently McDevitt saved that story for newspaper interviews years later, but he did not include it when he testified. And Clarvoe says nothing about it. McDevitt also testified at the 1865 conspiracy trial, but he said nothing about a tipster. Unless more information is available, we are left with McDevitt's claim in interviews that there was a tipster in the street in the wee hours of April 15. At this point I do not see any backing for McDevitt's claim.