What Was The Role of David Herold

[John Fazio]

(02-23-2013 04:16 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  In his December 6, 1870, lecture John Surratt said, "It may be well to remark here that this scheme of abduction was concocted without the knowledge or the assistance of the Confederate government in any shape or form. Booth and I often consulted together as to whether it would not be well to acquaint the authorities in Richmond with our plan, as we were sadly in want of money, our expenses being very heavy. In fact the question arose among us as to whether, after getting Mr. Lincoln, if we succeeded in our plan, the Confederate authorities would not surrender us to the United States again, because of doing this thing without their knowledge or consent. But we never acquainted them with the plan, and they never had anything in the wide world to do with it. In fact, we were jealous of our undertaking and wanted no outside help. I have not made this statement to defend the officers of the Confederate government. They are perfectly able to defend themselves."

In 1902 Samuel Arnold said, "There was never any connection between Booth and the Confederate authorities." He went on to say, "No officials of the Confederate government had any knowledge in regard to it, although it was attempted to be shown by the military commission that they had, through many witnesses."

Were they both lying?

Roger:

In my opinion, Laurie is partially right. She is right about Surratt, because he was a colossal liar. The first duty of a secret service agent is to conceal the identities of his or her fellow agents, especially his or her superiors, and if such identities are already known, to protect them from capture and prosecution. That is all Surratt was doing in his lecture.

But Arnold was not lying; he just didn't know. Booth, you probably know, was very good at keeping his operations compartmentalized. His grunts, therefore (i.e. Arnold, O'Laughlen, Herold and Atzerodt, were told only as much as they needed to know. They were therefore not privy to the full extent of the conspiracy.

There is these kinds of unsolicited exonerations an element of disingenuousness. Who asked Surratt about the Confederate Government? No one; he volunteered the information. That alone makes it suspect. It was the same with Booth in his famous "To Whom It May Concern letter, in which he signed off with "A Confederate doing his duty on his own responsibility." Again, who asked him? Methinks he protests too much. Why would he volunteer such a statement otherwise than with an ulterior motive, i.e. to shield his superiors?

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(02-24-2013 02:09 AM)John Fazio Wrote:  [quote='RJNorton' pid='13819' dateline='1361650573']
In his December 6, 1870, lecture John Surratt said, "It may be well to remark here that this scheme of abduction was concocted without the knowledge or the assistance of the Confederate government in any shape or form. Booth and I often consulted together as to whether it would not be well to acquaint the authorities in Richmond with our plan, as we were sadly in want of money, our expenses being very heavy. In fact the question arose among us as to whether, after getting Mr. Lincoln, if we succeeded in our plan, the Confederate authorities would not surrender us to the United States again, because of doing this thing without their knowledge or consent. But we never acquainted them with the plan, and they never had anything in the wide world to do with it. In fact, we were jealous of our undertaking and wanted no outside help. I have not made this statement to defend the officers of the Confederate government. They are perfectly able to defend themselves."

In 1902 Samuel Arnold said, "There was never any connection between Booth and the Confederate authorities." He went on to say, "No officials of the Confederate government had any knowledge in regard to it, although it was attempted to be shown by the military commission that they had, through many witnesses."

Were they both lying?

Roger:

In my opinion, Laurie is partially right. She is right about Surratt, because he was a colossal liar. The first duty of a secret service agent is to conceal the identities of his or her fellow agents, especially his or her superiors, and if such identities are already known, to protect them from capture and prosecution. That is all Surratt was doing in his lecture.

But Arnold was not lying; he just didn't know. Booth, you probably know, was very good at keeping his operations compartmentalized. His grunts, therefore (i.e. Arnold, O'Laughlen, Herold and Atzerodt, were told only as much as they needed to know. They were therefore not privy to the full extent of the conspiracy.

There is in these kinds of unsolicited exonerations an element of disingenuousness. Who asked Surratt about the Confederate Government? No one; he volunteered the information. That alone makes it suspect. It was the same with Booth in his famous "To Whom It May Concern letter, in which he signed off with "A Confederate doing his duty on his own responsibility." Again, who asked him? Methinks he protests too much. Why would he volunteer such a statement otherwise than with an ulterior motive, i.e. to shield his superiors?

There is more to this issue that I would like to share with you in another message. This one is giving me problems with my computer. Later.

John