Last Lincoln Conspirator by Andrew Jampoler

[RJNorton]

Bill, I believe most all the books, articles, etc. place him in Elmira. In his public lecture that is where he said he was. I think Mr. James O. Hall once did a study of railroad schedules and concluded Surratt could not have been in Washington as 13 eyewitnesses (including a Washington barber who said he cut Surratt's hair on the 14th; the barber noted that Surratt said, "Give me a nice shave and clean me up nicely; I am going away in a day or two") testified at his 1867 trial. My personal opinion is that there is enough evidence to at least take a look at the Washington possibility. This evidence comes from a variety of sources including Mary Surratt herself who told Richard Smoot that John would likely be in town on the 14th. Could Surratt have been the "mystery man" at Stanton's that Jerry mentioned in another thread? Probably not, but I think it's interesting to look into where Surratt really was on assassination day. I grant the Elmira evidence is impressive, but this is a topic I enjoy "pestering" folks about. This is why I asked Herb about the missing pages from the Brainard Hotel (in Elmira) ledger - the pages which would indicate Surratt's presense in Elmira are mysterily "missing."