John Surratt

[RJNorton]

I am assuming we are talking about the letter Booth gave to Mathews on April 14, 1865, and not the "To Whom It May Concern" letter from 1864. Although I don't agree with Robert Lockwood Mills' arguments that the "Mathews letter" never existed, I would not put too much importance in Surratt's name not being in the list of names Mathews "remembered." How much faith can we put in Mathews' memory of the names at the end of the letter? Mathews' memory concerning the letter's contents changed so much in subsequent years that personally I cannot really take the letter very seriously. IMO.