Olivia Jenkins

[Lincoln Wonk]

Susan has a wonderful piece on Olivia Jenkins, Mary Surratt's niece, in this month's Surratt Courier. Thanks, Susan.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Thank you!

[RJNorton]

(07-27-2015 05:17 PM)Lincoln Wonk Wrote:  Susan has a wonderful piece on Olivia Jenkins, Mary Surratt's niece, in this month's Surratt Courier. Thanks, Susan.

I second Kathy. It's a great article. For me personally one sentence was the most interesting. In past threads I have argued that Booth called at the Surratt boardinghouse on his way to Ford's on April 14th. But Susan notes, "Olivia did give one bit of interesting testimony at John Surratt's trial: she claimed that a caller at the house on the evening of April 14, suspected to have been Booth, was actually a 'gentleman named Scott, of the navy' who left two papers for Olivia."

[L Verge]

(07-28-2015 02:09 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(07-27-2015 05:17 PM)Lincoln Wonk Wrote:  Susan has a wonderful piece on Olivia Jenkins, Mary Surratt's niece, in this month's Surratt Courier. Thanks, Susan.

I second Kathy. It's a great article. For me personally one sentence was the most interesting. In past threads I have argued that Booth called at the Surratt boardinghouse on his way to Ford's on April 14th. But Susan notes, "Olivia did give one bit of interesting testimony at John Surratt's trial: she claimed that a caller at the house on the evening of April 14, suspected to have been Booth, was actually a "gentleman named Scott, of the navy" who left two papers for Olivia."

That was something new to me also, Roger. I never remember any author picking up on that - including Mr. Hall, who believed the caller was Mr. Kirby. This makes a sizeable dent in the theory that it was Booth who called.

Susan has been kind enough to send me an advanced copy of her historical novel, Hanging Mary, which is due out in March (just in time for our April conference). I have managed to squeeze in about 30 pages so far, and it is very well written and holds your attention. Her attention to detail and accurate historical information makes it even more valuable. Those of you who have read her two articles in the Surratt Courier on both Olivia Jenkins and Nora Fitzpatrick have seen those qualities in them both.

[Susan Higginbotham]

Thanks, Roger and Laurie! Mary Surratt in one of her interrogations also claimed that someone called on the night of the assassination with papers for Olivia. Asked "The night of the murder who was at your house?" she responded, "No one except our own family. A gentleman I don't know called to leave some newspapers for a niece of mine. He did not come in and I don't think I saw him. The little servant girl took the papers." (p. 1241 of "The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence).

[L Verge]

(07-28-2015 03:40 PM)Susan Higginbotham Wrote:  Thanks, Roger and Laurie! Mary Surratt in one of her interrogations also claimed that someone called on the night of the assassination with papers for Olivia. Asked "The night of the murder who was at your house?" she responded, "No one except our own family. A gentleman I don't know called to leave some newspapers for a niece of mine. He did not come in and I don't think I saw him. The little servant girl took the papers." (p. 1241 of "The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence).

Other than Weichmann's guess, that is the only version that I had ever heard, Susan, until this new conjecture popped up about ten years ago suggesting that the night caller was Booth. It would seem to me that Olivia Jenkins would be the one to know the correct person.

[Pamela]

Was Scott, of the Navy called to testify for the defense? Also the servant girl?

[L Verge]

(07-28-2015 05:54 PM)Pamela Wrote:  Was Scott, of the Navy called to testify for the defense? Also the servant girl?

I don't believe that Scott was, and the servant girl was called related to another matter.

[Pamela]

If the visitor was Scott rather than Booth, the defense would have called him as a witness. By doing so they would have chipped away at Weichmann and Mary's involvement with Booth at a critical time on the day of the assassination.

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-28-2015 07:46 PM)Pamela Wrote:  If the visitor was Scott rather than Booth, the defense would have called him as a witness. By doing so they would have chipped away at Weichmann and Mary's involvement with Booth at a critical time on the day of the assassination.

That's assuming that Scott (whoever he was) could be tracked down, or that he was still alive in 1867 to be called as a witness. In any case, perhaps the defense didn't feel that a trial within a trial was needed on the issue of how many times Booth had visited the Surratt boardinghouse, especially since the defense was more concerned with proving John Surratt's absence from Washington on the day in question.

[Pamela]

Mary gave that information when questioned prior to her trial. Why wouldn't her defense call him as a witness in 1865? Why wouldn't the defense have the servant and her niece testify about him?

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-28-2015 08:31 PM)Pamela Wrote:  Mary gave that information when questioned prior to her trial. Why wouldn't her defense call him as a witness in 1865? Why wouldn't the defense have the servant and her niece testify about him?

Mary didn't name Scott; she said she didn't know Olivia's caller. Perhaps she didn't know his name. Olivia herself said that she had been questioned only minimally by the government, so perhaps she didn't realize she had anything material to contribute to her aunt's defense--she was, after all, a 19-year-old girl from the country, not a trial lawyer. Bear in mind also that most of Mary's defense was conducted by inexperienced attorneys who had never handled a relatively simple criminal matter before, much less a death-penalty case, that many of the protections that modern-day defendants enjoy (such as having the right to have the government provide them with evidence that is exculpatory in nature) weren't available, and that the defense had almost no time to prepare for trial. As Mary's attorney Clampitt recalled, "Compelled to produce our own witnesses, frequently we spent almost the entire night in obtaining them from remote points of the adjoining States." Powell's attorney, Doster, wrote, "Had counsel been closeted with the prisoners for weeks, with the charges in their hands and the war power of the Government at their disposal, the odds might have been more even."

And, of course, it's easy for us from the comfortable distance of 150 years, with the complete trial transcripts, not to mention the defendants' statements and the various witness interviews, to say what witnesses the defense attorneys should have called and what questions they should have been asked. Rather more difficult to do for someone on the spot.

Edited: Actually, I just realized the most compelling reason the defense didn't call Olivia, Captain Scott or the little servant girl to testify: there was no testimony about a Booth visit to rebut. Weichmann didn't publicly state until August 11, 1865, that Booth had called at the boardinghouse on Friday evening. All he said at trial was that some unnamed caller came to the boardinghouse after he and Mary returned from their trip to Surrattsville:

Q. Who came to the house between the period of your return and three o’clock on Saturday morning when the detectives came? Anybody?
A. There was some one that rang the bell; but who the person was I do not know.
Q. Was the bell answered?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. By whom?
A. It was answered by Mrs. Surratt.
Q. Was there any one at the door?
A. Yes, sir: I heard steps going into the parlor, and immediately going out, going down the steps.
Q. How long was that after you had got back from Surrattsville?
A. It must have been about ten minutes. I was taking supper at the time.
Q. That was before ten o’clock, was it not?
A. Yes, sir: it was before ten o’clock.

[RJNorton]

I still think there's a good chance Booth came that night. Here is my thinking:

1. Booth asked Mary to tell Lloyd to have the guns ready. He also asked her to take his field glasses to Lloyd. To me it would be logical for Booth to stop at the boardinghouse on his way to Ford's to see if Mary had successfully completed her "errand." Booth may have also asked her to check to see if the road to Surrattsville were guarded; Mary was able to tell him the pickets would be gone by the time he would go by.

2. During the ride back from Surrattsville Weichmann reported that Mary told him she was expecting a visitor about 9:00 P.M. She wouldn't tell Weichmann who the visitor was. Weichmann said she told him Booth was through with acting and would be leaving Washington for New York "never to return."

3. According to Weichmann Mary got extremely nervous after the visitor left and asked him to pray for her intentions. If the visitor were Scott why would Mary get so nervous? Smoot, who also visited that night (after Booth IMO) also reported Mary was very agitated.

4. In his book Weichmann supports his contention that Booth was the visitor by writing that when the detectives left on the morning of the 15th Anna Surratt cried out, "Oh, Ma! Mr. Weichmann is right; just think of that man (John W. Booth) having been here an hour before the assassination. I am afraid it will bring suspicion upon us."

Is it possible Scott, Kirby, Smoot, and Booth ALL stopped by the boardinghouse that night?

[Susan Higginbotham]

(07-29-2015 04:11 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I still think there's a good chance Booth came that night. Here is my thinking:

1. Booth asked Mary to tell Lloyd to have the guns ready. He also asked her to take his field glasses to Lloyd. To me it would be logical for Booth to stop at the boardinghouse on his way to Ford's to see if Mary had successfully completed her "errand." Booth may have also asked her to check to see if the road to Surrattsville were guarded; Mary was able to tell him the pickets would be gone by the time he would go by.

2. During the ride back from Surrattsville Weichmann reported that Mary told him she was expecting a visitor about 9:00 P.M. She wouldn't tell Weichmann who the visitor was. Weichmann said she told him Booth was through with acting and would be leaving Washington for New York "never to return."

3. According to Weichmann Mary got extremely nervous after the visitor left and asked him to pray for her intentions. If the visitor were Scott why would Mary get so nervous? Smoot, who also visited that night (after Booth IMO) also reported Mary was very agitated.

4. In his book Weichmann supports his contention that Booth was the visitor by writing that when the detectives left on the morning of the 15th Anna Surratt cried out, "Oh, Ma! Mr. Weichmann is right; just think of that man (John W. Booth) having been here an hour before the assassination. I am afraid it will bring suspicion upon us."

Is it possible Scott, Kirby, Smoot, and Booth ALL stopped by the boardinghouse that night?

I think Kirby can probably be ruled out as a visitor--I don't recollect anyone specifically naming him as stopping by on Friday night (unless I'm just forgetting something).

If Mary knew from Booth's afternoon visit that Booth had something planned for that evening, that would be enough to account for her nervousness even without an extra visit by Booth around 9 p.m. I don't think Booth can be ruled out as an evening visitor, although it's odd to me that Weichmann with his detailed testimony didn't recall any of the evidence mentioned above until after he had been on the stand.

Smoot recalled that he approached the house, saw a woman with a large sunbonnet standing on the stairs, and gave her his name, so he wouldn't have had to ring the doorbell for all of the occupants to hear.

So for me it's Scott probable, Smoot probable, Kirby unlikely, and Booth maybe. What we can say for certain is that anyone stopping by the boardinghouse that night had to have five letters in his surname.

[Pamela]

Who was the lady in the sunbonnet? That was Smoot's arrival at the house, with no doorbell ringing. There was at least one more visitor who came, according to Weichmann's testimony, about 10 minutes after their return from Surrattsville. He testified that they returned "about half past 8 or 9." The doorbell rang and Mary answered the door, according to Weichmann.

I can't remember who at the dinner table said that it was Anna who went to the door.

Mary said in her interrogation that the only person who came to the house that night was: "A gentleman I don't know called to leave some newspapers for a niece of mine. He did not come in and I don't think I saw him. The little servant girl took the papers." That sounds as though the servant girl answered the door for Scott, if that happened.

Mary didn't say she answered the door for someone, or if Weichmann was wrong, that Anna answered the door, which would have been while they were at dinner. But both Weichmann and the other one of the ladies at the table said that someone came to the door at dinner time.

So, with Smoot, the dinner time visitor, and the man with papers taken by the servant, that was 3. Is there corroboration for Smoot's visit as there was for the dinner visitor? Because Mary did not admit, when questioned, to a dinner time visitor, it suggests she had something to hide, like another Booth visit.