7. The manhunt led to several arrests of people with no knowledge of the plot
Among the dozens of people arrested by federal authorities during the hunt for Booth were his brother Junius, who was performing in Cincinnati at the time of the murder. John T. Ford, owner and proprietor of Ford’s Theater was also arrested. Booth fled Washington on a rented horse, which he obtained from a livery owned by James Pumphrey in Washington. He too was arrested. Boarders at Surratt’s boarding house were taken into custody, as was Dr. Samuel Mudd. A stagehand who had been supposed to hold Booth’s horse outside of Ford’s while the latter shot the President, but gave the job to someone else, was also arrested, Ned Spangler. The man who Booth found actually holding the horse when he exited the theater was not.
The involvement of Dr. Mudd in either the kidnapping plot or the assassination has long been disputed. Booth visited Bryantown, about five miles from Mudd’s farm, under the cover of seeking to purchase land. According to some, he was really scouting escape routes to be used to carry Lincoln to Virginia after kidnaping him. Booth and Mudd met during one visit, and Booth stayed at least once at the Mudd farm before the assassination. They met again in Washington in December 1864, a fact well documented. What tied Mudd most closely to the murder conspiracy was his failure to notify authorities of Booth’s stop at his farm on April 15 until the following day, Easter Sunday.