That ingress to this passage might not be prevented by the bolting of the door by the President and his party after entering, the screws of the fastenings had been drawn, so that it could be easily pushed open. A hole had been bored through the door to the box, opposite where the President's chair was placed, with a small bit, and reamed out with a knife, so that Booth could, after gaining the passage and barring the door behind him, peep through this hole and assure himself of the exact position of his intended victim. The manner in which all of these arrangements had been made, the mortise in the plastered wall, the bar of wood fitted to the mortise, and in length having been exactly prepared to fit against the panel of the door and act as a brace, show that all these preparations had been made with the greatest forethought and care. About three weeks previous to the assassination, John H. Surratt, Herold, and Atzerodt brought to the tavern at Surrattsville, in Maryland, about ten miles below Washington City, owned by Mrs. Surratt, and at the time occupied by a man by the name of Lloyd, two carbines, with ammunition, a monkey-wrench, and a piece of rope. Surratt asked Lloyd to take charge of these things and keep them secreted, saying they would be called for before a great while, at the same time showing him a suitable place about the house in which to hide them. The Surratt family had lived in this house and kept a country tavern until within a few months previous, when they had removed to Washington, renting their tavern to Lloyd, so that Surratt was much more familiar with the house than Lloyd. These things, as we shall see, were placed there for the use of Booth and his companion in their flight after the assassination. As a precautionary measure, Booth, on the Tuesday before the assassination, sought an interview with Mrs. Surratt, who shortly after that interview discovered that she had some private business at Surrattsville that had to be attended to that day, and so she asked Mr. Wiechmann, a young man who had been a boarder at her house for several months, to drive her down, saying that she wanted to go and see a Mr. Nothey who owed her some money. She then sent Wiechmann to Booth, to get his horse and buggy for the drive. Booth told Wiechmann that he had sold his horse and buggy, but gave him ten dollars with which to procure one. Meeting Lloyd on the way down, driving up to Washington, they stopped; Lloyd got out of his buggy and went to the side of Mrs. Surratt's buggy, on which she was sitting, when Mrs. Surratt told Lloyd, as he afterwards testified, in a low voice, so that Wiechmann did not hear what she said, to have those shooting irons ready, or handy, as they would be called for before long. On the day of the assassination Booth again had a private interview with Mrs. Surratt, after which she again asked Wiechmann to drive her down to Surrattsville, claiming the same errand as before. On this occasion she