 While hiding in the Maryland woods as he waited for an opportunity to cross the Potomac River into Virginia , Booth read the accounts of national mourning reported in the newspapers brought to him by Jones each day . By April 20 , he was aware that some of his co @-@ conspirators were already arrested : Mary Surratt , Powell ( or Paine ) , Arnold , and O 'Laughlen . Booth was surprised to find little public sympathy for his action , especially from those anti @-@ Lincoln newspapers that had previously excoriated the President in life . As news of the assassination reached the far corners of the nation , indignation was aroused against Lincoln 's critics , whom many blamed for encouraging Booth to act . The San Francisco Chronicle editorialized : " Booth has simply carried out what ... secession politicians and journalists have been for years expressing in words ... who have denounced the President as a ' tyrant , ' a ' despot , ' a ' usurper , ' hinted at , and virtually recommended . " Booth wrote of his dismay in a journal entry on April 21 , as he awaited nightfall before crossing the Potomac River into Virginia ( see map ) : 
