Besides law enforcement, every bounty hunter in the land would have been hunting for him. His “Dead or Alive” wanted poster would have had a huge number on it, and the penalty for harboring or aiding him in any way would have been very severe.
The person who received a severe sentence for aiding Booth was Samuel Mudd. He escaped the death penalty by just one vote. His descendants have argued that he was just a country doctor helping an injured stranger; they and others have pushed for his conviction to be expunged. However, evidence shows that he had met Booth at least twice, possibly to discuss a plot to kidnap Lincoln.
The obvious solution here is to shave beforehand, then don a fake moustache.
I’ve read some of the documentation recently, that certainly disputes the general idea that Dr. Mudd had no idea who he was treating. As I recall, Roger Mudd, longtime American television newsreader was a distant relative.
Yes, Roger Mudd was a distant cousin of Samuel Mudd.
I just read through Blood on the Moon, Edward Steers’ account of Lincoln’s assassination, and Samuel Mudd had met Booth on three previous documented occasions, including a visit to Washington DC when Mudd introduced Booth to Confederate Secret Service agent John Surratt, and a time when Booth stayed at the Mudd home overnight.
Two of Samuel Mudd’s grandchildren dedicated their lives to rehabilitating his reputation, and it looks like they succeeded in promoting the view of Mudd as innocent bystander and good Samaritan. But from the evidence, he doesn’t look innocent to me.