A Mudd-y Vacation

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Thanks to Veterans’ Day, I have managed to take a long weekend trip away from Southern Maryland. I’m currently in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. I’ve enjoyed the historic and ever constant 74 degree spring that George Washington and many other Virginia notables visited for its healing properties.

Even when on vacation though, I’m always on the lookout for anything assassination related. At a local antique mall I looked through every single CDV and cabinet card they had looking for a familiar face but to no avail. I did find and flip through the 1938 issue of Life magazine which contains pictures of the Booth mummy, but decided against purchasing it.

Instead I spent my hard earned money on a book that I already have a copy of, The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd by Nettie Mudd:

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The reason I decided to purchase this copy is due to the fact that this copy is signed by some of the grandchildren of Dr. Mudd:

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Sadly, all of those who signed this book back in 1996 have all died, with the last granddaughter, Marie Mudd Summers, having passed away in January of this year. While not quite a collector’s item (I believe the Mudd House still sells autographed copies too) I feel the personal connection that comes with this book is worth purchasing an extra copy of it. Moreover, I was impressed to find a little piece of my local Maryland home 130 miles away.

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Arriving at Fort Jefferson

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Dave Taylor

The Richmond Whig newspaper carried this article on August 4, 1865 covering the arrival of the Lincoln assassination conspirators to their prison of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas:

What surprised me the most about this article is the claim that, upon reaching the island, the prisoners were relieved at finding it, “not so bad a place as they had supposed,” as it had a “fine sea breeze” and was a “very healthy” place.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Early in his memoirs, Sam Arnold accurately describes the Fort thusly:

“Without exception, it was the most horrible place the eye of man ever rested upon, where day after day, the miserable existence was being dragged out, intermixed with sickness, bodily suffering, want and pinching hunger…”

It would have been a fallacy to think that Fort Jefferson was “healthy”  in any sense of the word.  Scurvy, malnutrition, diarrhea, and diseases like yellow fever ran rampant.  The sick were oftentimes quarantined and only aided by a handful of doctors and nurses.  No one enjoyed life on Fort Jefferson.  Especially not Dr. Mudd, Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, or Michael O’Laughlen.

Soldiers in quarantine on Fort Jefferson 1899

References:
Richmond Whig, 8/4/1865
Memoirs of the Lincoln Conspirators by Michael Kauffman
Fort Jefferson Historical Structures Report

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Got a light?

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Just a quick photo post tonight as I’m watching the presidential election coverage.

May you feel like having a celebratory cigar too by the time the election results come in. And if not, remember smoking is bad for you anyway.

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Michael Kauffman plays Hollywood

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Yesterday, I attended a “sold out” speaking engagement at the Sotterley Plantation in Hollywood…Maryland.  The speaker was Michael W. Kauffman, renowned Lincoln assassination researcher and author.  He gave an hour-long talk and half hour-long Q&A about the Lincoln assassination and his experiences doing research.  The crowd was not one of historians but Mr. Kauffman did a wonderful job giving an overview of John Wilkes Booth and his plot.  The audience’s response to the talk was very enthusiastic with many asking Mr. Kauffman for his autograph after it was all over.  I, of course, was one of those people.  I brought along his books, American Brutus, Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator, and his new escape route book, In the Footsteps of An Assassin.  He graciously signed them all and we talked briefly about one of my particular interests in the whole story, the Garrett family.  A good sport, he even indulged my fandom by allowing me to photograph him with John Wilkes Booth using the iPhone app developed with his latest book:

Needless to say, I must have come across like a Trekkie meeting Mr. Spock at Comic Con, but Mr. Kauffman put up with me nevertheless.  The evening was a very exciting experience for me.  It was an honor to listen to and meet the man who has contributed so much to our understanding of Lincoln’s assassination.

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Conspirator Canes

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Prison life at Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas was a miserable affair.  From the food, to the weather, to the living conditions, it’s hard to imagine that anyone stationed there, guard or prisoner, found the now tropical paradise hospitable.  All those that sailed to the island fort became prisoners.  It appears that when the lives of the inhabitants were not in danger from disease or malnutrition, extreme boredom prevailed. The Lincoln assassination conspirators Dr. Mudd, Edman Spangler, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O’Laughlen fought against this boredom.  The assigned duties given to the men helped in some ways.  Dr. Mudd, while a trained surgeon who would be a nurse in the hospital and an emergency replacement during the Yellow Fever epidemic, spent a considerable amount of time with Edman Spangler in the carpentry shop on the island.  Through three and a half years, he honed his carpentry skills and created several beautiful items that are currently on display at the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum in Waldorf, MD.  One set of items that Dr. Mudd became effective at creating were canes.

In addition to these two canes on display at the Mudd house, the good doctor also created a cane for his cousin, Henry A. Clarke. When Dr. Mudd was struggling to find an attorney willing to take his case during the conspiracy trial, he reached out to Clarke who owned a Washington coal company. On May 10th, Col. Henry Burnett sent a letter to Clarke asking if he would be Mudd’s counsel. Clarke responded back truthfully that he was not an attorney but would be happy to help Dr. Mudd in securing counsel. By the time Clarke had responded, Dr. Mudd had already secured Thomas Ewing and Frederick Stone for his defense.

Clarke would later make an appearance at the trial testifying on Dr. Mudd’s behalf. Even though he couldn’t keep his cousin out of prison, the family story is that Clarke continued to advocate for Dr. Mudd’s release. As a result, Dr. Mudd presented a cane to Henry Clarke. A few years ago, the cane made an appearance on Antique Roadshow:

Dr. Mudd was not the only conspirator to make canes for family and friends.  His own mentor in the carpentry world, Edman Spangler, also created canes from the wood at Fort Jefferson:

The canes, cribbage boards, shell decorated boxes, and other feats of craftsmanship were all therapeutic ways for Dr. Mudd to feel productive. Had it not been for these minor, but important, outlets of purposefulness, the Lincoln assassination conspirators could easily have succumbed to insanity.

References:
The Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Research site by Robert Summers
The Evidence by Steers and Edwards
Genealogybank.com

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Booth’s Boat

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Dave Taylor

While I sit here in the midst of a hurricane, I can’t help but think of the currents that John Wilkes Booth and David Herold had to overcome in their attempts to cross the Potomac River.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be out on the water today with this little row boat.

References:
Engraving from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper 5/20/1865
Article from the Philadelphia North American 5/5/1865

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The Seward Site: Then and Now

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Dave Taylor

When Booth was committing his deed at Ford’s Theatre on 10th Street, Lewis Powell was simultaneously entering a residence in Lafayette Square with malevolent intent.  His mark was Secretary of State William H. Seward, an integral member of Lincoln’s cabinet and political team.  Powell’s house-wide knife attack would wound five but none fatally.

The house the Secretary of State occupied was a stone’s throw from the White House.  Commissioned by Commodore John Rodgers, the building would serve as the home of many important politicians like James Blaine, James Paulding, Roger Taney, and William Worth Belknap.  When the White House was being renovated in 1845, President Polk used the house for his temporary residence.

In 1894, the Rodgers House was sadly demolished.  The Lafayette Square Opera House was built on the house’s site.

In 1906, the theater was bought by new owners and became The Belasco Theater.  The theater saw the likes of Al Jolson and Will Rodgers perform within its walls.  As times changed, the Belasco converted into a movie theater, but its career as such was short lived.  In 1940, the federal government bought the Belasco and nearby buildings.  The inside of the theater was remodeled and used as office and storage space, not unlike Ford’s Theatre had been.  During WWII, the building was reopened as a social club for Armed Forces members called The Stage Door Canteen.  Aside from a temporary revival as a military club during the Korean War, the building was used as offices for the USO.

Finally, in the 1964, the end came for the old Belasco building.  The old theater was razed in order to create the Federal Court of Claims building.  The Court of Claims still resides on the property.

While the house that was a silent witness to the assault of Secretary of State Seward is long gone from Lafayette Park, the history of the site is not forgotten.  While slightly hidden within the courtyard of the Federal Court of Claims building, there is a plaque to remember not only Lewis Powell’s presence on the site, but the other individuals and businesses that were once the President’s neighbors.

References:
Library of Congress

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Viewing Junius’ Body

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Dave Taylor

Two images of Junius Brutus Booth from the Harvard Theatre Collection

“On reaching Cincinnati, the masons had the body embalmed in a metallic coffin and deposited in the Baptist vault. My mother was telegraphed for and arrived in Cincinnati expecting to find my father very ill, — the second dispatch, announcing his decease not reaching Baltimore until her departure from that city. She returned home as soon as possible, bringing the body with her for interment. For three days the house where the body lay was thronged with people of every class. The walls of the parlors were draped with white, covering pictures and mirrors, and all ornaments removed excepting a marble figure of Shakespeare, which was placed near the coffin, and seemed gazing down at the form beneath. The face, under the glass plate, was very calm and beautiful, and the brown hair more thickly strewn with white than when we saw it last; the gray eyes were partly visible between the half-shut lids; and the lips, retaining their life-like color, were smilingly closed. Such a placidity and repose pervaded the whole countenance that we felt how easy the transition must have been from suffering life to this calm sleep. How often we had found him at rest with just this look upon his face, and had stepped softly not to disturb him! Now its perfect naturalness occasioned doubt in many minds, and physicians were sent for to satisfy us whether this w as really death or a trance. The hope was futile and vain, but while it animated the hearts that suffered, it had become as powerful as life.”

-Asia Booth Clarke on her father’s death in Booth Memorials:Passages, incidents, and anecdotes in the life of Junius Brutus Booth

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