Want to come heckle BoothieBarn authors Dave Taylor and Kate Ramirez in person? Here are some of our public speaking engagements planned for the future.
Date: Sunday, October 7, 2018
Location: Tudor Hall (17 Tudor Ln, Bel Air, MD 21015)
Time: 2:00 pm
Speech: Joseph Booth: The Youngest Brother of John Wilkes Booth
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: Of all of the Booth brothers, it was only the youngest Booth, Joseph Adrian who shunned the spotlight. Born into a family of actors, young Joseph only briefly entered the family profession before realizing he exited the stage for good. While far less is known about Joseph than his famous (and infamous) brothers, the details we we do know paint a fascinating tale of an enigmatic brother. In his speech, Dave will examine the life of Joseph Adrian Booth and the impact Lincoln’s assassination had on his life. More information will be posted later at: http://spiritsoftudorhall.blogspot.com/2016/11/make-plans-to-visit-tudor-hall-in-2017_7.html
Cost: $5.00 cash for the talk and a tour of Tudor Hall
Date: Sunday, October 14, 2018
Location: Jarrettsville Library (3722 Norrisville Rd. Jarrettsville, Md 21084)
Time: 2:00 pm
Speech: Confessions of an Ax Murderess
Speaker: Kate Taylor
Description: On the morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found murdered in their home. After an intensive investigation by the police, Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s youngest daughter, was arrested and charged with the double patricide. This is her side of the story. Actor and researcher, Kate Taylor, takes you back to Fall River, Massachusetts and inside the mind of the mysterious woman who changed it forever.
Cost: Free
Date: Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Location: New Bedford
Whaling National Historical Park Main Auditorium (33 Williams St, New Bedford, MA 02740)
Time: 7:00 pm
Speech: “Beware the People Whistling”: The Final Days of Mary Surratt
Speaker: Kate Taylor
Description: In 1865 Mary Surratt was running a boarding house in Washington D.C. She was put on trial, as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and was the first woman to be executed by the United States government. Kate, as Mary Surratt, fills her final days in Washington D.C., recalling memories of her family, the choices she made throughout the bloody American Civil War, and the man who brought her and her fellow prisoners to ruin, John Wilkes Booth.
Cost: Free
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2019
Location: Perryville branch of the Cecil County Library (500 Coudon Blvd. Perryville, MD 21903)
Time: 11:00 am
Speech: The Making of an Assassin: The History of John Wilkes Booth
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: How did John Wilkes Booth go from celebrated actor to villainous assassin? In his speech, Dave will recount the life of John Wilkes Booth and what led him to the Presidential box at Ford’s Theatre.
Cost: Free
Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Location: Lynchburg Civil War Round Table (4009 Murray Place, Lynchburg, Virginia 24501)
Time: 7:45 pm
Speech: The Making of an Assassin: The History of John Wilkes Booth
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: How did John Wilkes Booth go from celebrated actor to villainous assassin? In his speech, Dave will recount the life of John Wilkes Booth and what led him to the Presidential box at Ford’s Theatre.
Cost: Cost for the talk is $5. Guests are also welcome to come for the buffet dinner starting at 7:00 pm but the cost for that is $25. Information can be found at: https://www.historicsandusky.org/lcwrt
Date: TBD Saturday in April 2019
Location: Surratt House Museum (9118 Brandywine Road, Clinton, MD 20735)
Time: 7:00 am – 7:00 pm
Speech: John Wilkes Booth Escape Route Bus Tour
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: The 12 hour bus trip which documents the escape of the assassin through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
Cost: $85. Registration information can be found at: http://www.surrattmuseum.org/booth-escape-tour
Date: Sunday, May 5, 2019
Location: Thomas Stone National Historic Site (6655 Rose Hill Rd, Port Tobacco, MD 20677)
Time: TBD
Speech: Frederick Stone: A Life of Service and Secrets
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: Frederick Stone was the great nephew of Thomas Stone, one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence. Though he never knew his illustrious relative, Frederick lived for a time at his great uncle’s estate of Haber-de-venture before being educated in the law. His lifetime of public service would lead him from lawyer to commissioner to delegate to judge. Along the way, however, Frederick Stone became involved in one of the most traumatic events in our nation’s history: the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In his speech, researcher Dave Taylor will explore the life of Frederick Stone and the secrets he carried with him about the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Cost: Free
Additional speeches and information will be posted when available. Past speaking engagements can be seen here: https://boothiebarn.com/about/
If you are interested in having either Dave or Kate speak to your group about any aspect of the Lincoln assassination story, click to Contact Us or email to BoothieBarn@gmail.com
Another fascinating post, Dave. I am one of those who believes Spangler was innocent. I think it was mostly a case of guilt by association (Booth being his friend). In the “The Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory” edited by Harold Holzer, Craig L. Symonds, and Frank J. Williams, Ed Steers writes, “The tribunal judges simply did not believe that Booth could have managed to escape from the theater without some sort of help, and the hapless Spangler had provided it.” I don’t think the rope they found had anything to do with anything, and the altercation with Ritterspaugh (if it occurred as Ritterspaugh said) was due to Spangler not seeing the identity of the man who jumped and then darted across the stage. Years later Harry Hawk admitted in an interview that he actually said the words Ritterspaugh attributed to Spangler. I think Spangler did favors for his friend, Booth but was not complicit in the assassination plan. Just my opinion.
At Surratt House, we display a similar cane (they are actually walking sticks) that was made by a prisoner-of-war at the Union’s camp for Confederates in Maryland’s St. Mary’s County. It is not as elegant as Mudd’s, but it is intricately constructed of graduated wooden rings with a rounded wooden knob held together with a round plug of wood.
One thinks of the tedious work that it took to construct each of those rings and can imagine the monotony of life in camps such as Maryland’s Point Lookout, which is located on a peninsula of land where the Potomac reaches the Chesapeake Bay.
Any idea if the fancy silver heads to this walking sticks were added after Dr. Mudd came home? I just don’t see such materials being available at Ft. Jefferson unless they could be special ordered from the mainland. But would prisoners have such advantages? The quality of these, the inlaid table, and the boxes is exquisite, but I just can’t fathom how the government allowed these heinous criminals the time to produce such fine work.
Laurie, I think it’s possible the engraved head might have been added later espeically since it’s dated 1869. But in regards to the other works of carpentry, I think all the items could have been made on the island using driftwood, island trees, and the lumber brought to the island. Since they had a carpentry shop on the island, it makes sense to me that they would keep it stocked with basic supplies. The only ornate items I’ve seen added to most of the doctor’s items have been shells.
I should have added quotes around the word “heinous” since that’s what they were considered by many in that time. I am more sympathetic to these men than what I seemed to post here.
Also, I just feel that the work done was tedious and time consuming. Perhaps Mudd and Spangler were producing things for the officers and their families as well – or even for sale by those officers on the mainland?