Want to come heckle BoothieBarn authors Dave & Kate Taylor in person? Here are some of our public speaking engagements planned for the future.
Date: Saturday, April 4, 2020
Location: Colony South Hotel and Conference Center (7401 Surratts Rd, Clinton, MD 20735)
Time: TBD
Speech: The Prisoners of Shark Island: Fort Jefferson and the Lincoln Conspirators
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: In his speech, Dave will discuss what prison life was like for Dr. Mudd, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, and Edman Spangler, the four Lincoln assassination conspirators who were sent to the isolated Dry Tortugas for their role in the crime of the century.
Cost: Dave’s speech is one of seven that will be presented during the Surratt Society’s annual Lincoln Assassination Conference. The cost for the whole conference (which includes meals and the day of speeches) is $200.
Date: TBD Saturday(s) in April, 2020
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: Dave is one of the narrators for the Surratt House Museum’s John Wilkes Booth Escape Route Tour. The 12 hour bus tour documents the escape of the assassin through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Information on how to register can be found here: http://www.surrattmuseum.org/booth-escape-tour
Cost: $85
Date: Sunday, June 14, 2020
Location: Tudor Hall (17 Tudor Ln, Bel Air, MD 21015)
Time: 2:00 pm
Speech: Burying the Booths: Their Final Days and Funerals
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: The Booth family of Tudor Hall left an indelible mark on theater and American history. As each Booth shuffled off this mortal coil their deaths were widely commented on in the press. In his speech, Dave Taylor will recount the deaths and final resting places of the various members of the Booth family noting how the nation reacted to the passing of a theatrical dynasty forever tainted by a horrendous crime. More information will be found 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, August 23, 2020
Location: Tudor Hall (17 Tudor Ln, Bel Air, MD 21015)
Time: 2:00 pm
Speech: Lights, Camera, Assassination: John Wilkes Booth on Stage and Screen
Speaker: Kate Taylor
Description: John Wilkes Booth’s theatrical career came to a fiery end in 1865. However, his infamy still lives in modern media, both on stage and on screen. Can an actor’s choices influence opinions about Booth’s character? Does the inclusion of Booth in someone else’s story change the narrative? How is Booth used as a trope in plot lines where he, arguably, doesn’t belong? And are there repercussions to popular media giving Booth the remembrance he so desired in life. Join Kate Taylor as she explores John Wilkes Booth in the modern media. More information will be found 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: TBD Saturday(s) in September, 2020
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: Dave is one of the narrators for the Surratt House Museum’s John Wilkes Booth Escape Route Tour. The 12 hour bus tour documents the escape of the assassin through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Information on how to register can be found here: http://www.surrattmuseum.org/booth-escape-tour
Cost: $85
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2020
Location: Tudor Hall (17 Tudor Ln, Bel Air, MD 21015)
Time: 2:00 pm
Speech: Lights, Camera, Assassination: John Wilkes Booth on Stage and Screen
Speaker: Kate Taylor
Description: John Wilkes Booth’s theatrical career came to a fiery end in 1865. However, his infamy still lives in modern media, both on stage and on screen. Can an actor’s choices influence opinions about Booth’s character? Does the inclusion of Booth in someone else’s story change the narrative? How is Booth used as a trope in plot lines where he, arguably, doesn’t belong? And are there repercussions to popular media giving Booth the remembrance he so desired in life. Join Kate Taylor as she explores John Wilkes Booth in the modern media. More information will be found 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: Saturday, October 17, 2020
Location: St. Mary’s Bryantown Cemetery (13715 Notre Dame Pl, Bryantown, MD 20617)
Time: 1:00 pm
Speech: A Grave Tour of Dr. Mudd’s Cemetery
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: While many people have visited St. Mary’s Bryantown in order to see the grave of Dr. Samuel Mudd, the cemetery is also the final resting place of many of Mudd’s relatives and neighbors. At least 15 residents of St. Mary’s testified regarding Dr. Mudd at his 1865 trial and each one had an interesting tale to tell. As part of the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum’s monthly speaker series, Dave Taylor will host a walking tour of St. Mary’s Cemetery. Learn about the stones and bones that rest in St. Mary’s Bryantown and how they connect to the doctor who set the leg of an assassin.
Cost: Free, but donations for the Dr. Mudd House Museum are always appreciated.
Date: Sunday, October 18, 2020
Location: Tudor Hall (17 Tudor Ln, Bel Air, MD 21015)
Time: 2:00 pm
Speech: Burying the Booths: Their Final Days and Funerals
Speaker: Dave Taylor
Description: The Booth family of Tudor Hall left an indelible mark on theater and American history. As each Booth shuffled off this mortal coil their deaths were widely commented on in the press. In his speech, Dave Taylor will recount the deaths and final resting places of the various members of the Booth family noting how the nation reacted to the passing of a theatrical dynasty forever tainted by a horrendous crime. More information will be found 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
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?