Your personal choice of "most tragic" character in the assassination story

[Laurie Verge]

Answer to where the Surratt conference is held: We have a very nice hotel and conference center within five minutes of Surratt House in Clinton, MD. The conference will be on the weekend of March 15-17, 2013 (our 14th year).

We open with a bus tour on Friday (priced separately) which will visit the National Museum of Health and Medicine at its new headquarters, have lunch at the Blair Mansion Inn (yes, as in Francis and Montgomery Blair), and end with a short talk and tour through the new African American Civil War Museum and Monument. We just had the curator of the museum speak at one of Surratt House's special programs, and I can honestly say that he was one of the best speakers I have ever heard - a former Marine, but right down to earth and used no notes.

There will be evening tours and a reception on Friday night at Surratt House and its James O. Hall Research Center. The conference starts bright and early with a huge breakfast buffet at the hotel, followed by five speakers and a sixth session that will be sort of a panel, but more along the lines of What Is Your Opinion On... where the audience throws questions to some experts.

We generally have an authors' hour between 4:30-5:30 on Saturday, followed by a social hour at 6 and dinner at 6:30 with program by 8 pm. This year's program will be a PowerPoint presentation on The Boothies - the wonderful gang from the 1960s-1990s who were known by James O. Hall as the Baker Street Irregulars.

On Sunday, we will have an abbreviated Booth Escape Route Tour, which will start at the hotel and proceed south to Dr. Mudd's and on to the Garrett Farm. That is also priced separately.

Surratt Society members (anyone is welcome to join) will be sent special conference packets in November. Everything will also be posted on http://www.surratt.org. You do not have to be a member of the Society to participate in any of our special programs, events, and conference. Of course, the membership fee is a whopping $10/year and includes a monthly newsletter. I'm prejudiced, but it's the best deal in town. We have over 1500 members worldwide (as far away as Australia!).

End of propaganda.