James J. Gifford

[L Verge]

That is the first time that I have heard the proposition that Gifford could have been involved. Gifford knew the Booths through the building of their home, Tudor Hall, in Bel Air, Maryland, years before and was involved with them through the Ford brothers' theaters in D.C. and Baltimore. I think more needs to be known about Mr. Gifford.

As a side bar: We know that the rest of the family supposedly supported the Union, but I have often wondered what Junius Brutus Booth, The Elder, would have thought of the Civil War, Lincoln, and the rise of a strong, central government. For some reason, I just think that he would have supported the republicanism of son John...