Frederick Demond

[Susan Higginbotham]

(08-08-2015 04:05 PM)Pamela Wrote:  

(08-08-2015 12:52 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(08-08-2015 10:52 AM)Pamela Wrote:  Has anyone visited Veroli, Italy to check out that cliff and ledge and get to the bottom (pun intended) of the great Surratt escape leap? It sounds like a great reason, among thousands of others, to visit Italy.

Michael Schein, author of the 2015 book on John Surratt, Jr.: The Lincoln Assassin Who Got Away, did visit Veroli and took his own photos of the area, including a view looking down on the old barracks/prison, a picture of a cell door, and a very impressive one looking down the steep enbankment near where Surratt is believed to have leapt. Today, he would have landed in the middle of a highway.

Michael also presents some good primary source materials to support Surratt's leap into what could have been abyss.

I should read his book because I agree that the story of Surratt's jump is hard to believe. 35 ft is a deadly height.

According to sources cited by Schein, Surratt claimed it was only about 12 feet. A report at the time gave an estimate of 23 feet, and indicated that he landed in a pile of dung, which cushioned his fall.