Louis Weichmann

[L Verge]

Michael Schein did quite a bit of research at the Surratt's Hall Center - making a long trek from his home in Washington State on 3-4 occasions. I have skimmed his book only at this point (too many books coming at me fast and furious -- I love it!). We sell it in the gift shop also. From what I can tell, however, it is nicely done and well-referenced throughout.

I read Guy Moore's work forty years ago. It is basically his graduate thesis put in book form after his wife and professors encouraged him to get it published for the masses. We depended heavily on it and the mountains of research done by Mr. Hall in developing our interpretive plans for Surratt House. Guy Moore is still alive, I believe, and still a member of the Surratt Society. I will say that we "fanatics" found his work a breath of fresh air in the 1970s, when Helen Jones Campbell was the only one who had published on the Surratts. Her works leave a lot to be desired.

As for Henri Beaumont de Ste. Marie, I have placed little faith in what he had to say since his role in the story appears to be more of the bounty hunter. If I remember correctly, though, he was closer friends with Weichmann before the assassination than he was with John Surratt. They spent quite some time together in Little Texas (or Ellengowan or whatever that territory in the Maryland hinterlands was called) after Surratt headed home. Didn't he also spend time with Louis in D.C.?

Herb - good question, because he was in an excellent position to be one. I asked Mr. Hall once why the feds didn't descend on the Surratt boardinghouse once Weichmann supposedly reported strange happenings there. He said that they likely put the house on the "to be watched" list - along with dozens of others. Could Louis have been the "watchman?" Is that how the authorities knew to come so quickly to H Street on the night of the assassination? Don't you love the intrigue? Now, if we could just find the missing pieces of the puzzle that could put all our theories into place - either in history or into the trash!