Something to Solve

[L Verge]

I rec'd photos of correspondence related to the crucifix as well as a photo of the object today. It is fairly good-sized and likely meant to hang on a wall. The owner did not give dimensions. However, one of the letters gave a definite, solid clue. The "thief" and his wife traveled East in 1928, and visited a number of historical places. He took "this crucifix from the home of John Wilkes Booth at that time."

Mary Ann Booth left Tudor Hall after the war and rented the property until it was sold to a Samuel Kyle in 1878. Upon his death, his wife remarried, and we know her better as Ella Mahoney. Ella loved the home and maintained a small museum in one of the front rooms. She wrote a well-known book, Sketches of Tudor Hall, in 1925, and I bet that our gentleman in question read the book and visited Tudor Hall.

Ironically, Ella's great-grandson was the restoration architect when Surratt House was restored in the early-1970s. He is still alive, and I hope to be able to reach him for information. Since Asia is the only Booth that I think converted to Catholicism, I suspect that the crucifix may have belonged to her - or to Ella. Another far-out possibility is that Father Junius acquired it. He was known for his interest in world religions.