41 Years Ago

[L Verge]

All the debate that has been going on in other threads under the Assassination topic caused me to do a little thinking back to May of 1977, when the Surratt Society sponsored its first bus tour over the escape route of John Wilkes Booth. We packed the school bus (all that we could afford then), and many of the participants were amateur authorities in the field of the assassination.

This first tour (and many more) was under the guidance of James O. Hall, who stood directly behind the driver. Seated in the row behind Hall was a teenager, who quickly got the attention of this used teacher because he kept shaking his head negatively when Hall said things. Mr. Hall certainly saw this, but he ignored it -- he had once been a teacher also - and very likely knew who this smug young man was. However, throughout the day, the young man was otherwise polite.

At one of the stops, I asked who this kid was and was told that his name was Nate Orlowek. Well that woke me up because there had just been a story in Rolling Stone about young Orlowek and his belief in the Finis Bates theory that JWB escaped and finally died in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1903.

The unending historical ping-pong game that we have been playing in several other threads here has reminded me of the Rolling Stones article. It is quite long, so I am only posting the link and hoping that most of you who are interested will take the time to read it.

I will be meeting with Frank Gorman on Tuesday, the lawyer who fended off the 1990s attempts to exhume Booth's body. Nate Orlowek initiated those attempts and failed. Frank is writing a book on his experiences with that trial and the appeals afterwards. I guarantee that Nate's name will be a topic of discussion on Tuesday.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/po...ne-229691/