Surratt Courier

[L Verge]

I should have mentioned that those of you who own Stanley Kimmel's Mad Booths of Maryland should be able to find a photo of the old Huntt store ca. 1935 within its pages. Mr. Kimmel photographed much of the village when he was researching his book, and my uncle was tending the store when Kimmel visited and had a long talk with him on the Huntt family story of their run-in with the assassination.

I believe that Dave Taylor has other photos of the village taken by Kimmel at that time. There was also a photo taken by Oldroyd while standing beside the store and focusing northward. It shows the second structure on the spot where John Chandler Thompson's hotel had been in 1865, when Herold spent the night of March 17-18 there. A small portion of the Huntts' home and ice house can be seen in that photo, but it might need enlargement to get details.

A note on the T.B. Hotel: Mr. Thompson's daughter-in-law did not enjoy living in a country village and wanted to move to D.C. The story is that she deliberately set fire to the original hotel building in order to necessitate a move. It didn't work - Mr. Thompson rebuilt on the exact same spot! My grandmother, born in 1874, remembered John Chandler Thompson very well and, as a child, she always thought that he was Santa Claus. She said he fit the Thomas Nast figure perfectly.