Wooden chairs on the gallows

[L Verge]

Note: The "(er, Laurie)" is in reference to my disbelief concerning hairs from Mrs. Surratt's head that are now being offered in various circles with the claim that they were cut while her body was being cleared of the ropes in order to be placed in the pine boxes next to the gallows.

Laurie believes Christian Rath's claim that only he touched the dead Mrs. Surratt. Despite being the executioner, I believe that Rath was an honorable man and did what he said he did. Surratt House has been offered so many locks of Mary's hair over the past ten years or so (at a hefty price), that I am very jaded on the subject.

The only hair that we have provenance for relative to Mary Surratt is the lock that was given to Anna in 1869 at the re-interment at Mt. Olivet. The museum has on display a delicate hair bracelet that belonged to Anna and was donated to us by a great-grandchild. We would love to speculate that it contains that lock of hair, but the family doesn't know and neither do we.