The exhumed skull of a would-be assassin, and its long journey home

[RJNorton]

Recognize anyone?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-...story.html

[Eva Elisabeth]

V-E-R-Y cool, Betty, thanks for posting, Roger!

[DanielC]

(07-04-2015 01:50 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Recognize anyone?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-...story.html

Excellent article Roger. Thank you for sharing!

I provided the coffin,” said Ownsbey, who attended the burial. “It was very nicely done.”

A very kind and compassionate act, from a very Kind,Compasionate,Thoughtful person!

[BettyO]

I really enjoyed talking to Mike Ruane, of the Washington Post for the past few weeks - very interesting gentleman. He did a wonderful job! Also - there is ANOTHER post as well, featuring John Elliott and Barry Cauchon - check it out here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/four...story.html


Thank you all - you are more than kind!

[L Verge]

Long may Michael Ruane work for the Washington Post. We have dealt with him periodically over the past several decades, and he truly is a good historian and very supportive of us in the field.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I once tried to contact him to ask where he dug out the Rosenbach report, but never received a reply.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...01576.html
I finally got the report another way (of which he was the source, too) but still no information as for where the report was dug out - I would love to know.

[LincolnToddFan]

(07-04-2015 01:50 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Recognize anyone?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-...story.html

What a pretty lady!

[Pamela]

yes, I agree, very pretty!

"In 1865, the body of the 6-foot-2 Powell was squeezed into one of the wooden gun crates prepared as coffins"

Does anyone know the dimensions of the gun crates?

[BettyO]

Good question, Pamela - I've always wondered that myself. When Powell's body was exhumed by Gawler in 1872, it was in a 4' long box - I don't think that this was the gun crate. By that time, the body had decomposed and consisted mainly, to quote the newspaper report, of "bones and dust...."

[jonathan]

I actually got a little bit of the chills reading that article. How exciting it must have been.

[richard petersen]

Pleased to report that the above mentioned article was printed in today's Chicago Tribune in Section 1 ; page 12.

Speaking of todays date July 6, can't help thinking of the events 150 years ago.

[L Verge]

The Sunday edition of the Washington Post carried both of Michael Ruane's articles on the finding of the Powell skull as well as the execution (then and now). They are in the Metro Section C if trying to locate them.

There is a photo taken from inside the courtroom looking out of a window and showing a portion of the tennis courts that now grace the site of the 1865 gallows as well as the original War College at the far end of the peninsula on which McNair is situated in D.C. (Note: The expanded college is now known as the National Defense University.)

I recognized the view immediately because I had looked out that window about thirty years ago when we were allowed to visit that room, which was then part of officers' quarters. The window has interior shutters, and the occupants told us about their experiences of trying to close the shutters because it was their child's bedroom, but they would come back to find them open. They also told of the "nice lady in black" who would come to comfort the child when it cried.

The final straw that stopped us from scoffing at the ghost stories was the one about the lady in black floating up and down the hallway before disappearing into the apartment's bathroom. We would laugh and say that the ghost enjoyed the indoor conveniences.

Mike Kauffman finally researched what was where in 1865 compared to the floor plan at that time in the 1970s or 80s. He then prepared an overlay to demonstrate the changes. We stopped laughing when his research indicated that the modern bathroom was where Mary Surratt was seated during the 1865 court.

One family told of a poltergeist experience in the basement and another called me at Surratt House and introduced himself as the next tenant to move into that apartment. He said that he understood that his family would be living with Mary Surratt and he wanted to know all about her!

I understand that there are even more stories "floating" around (pardon the pun) about the ghost of Mary Surratt at Fort McNair. She can stay there because I have enough problems with alive people without any ghosts irritating me...

[RJNorton]

Mike Person was "playing around" with the article and sent his version. Thank you, Mike!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Superb, Mike - you are so talented (and Betty looks great)! Thanks for sharing!!!

[L Verge]

Super job, Mike. Am I the only one here who is old enough to remember the old Brenda Starr, Reporter, comic strips? Betty's caricature here reminds me of red-headed Brenda.