Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy Trial Jeopardy

[Carolyn Mitchell]

I just stumbled upon this site: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ft...pardy.html

Who wants to play?

[RJNorton]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting, Carolyn!

I have had previous contacts with the gentleman who operates that website. There is an amazing amount of research there.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ft...trials.htm

[L Verge]

I have used this site as a resource on several occasions.

[Gene C]

thanks for posting Carolyn.
I was doing pretty good until I missed the Final Jeopardy question, What were John Wilkes Booth's dying words?

I was sure it was "Don't worry about me, is Laurie OK?"

[L Verge]

I love you, Gene.

[Gene C]

Thanks, and the feeling is mutual.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I wasn't aware of the number 2 (nor any at all) being "assigned by the Confederate Secret Service to the large infected trunk of clothes" etc. Could someone please fill me in on the meaning/purpose if there was any to it? Thanks!

[L Verge]

That is one of two that I missed, Eva. I had never heard of it either.

[Eva Elisabeth]

May I ask, which is #2?

[Leon Greene]

Dr. Luke Pryor Blackburn was the Kentucky physician who plotted to infect the North with yellow fever, an early form of germ warfare. The plan was to distribute items contaminated with yellow fever in Northern cities. His first shipment of clothing and bedding from yellow fever patients in Bermuda was contained in five trunks and a small valise. These items were shipped from Bermuda in March 1864. Blackburn himself referred to "Big #2" as the largest and most deadly of the trunks, able to kill a man at 60 yards. Thus, "Big #2" is a reference to Blackburn's own description of the size and the lethality of the contents of that trunk. The Confederate Secret Service simply repeated the moniker. Little did Blackburn know that mosquitoes were needed to infect a person with yellow fever. They were the "unindicted co-conspirators," so to speak. While Blackburn's efforts were unsuccessful, many people attributed some yellow fever epidemics to his evil deeds. It wasn't until about 1901 that Dr. Walter Reed discovered the role of the mosquito in the transmission of yellow fever.

[richard petersen]

Thank you; I finally found a game I can win within my family.

I was not aware of the #2 trunk. Thanks for the research.

[L Verge]

I knew the story of Dr. Blackburn and his messy trunks, but don't remember ever reading about a numbering system. Thanks for my lesson of the day.

The person who provided us with this lesson knows the history of Dr. Blackburn very well because he has a massive ms awaiting a publisher entitled Yellow Fever, With Love, From Bermuda. Thank you, Dr. Greene.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you so much for the information from me, too, Dr. Greene!

[wpbinzel]

Dr. Greene's reference to Walter Reed reminded me of an odd fact; Dr. Reed died in 1902 from a ruptured appendix and the resulting peritonitis. He was 51.

[L Verge]

And keeping it in the Lincoln assassination field: Walter Reed did much of his yellow fever experimentation at the post that is now Fort McNair (last "home" to the Lincoln conspirators). The swampy areas of the southern quadrants of D.C. were perfect for his investigations of mosquitos.

He also died on the post - A general hospital, predecessor to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was located at the post from 1898 until 1909. Maj. Walter Reed found the area's marshlands an excellent site for his research on malaria. Reed's work contributed to the discovery of the cause of yellow fever. The major died of peritonitis after an appendectomy at the post in 1902. The post dispensary and the visiting officers' quarters now occupy the buildings where Reed worked and died. Source from Ft. McNair posting online.

Seems we can always find some link to the Lincoln assassination story. Six degrees...