The Assassin's Lair

[BettyO]

GREAT photo circa 1925 of Surratt Boarding House - from the wonderful Shorpy site:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/14987?utm_sou...to+Blog%29


Extremely high resolution -

[RJNorton]

Great photo, Betty. Is it known exactly when the stairs were removed?

[BettyO]

Roger -

I have an article on the "moderization" of the Surratt House -- it was sometime IN the 1920s - I'll have to find it and will post it here.

[Jim Garrett]

Great picture with the trees in full bloom/leaf. It looks like the window layout on the upper floors haven't changed, just the English basement and doorways. The rear of the building has had a ground floor addition where the kitchen is. The doorway on the right side leads directly upstairs. I've been outside in front of the building when people from the restaurant have come out to go upstairs. They come out and slide in that door so quick, you want peek inside. I've been here with both Dave Taylor, Jim Page and Rick Smith. If you look down the block and ignore the modern Chinese signage and facades, many buildings date back to the mid 1800s.

[BettyO]

The house was altered in 1925 to facilitate it's use as a business. This according to the National Park Service.

[L Verge]

Assuming that Powell was coming towards the house from the right of this photo, it seems unusual that he would not have seen or "felt" a presence under that front door stoop. I believe that a soldier or official was standing guard there while the authorities were inside the house.

[BettyO]

Quote:Assuming that Powell was coming towards the house from the right of this photo, it seems unusual that he would not have seen or "felt" a presence under that front door stoop. I believe that a soldier or official was standing guard there while the authorities were inside the house.

I thought Lew approached from the left - facing the stairs....

As far as I know, there was no gas light on H Street at that time - and as it was overcast, it must have been black as pitch.

Living in a somewhat rural neighborhood, some overcast nights I can look out my back door and it's so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face --

Interesting, though Laurie....supposedly it was reported that the carriage was parked further up the street -

Does anyone KNOW when gas street lighting was introduced (if ever) on H Street?

[L Verge]

There's a nice article on the introduction of gas lighting in D.C. here http://blog.historian4hire.net/2010/11/16/gasman/ It does not pinpoint the exact streets that would have been lit by 1865, but the entrepreneurs would have had twenty years to work on it from the time of the first introduction in a private home on Capitol Hill in 1847. That home stood near the current Union Station until the early-1900s. It would not have been that far from the Surratt boardinghouse, and H Street was a nice, middle-class neighborhood at that time.

It was an Englishman, James Crutchett, who introduced the gas lighting to replace oil lamps. He called his invention Solar Lighting - sound familiar?

Before the Civil War, The Washington Gas Light Company was organized to produce and regulate gaslight in the city. When I was growing up, their headquarters was right beside Ford's Theatre on Tenth Street. I believe that the Hard Rock Cafe now occupies that old building.

[BettyO]

Great - thanks, Laurie!

[scldrgnfly]

(04-02-2013 12:50 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Assuming that Powell was coming towards the house from the right of this photo, it seems unusual that he would not have seen or "felt" a presence under that front door stoop. I believe that a soldier or official was standing guard there while the authorities were inside the house.

I agree with Laurie about Powell perceiving a presence, but as to dealing with a concussion, I once had a severe one while skatboarding as a child, and while I was almost 2 miles away from my grandmother's, my very first memory was knocking at her front door..which I would never have done. Somehow, in my stupor, all by myself, I made it back to where I knew I would be welcome.

---

Are there any renovation, or later photos of the interior of the boarding house about?

I would love to see them. Does anyone know who first occupied the boarding house, after the trial?

---

(04-02-2013 12:50 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Assuming that Powell was coming towards the house from the right of this photo, it seems unusual that he would not have seen or "felt" a presence under that front door stoop. I believe that a soldier or official was standing guard there while the authorities were inside the house.

I agree with Laurie about Powell perceiving a presence, but as to dealing with a concussion, I once had a severe one while skatboarding as a child, and while I was almost 2 miles away from my grandmother's, my very first memory was knocking at her front door..which I would never have done. Somehow, in my stupor, all by myself, I made it back to where I knew I would be welcome.

[Laurie Verge]

The H Street house was sold at auction to John C. McKelden on June 26, 1866, to cover the Surratt family's debts. The sale realized $4700 on a property that Mr. Surratt had paid $4000 for in 1853. Those creditors who could prove their claims were paid off, and $2950.95 remained to be shared by the three heirs. HOWEVER, Anna and John got less money because they had to pay off a $1000 trust plus interest that Mrs. Surratt had procured against the H Street house in January of 1865. Isaac was in the Confederate army at the time of that trust, so he was not responsible.

None of the children got any money because the courts in Prince George's County then stepped in and decided that money was needed to pay off the Surratt debts in Maryland. From that point, we don't know what happened to the $1850.95 that remained.

As to the first occupant of the house, a 1933 article in American Motorist Magazine says that the family began seeing Mary Surratt's ghost almost immediately. They moved out and tried renting the house, which also became difficult. There are rampant stories about people seeing ghosts there over the years. I'm betting that the current sushi being served there will deter any further appearances from Mrs. Surratt and children. How do you explain to a Victorian lady that it is fine to eat raw fish?

[Jim Garrett]

(04-03-2013 12:54 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  The H Street house was sold at auction to John C. McKelden on June 26, 1866, to cover the Surratt family's debts. The sale realized $4700 on a property that Mr. Surratt had paid $4000 for in 1853. Those creditors who could prove their claims were paid off, and $2950.95 remained to be shared by the three heirs. HOWEVER, Anna and John got less money because they had to pay off a $1000 trust plus interest that Mrs. Surratt had procured against the H Street house in January of 1865. Isaac was in the Confederate army at the time of that trust, so he was not responsible.

None of the children got any money because the courts in Prince George's County then stepped in and decided that money was needed to pay off the Surratt debts in Maryland. From that point, we don't know what happened to the $1850.95 that remained.

As to the first occupant of the house, a 1933 article in American Motorist Magazine says that the family began seeing Mary Surratt's ghost almost immediately. They moved out and tried renting the house, which also became difficult. There are rampant stories about people seeing ghosts there over the years. I'm betting that the current sushi being served there will deter any further appearances from Mrs. Surratt and children. How do you explain to a Victorian lady that it is fine to eat raw fish?

I guess eating sushi may not be such a far leap from slurping raw oysters.

[LincolnMan]

(04-04-2013 06:36 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  

(04-03-2013 12:54 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  The H Street house was sold at auction to John C. McKelden on June 26, 1866, to cover the Surratt family's debts. The sale realized $4700 on a property that Mr. Surratt had paid $4000 for in 1853. Those creditors who could prove their claims were paid off, and $2950.95 remained to be shared by the three heirs. HOWEVER, Anna and John got less money because they had to pay off a $1000 trust plus interest that Mrs. Surratt had procured against the H Street house in January of 1865. Isaac was in the Confederate army at the time of that trust, so he was not responsible.

None of the children got any money because the courts in Prince George's County then stepped in and decided that money was needed to pay off the Surratt debts in Maryland. From that point, we don't know what happened to the $1850.95 that remained.

As to the first occupant of the house, a 1933 article in American Motorist Magazine says that the family began seeing Mary Surratt's ghost almost immediately. They moved out and tried renting the house, which also became difficult. There are rampant stories about people seeing ghosts there over the years. I'm betting that the current sushi being served there will deter any further appearances from Mrs. Surratt and children. How do you explain to a Victorian lady that it is fine to eat raw fish?

I guess eating sushi may not be such a far leap from slurping raw oysters.

Really good point Jim-and I personally don't eat anything raw. After eating live crawdads in Ranger School for the U.S. Army-I eat everything well done!

[Laurie Verge]

You win that round, Jim. Living in the land of oysters, I have tried to get down raw ones using every condiment I can concoct. It just doesn't work for me. Fry them, stew them, scallop them - but COOK them.

[Jim Garrett]

(04-04-2013 08:44 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  You win that round, Jim. Living in the land of oysters, I have tried to get down raw ones using every condiment I can concoct. It just doesn't work for me. Fry them, stew them, scallop them - but COOK them.

We owe a big thanks to George Harvey. He established Harvey's Restaurant here in Washington, and it lasted over 125 years. Harvey is credited with inventing the steamed oyster and Sec. and Mrs. Seward introduced the President and Mrs. Lincoln to the bi-valve. George Harvey was a cousin to the George Harvey, undertaker, as in Harvey and Marr, who handled the receiving of JWB in 1867.