I am at home for the weekend and Jim Bishop was deep-sixed in a storage box years ago when I began to read more factual books. Someone please find their copy and the note that Thomas references here. As many times as most of us have read Bishop and as many times as we have followed the expert historians through Baptist Alley, I can't believe that we were negligent enough to miss or ignore the information about a gate at the F Street entrance to the alley.

Did Bishop's citation also mention another exit onto 9th Street? The Herndon House (where Booth met with the remainder of his gang in the late afternoon of April 14) took up a big chunk of the corner of 9th and F, so I'm guessing that, if there were an exit onto 9th, it would be fairly close to E. When I was growing up and frequenting the city, 9th Street had the bawdy houses. So we bypassed it - except for a wonderful candy shop that was between F and G. Therefore, I have no mental image of what was on 9th from F to Pennsylvania.

You mentioned a Subway shop being where the alley exit would have been on 9th. What is your proof for that based on 1865 maps? This is too interesting to ignore if the sources are accurate.

P.S. Jim Bishop would personally tell you that he was not a historian. However, he sure got lots of people interested in being a Lincoln assassination historian.

(06-03-2016 06:48 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I am at home for the weekend and Jim Bishop was deep-sixed in a storage box years ago when I began to read more factual books. Someone please find their copy and the note that Thomas references here. As many times as most of us have read Bishop and as many times as we have followed the expert historians through Baptist Alley, I can't believe that we were negligent enough to miss or ignore the information about a gate at the F Street entrance to the alley.

Did Bishop's citation also mention another exit onto 9th Street? The Herndon House (where Booth met with the remainder of his gang in the late afternoon of April 14) took up a big chunk of the corner of 9th and F, so I'm guessing that, if there were an exit onto 9th, it would be fairly close to E. When I was growing up and frequenting the city, 9th Street had the bawdy houses. So we bypassed it - except for a wonderful candy shop that was between F and G. Therefore, I have no mental image of what was on 9th from F to Pennsylvania.

You mentioned a Subway shop being where the alley exit would have been on 9th. What is your proof for that based on 1865 maps? This is too interesting to ignore if the sources are accurate.

P.S. Jim Bishop would personally tell you that he was not a historian. However, he sure got lots of people interested in being a Lincoln assassination historian.

Thanks for your input Laurie. The Subway restaurant faces onto 9th Street. We were facing the back of the modern building that it occupies. As for the book reference. I emailed screencaps of the pages the fact is on in my ebook copy of "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" to Roger. I have no idea what pamphlet Bishop was talking about, so I will take time to research that instead of coughing up the exacta at Pimlico this weekend. As for the Baptist Alley layout, I think Bishop may have been referring to an exit in between one of the buildings south of the Herndon House that nobody spotted on historical maps. I will email the Ford's Theater collections manager and the head Park Ranger to see if I can prove everyone that Bishop was correct.

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I left phone messages with collections manager Heather Hoagland and park ranger Roger Powell to see if I could get access to find the pamphlet Bishop was referring to. I am waiting for a call back.

"Another 'small' fact is that most writers assumed that Booth, in his escape from the alley behind Ford's Theatre, spurred his mare up the alley to F Street, and turned right. It did not occur to me to question this until I learned, in an old document, that a wooden gate, used as a billboard, closed the F Street exit and that the assassin would have had to ride up the alley, halt, dismount, open the gate, and then flee. In Ford's Theatre, a National Parks guard told me that the alley, in 1865, formed a T, and that John Wilkes Booth was aware of the gate at F Street and had not used it, turning instead down the other leg of the alley to Ninth Street, and thence right to Pennsylvania Avenue. In the library at the back of Ford's Theatre, this guard had an old government pamphlet which proved the point." - Jim Bishop, The Day Lincoln Was Shot, 3.

Here are the pages from Jim Bishop's book sent by Thomas:

What does this say about Mike Kauffman's contention that Booth broke his leg in a fall with his horse after leaving Washington? Food for thought. Getting on his cayuse with a broken leg is one thing but having to dismount to open a gate is quite another. As for doing it while mounted, has anyone tried that with a spooky broomtail in a narrow alley? Getting his horse to approach such a gate might have been problematic.

Excellent points, Bill, and a fantastic find, Thomas! Thank you to Reignette for the quick response also. Now, let's hope that Ford's Theatre can produce that old pamphlet, which would come close to being a primary source. Bishop's explanation does contain one error: Fleeing up the alley, he would have had to turn left to get to F Street and then right down F Street to reach the Avenue. Bishop just includes the right turn on F, not the left turn to continue out of the alley before reaching F - and the gate.

To some of the youngsters in this field, this may not seem like a big deal, but after 151 years of research, every little detail that tells us something new has significance. I never paid attention to any testimony from Mr. Stewart, the "tallest man" in D.C. at the time, who chased after Booth, gave as to whether Booth turned onto F Street of continued to the 9th Street exit. Any help from that quarter? Was Peanuts able to give any details?

Very interesting information, Thomas-- thank you for sharing it with all of us!

---------------------------------------

Laurie-- I am glad you mentioned the left turn Booth would have made in order to ride up Baptist Alley. I remember, the importance of Booth's left turn really struck me the very first time I walked down Baptist Alley. It was something I took special notice to because I did not recall it being mentioned in many books. That, however, was before Arthur Loux's Day-by-Day was available to the public, and Booth's left turn onto Baptist Alley and then his right turn onto F street is clearly mentioned in chapter 10.

(06-04-2016 09:40 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Excellent points, Bill, and a fantastic find, Thomas! Thank you to Reignette for the quick response also. Now, let's hope that Ford's Theatre can produce that old pamphlet, which would come close to being a primary source. Bishop's explanation does contain one error: Fleeing up the alley, he would have had to turn left to get to F Street and then right down F Street to reach the Avenue. Bishop just includes the right turn on F, not the left turn to continue out of the alley before reaching F - and the gate.

To some of the youngsters in this field, this may not seem like a big deal, but after 151 years of research, every little detail that tells us something new has significance. I never paid attention to any testimony from Mr. Stewart, the "tallest man" in D.C. at the time, who chased after Booth, gave as to whether Booth turned onto F Street of continued to the 9th Street exit. Any help from that quarter? Was Peanuts able to give any details?

"...I continued after him until he disappeared in the dark. My impression is that he went out the alleyway into F Street..."

p1015 Examination of John B. Stewart

"...He rode off down the alley, but I could not tell which way he turned..."

p141 John C. Bohran "Peanut John"

Both in The Lincoln Assassination: The Evidence, Edwards and Steers

(06-04-2016 09:40 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Excellent points, Bill, and a fantastic find, Thomas! Thank you to Reignette for the quick response also. Now, let's hope that Ford's Theatre can produce that old pamphlet, which would come close to being a primary source. Bishop's explanation does contain one error: Fleeing up the alley, he would have had to turn left to get to F Street and then right down F Street to reach the Avenue. Bishop just includes the right turn on F, not the left turn to continue out of the alley before reaching F - and the gate.

To some of the youngsters in this field, this may not seem like a big deal, but after 151 years of research, every little detail that tells us something new has significance. I never paid attention to any testimony from Mr. Stewart, the "tallest man" in D.C. at the time, who chased after Booth, gave as to whether Booth turned onto F Street of continued to the 9th Street exit. Any help from that quarter? Was Peanuts able to give any details?

I'm making an appointment to go through the archives to look for the pamphlet and for photos of Ford's when it was a Lincoln Museum.

Make sure to get the date that the pamphlet was published, who the sources of information for it were, any pertinent photos, and of course, any other juicy history that might also be in that pamphlet.

Here's an article from the New York Times that talks about the gate.

"According to Dr. Steers, Booth and his mare turned left from Baptist Alley into what is known as Public Alley, then through an open gate into F Street, midway between Ninth and 10th Streets.

"However, Jim Bishop, in his book ''The Day Lincoln Was Shot,'' said Booth had shunned Public Alley because of the gate and instead had ridden into Ninth Street, a block behind the theater.

"Dr. Steers maintains that careful research, including testimony at the trial of conspirators implicated in the assassination plot, shows that Booth had seen to it that the F Street gate was left open that night and that he had used that route of escape, turning right into F Street. The gate is no longer there."

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/13/us/ret...assin.html

Jim Bishop's research papers are at St. Bonaventure University.

"After 25 years of research, 25 notebooks filled with information, and reading 7 million words worth of research, Jim Bishop's book was ready for publication."

http://web.sbu.edu/friedsam/archives/jim...incoln.htm

(06-03-2016 04:13 PM)Thomas Kearney Wrote:  

(06-03-2016 02:10 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thomas, in the video you make some claims that were new to me and I am curious as for from what sources exactly they come from - I'd love to read these.

1. E.g. that Booth barred the presidential box’s hallway door with a piece from a piano bench - all I've remember reading so far is that it was from a wooden music stand. Where does the piano bench "origin"?

2. As for  Baptist Alley, you claim (there's a pamphlet) that Booth had to dismount and unlatch a gate at the F Street opening to the Alley in order to enter, and that, when escaping this, he supposedly by-passed the gate by turning right, exiting onto 9th Street.

I've never read this either (but admittedly am no expert). Is there any written source as for the gate? I'd like to read and learn more. (Where did you get the information from otherwise?) It seems amazing that it's not more "commonly" told. Didn't he turn left at all?

Thanks for any further information and enlightenment on this!!

Eva,

The alley part is in the author's note at the beginning of Jim Bishop's classic "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" so I was able to draw from the description of how the alley looked in 1865. Booth likely made a right turn onto 9th Street. As for the piano bench, that is a mystery. I'll have to look into it.

Thank you, Thomas - I cannot believe it, I overlooked or forgot to read this preface!!! I would have highlighted this point, but the preface is all virgin! And this is even one of my favorite books!

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(06-04-2016 05:56 AM)Wild Bill Wrote:  What does this say about Mike Kauffman's contention that Booth broke his leg in a fall with his horse after leaving Washington? Food for thought. Getting on his cayuse with a broken leg is one thing but having to dismount to open a gate is quite another. As for doing it while mounted, has anyone tried that with a spooky broomtail in a narrow alley? Getting his horse to approach such a gate might have been problematic.

IMO it would have born the risk to waste precious time at all with a "spooky broomtail". Horeses smell excitement (Booth certainly was), and this would have increased her nervousness and make her more difficult to handle in such tasks.

I think Linda Has turned us into the correct path by emphasizing Ed Steer's assertion that the gate was intentionally, one way or another, left open that night

(06-04-2016 10:14 PM)Linda Anderson Wrote:  Here's an article from the New York Times that talks about the gate.

"According to Dr. Steers, Booth and his mare turned left from Baptist Alley into what is known as Public Alley, then through an open gate into F Street, midway between Ninth and 10th Streets.

"However, Jim Bishop, in his book ''The Day Lincoln Was Shot,'' said Booth had shunned Public Alley because of the gate and instead had ridden into Ninth Street, a block behind the theater.

"Dr. Steers maintains that careful research, including testimony at the trial of conspirators implicated in the assassination plot, shows that Booth had seen to it that the F Street gate was left open that night and that he had used that route of escape, turning right into F Street. The gate is no longer there."

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/13/us/ret...assin.html

Jim Bishop's research papers are at St. Bonaventure University.

"After 25 years of research, 25 notebooks filled with information, and reading 7 million words worth of research, Jim Bishop's book was ready for publication."

http://web.sbu.edu/friedsam/archives/jim...incoln.htm

Interesting find, Linda. Joan Chaconas of Surratt House was Ed's partner in Marker Tours (and had been the coordinator for the Surratt tours over the escape route for nearly ten years before partnering with him). She was the first one I asked about the F Street gate when Thomas posted his discovery. She had never heard of such a thing.

I'll try to have a search done of the Hall files because everyone who has ever attempted to narrate tours (or write on the topic) over the escape route has depended heavily on the research that he did.

It also stands to reason that Booth would have known about the gate well in advance, since he had a horse stored in that alley and was a frequent visitor to the theatre. If there were a gate, he would surely have secured it in the open position.

(06-05-2016 02:50 PM)L Verge Wrote:  It also stands to reason that Booth would have known about the gate well in advance, since he had a horse stored in that alley and was a frequent visitor to the theatre. If there were a gate, he would surely have secured it in the open position.

Most logical point IMO. Like he ensured to be able to lock the door of the box and have a fast horse ready to go, and everything else. He certainly wouldn't have planned to waste precious time on opening the gate if he could prevent.

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(06-03-2016 05:46 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is part of John T. Ford's testimony at John Surratt's trial in 1867:

Mr. Bradley:

Q. Look at the stick, [the bar used on the night of the assassination to close the door, heretofore placed in evidence,] and state whether you have seen it; and if so, explain what you know about it.

A. I remember seeing this on the assassination trials, or the military trial.

Q. That is the stick exhibited there as the stick found in that place fastening the door.

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Now state whether there were any such sticks used in that box.

A. After my attention was called to this stick, I recognized its prior use at once before it was used for fastening the door. It is an upright of a music stand. If I may be permitted to state, on the 22d of February, the Treasury regiment — the regiment belonging to the Treasury Department, had a ball at the theater; and near that box in the dress circle the band was stationed for cotillion music. We found late in the afternoon that some music stands were needed, and some were hastily made. I believe this to be a part of one of those music stands.

Q. Can you tell of what material that is?

A. It is pine.

Q. What kind of pine?

A. I believe, white pine.

Q. You are certain it is not oak or North Carolina pine?

A. I am not much of a judge of wood, but I would venture an opinion upon that.

Q. You see that a portion of this has been sawed off. Explain how it was used?

A. A block eight or ten inches square was fastened at one end for the base, and on the bevel part of it, another board was fastened to hold the music.

The center "pillar" of a music stand looks perfect to me for the purpose:
   
I would think the legs of a piano bench too short, any other parts not suitable as for the shape.