According to the Commentary on "The Prisoner of Shark Island" DVD, an early screenplay had Mudd reproaching JWB for the assassination.
Tom

(10-08-2012 11:29 PM)Thomas Thorne Wrote:  According to the Commentary on "The Prisoner of Shark Island" DVD, an early screenplay had Mudd reproaching JWB for the assassination.
Tom

Samuel Cox, Jr. recalled that Dr. Mudd told him he had reproached JWB. See http://www.samuelmudd.com/871893-samuel-cox-jr.html

However, Cox didn't jot down his recollection of his conversation with Dr. Mudd until 16 years after it took place, so we are left to wonder how accurate his memory was.

The boat trip can be pretty bad at times, as well. From a letter wriiten by Rose Mudd, wife of Dr. Richard D. Mudd (grandson of Dr. Samuel Mudd), in December 1967, she stated the following:

"In November we had the pleasure and thrill of escorting some 32 persons to Ft. Jefferson, Florida. ***** spent a year arranging the details. Included in the group was Samuel Alexander Mudd, age 7 1/2, our grandson (Joe's son) and 10 other descendants of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd. The boat trip was very rough. It was an event which will be long remembered by those who went."

This question is for Bob Summers: Several of us have been approached over the years with photos purporting to be of Dr. Mudd in his later years. Some come very close to resembling him; but without proper provenance, we cannot be sure.

Do you know of any post-Ft. Jefferson photos taken of Dr. Sam?

I third the compliments towards Bob Summers and his impeccable site. His website and books are such wonderful references containing seemingly all of the primary sources relating to Dr. Mudd. I wish others would take the time to create similar websites of primary information about the other conspirators.

Mr. Summers also helped me extensively revise a blog post I had written about Dr. Mudd's attempted escape from Fort Jefferson. One of these days the revised version is supposed to be in the Courier.

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(10-09-2012 09:27 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  This question is for Bob Summers: Several of us have been approached over the years with photos purporting to be of Dr. Mudd in his later years. Some come very close to resembling him; but without proper provenance, we cannot be sure.

Do you know of any post-Ft. Jefferson photos taken of Dr. Sam?

I'm guessing you are referring to this image, Laurie.

I, too, find it strange that while so many of Dr. Mudd's items surivived, there are only two known images of him. Did Nettie lose other photographs when she gave them to her employer? Also, if the one image of Dr. Mudd sitting is him in the Fort Jefferson carpentry shop, how did he get a picture taken in prison?

(10-09-2012 09:27 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  This question is for Bob Summers: Several of us have been approached over the years with photos purporting to be of Dr. Mudd in his later years. Some come very close to resembling him; but without proper provenance, we cannot be sure.

Do you know of any post-Ft. Jefferson photos taken of Dr. Sam?

Sorry Laurie, I don't know of any. I think if any such photo existed, Nettie would have published it in her 1906 book. In more recent years, Dr. Richard Mudd, Louise Arehart, and other family members involved in establishing the Dr. Mudd House Museum would surely have contributed any photos they had of Dr. Mudd for display in the Museum. Nevertheless, an unknown photo of Dr. Mudd may well lie in a forgotten file drawer somewhere, just waiting to be discovered.

Thanks, Bob, I was afraid you were going to say that!

Dave - your article on Mudd's attempt to escape will be the lead article in the November issue of the Surratt Courier, which will head to the printer in the next few days. Betty's article pushed you out of line last month. Sorry.

Like you, I have also questioned the photo of Mudd at the carpentry shop. I just don't see a photographer being invited or even coming to the island to photograph any of the conspirators. One of the reasons their sentences were changed from the prison in Albany to the Dry Tortugas was to keep them as isolated from the public as possible. And, even if the photo was taken at the prison, how did Mudd have such nice civilian clothes to pose in? Something is just not right, IMO.

(10-09-2012 09:37 AM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  I third the compliments towards Bob Summers and his impeccable site. His website and books are such wonderful references containing seemingly all of the primary sources relating to Dr. Mudd. I wish others would take the time to create similar websites of primary information about the other conspirators.

Mr. Summers also helped me extensively revise a blog post I had written about Dr. Mudd's attempted escape from Fort Jefferson. One of these days the revised version is supposed to be in the Courier.

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(10-09-2012 09:27 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  This question is for Bob Summers: Several of us have been approached over the years with photos purporting to be of Dr. Mudd in his later years. Some come very close to resembling him; but without proper provenance, we cannot be sure.

Do you know of any post-Ft. Jefferson photos taken of Dr. Sam?

I'm guessing you are referring to this image, Laurie.

I, too, find it strange that while so many of Dr. Mudd's items surivived, there are only two known images of him. Did Nettie lose other photographs when she gave them to her employer? Also, if the one image of Dr. Mudd sitting is him in the Fort Jefferson carpentry shop, how did he get a picture taken in prison?

Dave, the photos Nettie lost are detailed in this newspaper article.

I suspect the photo of Dr. Mudd was the Brady Studio photo we are already familiar with.

I have always wondered about the eight Dry Tortugas pictures that Nettie refers to in the newspaper article. We know she asked Arnold for these for her 1906 book, but none were published in it, and Arnold's 1902 series of articles in the Baltimore American didn't print them either. And what possessed Arnold to return to the Dry Tortugas in 1898 anyway, if he really did?

Arnold supposedly returned to Dry Totugas in 1898? I don't remember him mentioning that in his book. I can't picture him going back there after what he wrote. Do you recall if that claim is made any where else?

(10-09-2012 11:22 AM)Gene C Wrote:  Arnold supposedly returned to Dry Totugas in 1898? I don't remember him mentioning that in his book. I can't picture him going back there after what he wrote. Do you recall if that claim is made any where else?

Gene, Nettie is the only source for this I have ever seen. She wrote a June 28, 1906 letter to Arnold asking him for "some valuable photographs of scenes at the Dry Tortugas" that he had. Her letter doesn't specifically say that Arnold took the pictures, but the newspaper article does. It even cites 1898 as the year he took them.

Bob,

Just for clarification, when do you think the two known photos of Mudd were taken?

Wasn't the top one with Mudd doing the carpentry work taken at Fort Jefferson? At least that seems to be what I've always heard....

That's the story, Betty. But it seems odd to Laurie and I that photographers would be allowed to take pictures at Fort Jefferson.

I agree with you, Dave -- but from what John Elliott told me the other day - perhaps NOT so odd!

John? Can you please reiterate?!

Unless the officers assigned to the fort had some fancy furniture and carpeting to send down to the carpentry shop - along with bath water and spiffy clothes - I just don't see this photo being taken at Fort Jefferson. To me, the table reaks of late-Victorian style especially. Did any of the officers have wives living with them on the island? That furniture looks like a wife's touch - not a working officer's quarters without the distaff.

Do prison records still exist that would show a log of who visited the island between 1865-69, especially for the purpose of photography? How long did the yellow fever epidemic last there? Surely there was no incoming during that period. Wouldn't a visitor have to have permission from the War Department? Wouldn't they have to travel by military supply ships?

Okay, Mr. Elliott, divulge your secrets!