John Wilkes Booth marker stolen?

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(10-30-2014 01:15 PM)BettyO Wrote:  I have already gotten in touch with the "Powers that Be" regarding this - and let me just say that the contact person at VHS is the daughter of a highly respected historian - so she will, I'm sure has a vested interest in this affair and will get to the bottom of it -

This is so sad -- I hope they are tracked down and prosecuted!

Many years ago, before Surratt House was restored, a similar sign stood beside the road in front of the then-boarded up house. One day, the sign disappeared. Only the post remained.

Sometime in the 1980s, we were having a fresh coat of paint put on the exterior of the house; and one of the painters "knew" what had happened. Supposedly, he was not in on the heist, but he knew where our sign had ended up.

For almost a week, several young men who had gone to college in Chicago would go to the sign at night, spray WD-40 on it and try to wiggle it loose from the pole. It finally worked, and they sent it (or took it - two stories) to a favorite bar in Chicago that collected unusual signs and hung them on the walls.

I have often referred to the Surratt House having two guardian angels, James O. Hall and John C. Brennan. The latter corresponded with half the world! At that time, the U.S. Senator from Illinois Charles (again, fill in the blank - his daughter married Sen. Rockefeller...) was one of Mr. Brennan's pen pals. JCB contacted the Senator, who sent in Illinois State Troopers to retrieve the sign from the bar's wall, and had it shipped back to us.

With a little touch-up of paint, a move to our herb garden inside the fence, a pole stuck in about three feet of cement, and a sign firmly secured to the top, our sign has been happily at home ever since.