Rich Hill Photos

[John Fazio]

(09-30-2015 09:45 AM)L Verge Wrote:  

(09-30-2015 06:34 AM)John Fazio Wrote:  

(09-30-2015 05:29 AM)BettyO Wrote:  Check out Dave's new Rich Hill site for some great "new" unpublished photos of Rich Hill circa 1920s - and some great new "information" possibly involving Dr Mudd and Cox....

http://richhillfriends.org/2015/09/29/tw...rich-hill/

Betty:

My information varies slightly from the inscription (it includes directions from Dr. Mudd to Hagen's Folly, the home of William Burtles, as well as to Rich Hill), but is consistent with it. I believe Cox was complicit in the conspiracy, not to kidnap, which I and many others (Harris; Bingham; Weichmann) believe to be a myth, but to murder. He most likely knew that Booth and Herold (and perhaps Atzerodt, if he had elected to follow them) would show up on his doorstep that night. That he told Smoot he had to spend $16,000 ($224,000 in today's money) to keep his neck from being cracked indicates that his complicity was no mystery to Federal prosecutors.

John

We're on a roll, John, in agreeing with each other. Col. Cox was very influential in the underground resistance in Southern Maryland and a tough man to have against you. I dont believe that every member of the Secret Line knew who all the others were, but they had darn good suspicions -- and I bet Cox was suspicioned by a lot of them.

The only thing that would cause me to hesitate to go to Cox's house (if I were a fugitive in 1865) is the fact that the Federals were very aware of Samuel Cox, had raided his property after a report that he was storing war supplies there, and because of that nasty incident that they had with him regarding his runaway, Jack Scroggins, and the Fugitive Slave Law early in the conflict. However, the fact that the Chief Signal Agent in Southern Maryland, Thomas Jones (a man quite skilled at getting people and things across the Potomac) was Cox's foster brother would sweeten the pot for me.

Laurie:

Thanks for that information about Cox, not previously known by me. An intelligent guess is that Cox's connection with Jones also sweetened the pot for Dr. Mudd, which is why he directed the fugitives there rather than to Parson Wilmer's home, which he used as a red herring to throw Federal pursuers off the track. Wasn't it Cox who beat one of his slaves for disloyalty after giving assurances to Federals that if they handed the slave over to him, that no harm would come to the poor fellow?

John