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L Verge · 10-01-2015, 08:48 AM

(10-01-2015 02:59 AM)John Fazio Wrote:
(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(09-30-2015 05:29 AM)BettyO Wrote: Check out Dave's new Rich Hill site for some great "new" unpublished photos of Rich Hill circa 1920s - and some great new "information" possibly involving Dr Mudd and Cox....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

The "Colonel" in Col. Cox referred to his early role in heading up the local militia that protected his home county even before the war. Mike Kauffman used to refer to the rank as equal to KFC's "Col." Sanders. There has been a legend around for a very long time that there might still be rifles buried on the Rich Hill property from the Civil War period. As many times as those fields have been tilled for tobacco planting, however, I seriously doubt it.

Jack Scroggins was Cox's unfortunate slave that met his death because of fleeing to Union lines. Sad story told well in Ed Steers's Blood on the Moon.

John - did your research uncover anything about William Burtles (Bertles)? Who told Booth to seek him out? I know the general location of where he lived, and there is another man in that vicinity that may have been part of the secret line also -- any info on Joseph Cantor/Canter?

As for Parson Wilmer, his being mentioned by either Booth, Herold, or Mudd has to be a joke. Parson Wilmer was a staunch Unionist, whose siding with the Federals split his congregation to the point where it almost destroyed the parish -- especially when he was appointed a chaplain for Union forces by Edwin Stanton. I think there were five men in all of Charles County who voted for Lincoln in the 1860 election (four more than in our Prince George's County), and Parson Wilmer had to be one of them.

My personal opinion is that Dr. Mudd told the troops that Booth wanted to go to Parson Wilmer's in order to throw them off the real trail - and also to try and get the Episcopal priest in trouble for being a "traitor to the cause" during the war.