The Mad Hatter

[Laurie Verge]

Tom mentioned earlier about speaking in the Washington, D.C. area while the Beltway Sniper was still on the loose. Today is probably an inappropriate time to bring this subject up because of what has just happened in Colorado, but the Beltway Sniper had several ties to the area around Surratt House.

His wife lived within a mile of our museum, his first shooting victim, who survived, was at a liquor store in the village of T.B. (about five miles south of us), and another one who survived was shot in the parking lot of a hometown Italian restaurant, also within a mile of Surratt House, that we often visited after Surratt meetings. The man who was shot had his arm permanently disabled and he ended up selling the restaurant and moving out of the area because of the trauma.

Memories bring back the thought of what the members of the Kansas state legislature must have felt like when Corbett threatened the room after hearing blasphemy from someone.