William Mc Daniel in King George, VA

[SSlater]

DAVE. My source for "McDaniel", his deeds and his location, was Bill Tidwell. Later, it was shown in his CR. My next move for confirmation was The Census. McDaniel lived WHERE and WHEN, as stated in CR. Then I checked County Land Records and graveyards. Again -all OK.

In the late 1980's, I telephoned THORNTON McDaniel, here in KG (PS I have a picture of Thornton, and one of "Billy"). Thornton was living in the same area where William once lived. I related the story, as shown in CR, and asked if William really fed Booth a meal as he escape through KG. The next few words from him were a loud "NO, NO, No.(my heart sank, after a pause he said) The srvants did it. That was enough for me.

Recently, some friends of mine asked a current McDaniel, about the story that I just related here, and the 2010 McDaniel said That "he had never heard that story told by anyone in his family".

I do not accept that this negates anything that was said and done 148 years age, or 25 +/- years ago, because:
1. Was the 2010 McDaniel stating that he never heard the "Booth Story, or was he talking about Thornton's "The servants did it.
2. We are now poking into a Family History, where they surely believed that they did nothing wrong. William did not know that there had been an assassination, but when he learned that there was a shooting, he clamed-up, and laid-low.
3. We have been told, and we accept that a Blackman, Lucas, was driving the wagon that was carrying Booth. Apparently, Booth was not fed at Cleydael, or at the Lucas cabin. Was McDaniel's a normal stopping place for every Agent moving along the Secret Line? If so, Lucas would not have approached the "Boss" of the Safe-House, he would have approached the servants (I assumed to be Black). Thus, Thornton McDaniel was correct - "The servants did it".

If this story is Local Lore, I am not aware of it. I can't speak for Tidwell or Hall, but I can swear to my conversation with Thornton. Because this story is mis-referenced in the CR Index, - was this story a late add-on feature? For an event of this magnitude, I think it was not given enough, or proper, emphasis, which suggests that it was tossed-in late.

Having said all that, I will talk to Dave Gaddy, to see if he can add anything to the handling of this event. Dave just returned from an extended tour of Eastern U.S. States, visiting with family and friends, so I will give him a little time to unpack and clean out his mail box.