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02-02-2015, 07:04 PM,
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Anita
Legendary Member
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Posts: 1,616
Threads: 94
Joined: Jul 2013
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RE: Extra Credit Questions
Sorry for not posting sooner. Excellent memory! It's in Laramie.
" But why is Lincoln in Wyoming? It's because the head originally stood alongside the highest point of the old coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, at Sherman Summit, 8,878 feet above sea level. When I-80 was completed in 1969, the head was moved here -- losing a couple of hundred feet (and its key rationale for existing, really) but gaining a vast new audience.
Abe Lincoln head.
The bronze head weighs over two tons and is 13.5 feet tall. It's perched atop a 30-foot granite pedestal, ensuring that it can be seen from quite a distance, and looking uncomfortably similar to box-bound Captain Pike from Star Trek (the original series). The head is intentionally oversized on tiny shoulders, like a cartoon caricature, and seems to be sagging from its own weight.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8450
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02-04-2015, 10:29 AM,
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RE: Extra Credit Questions
(02-04-2015, 09:41 AM)RJNorton Wrote: (02-03-2015, 07:48 PM)L Verge Wrote: Who was Jim Limber? (Betty, I know you know, but please hold off on answering.)
The man who saw Booth riding by the south side of the Capitol Building (as he was escaping)?
Was he the young black boy that was "adopted" by the Davises? I know his name was Jim something and that the name was sort of weird like this one.
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02-11-2015, 01:08 PM,
(This post was last modified: 02-11-2015, 01:50 PM by Eva Elisabeth.)
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Eva Elisabeth
Hero Member
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Posts: 6,598
Threads: 69
Joined: Apr 2013
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RE: Extra Credit Questions
Brilliant, Laurie! The photo, taken in 1937, shows the barracks at Veroli, Italy, from where John Surrat purportedly escaped arrest by Papal authorities, surviving a 100-foot drop. In 1867, the towers weren't connected by a wall, but by a low balustrade.
On November 6, 1866, Lieutenant-Colonel Allet of the Commanding Zouave Battalion, Velletri, was instructed to "cause the arrest of the Zouave Watson (alias John Surratt), and have him conducted, under secure escort, to the military prison at Rome. It is of much importance that this order be executed with exactness."
The following day, Lieutenant-Colonel Allet telegraphed as follows:
"Pontifical Zouaves, Battalion Headquarters,
Velletri, November 7, 1866.
His Excellency, the General-Minister of War, Rome.
General: I have the honor to inform you that the Zouave John Watson has been arrested at Veroli, and will be taken tomorrow morning, under good escort, to Rome. While he was searched for at Trisulti, which was his garrison, he was arrested by Captain De Lambilly, at Veroli, where he was on leave.
I have the honor to be. General, your Excellency's Very humble and obedient servant, Lieut.-Col. Allet."
...and another day later:
"Velletri, 8.35 a. m., November 8 1866.
His Excellency, the General-Minister of War, Rome:
I received the following telegram from Captain Lambilly: At the moment of leaving the prison, surrounded by six men as guards, Watson plunged into the ravine, more than a hundred feet deep, which defends the prison. Fifty Zouaves are in pursuit.
Lieut.-Colonel Allet."
At four o'clock on the morning of the 8th of November a sergeant and six men knocked at the gate of the Velletri prison, which opens on a platform which overlooks the country. A balustrade prevents promenaders from falling on the rocks, situated at least thirty-five feet below. After leaving the gate of the prison Surratt made a leap and cast himself into the void, landing on a ledge of rocks projecting from the face of the mountain, where he might have been seriously injured, but gained the depths of the valley. The refuse from the barracks accumulated on the rock, and in this manner his fall was broken. Had he leaped a little farther he would have fallen into an abyss. Patrols were immediately organized, but in vain. He was tracked from Velletri to Sora and Naples, stopping at the latter place for a few days, when he left on the steamer Tripoli for Alexandria, Egypt, under the name of Walters.
(Osborn H. Oldroyd: "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln," pp. 230-232.)
Laurie, one prize matching the question would be a free bungee jump, but I'm afraid you wouldn't appreciate it. Allora ti auguro solamente una splendida giornata - so I just wish you a wonderful day!
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02-11-2015, 04:36 PM,
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L Verge
Hero Member
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Posts: 9,092
Threads: 493
Joined: Jul 2012
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RE: Extra Credit Questions
I was so sure that you were going to tell me that I had won an all-expenses-paid trip to Veroli!
About a month ago, I recounted the story of my correspondence with a young man from the Czech Republic who was very interested in the Lincoln assassination. Jan traveled the John Surratt escape route through Italy and sent pictures of Veroli and Velletri. This would have been in the mid-1980s, and it doesn't appear as though there has been much change in the scenery.
The Surratt Society has done so many Booth Escape Route Tours over the years that we have almost lost count. And, we did one Atzerodt escape route tour. I think it's time we organized a John Surratt escape route tour! It would take more than twelve hours - probably twelve days to go from Elmira, NY, into Canada, across to Liverpool, and then down the continent to the Vatican and its outposts.
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02-11-2015, 06:17 PM,
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RE: Extra Credit Questions
I'm in (as long as there is no real quarantine)!! Who will be the tour guide?!
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Extra Credit Questions
