Thomas A Jones

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thanks to the both of you for sharing and posting! I've always wanted to read the Owen's statement because John Howard recommended it on the Booth tour to everyone interested in the fate of the horses (which I am).

[Wild Bill]

Eva, I have asked Rick to send Roger his articles on Horse faking and anything else he thinks is relevant

[Jim Page]

I've never believed that Booth and Herold killed their horses.

A horse is a darned big thing to dispose of and they are valuable. Giving them to someone to take away would be much easier and could even have the effect of drawing attention to a different area.

Of course, there were likely so many horses in that part of Maryland that it would take weeks or months to check them all.

The animal lover side of me may be coloring that belief.

--Jim

[L Verge]

Horse faking is absolutely amazing. I had never heard of it until Bill and Rick gave me a lesson on how it is done.

[Jim Page]

(06-18-2015 06:54 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Horse faking is absolutely amazing. I had never heard of it until Bill and Rick gave me a lesson on how it is done.

The Sherlock Holmes story "Silver Blaze" was the only time I had heard the term until I started reading about Booth and Herold's horses. Holmes stated, "Oh, an old horse-faker like him has many a dodge.”

I suppose it would have been similar to crooks today changing the looks of a stolen car.

--Jim

[Rick Smith]

Bill, Thanks very much for asking. I will send it to Roger in the morning. All my files are at my office in Washington.

Jim, I reference "Silver Blaze" in my article as an example of a literary reference to the ancient art of horse faking.

Eva, Thanks for your interest in the subject. I wrote an article on the fate of the horses also.

Rick

---

Laurie,

Just remembered a conversation we had at your office about the horse faking topic and that you said Mr. Hall always felt that the horses were not destroyed and I certainly agree with him.

Rick

[L Verge]

(06-18-2015 07:07 PM)Rick Smith Wrote:  Bill, Thanks very much for asking. I will send it to Roger in the morning. All my files are at my office in Washington.

Jim, I reference "Silver Blaze" in my article as an example of a literary reference to the ancient art of horse faking.

Eva, Thanks for your interest in the subject. I wrote an article on the fate of the horses also.

Rick

---

Laurie,

Just remembered a conversation we had at your office about the horse faking topic and that you said Mr. Hall always felt that the horses were not destroyed and I certainly agree with him.

Rick

When I was growing up, Southern Maryland inhabitants were largely native to the area dating back many generations. Most of them knew the story of the Lincoln assassination and the escape of Booth and Herold. 95% of them scoffed at the idea that those horses were destroyed. No one could or would divulge where they might have ended up, but it sure wasn't as buzzard meat in the shallow, non-quicksand region of the Zekiah Swamp. By the way, the swamp is pretty nasty looking, but people actually lived in parts of it in 1865 - just like they do in the bayou country further south.

I think we've discussed reasons why it didn't happen the way history (and probably the subjects recording it) say: 1. Protect your friends, comrades, and family to the bitter end. 2. The so called shots would have been heard for miles and those Yankees would be aheading in the direction of the sound. 3. Once you shot (or cut the throat -- another version) of the first horse, you would have one heck of a time controlling the second one. 4. A slit throat causes lots of blood, and the first whiff of the companion horse would cause it to panic. 5. Rotting horse flesh attracts many buzzards and crows that also attract pursuers' attention. 6. You don't destroy valuable horse flesh, especially in an area where the Yankees had confiscated almost everyone's horses (and it was time for spring planting). 7. Even one thought might have been the pure satisfaction that the Confederate sympathizers had in hiding those horses so the enemy couldn't find them.

[Rick Smith]

Laurie,

Well said.

I grew up on a Thoroughbred horse farm. They are expensive and lots of work; 90% work and 10% pleasure, my father always said. Not a disposable item. Too much invested. I had always thought the horses lived on long after Booth & Herold died.

And, as you say, the Zechia is not a swamp full of quick sand and deep, miry bog pits. Try sinking an 1,100 lb. animal in shallow water. It don't work. And Wild Bill knows exactly what happens when you try to sink a dead horse or mule in deep water; they will eventually float.

This is all Jones again, banking on yankee readers long after the event not thinking too much about things, just doing his job and doing it very, very well.

Rick

---

Forgot to mention; all the above led me to writing the articles about the horses.

Wild Bill even made scenes of my articles and used them in his book, "The Last Confederate Heroes." That was the nicest compliment I have ever received.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(06-18-2015 07:07 PM)Rick Smith Wrote:  Bill, Thanks very much for asking. I will send it to Roger in the morning. All my files are at my office in Washington.

Jim, I reference "Silver Blaze" in my article as an example of a literary reference to the ancient art of horse faking.

Eva, Thanks for your interest in the subject. I wrote an article on the fate of the horses also.

Rick

Bill and Rick, thank you so much.

[J. Beckert]

Rick took Bill Richter and myself to the site of the Adams Tavern in 2013. I find the story fascinating and I think it comes as close to fact as any theory regarding assassination lore possibly can. There are simply too many facts and details that add up and make perfect sense. Great article and a fine job, Rick. And I've got three words for anyone who doubts you, son....

[Rick Smith]

(06-19-2015 05:31 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  Rick took Bill Richter and myself to the site of the Adams Tavern in 2013. I find the story fascinating and I think it comes as close to fact as any theory regarding assassination lore possibly can. There are simply too many facts and details that add up and make perfect sense. Great article and a fine job, Rick. And I've got three words for anyone who doubts you, son....

Thanks, Joe. That was a great time we had in March of 2013.

[RJNorton]

(06-19-2015 02:25 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(06-18-2015 07:07 PM)Rick Smith Wrote:  Bill, Thanks very much for asking. I will send it to Roger in the morning. All my files are at my office in Washington.

Jim, I reference "Silver Blaze" in my article as an example of a literary reference to the ancient art of horse faking.

Eva, Thanks for your interest in the subject. I wrote an article on the fate of the horses also.

Rick

Bill and Rick, thank you so much. Truth to be told, Laurie mentioned your horse faking article about a year ago and I begged her to send me a copy, which she kindly did. I read, enjoyed and "worked through" it (i.e. highlighted) and properly filed it in one of my folders. I have been searching like crazy now, I cannot find where (under which topic) I filed it (should have scanned it...). So I'd gladly like to "get access" again (and after that I'll find my copy, I guess...). Also I'd like to read your article on the fate of the horses. Thanks!

Rick was kind enough to send his article so everyone could read it. I thanked Rick yesterday, and I thank him again today! The article was published in the Surratt Courier, Volume XXXIII, No. 4​, April 2008.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Horse Faking

By

Rick Smith

In the Conan Doyle novel, “Silver Blaze”, while explaining to Dr. Watson how a well known and very valuable racehorse that he has recently recovered could be successfully hidden for such a period of time, Sherlock Holmes says of the thief, “Oh, an old horse-faker like him has many a dodge.”

And later, having informed the horse’s owner, Colonel Ross, that he is indeed standing in the presence of his horse, Ross cries, “That is not my horse! That beast has not a white hair upon its body!”

Later still, after Ross’s horse, Silver Blaze, wins the stakes, Holmes says, “Let us all go round and have a look at the horse together.” And then, “Here he is. You have only to wash his face and his leg in spirits of wine, and you will find that he is the same old Silver Blaze as ever.”

“Mr. Holmes, you take my breath away!” the Colonel exclaims.

Holmes concludes, “I found him in the hands of a faker and took the liberty of running him just as he was sent over.”

Horse faking. The subtle art of altering the appearance of a horse, whether for good or evil, is a practice that is as ancient as the horse itself. Stories of thieves altering a horse’s appearance abound in the literature of antiquity and are the topic of modern day newspaper headlines.

For example, in March of 2003, a Florida stable was raided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department and found to contain stolen and altered show horses, one of which was valued at over $100,000. One horse, a well-known 16 hand Oldenburg, was disguised in an effort to prevent it from being recognized. A large white blaze running from its forehead and down its muzzle, and a large, star shaped scar on its shoulder had been sprayed with brown Rustoleum. Another animal’s legs and hooves had been painted. The thief, a Chicago veterinarian, was arrested and charged with grand larceny. These horses had been missing since October of 2002.

My friend, William Richter, of Tucson, Arizona, who is a skilled farrier [one who shoes and otherwise tends to horses feet/hooves] and knowledgeable horseman, as well as being a member of the Surratt Society, tells me that not only are there methods by which physical appearance may be altered, but there are ways to change the conformation [stance & movement or gait] of the horse by various means which render the animal temporarily sound or temporarily lame.

All of the forgoing is by way of introduction to a theory regarding the horses that were ridden by John Wilkes Booth and David Herold from Washington City the night of April 14, 1865.

The “accepted” version of history as regards the fate of the bay mare and the roan gelding which carried Booth and Herold out of the City that eventful night is as follows:

While giving them instructions relative to their safety prior to crossing into Virginia, Thomas Jones cautioned Booth and Herold that they would not be allowed to have a fire at their place of hiding, to be patient and stay quiet, and that their horses would have to be disposed of due to the risk they posed were they to be seen or heard. Then, depending on which version you believe, either David Herold, Thomas Jones, or Frank Robey led the horses deep into the Zechiah Swamp, shot them, and sunk the carcasses into the mire.

I would respectfully take several issues with this view:

* If a fire and the nickering of horses would attract unwanted attention, then surely two gunshots would do the same. Especially if the reports came from a .52 caliber Spencer.

* Is the Zechiah Swamp of a nature that it would contain such deep mires and quick sand bogs of the kind as would be capable of sinking two 1,200 pound animals out of sight? I have seen no evidence to suggest that the Zechiah is such a swamp.

* The idea that men of that time, who understood horses, would destroy such valuable animals seems absurd, especially when there were other means of making those horses “disappear” rather than to have them put down.

* James Owens gives a firsthand account of two men riding into the village of Newport, Maryland and describes not only the men, but the horses ridden by them. The description of the horses given by Owens is an exact description of the horses ridden from Washington City by Booth and Herold. For those of you who have not read the Owens statement, or are otherwise not aware of it, he was giving a description of two men and their horses as they appeared in Newport after the time that the animals in question were supposed to have been destroyed.

Here is what I believe, based in part on my reading of the Owens statement:

* Booth and Herold leave their hiding place in the pine thicket near Rich Hill, and are led to Newport, a distance of seven miles, on horseback by seventeen year old Samuel Cox, Jr. In his statement to Colonel Wells, Owens mentions the two men riding into Newport on Thursday night [April 20] “It was pretty late, nearly supper time, when two men came there on horseback, accompanied by a white boy…”

* Booth and Herold are hidden for about twenty-four hours in a pine thicket near the Adams Tavern, and according to Owens, they take meals at the tavern. “They stayed in the pines near the house until next evening, which was Friday night [April 21] and were at the house on and off at different times; they did not lodge at Mr. Adams’, but only got meals there.”

* Booth and Herold leave Newport after dark the day after arriving [April 21]. Says Owens, “They left in the evening after dark, and went towards Pope’s Creek where Thomas Jones lives.”

* Owens states further, “Their horses came back this way [to Newport] in charge of the boy. If I were to try to find them [the horses] I would inquire of the people who saw them……”

* The horses are then stabled at Adams’s, at least for the time being. Both animals are faked, or altered with dye to cover or otherwise disguise any distinguishing points, or physical features; such as the star on the bay mare’s forehead, or to darken the roan gelding’s light colored coat; their hooves are painted; their teeth are filed, and they are led to another location to await the conclusion of events in hiding. Or, they may have remained stabled at Adams’.

Recently, I was told that James O. Hall believed those two horses lived a good, long life.

I see absolutely no reason to disagree.

[Wild Bill]

To bore everyone with my usual citation binges, on horse faking, see Bruce Catton, Army of the Potomac: Glory Road, 246, quoting Benjamin Crowninshield, History of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 294-95, on how people of the time altered horse appearance to prevent original owners from detecting a stolen animal. Both sides, US and CS, did this.

[DannyW]

(06-01-2015 08:42 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Full title "Thomas A Jones Chief Agent of the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland" by John and Roberta Wearmouth

Interesting book, about 170 pages. Two key parts of the book contain reprints of: A lengthy magazine article by George Alfred Townsend (GATH) "How John Wilkes Booth Crossed the Potomac", which was published in 1884 for the Century Magazine; and a short book, "John Wilkes Booth" written by Thomas Jones in 1893.

The significance of the article and book were that up to that time very few people had any knowledge of where and what Booth was doing between Mudd's house and Booth's crossing of the Potomac. This book also included some background information about Thomas Jones, Samuel Cox, and the political economic situation in southern Maryland prior to, during, and following ths Civil War.

I purchased my copy from the Surratt House where it is available for $20. If you would like to pay more you can find it on Amazon books for $44.99 http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Jones-Confe...n+maryland

An interesting note, when Jones published his book, most of the copies were taken in 1893 to Chicago to be sold at Columbian Exposition (as a fund raising expedition). Not surprisingly, it was not well received there. Unsold copies were stored in a barn back in Maryland. In 1917 the unsold copies were taken out of the barn and burned.

I have a copy hence the reason I asked question but I’m trying to remember where I got it. I think the Surratt House just like you.