Trial Room at McNair

[RJNorton]

Thank you and credit to Richard Sloan for these photos. The first one is of the restored trial room. The second one is a rare discovery - it's Louis Weichmann taking the stand at the trial of the Lincoln conspirators.

[Jim Garrett]

Darn, I thought it was Richard Sloan getting ready to plead the 5th!! Great pictures Richard. Thanks for passing them on.

[MaddieM]

(03-27-2013 09:23 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Thank you and credit to Richard Sloan for these photos. The first one is of the restored trial room. The second one is a rare discovery - it's Louis Weichmann taking the stand at the trial of the Lincoln conspirators.

Would the original room have been so squeaky clean and shiny?

[Gene C]

The overhead lighting probably would not have been as bright

[BettyO]

Maddie -

Those floors were covered with cocoa matting - which has not been yet purchased - plus there were about 20 spittoons scattered around the flooring - so you can imagine those who missed..... YUK!

Still - much as he loved chewing tobacco, it must have made Lew Powell's mouth water to watch others enjoy a chaw!

Simple yellow ware spittoon



Simple Brown Ware Spittoon



Those shiny brass spittoons were much later in the 1880s, 90s and early 1900s....

[John E.]

Hello all,

I'd just like to add that there are additional modifications that are planned on being made. Specifically, they plan to add green baize cloths to the tables. They are going to replace the chairs on the prisoners dock with 2 benches. If funds or donations permit, they will be adding additional tables (defense lawyers tables, evidence table, Gen. Hartranft's table) well as benches that line the wall.

We found evidence to support a 3-tiered bleacher like setting for spectators that lined the south wall. Unfortunately, putting them in now would not be practical. The cocoa matting or something similar would be a nice touch. As handsome as the floors may look - and the nice stained pillars for that matter, they just aren't accurate. The pillars were white as well.

[asobbingfilm]

Not sure if anyone has offered this for the gallows location but I show it as 38deg51'59.85"N and 77deg1'1.70"W. Anyone else show that?

---

So the conspirators are facing west?

---

Is the orientation correct?

[L Verge]

The restored Conspiracy Trial room will be officially dedicated tomorrow evening, April 3, with Betty O, Lindsey, Dave Taylor, and other members of this forum in attendance. Surratt House was asked to provide costumed guides for the occasion, and several staff members and volunteers will be assisting.

[Jim Page]

(04-02-2013 09:33 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Surratt House was asked to provide costumed guides for the occasion, and several staff members and volunteers will be assisting.

I sure hope someone takes a lot of photos!!!

Have fun!

--Jim

[RJNorton]

(03-30-2013 03:54 PM)asobbingfilm Wrote:  Not sure if anyone has offered this for the gallows location but I show it as 38deg51'59.85"N and 77deg1'1.70"W. Anyone else show that?

---

So the conspirators are facing west?

---

Is the orientation correct?

Hi David. This morning I wrote Barry and John about this, and I just heard back from Barry. He's extremely busy today, but he gave me permission to post his email reply:

"I could tell him exactly where the scaffold is but unfortunately I am swamped with a full day of meetings today. Perhaps tomorrow I can have a look. I did go on quickly and he is looking at GPS coordinates if I’m not mistaken. I went through this with an author about a year ago. His name is Ron Franschell and his book is called “The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Washington DC”. I showed him exactly where the scaffold stood and he used GPS coordinates to indicate where to find it.

I’m not sure if his coordinates are correct as I never checked them myself. But if David George goes on Google Earth or Bing, he can locate the GPS coordinates by focusing on the northeast corner of the tennis courts above Court #4. Where the north and east fences meet. This is where the main platform of the scaffold stood (the stairs would have been on the east side of the fence). Unfortunately, I don’t have the time today to share how we came up with that exact location but I’m confident enough in it to dispute the recent findings of the Archaeological Survey folks hired by the Army Corp of Engineers to locate the walls of the penitentiary (among other structures) at Fort McNair. In their report, they claimed that the scaffold was much farther to the east then I believe it to be. They also guessed where the graves were located (but due to so much disturbance to the land since the burials they could find any hard evidence in their survey to make a realistic determination). To be fair to them, I do agree with their guess of where the graves were located. If not exact, they are pretty close.

Anyway, to determine the exact location of the scaffold, we used photographic analysis and triangulation of visual angles to make our determination. In March, 2012 (at the 2012 Surratt Conference), John and I presented this information forensically showing how we came up with our conclusions. The presentation scientifically showed how we did this. Although we have not published this work since then, we will be including this information in our book which we are hell bent to finish by the end of this year.

Please feel free to post this answer for David George if it helps. When time permits, I’ll pop on your site Roger and follow up.

Sorry I can’t react sooner.

Have a great day.

Barry

[MaddieM]

(03-29-2013 04:15 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Maddie -

Those floors were covered with cocoa matting - which has not been yet purchased - plus there were about 20 spittoons scattered around the flooring - so you can imagine those who missed..... YUK!

Still - much as he loved chewing tobacco, it must have made Lew Powell's mouth water to watch others enjoy a chaw!

Simple yellow ware spittoon



Simple Brown Ware Spittoon



Those shiny brass spittoons were much later in the 1880s, 90s and early 1900s....

Ew... I feel sick!

[Jim Garrett]

(04-04-2013 02:35 AM)MaddieM Wrote:  

(03-29-2013 04:15 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Maddie -

Those floors were covered with cocoa matting - which has not been yet purchased - plus there were about 20 spittoons scattered around the flooring - so you can imagine those who missed..... YUK!

Still - much as he loved chewing tobacco, it must have made Lew Powell's mouth water to watch others enjoy a chaw!

Simple yellow ware spittoon



Simple Brown Ware Spittoon



Those shiny brass spittoons were much later in the 1880s, 90s and early 1900s....

Ew... I feel sick!

There is an account that at Ford's, after a performance, there would be rivers of tobacco juice running down the floors.

[MaddieM]

(04-04-2013 07:46 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  

(04-04-2013 02:35 AM)MaddieM Wrote:  

(03-29-2013 04:15 PM)BettyO Wrote:  Maddie -

Those floors were covered with cocoa matting - which has not been yet purchased - plus there were about 20 spittoons scattered around the flooring - so you can imagine those who missed..... YUK!

Still - much as he loved chewing tobacco, it must have made Lew Powell's mouth water to watch others enjoy a chaw!

Simple yellow ware spittoon



Simple Brown Ware Spittoon



Those shiny brass spittoons were much later in the 1880s, 90s and early 1900s....

Ew... I feel sick!

There is an account that at Ford's, after a performance, there would be rivers of tobacco juice running down the floors.

I can't believe people would spit on the floor. How gross is that?

[Julie-the-Cheesehead]

This was amazing to see how the restoration of the trial room at Ft McNair is coming along. I so want to visit it someday when it opens.