Trial Room at McNair

[BettyO]

John Elliott told me the other day that he talked to Susan Lemke, Librarian at the National Defense University at McNair. She told him that Mike Kauffman was there and that they were doing a spot on the trial room in Grant Hall (also known as Quarters 20.) Today the article appeared on the CNN site - here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/18/travel/obs...?hpt=hp_t2

Great article! John Elliott, Barry Cauchon and myself have had the great pleasure to work with Susan and others regarding the construction of the prisoner's dock and witness stand in the trial room (utlizing period wood in the trial room) and we're now "set dressing" the room. The chairs in the prisoner's dock will be removed and benches will be placed there "for the prisoners" as well as for the "courtroom audience."

It's GREAT to see this thing shaping up for it's 150 anniversary in 2015!

[RJNorton]

Here's a contemporary Smithsonian photograph of the tennis courts at Ft. McNair and Grant Hall. I think the hangings took place near the rear of the tennis courts (?)

[BettyO]

The gallows were back at the edge of the tennis courts - more or less probably between the present day tennis courts AND the back, grassy area shown here. Supposedly, the outline of the door which the prisoners came out of is where the red arrow is and still exits...at least that's what I was once told.

John or Barry will have to answer this one as they are the experts -- but that is what I was told; that this is the door where they existed to go to the gallows -

[Rsmyth]

I visited there this past Thanksgiving weekend. Other than the guard we did not see another soul. My thoughts took me back to that hot July day almost 150 years ago and the final walk to eternity.

[RJNorton]

Rich, I can only imagine how that must have seemed. Here are the photos taken from approximately the same angle:

[John E.]

The gallows were back at the edge of the tennis courts - more or less probably between the present day tennis courts AND the back, grassy area shown here. Supposedly, the outline of the door which the prisoners came out of is where the red arrow is and still exits...at least that's what I was once told.

John or Barry will have to answer this one as they are the experts -- but that is what I was told; that this is the door where they existed to go to the gallows -

Hi Betty,

Unfortunately, that information is not accurate. The doorway they exited from on the way to the gallows was part of the building that was demolished in 1867.

If I can pat ourselves on the back for a second, our book will included the most accurate photo overlay ever done. Here's a cropped view that shows the doorway on the far left:

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[BettyO]

OMG !!

Thanks a bunch, John!! Years ago (back in the early 80's) someone had told me that the outline was that particular door!

Thanks for being a myth buster! Sorry for the mis-information, folk!

John - ya'll's picture also shows that the gallows stands almost directly in the middle of the tennis courts!!

Again, thanks for the clarification! Just goes to show that we're all still learning, ya'll! And that's the beauty of the whole thing!!

[John E.]

John - ya'll's picture also shows that the gallows stands almost directly in the middle of the tennis courts!!

Again, thanks for the clarification! Just goes to show that we're all still learning, ya'll! And that's the beauty of the whole thing!!

Betty, I think you are mistaking the fence that surrounded the construction site at building 20 for the Tennis court fence. The scaffold was situated closer to the northwest section of court 1 and not the center. The different angles sometimes cause optical illusions as well and can be confusing. Take Roger's photo of building 20 for example. In that photo, it looks like the tennis court fence lines up with the end of the eastern-most wall of the building. In the photo you posted, you can see that its actually much closer to the west wall.

This discussion brings back some fond memories. I started conversing with Barry back in 2009 over some of these same questions. Where was the scaffold ? What direction were the conspirators facing ? Could they see the scaffold being built from their cells ?

After realizing that we shared some of the same fascination over the minutia, we started collaborating more often. Eventually, he asked me to co-author a book with him. He's regretted it ever since !! Just kidding. The more research we started doing, the more our project kept expanding. "Well, we gotta include that!" became a common phrase between the two of us. Low and behold, the book still isn't finished. I can honestly say that the end product will be better because we didn't rush to finish this thing.

Three years later, we're still researching, still coming up with new finds and offering counter-arguments to long-accepted truths of the assassination and related facts.

Because of Dave Taylor's excellent research on Booth's knife, we had to change a line or two in the opening narrative. We also had to exclude photographer Timothy O'Sullivan from accompanying Gardner at the Navy Yard and the executions.

Unfortunately, our conclusions and findings came too late for the Killing Lincoln docu-drama. That production is going to be fantastic. Erik Jendrensen went to great lengths and consulted with many of us to make sure he was getting things right. Unlike some other producers, he genuinely listened and made appropriate corrections and changes.

John

[Jenny]

Excellent picture, John!

[RJNorton]

I second Jenny, John.

[BettyO]

Indeed - John and Barry are the experts regarding ALL things McNair! I would trust their judgement and research explicitly!

[John E.]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

[Rsmyth]

John, that picture really puts things into perspective. Thanks.

[Hess1865]

so what time will this show be on??

[RJNorton]

I think February 2013; not sure a specific date in February has been announced.