Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1897-12-10
DRY TORTUGAS PRISON.
NOTABLE INMATES OF A FORMER
FEDERAL FORT.

Its Confines How DIR. Mudd Obtained
an Unconditional Pardon.
The most notable prisoners Fort
Jefferson ever knew were those access
sorry to the assassination OF Lincoln.
Over the door to one Of the cells in
tact on the lower casemate is rudely
painted in black letters:
They who enter here leave hope
behind"
The cell is the one in which the
Marylander, DIR. Mudd, was confined,
and in the local traditions the misquo-
tation is attributed TO him. While
Booth was fleeing through Maryland
he stopped at Dr. Mudd's and called
upon him to set the leg broken in the
leap from the box, in which the presi-
dent was shot, to the stage at Ford's
theatre. The doctor asked no ques-
tons, and always claimed that no in
formation was given him as to the
identity OF the patient, whom he saw
only long enough to give the neces-
sary surgical attention. When all OF
the movements of the assassin were
traced, DR.. Mudd was arrested and
charged with being accessory after the
fact. Public sentiment was too strong
ly ahame to be satisfied with an ethi-
cal defence. DIR. Mudd was sent to
the Dry Tortugas. Twice he tried to
escape. Once he was almost success
full. He got on board a steamer which
had touched at the fort, and concealed
himself in q coal bunker, with the con-
nivance of the engineer. Just before
the departure it was discovered that
he was missing. An order from the
commandant detained the boat. Care
full search was made without success.
At length one of the searchers took
pointed poker and began to prod in
the mass of coal. He struck the con-
cealed prisoner. Strangely enough,
the release Of DR.. Mudd finally came
about through the devotion to the
theory Of his professional duty which
cost him his liberty. One of the worst
of the yellow fever visitations carried
off the prison physician early in its
ravages. DR.. Mudd volunteered to
take his place. There was no one else
who could do it. The prisoners la
bors in behalf of the stricken convicts
and garrison took on the form of hero
ism. SO zealously did he apply him
self that, when the reports reached
Washington the authorities were
moved to grant an unconditional par
don. DIR. Mudd returned with honor
from his term of service on Dry Tor
tugas.
Three others convicted of relations
with the Booth conspiracy were sent
to Dry Tortugas. They were Spang-
Ter, Arnold and O'Laughlin. Spang-
Ter was the stage carpenter. He was
charged with having fixed sliding
door which Booth pulled behind him
to hinder pursuit as he made his exit
from the theatre after firing the fatal
shot. 1t was shown that Spangler
was the man whom Booth called to
the alley to hold his horse when he
went inside to shoot the president.
But the evidence to prove that Spang-
Ter knew of the purpose of the assassin
was wanting. O'Laughlin, in the
theory of the prosecution, was the
person selected by the conspirators to
kill Grant or Secretary Stanton, but
the case against him was weak. Ar
mold had been in the plot during the
earlier stages tits development, when
tho kidnapping of President Lincoln
was as far as the conspirators intended
to go. But he. had withdrawn, left
the city and found employmentin Vir-
ginia. Because their connections with
Booth aud his plans were not those of
principals, Spangler, O'Laughlin and
Arnold were sent to Dry Tortugas in
stead of to the gallows. O'Laughlin
died of yellow fever. Arnold and
Spangler were released at the same
time DR.. Mudd was, at the close Of
tho administration of Andrew John.
son.
In the history Of the army during
peace there has been no detail so
dreaded as that in Fort Jefferson.
The records testify TO excessive NOR
tally in the garrison rs we'll as among
the convicts. Men looked out upon
tho brilliantly colored waters, chang
ing hues according to depth and ac-
cording to cloud and sunshine; they
breathed salt-laden breezes; they
listened to the majestic roar of the
surf on the coral reef; they sickened
and died, until Dry Tortugas became
known as the unhealthiest spot over
which the stars ami stripes hoated.
That was all because just below the
southern horizon lay the pest house.
In 1873 the government stopped
building; the prisoners were moved;
the batteries marched out with thanks.