Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-09
THE DRY TORTUGAS.
Abandoned Fort Jefferson Where DIR.
Mudd WAS Imprisoned.

Mudd WINS Imprisoned.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
The most notable prisoners Fort Jefferson
ever knew were those accessory to the as
sassnation of Lincoln. Over the door to
one Of the cells intact on the lower case
mate is rudely painted in black letters:
They who enter here leave hope behind"
The cell is the one in which the Mary
lander, DR.. Mudd, was confined. and in the
local traditions the misquotation Is attrlb-
uted 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 President was shot to the stage at
Ford's Theater. The doctor asked no qucs-
lions, and always claimed that no Informal
tion was given him as to the identity of
the patient whom he saw only long enough
to give the necessary surgical attention
When all OF the movements of the assassin
were traced. DIR. Mudd was arrested and
charged with being accessory after the fact
Public sentiment was too strongly aflame
to be satisfied with an ethical defense. DR.
Mudd was sent to the Dry Tortugas
Twice ne tried to escape. Once he was al
most successful. He got on board a steam
er which had touched at the fort, and
concealed himself in coal bunker with
the connivance of the engineer Just be-
fore the departure it was discovered that
he was missing. An order from the COM
mandant detained the boat Careful search
was made without success. At length one
or the searchers took a pointed poker and
began to prod in the mass of coal He
struck the concealed prisoner Strangely
enough. the release of DR. Mudd fnaIly
came about through the devotion to the
theory of his professional duty which cost
MIN his liberty One of the worst of the
yellow fever visitations carried off the
prison physician early in its ravges. DR.
Mudd volunteered to take his place There
was no one else who could do it. The rrls-
oner iabors in behalf of the stricken con-
NlctS ana garrison took on the form of
heroism. So zealously did he apply himself
that. when the reports reached Washing
ton, the authorities were moved to grant an
unconditional pardon. DIR. Mudd returned
with honor from his term of service on Dry
TortugdS.
Three others convicted of relations with
the Booth conspiracy were sent to Dry
dortusas; They were Spangler, Arnold and
y LauShlin. Spangler was the stage car
penter. He was charged with having fixed
siding door which Booth pulled behind
MIN to hinder pursuit he made his exit
from the theater after firing the fatal
shot. 1t was shown that Spaneler was rhe
man whom Booth called to the alley to
mold his horse when he went inside to shoot
the President. But the evidence to prove
that spansler knew of the purpose of the
ASSASSIN was wanting. OLaughlin in the
theory OF the prosecution, was the person
selected by the conspirators to kill Grant
or Secretary Stanton. but the case against
hiih was weak Arnold mad been in the
plot during the earlier stages of its deyel-
opment when the kidnapping of President
Lincoln was as far as the conspirators in
tended to go. But he had withdrawn. left
the city and found employment in Virginia
because their connections with Booth and
ms plans were not those of princioals
Spangler, OLaughlin and Arnold were semi
70 Dry Iortugas instead of to the gallows,
y Laughlin died of yellow fever. Arnold
anu Spangier were released at the same
tune DR.. Mudd was. at the close of the
administration of Andrew johnson.
In the history of the army during peace
tEere mas been no detail so dreaded as thai
IN Fort Jefferson. The records testify To
excessive mortality in the garrison as we'll
as among the convictS. Men looked out
upon the brilliantly colored waters, chang
ing hues according to depth and according
10 cloud and sunshine; they breathed salt
laden breezes; they listened to the maSes-
TIC roar OF the surf on the coral reef. they
sickened and died. until Dry Tortugas he.
came known as the unhealthiest snot over
winch the stars and stripes foated That
was all because just below the southern
horizon lay the pest house. In 1874 tba
government stopped building; the prisoners
We're moved: the batteries marched out
with thanksgiving. Dry Tortugas became
10 the army only memory