Evening star., 1935-09-01
Pageant to Honor DR.. Mudd
Charles County Will Pay Tribute to Physician
at Tobacco Festival.
BY KATHLEEN REED CooNTZ.


~ chapter Of Its illust.ous his
tory in play or pageant.
This year, sponsors Of the pageant
have resurrected. an important epoch
Of Civil War days. bringing back one
of the most tragic figures connected
with the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln.
DR.. Samuel A. Mudd, whose old
home still stands at Oak Hill, is the
central character of the Charles
County pageant.
A strange quirk of fate implicated
the Beloved physician in the Lincoln
tragedy. He was sentenced to life
Imprisonment on Tortugas Island.
Later he was pardoned because OF
Of heroic work In the prison.
To Oak Hill he returned and re-
sumed his practice among friends
who rallied to his defense. He died
IA years after his release. Today
his body lies In a little st. Mary's
Cemetery-adjoining the Bryantown
Chapel.
Wife Describes Meeting.
His meeting with Booth is recorded
in the statement which his wife later
gave.
My husband went to Bryantown
to church and was introduced to Mr..
Booth by an old friend who asked
my husband If he knew of any one
who had a good riding horse for sale.
My husband replied my next door
neighbor George Gardiner has one.
That evening the stranger came over
to the house to inquire about the
horse. There was company in our
home and we invited Mr.. Booth to
join in the merriment, which he did,
remaining all night. The next morn
ing the horses were ordered and the
two men went over to Squire Gar
diners to look at the horse. When
we next saw Booth year later we
did not recognize him as he and his
companion Mr.. Gerold were wearing
a disguise Of heavy boards. Mr
Gerold, who called himself Tyson. got
my husband out OF bed to give medical
dA0 W ltCll0 WAlOHl 1lC od4u lldo
bad leg, caused by his horse falling
on it. My husband cut of the boot
and set the leg ana the next morning
pointed out the shortest way to the
river landing. 1t was not until after
they left and we had discovered that
the men wore DISCUSSES that our sus-
picions were aroused. Then came the
| dreadful news of the assassination.
Officers Came to House.
"It was Easter Sunday, and the
Federal officers were at church seek
ing information of the assassination
They later came to our home and we
told them all that we knew and
brought down the boot which had
been cut from the injured leg. Then
for the first time we discovered the
name J. Wilkes Booth printed down
in the boot. The next day the
officers returned and said my huS-
band must go to Washington with
them. When the young officer who
was In charge saw how dismayed I
was. he said gently, DO not grieve,
madam. I'll see that your husband
soon returns to you But it was
four long years before he saw his
home again"
This is the account of the woman
who carried on with her faith and
love undimmed rearing her children
and supervising the cultivation OF a
farm. On the shelves Of the rare
book division in the Library of
Congress and in the musty files of
the Federal Court is to be found
today 1.-THE Trial of DR.. Samuel A.
Mudd of Charles County. Charged
with conspiracy to assassinate the
President of the United States. Held
before a military commission of
which Maj. Gen. David Hunter is
president. May-June, 1865"
Life and Death the Same.
Perhaps it is best to leave the stark
tragedy as recounted by history and
view the drama of DR.. Mudd as it
will appear on the Charles County
pageant field.
First, the country doctor Of rs years
ago is seen going about his rounds on
his old horse with its saddle bag
medicine chest, assuring his old
servant Frank Washington, who had
scorned Emancipation" that life and
death are after all much the same.
Then the little chapel at Bryan
town and the reverend father re-
minding his flock Of the words with