Evening star., 1940-05-12
HISTORIC AUTO TOUR PLANNED
Southern Maryland Trip Follows Booths Flight and
Finest Roads and Spring Scenery
By Ralph Gray.

By Ralph Gray.
This Is the first OF series OF
planned short automobile tours
tDhich The Star is Offering to mo-
torists each Sunday ,Dith> the
aid OF the American Automobile
Association.
TRIP DIRECTIONS: Take the
Eleventh Street Sc. Bridge into
Anacostid, turn left at the stop
light. Follo,D Maryland No. S to
Be1ntotDn, left on pdDed road to
DR.. Mudd's house. Take the right
hand fork into Bryantown, turn
right on Maryland No. S to first
pdDed road, turn left into La
Plata. Folloto Maryland No. 3 to
Wayside, turn right to Morgan
toDn. Ferry to Potomac Beach,
Va, and tollo,D Virginia No. 205
to Edge Hill. Tur, left and tol-
lolD Virginia No. 207 to Port Royal
and the Garrett Farm. TO re-
turn, take U. S. II to Fredericks-
burg and U. S. to Washington.
Mileage, 159.
II you like your historic tours
spiced with strong parts of scenery,
with an occasional spot of recreation
added, and served up on fine. tempt
ing roads you couldn't do better than
to follow the route of John Wilkes
Booths flight through Southern
Maryland and nearby Virginia. Now
that spring is finally here this trip
will come into its own as a scenic
tour.
John Wilkes Booth, you know, was
the man who, having failed to make
the impression he thought he should
in his chosen profession of acting.
turned to assassination to achieve
greatness. His victim, unfortunately,
was Abraham Lincoln. Not even the
South arose to acclaim his deed; the
murderer had to flee for his own
life. The trail he left provides the
general outline for this trip. Instead
of travelling through swamps and on
muddy roads as Booth did. you will
have modern, hard-surfaced roads
the entire distance.
Cross the Eleventh street Sc.
bridge into Anacostia and turn left
at the stop light up Good Hope Hill
At some point on this hill Booth
met his confederate, Herold, and
travelled with him to Surrattsville
for their first stop. Herold had full
filled his part of the monstrous plot
by entering the home of Secretary
of State Seward, stabbing him and
leaving him for dead. This was
done while Booth was shooting Lin
coin at Ford's Theater.
Surrattsville is the old name for
Clinton. The road is Maryland No.
5, exactly the same right of way that
Booth and Herold galloped madly
over that April night in 1865. At
Clinton, on the left of the road, you
will see nicely painted frame
building which at that time was
tavern owned by Mrs. Surratt. Booth
stopped here and got drunk-partly
from exuberance, partly from shame,
but mostly from the desire to kill
the terrific pain in his foot caused
by the fall from Lincoln's box to the
stage of Ford's Theater Immediately
after the shooting. Mrs. Surratt was
not there, but the fact that she was
q friend of Booths and allowed him
to hold meetings of his plotters in
her rooming house in Washington
led later to her probably unjust
hanging by the Federal GoHeruE
ment. Incidentally, the namE OF
this tiny Southern Maryland town
was changed from Surrattsville to
Clinton because Of the unsavory
reputation which these events i'm
bued 1t with. Locally, however. it
is still Surrattsville, as witness the
Surrattsville High School.
Down the road maryland No. s.
the effects of Mrs. Surratt's liquor
gradually wore off and the pain in
Booths ankle reasserted itself. 1t
was holy terror riding on horse
back, and walking was utterly i'm
possible. In spite of the necessity
of putting all possible distance be-
tween himself and Washington,
Booth turned east off the road to
the home of o. doctor he knew about.
This was DR.. Samuel A. Mudd.
Booth thought it best to disguise
himself Being an actor, he was
adept at makeup. He put on a false
beard and changed his voice. It is
almost undeniably true that at first
the doctor did not know who his
patient was. He was extremely sus-
picious and fearful, but he felt it
his duty as a doctor to help the
man. He dressed the leg and put it
In a cast and gave Booth an up
stairs room. No question of the
strangers identity was raised, as
Herold brought news of nearby
Union soldiers and they had to flee.
To reach DR.. Mudd's home, turn
left at Waldorf on Maryland No. S.
then left again at Beantown and
follow the hard-surfaced road. You
will recognize the Mudd house be-
cause it Is by far the best-looking
farmhouse in the area. Also, it has
q SlSli Ii 41OIlC Va ~, oShAA1S AZ CCiANo
a person for admission. The people
living there are Mudds-direct de-
scendants in the, third and fourth
generations of the kind doctor whose
generosity to the wrong man led to
a long imprisonment in malaria
ridden Fort Jefferson. These fine
people will show you the house, but
remember that it is their home and
you are their guest. When I asked
them if they felt their ancestor had
been wronged, they avoided the
question by saying that they hoped
no one today believed Mr.. Mudd was
an accomplice of Booth. In the
barnyard, contrasting sharply to the
historic house, is big, modern trac-