As usual, York County linked up with a major event – the Lincoln assassination conspiracy
York County native Edman ‘Ned’ Spangler is shown in this Library of Congress photograph. He was implicated in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln after killer John Wilkes Booth asked the stagehand at Ford’s Theater to hold the reins of his horse while he went inside to perform his deadly act. Also of interest: About Gettysburg and its famous speech and James A. Garfield: ‘York was the capital of the United States when congress was on wheels’ and A Civil War Black Republican: ‘He robs birds’ nests … sucks hens’ eggs’.
“In the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt … owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth … and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks.”
Thus reads the official website for ‘The Conspirator’.
Mary Surratt’s boarding house is available for people to see today in the Chinatown area of Washington, D.C. In fact, you can walk past it – just east of the Chinatown arch – and not realize its significance.
It’s one of dozens of Asian restaurants in that area. In fact, if you like such food, you can go in and eat where the conspirators met.
A wayside marker is on the sidewalk near the restaurant.
Anyway, York County had several links to the Lincoln assassination, reinforcing the theory that the county is the center of the universe (OK, we’re being a bit hyperbolic.) … .
Yorkblogger June Lloyd, whose blog specializes in proving that all roads lead to York, tells about some of those connections: York County Has Ties to the Lincoln Conspirators.
Other posts on this blog:
– John Wilkes Booth gave color to Bland’s boarding school in York
– Piece of John Wilkes Booth’s body to be shown in Philly
– John Wilkes Booth grew up not far from York County, in Belair, Md.
– Presidents visit York, alive and via funeral trains
Also of interest:
A case exhibit at the York County Heritage Trust’s Historical Society Museum shows documents relating to John Wilkes Booth and link to York County.
Archives:
– All York Town Square posts from the start. Then use “find” function on browser to search for keywords.
