Muddy Details

Many years ago, I was watching the nightly news on TV on April 15, 19??. Don’t remember the year. On TV was one of my favorite news anchors, the very professional Roger Mudd. He’s doing his usual delivery but at one point in the broadcast he starts to veer off and talk about Abraham Lincoln, who was the President of the United States in the 19th century.

April 15 is President Lincoln’s death anniversary. 

But I digress, Roger Mudd is giving high praise to one of the (if not THE single) greatest presidents in US history. At the end of his high praise for the great President Lincoln, Roger Mudd states: 

“And yes, one of the men involved in that famous assassination is indeed Samuel Mudd. And before you ask, YES we are related.” 

What? Did I hear that correctly? Roger Mudd is related to Samuel Mudd! 

Who the hell is Samuel Mudd? Never heard of him. 

Look, I know the names of assassins who have changed the course of history. 

Lee Harvey Oswald (Kennedy) 

Nathuram Godse (Gandhi) 

John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln) 

(One similarity among these 3 leaders. All 3 were assassinated on a Friday.) 

But Roger Mudd name dropped him with Abraham Lincoln so I had to dig a little deeper.

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 (and died on April 15). His assassin was John Wilkes Booth. Months before the assassination, at one point, Booth and a few of his "associates" were discussing a plan to kidnap Lincoln. One of the "associates,” was Dr. Samuel Mudd. Booth shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After shooting Lincoln, Booth ran away from the scene and while escaping fractured his leg. Booth went to Dr. Samuel Mudd’s home at 4am the next day and the doctor helped fix his leg. 

News doesn’t travel fast in 1865, so Dr. Samuel Mudd had no idea that Booth shot Lincoln. Booth then left the house to get across state lines. Dr. Samuel Mudd only came to know about the Lincoln assassination later in the day. However, Mudd did not tell the authorities that Booth was in his house until 24 hours after Booth left. Dr. Samuel Mudd was arrested for aiding and abetting an assassin. 

A military court found Dr. Samuel Mudd guilty of helping an assassin. The only question was if Dr. Mudd would get the death penalty or life in prison. Mudd was not given the death penalty by a margin of one vote. 

This case certainly gets “muddy.” 

Why life in prison? Mudd was not the shooter or involved in the plot. But he did help with Booth’s injury and didn’t go to the authorities for 24 hours. On the other hand, he is a doctor so it’s his duty to treat injuries. But did Mudd “REALLY not know”, that the injured man before him just shot the president? I mean c’mon. Yeah, news doesn’t travel fast in 1865 but the shooter is in front of you for 12 hours. But does Mudd deserve only two options as an alleged accomplice? Death penalty or life in prison. 

The President who succeeded Lincoln, Andrew Johnson pardoned Mudd and released him from prison in 1869. Mudd died in 1883 at the age of 49.