America’s National Parks Podcast
Society & Culture:Places & Travel
On a Sunday in November of 1864, John Wilkes Booth first made the acquaintance of Dr. Samuel Mudd. The men discussed a horse sale, and Booth was invited to spend the night at Mudd's home. On December 23, the two men met again, by accident, on a street in Washington, DC.
Four months later, John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln. He broke his left leg in the process, leaping to the stage at Ford's Theater. He and his getaway man David Harold knocked on the door of Dr. Mudd at four in the morning for assistance. Mudd set, splinted, and bandaged the broken leg. The two stayed with Mudd for about 12 hours, as the doctor's handyman made a pair of crutches.
Within days Dr. Mudd was arrested and charged with conspiracy and with harboring Booth and Harold during their escape. Though he had met Booth on at least two prior occasions, Mudd told authorities he did not recognize his patient. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, one vote shy of the death penalty.
Mudd was imprisoned in Fort Jefferson, in what is today Dry Tortugas National Park, an isolated Gulf of Mexico island fort. He attempted escape but failed before an epidemic of yellow fever broke out on the island. The fort's physician died, and Mudd took over the care sick. Due to his efforts, he received a full pardon from President Andrew Johnson and was released from prison a hero.
In 1936, a film was made loosely based on Mudd's story called THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, and then 2 years later it was adapted into a radio drama, starring Gary Cooper as part of the Lux Radio Theater. On today's episode of America's National Parks, we're playing for you that program, which we've remastered and edited lightly.
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EXPLORE ACT Returns Filming in National Parks and Expands Access to Public Lands
The Measure of Wonder
Poaching in the Everglades
Designing a National Park Visitor Center for the 21st Century
National Park News | Biden Proposes NPS Budget, Employee Housing Crisis, & More
Wives into the Wilderness: The Unpaid Force That Shaped National Parks
Nature's Palette: Unveiling Arizona's Petrified Forest
National Park News | Man Diverts a National Park River, New Shark Species Discovered, Rabies Scare at Saguaro
Stiltsville: An Offshore Hideaway at Biscayne National Park
Harboring History: The Salem Maritime Site and America's Cultural Treasures
National Park News | Park Service Morale Low, Investigative Ranger Ranks Dangerously Low
Denali, and the Effects of Gold Mining in the Kantishna Hills
Second Only to George Washington
News From The Parks | Navy Rescues Motorcycles from Death Valley, 3 New National Park Sites, Yosemite Reservations Return, More
Vandalism and Capitalism vs Historical Artifacts: Defacement in the NPS
Christmas in Yellowstone
A Dream of Peace
National Park News | Park Reservations in ’24, a Daring Whale Rescue, and More
The Vehicles of Yellowstone
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