Anyway, the Carroll County Public Library system hosted an Abraham Lincoln series of events a while ago. One of the events was to have the author of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer come and speak to the patrons about his book and his personal journey to write the book.The book was written by James L. Swanson, a man probably in his late 30's, early 40's (hopefully I'm giving him the benefit of being on the favorable side of my estimate). He is an attorney by trade, but an enthusiastic speaker and writer, impassionate about Abraham Lincoln, who shares his date of birth and home state. And I still can't believe that I didn't think about bringing my camera. I called my wife to tell her I forgot my camera. She laughed and hung up the phone. Arg.
Furthermore, I arrived at the library only 15 minutes before the speech began and he was swamped with patrons wanting him to sign their book. There was no way I'd be able to purchase my copy and get an autograph before he began his speech. So I purchased my soft-back cover copy (all of the hard-copies were gone) and sat down.
The lady selling the books asked what I wanted him to write. I hadn't thought that far ahead. What should he write? How about something enthusiastic? Powerful? Meaningful? Something that my children will appreciate! Their children! Something that would be relevant to my own pursuit of history. I stammered, "How about 'Enjoy'". What an idiot I am!
An administrator for the library informed the crowd that Mr. Swanson would continue to sign copies after his speech. I was thrilled, not to the point where my shiny purple and pink shirt glistened with excitement, but thrilled as much as a conservative soft-spoken married guy who doesn't really own a shiny purple and pink shirt could be.
I found his speech to be really interesting. I think he was equally excited to be in Maryland, the birth place of John Wilkes Booth, who incidentally attended the same high school as me (Bel Air High School, though obviously not the same building, but the same educational institute that has survived through the years).
Additionally, after carrying out his assassination attempt, Booth fled out of Washington, D.C. and into Maryland, then south through Prince George's and Charles County.
The speech was nearing completion and I begin to scout out where the signing would be. There were numerous empty tables in this area of the library. I moved to the front of one of the tables just as the previously mentioned librarian walked by. I asked her confidentally, "This is where he's going to sign the books, right?" She paused, looked around, and said, "Yeah, I guess so. Let me go get a chair for him." Score one for being assertive! I'm the first in line!
Mr. Swanson sits down in the chair in front of me, pulls out his quill, opens my book and says, "You want me to write 'enjoy'? How boring is that?" I told him that I couldn't think of anything more inspiring at the moment. "Leave it up to me then", he declared.
He signs my book, then hands it to me. We part on friendly words and I walk out. I open my book and what has he written?
For Eludius,
Fellow traveler in pursuit of John Wilkes Booth.
Best Wishes
James Swanson
Now surely this must be a joke. Perhaps a funny one. Anyone interested in history, or even an educated person, knows that a fellow traveler was an underground term for a communist. Did he just call me a communist? Maybe this was his way of comically telling me, "This will teach you to have an author write something stupid in your copy of the book." I took no offense. In fact, I now think it's great!
As for the book, it's a great chronicle of the events leading up to and following Lincoln's assassination. It contradicted many of the stories that I have heard over the years, such as the innocence of Dr. Samuel Mudd. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend that you read it.
The book can be purchased at Mr. Swanson's website or on Amazon.com.
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