Talk:Samuel Mudd
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01-21-07: corrected the previous entry which said detectives found Booth's boot while searching Dr. Mudd's house, and that Dr. Mudd had hidden the boot in an obscure place in between his attic walls. Lieutenant Lovett's men did not find the boot during a search of Dr. Mudd's house, and no one ever claimed that Dr. Mudd had hidden the boot in the walls of his attic. See Lieutenant Lovett's conspiracy trial testimony, now added to this article. 71.241.255.59 16:57, 21 January 2007 (UTC) Robert Summers.
the mudd club in new york city was named for him. --216.165.11.242 04:37, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
Removed "The origin of the expression "his name is mud" is related to Samuel Mudd because after the incident with John Wilkes Booth his reputation became tarnished." It seems that this saying predates the assassination by several decades.
- can you (or anyone else) provide a citation for the earlier use of the phrase? In any case, since this connection is widely documented and believed it should be in the wikipedia, even if it is only to correct this misunderstanding. Wrs1864 04:06, 23 September 2006 (UTC)
- The Online Etymology Dictionary entry for mud [1] has the first recorded instance of 'your name is mud', to mean that one is discredited, from 1823, well before Samuel Mudd was even born. Apparently it's from 'mud' in the obsolete sense of "a stupid twaddling fellow". I'm going to edit to reflect this. (and I've just realised the link already there concurs).Number36 04:09, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks for fixing this. I'm almost certain that the first reference didn't mention the 1823 usage when I added it, but maybe I missed it. It's good to get this nailed down anyway. Wrs1864 04:40, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
- The Online Etymology Dictionary entry for mud [1] has the first recorded instance of 'your name is mud', to mean that one is discredited, from 1823, well before Samuel Mudd was even born. Apparently it's from 'mud' in the obsolete sense of "a stupid twaddling fellow". I'm going to edit to reflect this. (and I've just realised the link already there concurs).Number36 04:09, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
8-7-2006: corrected some minor inaccuracies. Dr. Mudd didn't buy his farm. It was given to him by his father. He took legal title to it only after his father's estate was probated in 1877. The only hard record that exists for the number of slaves held by Dr. Mudd is the U.S. 1860 Slave Census, which lists 5 slaves for Dr. Mudd.
Also deleted the reference to Dr. Mudd during the trial repeatedly denying recognizing Booth. Dr. Mudd did not testify at the trial, nor did any of the other defendants. He did deny recognizing Booth, but that was well before the the trial, at his farmhouse, when he told detectives that he didn't recognize Booth. He did not claim Booth wore "false whiskers and spectacles". It was Mrs. Mudd who made the false whiskers claim, and there was never any mention of spectacles.
