WINCHESTER, Va. — Restoration crews working at an old courthouse have discovered Civil War-era graffiti condemning Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Someone wrote: "To Jeff. Davis: May he be set afloat . . . (on a) boat without compass or rudder . . . eaten by a shark, the shark by a whale, the whale in the Devil's belly, and the Devil in Hell, the gates locked . . . and, further, may he be put in the northwest corner with a southeast wind blowing ashes in his eyes for all ETERNITY."
The block letters, partially obscured by plaster repairs and years of decay, had been etched into the wall and were discovered last week by crews converting the Frederick County Courthouse into a Civil War Museum.