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+--- Thread: A case of misinterpretation? (/thread-2866.html)
A case of misinterpretation? - loetar44 - 02-14-2016 04:47 PM
Today was a cold and rainy day here in the Netherlands. So, I’d finally getting some time to read “The Military Trial of the Lincoln Conspirators: Was Justice Served”, a reenactment of the conspiracy trial 150 years after the death of Lincoln (The Historical Trial, Nov. 19, 2015).
http://www.innsofcourt.org/committee/ProgramAwards/P13283.pdf
The reenactment was focussed primarily on true facts and discussed whether the Lincoln conspirators were properly tried in 1865. On p. 12 Louis Weichmann (= Christopher Fraser) was questioned:
Q: Where were you on the day the President was assassinated?
A: That day, at the request of Mrs. Surratt, I hired a buggy, and drove Mrs. Surratt the two hours to Surrattsville.
Q: What happened when you arrived?
A: At about half-past 4 in the afternoon, we stopped at the house of Mr. Lloyd, who keeps a tavern in Surrattsville.
Q: Did you encounter anyone at the tavern?
A: As I was leaving, I saw Mr. Booth in the parlor speaking to Mrs. Surratt for about three or four minutes. After Mr. Booth left, we started back to the city.
That last answer struck (hit) me immediately. Did I read that Booth spoke to Mary Surratt in the parlor at Lloyd’s Tavern in Surratsville on April 14, 1865 ????
In “Judge for Yourself, Famous American Trials” by Suzanne I. Barchers (Teachers Ideas Press, 2004) I read in the chapter “A Deadly Secret, The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy Trial”
http://www.socialstudies.com/pdf/LN102EX.pdf
“The prosecution next questions Louis J. Weichman, a boarder at the Surratts’, about the allegations that Mr. Booth met regularly with the Surratts.
Louis J. Weichmann: On the second of April, Mrs. Surratt asked me to tell John Wilkes Booth that she wished to see him on private business. I conveyed the message, and Booth said he would come to the house in the evening as soon as he could.
Prosecuting Attorney: Did he come to the house?
Louis J. Weichmann: He did.
Prosecuting Attorney: Did you see Booth with Mrs. Surratt again?
Louis J. Weichmann: On the Tuesday previous to the assassination, I drove Mrs. Surratt to Surrattsville. We stopped at the house of Mr. Lloyd, who keeps a tavern there. I saw Mr. Booth speaking with Mrs. Surratt in the parlor. They were alone. Immediately after he left, Mrs. Surratt and I started back.
Prosecuting Attorney: Did you ever see Booth in conversation with Mr. Surratt?
Louis J. Weichmann: Booth frequently called at the Surratt’s, asking for Mr. Surratt, and in his absence for Mrs. Surratt. Their interviews were always far apart from other persons. Sometimes they would go upstairs to speak in private, sometimes for two or three hours."
Again a reference to a meeting of Booth and Mary Surratt in the parlor of Lloyd’s Tavern in Surrattsville, this time on Tuesday previous to the assassination (= April 11, 1865)
At seven (!) URL’s
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread727645/pg1
http://scandalouswoman.blogspot.nl/2009/08/mary-surratt-mother-of-all-conspirators.html
http://www.americancivilwarforum.com/mary-ltemailgt-please-dont-let-me-fall-475.html
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/Mary-Surratt-Lincoln-Booth-Assassination-Color-Tinted-Photo-Civil-War-S0001-/221244319727
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.nl/2012/11/mary-surratt-conspirator.html
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/lincolnaccount.html
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lincolnconspiracy/surrattm.html
I found:
"On the day of the assassination, April 14, Mary Surratt sent Weichmann to hire a buggy for another two-hour ride to Surrattsville. Weichmann reported that Surratt took along "a package, done up in paper, about six inches in diameter." Surratt and Weichman arrived sometime after four at Surratt's tavern. Surratt went inside while Weichmann waited outside or spent time in the bar. Surratt remained inside about two hours. Between six and six-thirty, shortly before they began their return trip to Washingon, Weichmann saw Mary Surratt speaking privately IN THE PARLOR OF THE TAVERN with John Wilkes Booth. At nine o'clock, Surratt saw Booth for a last time when he visited her home in Washington. After the visit, according to Weichmann, Surratt's demeanor changed--she became "very nervous, agitated and restless."
This is what Weichmann exactly testified at the assassination trial on May 13, 1865:
“On Friday, the day of the assassination, I went to Howard’s stable, about half-past 2 o’clock, having been sent there by Mrs. Surratt for the purpose of hiring a buggy. She herself gave me the money on that occasion, a ten-dollar note, and I paid $6 for the buggy. I drove her to Surrattsville the same day, arriving there about half-past 4. We stopped at the house of Mr. Lloyd, who keeps a tavern there. Mrs. Surratt went into the parlor. I remained outside a portion of the time, and went into the bar-room a part of the time, until Mrs. Surratt sent for me. We left about half-past 6. Surrattsville is about a two-hour drive to the city, and is about ten miles from the Navy Yard bridge.
Just before leaving the city, as I was going to the door, I saw Mr. Booth in the parlor, and Mrs. Surratt was speaking with him. They were alone. He did not remain in the parlor more than three or four minutes; and immediately after he left, Mrs. Surratt and I started.”
To me this seems clear enough. “Just before leaving the CITY” = “Just before leaving WASHINGTON D.C.”. And “immediately after he left, Mrs. Surratt and I started”… for SURRATTSVILLE.
According to me the error that Mary Surrat met Booth in Lloyd’s Tavern on April 14, 1865 was / is caused by misinterpretation of Weichmann’s testimony.
I always thought (please correct me if I'm wrong):
(1) that John Wilkes Booth was NEVER in Lloyd’s Tavern or Surrattsville prior to midnight on April 14.
(2) that Booth visited Mary Surrat’s boardinghouse in H-Street three times on April 14, 1865 (ca. 11.30 a.m, shortly after his haircut; at ca. 2.30 p.m. to deliver a package -the above mentioned visit, Weichmann witnessed- and at ca. 9.00 p.m, also witnessed by Weichmann, and after which visit Mary became, according to Weichmann, “very nervous, agitated and restless”.
RE: A case of misinterpretation? - Susan Higginbotham - 02-14-2016 05:06 PM
The problem lies not with the original trial testimony, but with the reenactors--it appears that in an attempt to make the testimony more concise and to move the proceedings along more quickly, they left out a great deal of the testimony and in combining what was left created a confusion that wasn't there in the original. This is what the exchange looks like in Poore:
Q. Will you state whether, on the following Friday, that is, the day of the assassination, you drove Mrs. Surratt to the country?
A. Yes, sir. We left about half-past two o’clock in the after-noon. She herself gave me the money on that occasion,—a ten-dollar note; and I paid six dollars for the buggy.
Q. Where did you drive her to?
A. To Surrattsville; arriving there about half-past four.
Q. Did you stop at the house of Mr. Lloyd, who keeps tavern there?
A. Yes, sir. Mrs. Surratt went into the parlor, and I remained outside a portion of the time; and a portion of the time I went into the bar-room, until Mrs. Surratt sent for me.
Q. What time did you leave on your return?
A. About half-past six o’clock.
Q. Is it about two hours’ drive?
A. Yes, sir: a person can get down there very easily in two hours when the roads are good.
*****
Q. Will you state whether, on the afternoon of the 14th of April, the day of the assassination, Mr. Booth did not call and have a private interview with Mrs. Surratt at her house?
A. I will state, that about half-past two o’clock, when I was going to the door, I saw Mr. Booth. He was in the parlor, and Mrs. Surratt was speaking to him.
Q. Were they alone?
A. Yes, sir: they were alone in the parlor.
Q. How long was it after that before you drove to the country with Mrs. Surratt?
A. He did not remain in the parlor more than three or four minutes.
Q. And was it immediately after that you and Mrs. Surratt set out for the country?
A. Yes, sir.
You can find the Poore transcripts of the trial testimony here.
http://www.surrattmuseum.org/ben-perley-poore-the-conspiracy-trial-tr
RE: A case of misinterpretation? - L Verge - 02-14-2016 07:06 PM
I agree with Susan, also that errors were made and that pages were not adequately proof-read. This is the first time that I have ever seen anything even faintly proposing that Booth was in Surrattsville prior to midnight on April 14. Also, Emma Offutt, Mr. Lloyd's sister-in-law, was in conversation with Mary Surratt before Lloyd arrived. Certainly, she would have mentioned seeing Booth when she was called on to testify.
Just as a side comment, about twenty-five years ago, I assisted one of our local judges in preparing one of these Inns of Court. My apologies to the jurists on this forum (and assuming that I just got a group of pickles), but the end result was farcical. In the middle of the session, some saw fit to introduce their own skits, comments, "what ifs," etc. At first, I wanted to stand up and yell, "Order in the Court," but resigned myself to sitting back and watching something that my previous 8th grade mock trials would have put to shame. I guess boys will be boys, no matter how much education they have. And yes, there were no females in that court.