Why was Mary Surratt not photographed after her arrest?

[barryssentials]

(09-02-2013 09:09 PM)Anita Wrote:  Does anyone know why Stanton didn't have Mary Surratt photographed during or after her arrest? I read that the only way the public knew what she looked like was through drawings.

The male conspirators were photographed.

Hi Anita: John Elliott and I have spent a lot of time researching the conspirators incarcerations and punishments. Although we've never uncovered anything official relating to your question, our information indicates the following.

a. A total of eight prisoners were held on the two monitors, USS Saugus and USS Montauk. All eight were photographed. However, only six of those men went on trial along with Mary Surratt and Dr. Samuel Mudd.

b. Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd were not held on the monitors but rather at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. We believe this was done for numerous reasons.

c. Firstly, many suspects were rounded up after the assassination. Some were not suspected in the actual crime but were held as witnesses. Dr. Mudd was in this situation and was not initially considered a suspect, so he was not photographed either.

d. Mary Surratt, along with her daughter Anna, were also held there. They were arrested at her boarding house the same night that Lewis Powell showed up on their doorstep. Mary Surratt's son John Surratt was one of the initial prime suspects in the assassination and the authorities wanted him badly. But he was actually in upper state New York at the time of the crime and fled north into Canada. It has been proposed that Mary was used as bait to draw her son out of hiding. But that is more likely to have been the case after she was transferred to the Arsenal Penitentiary and put on trial. However, during her stay at the Old Capitol, it is more logical that Union spies were put inside to try to gather information from her about her son's whereabouts and whatever else she knew. Again, this is only speculation.

e. Mary was likely not photographed for the same reason Dr. Mudd was not. The authorities had not officially identified them as suspects at the time and so little attention was paid to them.

f. One last bit of speculation as to why Mary Surratt and Dr. Mudd were placed at the Old Capitol rather than the harsh conditions aboard the monitors (other than their earlier notes regarding their non-status as suspects early on) is that it was partially due to their class. She was a woman and Samuel Mudd was a doctor. In a society that still honored a class system, this may have helped to give both of these folks better living conditions than did the other eight prisoners on the monitors.

I'm sure John will add some other great info to this.
And I hope this answer has helped.
Best. Barry