Execution Stereoviews

[L Verge]

And, they paid the price. However, the parents of Powell and descendants of other conspirators did not have to be tortured for what they did. That was the point that Betty was trying to make. The sins of the fathers (et al) do not need to be passed on to the sons - and vice versa.

I have had great-grandchildren of Mary Surratt tell me that we know more of the history than they do because the subject was taboo in their family. The recent letter that I quoted from where a granddaughter of John Surratt, Jr. wrote to James O. Hall that people would cross to the other side of the street rather than walk past him is another example of man's unwillingness to forgive. Anna Surratt and her husband even considered moving out West to avoid the stigma, and her life was likely shortened because of the pain she had endured.

One of Dr. Richard Mudd's sons-in-law once told me that Dr. Richard's own father did not want a tombstone placed at his grave when he died because of the stigma attached to the name. Dr. Sam was not widely discussed in the family either until Nettie wrote her book. It was Dr. Richard who took up the crusade to clear the Mudd name when he was about 27 years old and finally knew most of the details about the assassination.

I had great-nieces of David Herold (ladies that had grown up and been friends with my mother - one was my neighbor and another a volunteer at Surratt House) read the riot act to me because I announced in the Surratt Courier that the house we had just acquired for our James O. Hall Research Center was built in 1937 by their brother, a grand-nephew of Davey. This was in the 21st century, and they still did not want to be associated with the history.

All of these people were still living with the guilt that society had placed on them for what their ancestors had done. Since when do we need to sit in judgment for 150 years over whole generations when the real criminal has already paid the price for his/her sins -- especially sins brought on by a very awful civil war where there is plenty of blame to pass around on both sides.