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(07-31-2016 12:02 AM)Pamela Wrote:  Unlike the electronically recorded, poorly educated, rambling , disabled people you reference, cops are professional witnesses who know the importance of being clear and concise, and thus are the easiest witnesses to record:
A. I went to her and said I, Mrs Surratt, I want to ask you a couple of questions and be very particular how you answer them, for there is a great deal depends upon them.--Detective Clarvoe, John Surratt trial.

"Unlike the electronically recorded, poorly educated, rambling , disabled people you reference, cops are professional witnesses who know the importance of being clear and concise, and thus are the easiest witnesses to record:"

Prove that opinion if speaking in 1865 terms, when the MPD consisted of quite a few misfits who joined after the Army and the drafts had taken their good share of good men. Take into consideration regional and ethnic dialects among the force. John Loyd was once an MPD officer. Your generalization here does not hold water with me and probably others who know social history.

Also, read the transcripts and see how the lawyers on both sides confused the issues by jumping back and forth and changing subjects frequently. Without the benefit of modern technology, anyone trying to accurately keep up with the dialogue must have had a very difficult time.

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(07-31-2016 07:49 AM)Pamela Wrote:  You seem to have missed my point, Gene. The very detective whose testimony Susan re-worded to turn a statement into a question, said to Mary Surratt to be careful about her choice of words because "a great deal depends on them". Clarvoe related the caution he gave to Mary as part of the testimony we're discussing. So, if he knew how important "be very particular how you answer them (his questions)" her words were, he knew how important his words were. I didn't notice him rambling and going off on tangents as a witness, making his words hard to decipher because that didn't happen, however Susan might wish it were so.

Gene, I basically agree with what you said.

Much like the lawyers in 1865, Pamela, your points seem to change on a minute's notice in order to reflect away from some of your original statements. Therefore, it becomes difficult to understand what your point(s) are.

And here, I am going to interject a "point" that I cannot and don't have the time to prove or disprove - and may be non-provable. For several years, I have had discussions with Civil War enthusiasts within a certain local family. This family has roots in the Surratt region (southern Prince George's County, Maryland) going back to the 1700s. I have known members of the family my entire life, but have only recently discussed Civil War history with them.

One of their descendants is well-known to those of us with an interest in the Confederate underground and the general espionage work of the Confederates. His name is E. Pliny Bryan, and he grew up on a plantation within a half-mile of Surratt House. The ruins of Bryan Hall are still in the woods near one of our regional parks and nature centers today. As an adult before the war, Pliny served in the Maryland legislature. He also owned a farm on the Potomac River; it is now the NPS National Colonial Farm, which overlooks Mount Vernon on the opposite shore. He died in Charleston while doing service for the CSA.

Because of their family research and lore, they mentioned to me that Detective Clarvoe had been a resident of another local village - Piscataway, Maryland, a known hot-bed of secessionist activity. Thomas Harbin was also a resident there and was friends with Clarvoe. The Bryan/Miller family believe that Clarvoe may have been a mole for the Confederacy while working with the Union-controlled police force in D.C. If they are correct (and I cannot attest to it either way), that may explain his careful coaching of Mrs. Surratt to "be careful of your choice of words." It could be seen as a friend's warning to watch your syntax because it could do you in.