Mary Surratt and John Lloyd

[Ed Steers]

Very interesting questions. I think she would have been found guilty, and still sentenced to hang. Why? The other evidence already cited would have been enough to convict her. The sentence of death by hanging was not, in my opinion, the result of the evidence supporting her guilt (The evidence against Mudd was just as strong). I believe Mary's sentence had to do with her son John still at large virtually mocking justice. John was clearly the best of the bunch; a Confederate spy of first rate quality. The Feds wanted John, and Mary was used partly (I say partly) as bait. She was guilty enough if you believe she knowing used her home as the central meeting place for Booth and his cohorts. The Feds believed it. Once the Feds went down the death sentence path for Mary it was difficult to pull back. The appeal by five members to commute is somewhat misleading. I would suggest that all members of the tribunal were not equal.Kautz, Foster, Ekin, and Tompkins were for commutation (Along with Hunter). They had little clout (except for Hunter), in my opinion. Wallace, Albion Howe, Harris, and Clendenin opposed. Backing them up was Holt and Bingham. I think Wallace, Harris, Holt, and Bingham held far more sway over Johnson and others than the five that supported commutation. I personally do not think Mary stood much of a chance. Another point, it is rather clear that John Hartranft, Mary's keeper, although having sympathy for her as a woman, had little sympathy for her sentence. Although her death was used against him later when he ran for governor he never flinched at her sentence by hanging.