Could John Have Spared Mary

[Jim Garrett]

(10-28-2012 06:02 PM)L Verge Wrote:  It appears that most have had their say on my question, so here's what I believe. I think that both mother and son would have been hanged. If the Commission stuck to its procedure of giving the death sentence to those who were doing Booth's bidding right up to the moment of the assassination, they would have to have pronounced the death sentence for Mary based on the evidence they had. The only glitch in my answer would be if the clemency plea had been granted after the verdict.

As for John, he was their one solid link to the Confederate government - either the real one in Richmond or the tricky one in Canada. I believe that Come Retribution places him in Judah Benjamin's office in Richmond in February of 1865. He had also been in the employ of the enemy in the eyes of the U.S. since about 1862. When he went on the road for them in earnest and quit his job at Adams Express, he signed over his portion of the Surratt property to his mother, knowing that, if he were caught in sympathy with the Confederacy, their lands would be confiscated.

All of the above spells TREASON to me and is punishable by death. Wasn't that the first thing that the U.S. tried him for when he was caught? The statute of limitations had run out, however. In 1865, it was still a hanging offense. Therefore, I vote death for both. And may the ghosts of Surratt House forgive me...

Agreed Laurie. John Surratt was in an awful fix. To come back would not have gotten his mother off the hook. It could only get him hung and possibly be a source of evidence against the Confederacy.