Was this Lincoln conspirator guilty? At this museum, you decide.

[John Fazio]

(04-21-2016 10:23 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is a link to an article in today's Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle...story.html

Roger:

Thanks for the reference.

The subject of Mary's guilt or innocence is covered in detail in Chapter 5 of Decapitating the Union. A consideration of as much inculpatory and exculpatory evidence as I could find led me to the conclusion that she was guilty of complicity in the assassination, but that she should not have been executed. Had Johnson followed the 5-4 recommendation of the Commissioners to spare her, she would not have been executed. Johnson's claim that he never saw the petition for clemency submitted by Judge Advocate Joseph Holt is unconvincing.

John