Mary J. Gardiner

[BettyO]

Found this in the Springfield Daily Republican, dated April 20, 1865 -

"A bitter southern woman (my emphasis), supposed to be the Mary J. Gardiner referred to on the card found in the bloody coat Bunker Hill, is one of the persons arrested."

Granted, this was only a few days after Powell was arrested. One wonders if this is one of the Gardiner sisters who were dance hall girls at the Canterbury and Metropolitan Music Halls. Supposedly a Lieutenant Vanderpoel saw these women dancing at the Canterbury at the same time that he spied four men whom he supposed were Powell, Booth, Herold and Atzerodt. He gave this testimony at the 1867 Surratt Trial. One also wonders if perhaps that this could be the "southern widow woman" who was supposedly Seward's neighbor.

I'm going to dig deeper into this -