New Information on How John Surratt Escaped Punishment?

[L Verge]

I received the following inquiry today that might interest some of you:

Ms. Verge,

I recently heard Professor Jonathan Laurie (retired - Rutgers) assert at the North Jersey Civil War Round Table that John Surratt had obtained valuable confederate records and traded those records in a back-room deal for an acquittal (actually a hung jury) at his civil trial.

I have been unable to locate any materials supporting this assertion.

Have you heard of this theory?

Can you point me to any sources on this subject?

Needless to say, I quickly posted it on the grapevine, and others were as skeptical as I. I'll be pursuing this (hopefully with the former Rutgers professor) once this week's Surratt Conference is over -- speaking of which, 120 registrants as of Friday plus a dozen more coming for the banquet to catch up on gossip about The Women Who Loved John Wilkes Booth, courtesy of author E. Lawrence Abel.