Why was Mary Surratt not photographed after her arrest?

[Dave Taylor]

(09-14-2013 07:33 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thanks for any reply or info on the following questions. (Sorry, didn't find a more suitable thread.)

1. Why was Thomas Jones not tried for helping a murderer?

2.Did William Garrett receive at least a portion of the reward for locking the barn?

6. Regarding the trial I read "Death sentences required the votes of SIX members (of the nine-member commission). And: "FIVE of the nine Commission members recommend to the President...that he reduce Mary Surratt's punishment..." So, why is 6+5=9???

Here are the ones I can answer off the top of my head.

1. Thomas Austin Jones was suspected to have helped Booth and was arrested, transported to Washington, and held in the Old Capitol Prison. This was Jones second time spending time in a D.C. prison, having previously been arrested during the war on suspicion of being a Confederate agent and part of the Confederate mail line (which he absolutely was). Both incarcerations ended the same - with Jones keeping his mouth shut until his eventual release. The only people who could tell what he had done were Booth (dead), Herold (wasn't going to give him up), and Cox (in jail himself on suspicion of helping Booth and Herold). It wasn't until many years later that Jones finally opened up to newspaperman George Alfred Townsend about his role.

2. None of the Garretts received any reward money. Both Jack and Will Garrett were arrested after Booth died and were taken to Washington with Herold and the body. The boys were imprisoned at the Navy Yard before being transferred to the Old Capitol Prison. From there they managed to get their released but they were required to stay in Washington and attend the trial in case they were called to testify. This never occurred and they were allowed to return home. A few years after the assassination, Jack became a fairly wealthy farmer on a nearby plantation, and this created the rumor that the Garretts received a share of the reward money, but this is not so. They applied to the government several times for restitution for the loss of their sizable barn, but were refused.

6. While the trial is not my area of expertise, I believe the rules laid out that a vote of guilty by 2/3 of the commission would be an automatic death sentence for the prisoner in question. Therefore, when Mary Surratt received a six out of nine vote for guilty, she would have been up for execution. However, not all of the commission members thought she should be executed even though she was found guilty by a 2/3 majority. So five of the commission members, some of whom voted guilty, signed the plea for clemency.

Connected to this, many people recount how Dr. Mudd was one vote away from being executed himself due to the 2/3 majority rule. While this is true, Dr. Mudd was also one vote away from being acquitted entirely. He received a guilty vote of 5 out of 9. One more guilty vote would have meant death, and one more not guilty vote would have set him free as there would no longer have been a majority for guilty (4 out of 9).