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Why was Mary Surratt not photographed after her arrest?
09-14-2013, 01:26 PM (This post was last modified: 09-14-2013 01:27 PM by L Verge.)
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RE: Why was Mary Surratt not photographed after her arrest?
I can only add some tidbits to Dave's excellent synopsis: As Dave said, Jones had learned earlier to keep his mouth shut. When accused of supplying the boat and aiding in Booth's escape, I know of one historian who says that Jones replied by saying, "You are arresting me because someone stole my boat?" Jones's first wife (Thomas Harbin's sister) had died during his first incarceration, and he was the sole support of a large family. Thoughts of those children would certainly help convince him to stay quiet.

I don't ever remember anything ever being said about Booth being embalmed. Good question, but my first instinct is to say no, he was not. The body had begun to deteriorate rapidly, and I would imagine that would hinder embalming. Also, the purpose of embalming is often more for the sake of the kin folk than it is the corpse. It allows for an open coffin for viewing and also gives survivors the comforting thought that the "dust to dust" part will be somewhat delayed.

As for a psychological analysis of what Booth wrote in his diary, none has been ever done and published that I am aware of.

Mrs. Surratt's clemency plea that the Commissioners signed was based on her age and sex - not her degree of guilt. To me, it was their way of following the law based on the fact that she had been in cahoots with Booth up to within hours of the assassination while attempting to take some of the weight (i.e. public opinion) off of them for voting death in the first place.

I don't remember ever seeing the break-down of votes for the other three conspirators. I would suspect that Arnold and O'Laughlen received lesser guilty votes because they could not be tied to Booth once the kidnap plot was over with (even though some suspect that O'Laughlen was in D.C.). My guess would be that they and Spangler each got four out of nine guilty votes - but that is just a guess. Ed Steers's book on The Trial might give a breakdown of the vote, but I'm not certain, and my copy is at work.
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RE: Why was Mary Surratt not photographed after her arrest? - L Verge - 09-14-2013 01:26 PM

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