Johnson at odds with Holt & Stanton in June of 1865

[STS Lincolnite]

(02-22-2015 06:01 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  The plea itself was worded as follows:

The undersigned members of the Military Commission detailed to try Mary E. Surratt and others for the conspiracy and the murder of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, do respectively pray the President, in consideration of the sex and age of the said Mary E. Surratt, if he can upon all the facts in the case, find it consistent with his sense of duty to the country to commute the sentence of death to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.

It was signed by Hunter, Kautz, Foster, Ekin, and Tompkins. I do not know where it is located nowadays.

Thanks Roger.

In my previous post, I alluded that in finding Mrs. Surratt guilty the commissioners indicated they felt evidence compelling enough to do so. I have been trying to read a few more sources and it seems there may be more to it than that. One source I found says that the commissioners, when convened to decide on the case against Mrs. Surratt, in their initial polling, voted 5 to 4 to either acquit or at least reduce her sentence to life. And further, that a compromise was reached with Holt for all to vote guilty but to add the recommendation for reduction sentence. That makes the question of their surety of her guilt more questionable. I will have to do some more reading...