Judicial Murder of Mrs. Surratt

[KLarson]

I did not look at Johnson’s papers. Wish I had. Cabinet members and Atty. Gen. Speed all said they saw the petition for clemency and that Johnson rejected it. I’d be interested in Johnson’s contemporaneous thoughts on Surratt and the trial, if they exist, but I’m sure there is nothing there that documents in real time his spurious claim that she was railroaded. I don’t have much respect for the guy and don’t find him to be trustworthy. DeWitt has no credibility, either, in my view. His book is filled with errors, misstated and reworded testimony from the trial, and he also uses very selective testimony to support his argument that Mary was innocent, and completely ignores other damaging facts. He slanders practically everyone who testified against her. His own jurist career was very brief and not notable, and he was a Copperhead Democrat. Context is everything.