Could John Have Spared Mary

[RJNorton]

Jim, a question. When you were scanning through Harris' book did you see anything about him saying he felt Mary Surratt was the most guilty of all the parties who were on trial? I brought this question up once before as I think I read (years ago) that one of the Commission members said or wrote this many years after the trial. I was trying to figure out if it may have been Harris.

[BettyO]

(10-31-2012 01:04 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Here is an entry from July 8th:

"July 8, 1865.—They have hung my mother. Curse them! in every way curse them. She was no party to the mad freaks of Booth! She has been murdered by Johnson, but I will be even with them yet. After my sister pleading as she did for her mother's life, and yet they have hung her. Payne and Harold; well they were in the plot; but then that cowardly fellow, Atzerodt, Johnson ought to have pardoned him, if even only because he was too cowardly to attempt to kill him. But they are all hung, and the rest have been sent to the Dry Tortugas. But, my mother! Curse them! curse them all!"

Laurie, the next time the gentleman comes in ask him how John knew the group had been sent to the Dry Tortugas as early as July 8th.

Obviously Mr. Haco was not too well versed in grammar - even for his day!

To any writer - the correct word is "hanged" - not "hung!" I learned that from Laurie YEARS AGO and remembered it ever since! Laurie is a GREAT Teacher !!

[Jim Page]

(11-20-2012 05:49 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  When you were scanning through Harris' book did you see anything about him saying he felt Mary Surratt was the most guilty of all the parties who were on trial?

Hi, Roger--

I never got that far due to the writing style, but I'll look this afternoon and let you know. I could see that Harris was no defender of Mary Surratt, though.

--Jim

[Laurie Verge]

If I remember correctly, one thing that Harris had against Mrs. Surratt was that she was a Catholic. He was one of the first to suggest that the assassination was a Catholic conspiracy.

[Jim Page]

Hey, Roger—

Here’s a summary of General Harris’ comments about Mrs. Surratt in his book:

ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN
A HISTORY OF THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS BY A MILITARY COMMISSION
AND A REVIEW OF THE TRIAL OF JOHN H. SURRATT
By T. M. HARRIS

Late Brigadier-General U. S. V. and Major-General by Brevet
A MEMBER OF THE COMMISSION
1892
419 pages
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpts:
Page 193:
On one occasion, whilst waiting for the mail there, he heard Mrs. Surratt say that she would give one thousand dollars to any one that would kill Lincoln. He also testified that when there was a Union victory he heard her son say in her presence that, "The damned Northern army and leader thereof ought to be sent to hell."

Page 198:
Can any one doubt now that Mrs. Surratt was fully posted in every particular of the assassination plot, that she was fully trusted by Booth and her son, and was in sympathy with their purpose and willing to do all she could in aiding its accomplishment, — that she was, in fact, a co-conspirator?

Page 208:
In vindication of the Commission, and also of the court of review, the President and his cabinet,
—we submit that the evidence shows her to have been guilty, no matter what she might have said in her final confession.
Perhaps she had been led to believe that President Lincoln was an execrable tyrant, and that his death was no more than that of the "meanest n***er in the army." Her remarks to her daughter the night her house was searched indicate the views she took of the subject. "Anna, come what will, I am resigned. I think that Booth was only an instrument in the hands of the Almighty to punish this wicked and licentious people." 'To one who could have taken this view of the case, Booth's act could not have been regarded as a crime; and she who rendered him all the aid she could would feel no guilt. They were only co-operating with the Almighty in the execution of his vengeance.

Pages 209-210:
It is a very strange circumstance, too, that whilst Payne, Arnold, O'Laughlin, Atzerodt, and even John H. Surratt admitted their connection with one or the other of the conspiracy plots, Mrs. Surratt has not left one word or line after her to explain away the incriminating evidence brought against her. The reason is plain; she could not have explained anything without involving herself and her son, and giving away the whole case.

Page 389:
It is almost imposing upon the patience of the court to consume time in demonstrating the fact which none conversant with the testimony of this case can for a moment doubt, that John H. Surratt and Mary E. Surratt were as surely in the conspiracy to murder the President as was John Wilkes Booth himself. You have the frequent inter- views between John H. Surratt and Booth, his intimate relations with Payne, his visits from Atzerodt and Herold, his deposit of the arms to cover their flight after the conspiracy should have been executed; his own declared visit to Richmond to do what Booth himself said to Chester must be done, to wit, that he or some of the party must go to Richmond in order to get funds to carry out the conspiracy; that he brought back with him gold, the price of blood, confessing himself that he was there; that he immediately went to Canada, delivered despatches in cipher to Jacob Thompson from Jefferson Davis, which were interpreted and read by Thompson in the presence of the witness Conover, and in which the conspiracy was approved, and, in the language of Thompson, the proposed assassination was "made all right."

Page 390:
That Mary E. Surratt is as guilty as her son of having thus conspired, combined, and confederated to do this murder, in aid of this rebellion, is clear.

Page 392:
But there is, one other fact in this case that puts forever at rest the question of the guilty participation of the prisoner, Mrs. Surratt, in this conspiracy and murder; and that is that Payne, who had lodged four days in her house —who during all that time had sat at her table, and who had often conversed with her — when the guilt of his great crime was upon him, and he knew not where else he could so safely go to find a co-conspirator, and he could trust none that was not like himself, guilty, with even the knowledge of his presence — under cover of darkness, after wandering for three days and nights, skulking before the pursuing officers of justice, at the hour of midnight found his way to the door of Mrs. Surratt, rang the bell, was admitted, and upon being asked, " Whom do you want to see? " replied, "Mrs. Surratt."

and

If not one word had been said, the mere act of Payne in flying to her house for shelter would have borne witness against her, strong as proofs from Holy Writ. But when she denies, after hearing his declarations, that she had sent for him, or that she had gone to him and hired him, and calls her God to witness that she had never seen him, and knew nothing of him, when, in point of fact, she had seen him for four successive days in her own house, in the same clothing which he then wore, who can resist for a moment the conclusion that these parties were alike guilty?

------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Laurie said, Harris’ feelings about the Catholic Church’s involvement, if that's the right word, are plain. Harris spends much time refuting Father Walter, and Harris wrote, five years after publishing this book, a 96-page book entitled ROME'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Hope this helps!

--Jim

[RJNorton]

Jim, I send you a great big THANK YOU. In my old age I have come to the belief that Mary was not only knowledgeable of the kidnap plot but may have known about the assassination plot as well. I did not feel this way until I read Kate Larson's book which convinced me Mary conceivably knew Booth was going to shoot Lincoln. Mary's behavior on April 14th is suspect in many particulars, including her strange behavior after the 9:00 P.M. visitor (JWB) departed. Additionally, if Bill Richter is right, JWB stopped at Mary's boardinghouse to pick up pistols and a hat as he fled Washington. This would have taken place after Mary inexplicably chased everyone to their rooms. If Jerry Madonna is right Mary may have known about the possibility of passes Andrew Johnson had issued Booth and Herold to get out of town. Apparently she may have told Bingham this. In truth, I do feel she was an integral part of Booth's plot and very complicit with it. Just my opinion.

[Jim Page]

Hi, Roger--

You are most welcome! Like you, I believe that Mrs. Surratt was aware of the assassination conspiracy and had also been key in the kidnapping conspiracy.

The person whom I find most interesting in all of this is Anna Surratt; I'd love to learn more about her life after this series of events. The later life of John Surratt also would be interesting, but Anna appeals to me more as a person than John-John (as Laurie calls him!!!) does.

--Jim

[Ashley Norman]

I think that he could have saved her from death but I also think that John didnt think they would actually hang her. Many people didnt think that they would hang a woman. I think Mary would have still served time for the crime but i think John really thought that she wpuld be fine and nothing but hard time in jail would be her fate.

[Gene C]

Johnny Surratt indicated in his lectures that the people that were helping to hide him mislead him about what was happening to his mother, and that by the time he found out, it was to late to do anything.

[Ashley Norman]

I didn't know he had mislead. How was he mislead?

[Gene C]

They (his friends) told him his mother was not in any serious danger and that he needed to remain hidden. Johnny said he believed the government was using his mothers imprisonment and the trial in an effort to get him to give up and save her, never believing her life was really in danger.

[Laurie Verge]

Referring back to the first excerpt from Harris's book (page 193) quoted by Jim above: Sorry, but here's another family story. As I have said earlier, my great-grandparents, Eli and Laura Huntt, knew Mrs. Surratt; and one of the hand-me-down stories was that Eli had seen her on at least one trip that she made to the blacksmith in T.B. where she was cursing and damning the black-hearted Lincoln and wishing someone would get him.

That would not have been an atypical comment in Southern Maryland, of course, but it was a tad improper for a "lady" of that time to be expressing such thoughts.

[Jim Page]

As someone who grew up in the South and often heard people, usually of the lower classes, make remarks that "someone ought to shoot that SOB," usually when talking about John Kennedy or Martin Luther King, I feel that Mary Surratt was posturing to emphasize her passion for the Confederate cause.

Once the reality of what she had been a part of sunk in, I suspect that she realized the folly of such statements. I'm sure that she wished she had never heard of John Wilkes Booth and his fruitless scheme.

I clearly remember my granny scolding the propane-delivery man for saying such stuff in front of her grandchildren and how stunned that truck driver was that someone would upbraid him for that. My grandmother was a much-respected woman in her little town and what she said carried a lot of weight.

Many folks talk tough and regret it later. I'm pleased that I never hear people say such things today.

--Jim

[Ashley Norman]

Oh ok I didnt know that they had told Jonh that. I had heard that they tried to find him to get him to come in and do the right thign and he knew his mother was in prision.
I didnt know though that he though she was ok by bing mislead.

[Jim Garrett]

A.C. Richards felt Mrs. Surratt was the #2 person in the conspiracy. Her demeanor when he questioned her really hit Richards that she was in it deep. President Johnson's comment, "She kept the nest....."

The Federal government had such a proble with Southern women, I don't think they were going to give her any slack.

Did they make an example out of Mrs. Surratt?