Mary Surratt and John Lloyd

[Thomas Thorne]

I just got back from vacation. Great new forum. Roger came up with a fascinating counter-factual. I believe Mary would have been convicted by virtue of the role she and John played at the boarding house. Her sentence would likely have been somewhere in between the 6 years given to Spangler and the life sentence given to those not hanged.
As Holt spoke with Johnson for three hours, I find it inconceivable that the issue of the US government executing a woman for the first time did not come up. As Johnson was quoted as saying the trouble with the Civil War was the failure to hang enough women, Holt no doubt found a kindred spirit.
Tom