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MaddieM · (This post was last modified: 06-23-2013 08:20 PM by MaddieM.)

(06-21-2013 04:54 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote: Up on eBay right now is a set of letters sent in July of 1865. Every once and awhile there are letters or diaries like these on eBay that make a passing mention of the assassination along the lines of, "How terrible for our republic, etc." This letter discusses briefly the execution of the conspirators. The eBay seller put up this excerpt which I found humorous:

"...what do you think about Ms Surratt being hung, it ought never to have been, imprisonment for ten years would have been about right for her and Harrold, but Payne & Atzerodt of course deserve hanging, they were cowardly wretches..."

Based on Powell's crime, I don't think anyone expected him to live and, of course, it surprised many that Mary was hanged due to her gender and age. However, I found this interesting as it is the first time I've ever come across someone who would have spared Herold's life. What humored me, however, is the lack of sympathy for George. Even though he didn't technically do anything, this author still saw him as a cowardly wretch deserving of death.

I think poor old Georgie got a bit of a raw deal... he wasn't the best looker of the group and sadly, I think this coloured people's perceptions of him. His hunched and scruffy demeanour did him no favours...and the press ripped him apart in the looks department. I'm always amazed when I look at photos of him because he looks about 45....at least.

(06-22-2013 08:58 PM)Craig Hipkins Wrote: Poor George always has always had the stigma of "coward" attached to his name! At least he didn't shoot anyone in the back of the head!

My take on it is that what they did was wrong and they got the punishment deserving for that time. None of them would have hanged now...at least not in the UK. But...they were also mostly young, unworldly and did what young people often do - make very stupid mistakes. It was war time, and they were fired up and clearly manipulated to a degree and most likely doing what most naive young people do...not thinking about the full implications and far reaching effects of their actions. Is this an excuse? Not really. But it explains a lot. Booth? He was the puppet master in my opinion...whilst somebody else yanked his own strings.

(06-23-2013 06:59 AM)JMadonna Wrote:
(06-23-2013 06:29 AM)LincolnMan Wrote: I wonder was he really a coward or did he realize that what he was "assigned" to do was evil-and so he backed out.
George had his principles. Kidnapping was OK but murder was not. He stood up for those principles when the pressure was put on him. A coward would have succumbed.

If he was that brave, he would have stood up to Booth and threatened to tell. But he didn't. None of them did. I think he merely bottled it and got bladdered to blot out the whole nightmare he'd found himself in.