A.Johnson or J.Holt-? Who do you believe?

[Linda Anderson]

Frank J. Williams, a former Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, writes in his essay, "The Lincoln Assassination in Law and Lore" from The Lincoln Assassination, Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory:

"In two military trials before July 1865, Holt had specifically included in his comments accompanying the records sent to the president information that the commissions had found the defendants guilty but had also recommended clemency. Holt's note to President Johnson dealing with the convictions of the Lincoln conspirators, however, urged the president to approve the findings of the court, saying nothing of the recommendation of clemency on behalf of Mrs. Surratt...

"Nothing was said of the petition for clemency. Holt later insisted that he had included the petition with the record of the trial when he delivered the documents to the president. Johnson claimed that he never saw that petition. But whether or not Holt included the request for clemency, he should have informed the president of that fact in his covering statement, as he had done on previous occasions. His failure to do so was a serious dereliction of duty."