Countdown to July 7

[Linda Anderson]

(07-06-2012 04:02 PM)Rick Smith Wrote:  Hello All,

Good to be back with you. Roger, thanks very much for the work you have done to set up this forum.

I did not know that the conspirators who were not hanged, such as Ned Spengler, were unaware of their sentences.

No wonder Ned was unable to eat supper.

Rick

From the Evening Star - 7/7/1865

PETITIONS FOR CLEMENCY

"Immediately upon the announcement of the sentences a rush was made for the Executive Mansion by friends and relatives of the conspirators to plead for a brief respite. Among the applicants were the counsel for Mrs. Surratt, a sister of Herold, the wife of Dr. Mudd and the spiritual advisers of the condemned, and a number of parties whose sympathies got the better of their judgment and afforded the only apologies for their officiousness. All applicants were referred to Judge Advocate General Holt, but he, like the President, was inexorable. At night the throng of applicants increased and the entreaties were most importunate. Many expressed belief that in consideration of her sex, the sentence of Mrs. Surratt might be commuted to imprisonment for life, and her case was the most strongly urged. Even down to the hour for the execution the hope of clemency was entertained by some, and not a few were sanguine to the last."

Anna Surratt returned to her home on H Street to find that a crowd had gathered around the boarding house. Anna "appeared perfectly crushed with grief."
"From early in the evening until a late hour at night, hundreds of persons-old and young, male and female-visited the vicinity of Mrs. Surratt's residence, stopping upon the opposite side of the street, glancing over with inquiring and anxious eyes upon the house in which the conspirators met, commenting upon the fate of the doomed woman and the circumstances connected therewith. Even the casual passerby was attracted to the spot, while the residents of the neighborhood sat quietly at their doors and windows watching the movements of those whose approached the house in which the conspiracy was concocted. During the evening not less than 500 persons visited the spot."