Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-06-15
NUMBER 3.
THE OONsPIRATORs.
Personal Description of the Assassins on Tria
at Washington.

! Inc most Srapnlc personal description
yet given of the conspirators on trial at
Washington, appears in the New York
Methodist, written by Rev B. Ii. Nadal, one
of the editors of that paper. He says of
| MRS. SURRATT.
We begin with Mrs Surratt, who pre-
sents herself in the light of a mother, if not
to the bloody plot itself, at least to the
" beasts of Ephesus" now on trial Her
house in Washington was the meeting
place of the horrid crew, and her own son
a partner with her and the rest of them in
the conspiracy. Shc it will be remem-
bered, on the day of the murder, drove out
to Surrattsville with what she graphically
described as % the shooting irons" for which
Booth and Harold called in their flight
down the western peninsula Of Maryland.
| She PLAYED the tigress in nourishing the pur-
pose of the assassins until it was fully
ready for the deed and when she was ar
rested in the small hours of the night, in
her own house, asked permission to kneel
and say her prayers before being marched
away by the officers She actually did
kneel, and no doubt repeated her " Hail
Mary" But will the reader pause and take
| a view of this woman? She sits there, III
the corner, the first in the row Of criminals,
a position of honor to which both her age
and her intelligence entitle her. The rea-
der at first finds VEIL a thin one, between
him and the object of his scrutiny. Wait
moment this witness is called upon to
identify her, and her face must be uncov-
cred She is modest and reluctant, but
justice is stern, and her shyness must give
way. There, now, you see the face per-
fectly; and, between us, it is a fine one.
Indeed, if there were nothing the matter,
| and we were called on at this distance of
ten feet, to give an opinion, we should pro-
nounce her, for woman Of her age hand
some. She is tall and large, without being
fat weighing perhaps hundred and eighty
pounds Her hair, seen in the shade of her
bonnet, reveals no gray, and is a beautiful
dark brown, well polished with the brush
| Her face, as BELTS such a form, is broad,
but not coarse-iust the reverse. 1t is
fair, the cheeks slightly tinged by the in
| terest of the circumstances and her eye
is bright, clear, calm, resolute, but not un-
kind Her expression, for the several hours
she was under our eye, was that Of deeply
sombre gentleness, which still bore a look
of having been partly produced by the will
I and for the occasion Immersed as she is
art She does her best to make favorable
impression, by dress and aspect, upon her
judges She was the very person to mould
the material which fell into her hands. She
no doubt ruled them like queen But the
court, fortunately, is made of quite another
metal.
| HEROLD
Next to this mother of conspirators sits
|
past his majority He is small, with a
peaked mouth, a nose slightly hooked, a
sprinkle of moustache, a wandering, twink
ling eye, narrow forehead, with protrud-
ing brows, and a general expression Of
mingled fun and stiffness. He strikes you
as a fellow such as Booth would have had
about him to laugh at his jokes, to do his
chores, and to be his man Friday generally
PAYNE.
After Herold comes Payne, next to Mrs
Surratt the great character Of the party
He is tall, straight, stout-the perfection of
physical form. 1t would be hard to guess
whether keen activity or muscular energy
predominates in him both seem to belong
to him in equal proportion. His large head
is thickly covered with black hair his
forehead is almost entirely wanting his
face has no beard his neck is as immense
as a bulls, and yet smooth and fair his
lips thin and firm his nose small but his
eye-the characteristic feature-reminds
YOU of the man who said -" Our name is le-
gion," only you can see that the said legion
has not entered 1t is an eye of deliber-
ately rolling fire-a pair of perdition-light-
ed torches when they move they fash and
glare, rather than look This is but q
mere reading of the mans crime already
known, in his look it is a reasonably So
Der description of the reality. AS you look
at his great form, sitting camly erect and
| seemingly reckless you think of Il modern
boxer or of a Roman gladiator. When You
meet his eye you think of Lucifer but
when, in the light Of that eye, you regard
the whole face, you are reminded Of Satan
in the swine-a possessed brute Nothing
moves him without looking defiant, he is
impertur5ed and perfectly at home. His
nerves appear to have gone into muscle.
ATzERoDT
Next comes Atzerodt, short in person, al
most without neck, dirty, cadaverous, dull,
curly or tangle-haired, cowardy-looking,
and evidently a poor miserable Jack-a
dupe.
O'IAUGHLIN.
The fifth man is O'Laughlin, Baltimo-
rean, as we learn. He is the best looking
of the gang. He is small in person, with
delicate features, head of flakey, coal
black hair, and fine moustache of the
same color. His forehead is broad and
striking, his fine black eye rests softly and
humbly under delicately penciled brown,
and his whole appearance impresses the
beholder with the strangeness of his con-
nection with the great crime. He must be
young in crime, and the deformity of his
soul has not pictured itself on his face.
SPANGLER.
Spangler, who appears to have been a
sort of stable drudge for Booth and his hor-
ses, is the sixth in order. Like most of the
! others, his face lacks forehead Lavater
amused himself with tracing the resem
blance between human and brute faces
We have seen cows and oxen with countc
nances very much like that of poor Span
gler. He looks like the picture of distress
: DR. MUDD
Dr. Mudd is q native of Charles county
: but looks like a Scotchman His hair il
y yellow his beard and mouStache male red