The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-12-15
John IT. surratt.

Nearly eighteen months have passed since the
death of the principal conspirators in the assas
sination of Abraham Lincoln, and still the plo
remains mystery. A bright theatre-Death
leaping on the scene-a wounded man at bay in
Virginia barn, defying his pursuers, and sho
by the blunder of soldier-a sick mans bed
and the assassin with his knife at his throat
the secret consultations of murderers coming
and going under various names and disguiseG
which, like those of Rembrant, vast shadows en-
shroud fierce and lurid light The gallows
with four corpses, and one of them woman
the Dry Tortugas, where four convicts expiate
in wretched solitude their crimes-a quiet grave
far away in Illinois-these are its companion
pictures, and yet there is one more terrible. Il
is that of man flying from the land where be
was born flying from the avenger Death, from
the body of his victim, from the corpse Of his
mother on the scaifold, seeking in vain to lose
himself in the great world, and to blot his name
from the memory of man. This is John 81. Sur.
raft, of whose equal guilt in the crime there is
no doubt, and by whom, 1t is believed, much
that is hidden may be revealed.
The evidence taken before Military Commits
sion in June, 1865, proved John H. Surratt to
be one of the principal conspirators. 1t was in the
house of his mother that the meetings were held
up to the week of the assassination he had been
iourneying between Richmond and Montreal
Booth was his constant companion Mudd con-
cealed him in the woods near his house Payne
consulted with him Atzerodt confessed thai
Surratt induced him to join the conspiracy
one Mott, Rebel, when he heard OF the murder,
it was sworn, exclaimed My God John
Surratt knew all about this, and do you suppose
he is going to stay in Washington and let them
catch him ~ His name was the first in the in
dietment Had there been any doubt of his
guilt his flight would have removed it, for though
none of the principals were more frequently seer
up to the Sd of April, on the afternoon of the
l4th he was seen for the last time, booted and
spurred, ready for his escape. From that time
the very existence of John Surratt was mystery
it was believed he was dead that he had reveal
ed the names of his fellow-conspirators to tht
Government, and had been allowed to escape
tHdt u6 Was ocCICliJ lu1piiSOHOO' ~ ""S hOsSN
that no reward was offered for his arrest. Yet
as time passed on, John Surratt was forgotten
! till the other day came the startling news tha
he had been arrested by the American Consul
General in Egypt.
| There is true dramatic interest in this imper
feet history. The escape and pursuit of no othe
criminal in this century has so much to excite
the imagination. No man, it is possible, no
even Booth, worked harder to accomplish thu
murder and a deeper interest is given t.
his share in the conspiracy by his frequent jour
neys to Richmond. Upon Surratts presumed
connection with the Rebel Government, Andrew
Johnson charged Jefferson Davis with completely
| in the assassination. New revelations are expect
ed from his trial the public may be disappoint
ed in that yet if John Surratt could be induced
to confess, before the death which is almost Ger
tain to be his fate, there is no reasonable doub
but that he might tell the whole story of Lin
coins assassination from the beginning to the end