Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1867-08-03
LOCAL NEWS.
THE TRIAL OF JOHN H. SuRRATT.

INC Souit " 40 opcAeu, anu at ~ minutes past
1u o'clock
Mr. Pierrepoint, for the prosecution. began
his argument 10 the jury. He SAID. Yea, all
that q man has will he give for his life. He
will lift his hand before Almighty God and
swear that he ts innocent of q crime, and lust
SO far will counsel do the same. The other
counsel have all told You, that they know you
snd You know them. know that labor I'M.
der great difficulties. l come before you a to-
tai stranger, ard yet have kind Of feeling
that we are not strangers. / feel as though
we have q common origin, common country,
q common religion and hereafter should / meet
you IL will be not as strangers bat as friends
j did not want to come in this case l
had just taken my seat In the convention call
The District Attorney feeling the marnItnde
of this case applied for assistance, The Attor.
ney General conferred with the Secretary OF
state, ana on letter from the Secretary l came
to this city ana that is the way came in the
case. When the President Of the United States
was assas ated, / was one of committee
sent on by the citizens Of New York 10 attend
bis funeral: Had been there insuited In that
East room by some enemy OF my country, and
had repelled the insult, my fellow citizens
would have cen demned me for thus violating
the sanctity OF that place. Gentlemen, the
sancuty Of this trial Is above that OF the fune-
raj, and have endeavored not to get into any
quarrel over the murder OF the President, and
God helping me I will not. believe gentle-
men what You want to know Is the trial. MY
duty Is to try TO aid You in coming to Just
conviction. When the evidence is revie wed, an
persons left out who had nothing to do with
this case. you Will see that in the whole histo.
~ OF criminal jurisprudence no case was ever
clearer proved: and gentlemen, shall not at.
tempt to convince you by bold assertions OF
my own. am not here for that purpose
seeing whether under the law thus man
My business is to show yen by the evidence
that this prisoner is guilty. II do that, I
shan ask your verdict. II don't do that
shall neither asked nor expect it. shall show
You that this p rsy was concerned In this con.
spiracy watch recuEv d. in the death of the
f1e: ident am not / ere to prove Mrs. Sur
ratt's guilt or innocence. l do not see why
coun ell should come nm the commission
which triFd the conspirators; thus indirectly
ccnsuTlrg The President; tor 1t was well known
that Pre- dent Johnson ordered that commits
sion and sien' the death warrant in presence
@ his Cabinet. hold in my hand the original
pTper signed by the President, after IL had
been suggested and recommended that Mrs.
SurIatts sentence be COMMITTED, and there It
IS gentlemen. throwing the paper towards
ar Msrrick,b you can look at it. What is
Goyernmert tor! What We would do without
IL Is II right for counsel 10 assail the Gov
ernmenr, and charge certain officers with
wanting to lap their tongues in the blood of
The Innocent Why should great and gener-
Gus Government be pursuing men charged
with murders Where would we come to gen.
tiemep, now long would our safety last! We
have been told here that our Government has
nothing OF divinity which hedges it about 1
tell you, gentlemen, ii that Is true, its days
are numbered. No government that has not
God in " can last. Governments Of God, and
the powers that be are ordained of God. The
voice OF The people Is the voice of God. Is
possible That our CO un'ry men w i'll say that our
Government has nothing Of divinity! Does 1t
rest alone without anything sacred in it
Once there was Empire-the Empire of
Rome-but they ceased to believe that God was
in government They ceased to punish great
crime, and In short time that great Empire
tumbled down and went to the dust. 1t will
ever be SO whenever people cease to obey God
and to think that government is of God Mr.
- hAr Yaa n he htn "a
to show In what estimation government was
held. 1t is true, as the counsel has said, that
God is God Of mercy; but though he saws l
am God OF mercy, yet he says will BY no
means clear the guilty. The counsel says we
have had blood enough. The question before
you, gentlemen. is not have we had blood
enough, but II Is have we not had murder and
ASSASSINATION enough, and let one jury in civil
Court say we have had murder and assassina.
ton enough, and we will stop it. 1t Is not for
you or l 10 say what the lenIency shall be. II
he is guilty our duty 10 10 find on. that fact
and pronounce verdict according to that tact
If the Executive sees fit TO be lenient IL is moth.
ing to US. daveyou seen anything in the con.
duct OF my learned friend, the District Attor.
ney, that was improper Since last night I
have been shown the Rebellion Record, and l
find on the 5th OF January, 1861, Edward C.
Darlington issued letter to call out the militia
OF this District 10 protect the Government. and
thus early we find this patriotic gentleman
taking the side OF Il o vernment. That is why thew
have SO denounced and taken sides agains
him. We have been told that the Judge AID.
vocate General and Mr.. johnson, and the
Military COMMISSION, have done many wrong
things. We are told the Supreme Court de-
clared the commission illegal. There is no
such decision on record Four persons convict.
ed III that Court are now living and in
prison. think you. gentlemen, knew when
the witnesses came upon that stand who told
the truth and who lied. You are men Of bust
ness and can Judge You have had dealings
with men. You know if BIssell or Campbell
told the truth. l think you know if every
witness told the truth, for you have listened
SIN n % n
As men who had high and solemn duty TO
perform. Now, gentlemen, l come to some
fscts in this case about which there Is no dis.
pute. Every truth Is in perfect harmony with
every other truth. God IS a God of truth. II
every thing was truth there would be no crime.
The moment you violate the truth every thing
il the moral world. Men are slow to be-
heye this, but q little observation will show
how true II IS You cannot violate a law of
Gcd bat that you Will be punished for it in this
life. 1t always was and always will be So
You may cheat your neighbor ana cover 1t up
so that the charge cannot be made, yet you
may mark this as certain truth that conf
dtnce Will soon be lost to you. Now let US
come 10 a truth. John Harrison entered
LIS rame on the 18th OF April, 1865. In the
register a. ST. Lawrence Hall, Montreal. There
II he writing: the man is the prisoner at the
bar After nat, he passed through the hotel,
took no meal In the house, made no bill, but
He'd somewhere. Where did he gel To the
house OF a man named Porterfield He was
concealed there until one night, when two
men dressed exactly alike came out, took sep.
aIate carriages, al d went different ways. Did
be lice because he was engaged in this con-
spracy to XIII Dir Lincoln Where does he
go rheni To the house OF Boucher, priest.
priest who has done no honor to hts hon.
ored church Thus, gentlemen, when Surratr
was caught, the Pope and Cardinal Antonelli
fastened 10 give him up on account OF his
great crime, even before any demand was
made by the United States. Gentlemen, that
priest will hear from the Pope aud Cardinal
Antonelli before he Is one year older. Sur
raft was concealed in the house of Boucher
What was going on here The mother and
the other conspirators were here on trial He
WIS there concealed-dld he not know what
was going on? Let Us see. Here is q paper
dressed 10 a. q. Atzerodt, Washington, u.
New York. The Catholic Church never did
sanction such crime this and his holiness
the Pope fastened to deliver up thi3 man.
tell you again, gentlemen, this priest will hear
from mis- Pope and bishop in less tn an one year
In September, five months after. ne (Surratrl
goes on the steamer under the name of Me-
Carly, with spectacle and dyed hair What
happened He had not been on the steamer
twenty m nutes before he starts and saws there
Is an American detective. He says TO McWil.
la: IL have done such things . would make
you stare f" Why see ghos, behind eVerv
cord Of the ship3 He is innocent, they saw.
He finally told the secret-his guilty soul
could not keep il. Criminals tell us they can.
not keep the secret OF their crime. Finally he
comes 10 Ireland. What did he then do? Takes
lumber after tumbIer of raw brandy. Why
was that! Well, he landes In Ireland, but it