Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-17
Mrs. surrat,.s Case.

That was rather an effectual reply made
by Hon. John A. Bingham to a Copper.
head who called out to him while address
ing Republican meeting at Bangor
"How about Mrs. Surratt?" Mr.. Bing.
hams instant response was: "How about
her? Go and consult the records of the
court that convicted her. Go and ask Gen
II cock, who issued the order for her ex
ecution in spite of a writ of habeas corpu,
which had been served upon him; and, ii
you are still nnsatistied. go and ask that
.apostate President, Andrew Johnson, who
refused her a pardon after a petition had
been sent him signed by every member but
one of the court who tried her, and draw n
up in the handwriting of the man you
SEX to INSULT g., ...r +,,..,.... ....f. -,
This is one of the richest things yet The
Chronicle and the Republican both give il
conspicuous places. e3Gu is t.
We happen to know something about the
affair. General Hancock was the Com.
mandant of the Department of Washing.
ton at the time of Mary E. Surratt's exc.
tion, and he simply carried into effect the
military orders of mis- superior officers. He
did not issue an ''order for her execution
and John A. Bingham knows it. The writ
of habeas corpus was served upon General
Hancock to produce the body of Mrs. Sur.
ratt in court, aud it he could have had his
way at thai time, ne would have obey ed it,
but John A. Bingham, thirsting for inno-
cent blood, assists,i in framing excuses why
the order of the writ should not be obeyed
: After the case was closed and the argu-
ment of the counsel submitted, the court
met to deliberate and make its findings. A
majority of the court were in doubt as to
Mrs. Surratt's guilt andiso expressed them
selves. AT this juncture John A. Bingham,
in the absence of her counsel, reargued the
case in the most violent manner, and did
her the most fagrant injustice by bold mis-
StatamantS n nd r L.,
after long brow w-beating process that the
final decision in her case was reached. 1t
was at this point that the Communication OF
her sentence, not for her pardon" was
drawn up and signed by many members OF
the court, General Hunter at the head II
there was no doubt about her guilt, why
this hasty action on the part of the court to
secure reversal of her sentence? H4i
Mary d. Surratt would never have been
hung but for the eunwarrantable and illegal
Interference of John A. Bingham after the
case had been closed, and in the absence of
her counsel. -fa 300 neIrH a-.
IG is no answer to this charge to say that
Mr.. Bingham, as assistant Judge Advo-
cate. was member of the court, and had
right to be present at the findings The
law permitted Gen.. Holt to be present and
only he but even Gen. Holt would have
mad no right to re argue the case. 1t is due
to President johnson to say that he
never saw nor heard of this petition until
long after Mrs. Surratt was in the repose of
9r wicked and unchristian burial, and IT, e
matter was kept as a secret from her coun-
sci until after her execution. But this is
not all, and perhaps this is not the time
either to tell the sad and bloody story of
her personal sufferings during her incarce-
ration, but John A. Bingham, in attempting
to bolster up the falling fortunes of the
Radical House, has stepped the mark.
Mary e. Surratt was arrested in April
when the weather was cool. and while she
was yet dressed in her winter clothing.
She was confined in an inner cell of the
arsenal, the dimensions of which were
about seven feet long and three wide. 1t
had a stone floor, stone walls, and an iron
grated door. Its only furniture consisted
of very thin straw mattress, an army
blanket, and an old pail. Sne had neither
washing utensils nor chair to sit in, nor
single comfort for her toilet and dress. A
year or so previous to her Incarceration
she had been cured of a serious pri-
vate malady. She had not been
sitting on that cold stone floor but for
three or four days when it was brought on
again with redoubled violence. The pains
in her back and hips were OF the most fear
full description, aud at night time they
penetrated her chest, and with the damp
chilling atmosphere of her prison-house,
seemed almost to freeze her vitals. Atthis
time she commenced her real martyrdom
in the additional pains caused by terrible
hemorhage, which continued up to the day
of her mostfoul and damning murder, and
from which she was rapidly sinking in
peaceful death, when the dread summons
was read TO her at twelve O'Clock on the 9th
of July, 1866 to be ready to mount the
scaffOld between the hours of one and two
O'Clock on tue 7th of July, 1865. .,,..-}
In the condition related above, Mary e
Surratt was confined in that cell for nearly
five weeks, and up to within a few days OF
her trial. After visit by a more humane
physician than she had had, and after Gen
cral Hartranft, commandant OF the prison.
had told the Court that he would not be
responsible for her life anotaer night, she
was taken out of the cell, change of cloth
ing allowed, and in one OF the witness
rooms she was put to bed, and her devot d
daughter was allowed to remain with her.
All this time she was brutally treated in
her food and diet. We have not the space
for the details, but could give them. Dur
ing the trial her position was in the hottest
part of the room. The heat was intense
She wore all the time her thick, heavy, wiz
ter clothes. Her poor back became one lit
eral sore from effects of the heat, perspira-
ton, and lack of opportunity to battle.
John A. Bingham knew all this and much
more, yet he never did anything to ame-
horote her sufferings, or to relax the rigor
of her confinement, and it was as much as
a mans life was worth to suggest anything
of the kind. The weight of the infamy of
this wrong and outrage rests upon Radical
shoulders, and the Attorney General, Mr..
Evarts, with an irony as keenly pointed as
the scythe of death. has shown how Butler,
the most finely polished political miscreant
in the land, complimented a brother Rad
ical as "Mrs. Surratt's murderer" We
trust the Bangor papers will notice these
facts as an answer to Bingham's 'effectual
reply" to the inquiry of the Bangor ''cop-
perhead," the man who opened very sore
wound in Radicalsm, at a Radical meeting.
W dshington Union. ii'-7
,u,u 11..a