The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1868-11-04

From the London Telegraph, September .
Eae Surrati Case.
IEXraAcT |

EXTRACT
The Who'll. ii~,ory ofthis Surrait case is
r,nprkaLle. The United States Gosern-
ment made hcrcalean ef,oTis to hunt him
dowr; tut Whtn-aitsr tracking him lrom
one country to ano,hcr, ard from thf bar
racks of the papal Zuuaves at Rome to
lodging at Naples-the agents OF the Gov>
nupnt got fast hold on him, and convey
him 10 America, the resolu'e determination
of the people to deal out stern justice TO all
! who had any hand in MIR. Lincoln's death,
drifted into a wavering and half hearted
polcy. Many thousands CT dollars mus'
have been expended to oring abont tht
capture of JOhnscurratt; but, having OBJ
tanned his body, the authorities seemed to
he at loss to know what they should do
with him. The hostile evidence was weak,
aud much OF il was manifest perjury. There |
was, perhaps. an easy feeling i'll the othcial |
mind that the mans mother had been |
hanged on testimony certainly not stronger |
than that which was fourd inadequate to
convict her son. Altogether, perhaps, the
wisest thing 10 do was to let John SurraI
90. The Americans are the least vindlctive
people in the world Their wrath, when II
is excited, may be terrible; but it is SOU
over, and they hear no malice When Mr..
Lincoln was murdered, they would hay.
hanged fiftv Surratts. had there been hiiy
10 hang; hut Mr. Lincoln has been dead
long time, Justice was done on his actn
assassina, the Americans have grown m H.
fed. and. since it vaS far from certain thu
John Surlatt.was guilty, the most genernuS
and poite course was to let him have the
benefit of the doubt.
4 By this time the vast majority Of Amer
leans have arrived at n conclusion which
, pohtical men yentured only to whisper with
, hated breath, 50 long as the Northern States
were convused from end to end hy horror
and anger al the slaughter of tfrir President.
The conclusion is duplex. II ameunts sim.
e ply to this. that Mrs. Surratt ought never
, 10 have been hanged, aud that John Wlk ;
. Booth was mad .efhe evidence against Mrr
Surratt was ofthc hiM>iest description That
$ she knew the assassin mose or less ln'imate-
~ was proved; but there wasabs"lutely moth
y ing 10 show that she was an accessory e.
; Mr.. Lincoln murder, either before or after
the fact. All efforts, however, made to save
fhc life of the unhappy woman were In VAN
~ Even had Mr.. johnson been desirous OF par
$ lonine her, or of committing her sentence to
life. lnrp impriSonment it is doubtful wheth-
/" pr, in the excited condition Of the public
IS mind. he would have venured to exercise
9 the prerogative OF mercy A numerous
g section OF society was enraged that through
the affray in which he lost his life Boot
y himself should have escaped an ignomlni'
U ous death upon public scaHold; AMI, IN a
= most unwise ant. ungGnerous proc|amatlcn,
y Mr.. Stanton openly accused Mr.. Jefferson
Davis, just then prisoner III tedera
hands, Of completely in the assassination
a plot. The cry of 'blooa for blood Was
p universal; and had Mr. Davis been tried by
IS court-martial at Washington in the summer
, of 1865, there can be little doubt that
- he would have been sentenced to death
u Now, that the America public have had
time to reflect on the circumstances OF the
murder of Mr. Lincoln, and now that the
20 real history of the affair is known, none bn
the most fanatical aDti-Sou,herners wouil
d. dream of iusinuating that Jefferson Davr
I'd was in any way concerned--in any way ever
or cognizant Of the murde rous plot which sue
IN ceeded so wofully at Ford +, 'fheatcr, ant
= mis-carried so strangely at MIR. seward
I'd house With regard to Booth himself,
RS is fllly time to acknowledge the fact tina
ar the murderer was mod. Fho~r who ha
of seen him in Canada during the autumn {
1854. must have been convinced OF TIN
III man $ insanity, which was partially hertd
ms tary and to me extent aggravated by III
IL In0uerate lH0Hig'HcH III S}ltHuidiin bp''
,ts was not in the remOtest manner assoclat,
. or connected with any OF the C0nfederQt
o' leaders He was murderer 'on his ow
'e- hook" lie had accomilices, it is tru
.e> but excluding Dr. Muld and Mrs. Surra
bo from the category, they were mere hir'
~ hravos, probably paid by Booth to d. h
'e' bidding, and in themselves the most ahjc
'se and -squsd refusn of humanity. The WI
an scheme of destroying at one blow the Pre-
,ey ident and ,his Cabinet had, in alt hkelihoo
-. been hatched solely in. the ,fistempcr'
''' brain Of John Wilkes Booth, and was il
= parted only at the last moment to the aba
al ioned wretches whom he employed to ASST
md him. With the liberation of John Sirra
l,u the curtain falls on the last scene in one
a., tha saddest dramas ever played on the sta
ind of life