The Van Buren press., 1868-10-30
From ne Lonlte, Telegraph, St7teatv IS.
The Surratt Case.

TraHfslsf4 IT
anon [sxuAcFllrI gOH
+ The whole history of this Sirratt case
lis remarkable. The United States Gov
|ernment made herculean efforts to hust
him down; but wiien-atter tracking
hin, ifon itia country 70 another. and
from the barracks of the Papal Zouaves
at Rome to lodging At Naples--thc
agents of that Government got fast bold
of hnh and conveyed him 70 america,
the resolute determination of.the people
TO deal out stern justice to all who bad
any hand in Lincolu's death, driited into
a wayering and half hearted policy Many
thousands of dollars must have been ex-
pended to bring aboat the' eapture' of
John Surratt !, but, ,hasiag Obtained his
body. the authorities seemed, totally ,pt q
loss to know what they should do with
him. The hostile evidc,ite was weak.
and much of il was taffcs, with manifest
perjury There was, perhaps, an easy
feeling in the Official ihfndtlfat the mans
mother had been hanged on testimony
certainly not stronger than that which
was found Inadequate TO coaaether SON.
Altogether, perhaps, the wisest thing to
do was to let John Surratt go. The
Americans are the least yindc,iye people
in the world Their wrath, when it is
excited, may be tcfrbIe; butt is soon
over, and they bear no malice. Whef
SIR. Lincoln was murlcfec, they would
have hanged fifty S9rrNts. had there
been fifty to halg but Mr., Lincoln has
been dead long time, justice was done
on his actual .assasst,s, tina Americans
have grown mollided, and, since It was
far from certain that John Sdrratt was
lruiiev,--tl,e most generous -ea4-fselssis
course was 10 let him have the benefit Of
the doubt.
| By this time the vastmsjority ofAmcr-
leans have arrived at n conclusion whiek
political men ventured only to whisper
with batcJ breath, 50 long as the North
cm States wero, ooav,hscda from cRetto
end byIhorror and auger ut the slaughter
lof their President The conclusion. y
duplex. Is amounts simply to this, That
Mrs. Surmtt ought never TO have bcc't
hanged and thst 4oast Nglkgdksa4 was
mad. The evidence against Mrs. Surratt
was offlic aimicst description. That she
knew the Assassin moreior less in,lnlatc-
| ~ was proved but there was absolutely
lncthng to show that she was an accessory
10 Mr.. Lincoln's murder, either bcfdrc or
after the ihta. ~ Az efforts ,howeye misdc
to save the life OF tho unhappy swnnan
were IN vain Even had Mr. Johuson
been DESTROYS. Of pardonipg her, OF q
commuting her sentence to lifelong ini-
Iprsonmcnt, It is Doubtful whether, inthe
excited condition oftlie pnllic mind he
would have yenturcl To exerciselthe pre-
roaatiyc Of mercy Alnumeronsysection
Of society was enragcd that though the
aflray in which he lost bis life, Booth
himself Should have escaped an fgnomfhu
ionsdea on a public scsffoid, iia'as ms
most unwise and ,uigenesons 'procIaanr
ton. MIR, siapton, opeply Accused Ar,
Jefferson Davis, just then a. prisoner, ~
Federal hands, ofcomplicityi t1ieassas-
sinatfon plot. Thcacfy Of" btJods Tor
bloof"was universal; and had MrsDsvis
been Tried by senst -..sr.il Il ~ 8
ton IN the ,summer of, lSAS, therel cam be
little doubt that he wouM have been sep
fenced to death Fow, tliat the American
public lave had time 70 'tcsicvt ontkeeiYi
e,lmstances OF the mai1ler of Mr.rLisrolti
. and now that the real history of theathir
is known, none bat the most fanatieal an
ti.Soutberncrs would dream of iusinuat
/ ing that Jefferson Davis was IN any way
concerned atty way even cognfshM
of the murderouslipiot which succeeded
50 wofully at Ford Thcater, and miseagY
ricd SO strangely at Mr.. SeWaprs house,
With regard to Booth himself, II rs fully
time to acknowledge the fact. that the
4 murderer was. mad. Those who had seen
him in Canada during the autumn of 1864
must have, been. CONVINCED Of the mans
insanity, which was PARTIALLY hereditary,
and TO some acknowledgements by I'm
moderate indulgence in stimulants. yRoopl
was not in the, remotcst manner associatr
ed or connected With any ofthc Confedc.
rate leaders. He was 4 murderer "onhis
own hook" he had accomphecs,i il IL
true abus excluding, DR.. Mnddrand Mrs.
Surratt, from the category ,they, were mere
| hired bravos, probably paid BY Booth, y
DO his bidlng, and, FIT Themselves, tie
most abject ana sqdalidrcfhscof human
ity. Thcawild scheme pofl destroying at
one blow the President and ais Cabinet
had, in all likelihood, been hatched sole
\ ". in the distempered brain of John
Wilkes Booth, and was Impartial only at
the last moment 10 the abandoned wretch
es whomhe employed to assist him With
the lberationlof John aSurratt the curtnia
falls ON the last scene, lin Que ofAe sa,tr
dest dramas ever plqyed on the slasss 81
life. b<"
0H 10 $4,000 -~----essdi 1atisd