Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-10-02

proved c0nclusively Wnat All lnteiiigeut
aud iiispassiobst5 men were convinced @;
before, that Mrs. Anna Surratt had moth
ing to do with the murder of Mr.. Lincoln.
The case against her would not have
gone to jury before any fairly consti-
tuted court in Christendom. But she
was before that which was infinitely
worse than mob-a tribunal existing in
defiance of law, and governed by none OF
the rules of ordinary courts, and which
was organized solely to convict. Among
its members were such men as General
Hunter and General Lew Wallace-base
parasites of power-who, tit for nothing
in the army, were convenient tools Tor
tyranny to use in such objects as 1t
desired to effect outside of legitimate
military duty. They we're men who would
recoil from nothing which they were
ordered to do by Stanton and Holt, no
matter how repugnant it might be to
justice and humanity.
For sixty days or more this conclave
continued to assemble in Washington. 1t
continued to assemble right in the seat OF
the law, whose majesty it was its special
purpose to outrage and violate. There 1t
held its prisoners in its iron grasp, in the
face of habeas corpus and OF all the ex,
ertions of the courts for their release. II
we had President who dared to take his
Just responsibility, he would have dis
persed this Infamous commission in
stanter, instead Of which he gave his
countenance to its illegal action. Ar
rayed in military toggery, with all the
insignia of despotism, this monstrous
military court was the great feature OF
Washington during the spring and sum
mer months of 1865 1t had for Judge
Advocate the hard-featured, relentless
and cruel Bingham, of Ohio, who is ad-
mirably qualified to have been the pros
ecuting attorney Under such Judge as
the infamous Jeffries, of England, and
who only wanted little experience TO
have even rivaled that judge himself in
his worst traits of character. The Jack
Ketch service was so captivating to some
men, that Gen. Burnett, of this. city, by
some means or other, crowded himself
into the case as an assistant or volunteer.
Before such tribunal, and with perjured
witnesses like Conover, backed up and
sustained by all the power of Stanton and
Holt. it would have been miracle If
Mrs. Surratt had escaped.
Pale and trembling, helpless and
defenseless woman, she was every day,
for months, brought into the august
presence of the mighty Hunter and Wal
lace, incased in irons, with letters and
shackles. They condemned her to die
BY strauguIation upon the seaffold, and
with a refinement of cruelty not before
known in this generation, they. only
allowed her twelve hours between the an-
nouncement of its sentence and its
dread execution. They were apparently
afraid that if q reasonable time was
allowed the passions of the hour would
subside-that there would be an execu-
tive interference, and that their prey
would escape them. Hence they hur-
ried it on with indecent haste to its con-
summation. The tragedy was accord
ingly finished, and no circumstance was
omitted to increase its atrocity. Very
few believed, at the time, that the woman
would be execnted. A reprieve or par
don was looked for at the last moment,
and the details, therefore, of the proceed
ings upon the scaffold we're read with sur
prise and horror.
The actors in this bloody drama did not
have long to wait for popular Judgment
upon them. Within two years from the
commission of the deed, even a man with
as i'll reputation as General b. +. Butler,
stained as he is with odium, pointed his
finger at Bingham, and denounced him
in the strongest terms for his participa.
ton in the Surratt execution. he held
him up to the scorn and hatred OF the
world. Generals Hunter, Wallace and
others who comprised the commission,
have sought to free themselves from
blame BY the statement that, after they
found Mrs. Surratt guilty, they signed
paper, recommending her to the mercy
of the President The President, feeling
the force of this, denies that be ever
received the paper in question, and ne
intimates that it was suppressed by some
one in the War Department. Preston
King, of New York, who was then at the
Presidents mansion, is said TO have been
the person who took upon himself the
responsibility of denying Miss Anna Sur
raft admission 10 the presence OF the
President. TO intercede for her mother on
the morning of the day of execution. 1T
so, we do not wonder that he became !
insane, and in his delirium threw himself
into the dark waters of the Hudson. The
examinations and recriminations, and
attempts to shift the responsibility from
one to another, have been frequent
between the actors Of this deed OF blood. |
To posterity il will even appear in more |
hateful light than it does TO this genera
ton.
We had often wondered what could be /
the motives of Stanton and Holt in their |
persecution Of this hapless woman Had
4, been q prominent political opponent /
upon whom they could have grati6ed their
personal and political resentment, we
should not have felt any surprise. Bu.
both her sex and position in life were
such as seem to forbid the idea that she
could have rendered herselfin any peeu-
liar manner obnoxious to the cruel men
then at the head OF the Government. The
only recoucilable theory is this: that at
the me il vas the purpose OF stanton
and - olf 10 strike Terror into The peo.
pie, sud what could strike more terror
than the execution Of one for whom her
innocence and sex alike plead in vain !