Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-09-07


the murder Of Mrs. Surratt, the Wash
ington Union puts on the following ex
tinguishsr. IfBingham did not murde
Mrs. surratt, who dida That is fAi
question:
We happen to know something abou
that affair. General Hancock was thu
military commandant OF the department
of Washington at the time Of Mary Il
Surratts execution, aud be simply car
ried into effect the military orders oil MI
superior officers. He did not issue az
"order for her execution and John a
Bingham knows il. The writ Of habea'
corpss was served upon General Han
cock 10 produce the body of Mrs. Sur
raft in court, and il be could have had
his way at that time, he would have
obeyed it, but John A. Bingham, thirst
ing for innocent blood, assisted 10
framing excuses why the order OF the
writ should not be obeyed.
After the case was closed, and the ar
pumeut of counsel submitted, the court
met to deliberate and make up its lind
ings. A majority Of the court were in
doubt as to Mrs. Surratts guilt, and SO
expressed themselves. At this juncture
John A. Bingham. in the absence Of her
counsel, reargued the case in the most
violent manner, and did the most iiagrant
Injustice by. bold Measurements OF the
evidence; and it was only after a long
brow beating process that the .tinal deer
sion in her case was reached. Ii was at
this point that the petition for commu.
tation Of her sentence, not her pardon,
was drawn up and signed by many mem
beers of the court-General Hunter at the
head. If there was no doubt about her
guilt. why this hasty action on the part OF
the court to secure reversal OF her SEN
tence?
Mary Z. Surratt would never have been
hung but for the unwarrantable and ille-
gal interference of John A. Bingham,
after the case had been closed, and in the
absence of her counsel.
1t lis ne answer to this charge to say
that Mr.. Bingham, as Assistant Judge
Advocate, was a member OF the Court
and had a right to be present at the lind
ipgs. The law permitted Gen. Holt to be
present, and only he; but even Gen. Holt
would have had no right to redrgne 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 her unchristian and
wicked burial, and the matter was kept
as q secret from her counsel 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 incarceration, but
John A. Bingham, in attempting TO boil
ster up the falling fortunes ofthe Radical
houses, has overstepped the mark.
Mary Z. Surratt was arrested in April,
when the weather was cool, and while she
was yet dressed in 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 stone floor, stone walls, and an
iron grated door. Its only furniture con-
sisted of very thin straw mattress, an
army blanket, apd an old pail. She had
neither washing utensils, nor chair to
cit on, nor a single comfort for her toilet
and dress, A year or SO previous to her
incarceration, she had been cured OF a
ser;ous private malady. She had not
been sitting on that cold stone floor but
three or four days when it was brought
on again with redoubled violence. The
pains in her back and hips were OF the
most fearful description, aHd 81 night
time they penetrated her chest, and with
the damp, chilling atmosphere OF her
nrisonhouse, seemed almost TO freeze her
vitals. At this time she commenced her
real martyrdom in the additional pains
caused by terrible hemorrhage, which
continued up to the day of her most foul
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, 1865 to be ready TO mount the
scsffold, between the hours of ten anc
two o'clock, on the 7th of July, 1865.
In the condition related above, Mary
E. Suratt was confined in that cell for
nearly five weeks, and up to within a few
DAYS of the close of her trial After
visit by more humane physician than
abe had had, and after General Harm
trait, commandant of the prison, had
told the court that he would not be re-
sponsible for her life another night, she
was taken out of the cell, change of
clothing allowed, and in one of the wit
ness rooms she was put to bed, and her
devoted 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. During the trial her position
In the dock was in the closest and hottest
part of the room. The heat was intense.
She wore all the time her thick, heavy
winter clothes. Her poor back became
one literal, blistering sore from the
effects of the heat, Precipitation, and
lack Of opportunity to battle.
John A. Bingham knows all this and
much more, yet he never did anything to
ameliorate her sufferings, or relax the
rigor of her confinement, and it was as
much as a mans life was worth to sug-
gest 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 style of
death, has shown how Butler, the most
finely polished political miscreant ia the
land, complimented brother Radical as
"Mrs. Surratts murderer" We trust
the Bangor papers will notice these
facts as an answer to Bingham's " effec-
iual reply to the inquiry Of the Bangor
copperhead," the man who opened
very sore wound in Radieslism at Rad.