Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-09-25

| a Il
that ground would license fe-
male crime.
81 do not remember that Mr..
johnson urged the names OF
any individuals who had sought
his interposition in behalf of
Mrs. Surrat.. "
Then comes a letter from
JAS. M. Wright, Chief Clerk OF
the Bureau of Military JUS
tice, who states that when the
proceedings of the Court were
received, all the sheets, that on
which the petition was written
being last, were tied togeth-
er with a small ribbon. He
handed them, thus tied to-
gether, to Judge Holt for Pres
entation to the President, and
they were in exactly the same
condition when returned to him
through the Adjutant Generals
Office. Mr.. Wright mentions
further: 'EFhe page on which
the signature of the Presid ent,
together with the greater part
of his order of approval, was
written, was confronted by the
next page on which the recon-
mendation to clemency appeared,
the leaves being fastened to-
gether, as is usual, at the ends;
this brought these two pages
faeeto face" An incident men
toned by the clerk, more, curl
Gus than relevant TO the ques-
ton on hand, is that these sheets
were subsequently so fumbled
over by Stanton and others as
to come apart and require eye
lets and patent fastenings.
The testimony Of the Chief
Clerk is substantiated by let
ter from Frank L. Howe, a sub
ordinate clerk.
The closing letter of the Sc
ries is from Gen. r. D. Mussey,
dated Aug. IS, 1873. 1t will
aforementioned that Gen. Mus
sey was at the time Private
Secretary to the President
We give the following extract
from his letter:
"On the Wednesday preyi-
Gus to the execution (Which was
Friday, July Z, 1869, as I was
sitting at my desk in the morn
ing, Mr.. johnson said he was
going to look over the findings
Of the court with Judge Holt,
and would be busy, and could |
see no one. | replied, Very !
well, sir;I will see that you are
not interrupted, or something
to that effect, and continued my
work. / think it was two or
three hours after this that Mr..
Johnson came out of the room t
where he had been with you,
and said to me that the papers
had been looked over and a de-
cision reached. | asked what
it was. He told me APPROX
al of the findings and sentence
1fthe coI1rt.
am very confident, though not
absolutely assured, that it was
at this interview Mr.. johnson
told me that the court had rec
ommended Mrs. Surratt to mer-
cy on the ground Of her sex,
and age, 1 believe. Butt am GER
tain that he did so inform me a.
bout thattime; land thathe said he
thought the groundsurged insult
ficient, land that he had refused to
interfere; that if she was guilty
1t all, her sex did not make her
my theless guilty; that he, about
he time of her execution, justi-
fed it; that he told me that
here had not been "women c.
lough hanged in this war;" that
le descanted upon the illogical
ness of u woman committing
and then seeking to "a
void its penalty because she was
/ woman, / am as sure as / am
hat | am now penning this SEN
-ence to you.
"On Thursday there were many
and many letters, tele-
,ra ms, etc. | informed all who call
ID what Mr.. Johnson's orders
we're to me. These orders | re.
,arded as peremptoriIy fCrbidding
ne to make any appeal TO him in
my ones behalf. Father Wal :
er (or Father Wiget, l am not
certain which, called as die the |
Misses Herold, and, | believe, Miss
Surratt = =
81 desire to say further that on ,
he morning of Friday, you called {
It the Executive Mansion and '
Jaw the President. = $ * =,
recall also your speaking to me
about Miss Surratt, then in the
rouse, and | shall never lose the
then made upon me of
your deep pity for her, and of the