Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-23
THE LINCOLN TRAGEDY.
An Interview with MT. Benin Pitman-
startling Details OF the secret
TrIai-A Friend OF wilkes
Booth speaks.
New York Herald. ]

vs.
interviewed 20 day as to ms personal knowl-
| edge concerning the trial and execution OF
| Mrs. Surratt for the assassination of Abra-
ham Lincoln. His attention was first called
to the statement of Mr.. John L. Ford, the
theatrical manager, relative to the innocence
| of Mrs. Surratt, and, in answer to the Herald
| correspondents questions, Mr.. Pltman com
munlcAted the following information. He
said that he was the official reporter FIR the
United States government In the assassna-
| ton trial, the sons of liberty investigation
| and the congressional inquiries into the New
| Orleans AID Memphis riots, and subse-
| quantly of the ku klux trials, all of
which gave him peculiar insight into
| the yet unwrltten history OF those mo-
mentous events. 81 have no Doubt" said
| Mr.. Pltman, of the correctness of Mr.. Ford i
| statement of Mrs. Surratt's innocence; the
| grave blunders which grew out of the assas-
| sination trial were due to the theory Mr..
| Stanton entertained, that Booth was the act
| i've instr dment in a great conspiracy, the die
| tatory power of which was the rebel govern
| ment. Mrs. Surratt was hanged for COM
| plic:ty in the assassination plot, of which she
| was entirely ignorant, and poor Spangler was
| sent to the Dry Tortugas because a long rope
| was found Ia his carpet-sack, with which 1t
| was sup iosed Mr.. Lincoln was to be bound,
when In fact no other use was to be made Of
| it than the catching of crabs. Spaugler had
| simply borrowed the rope from Ford's the
alter for that purpose.
MRS. sURRATT NOT GUILTY.
1t was not until after my return from Wash
| ington, with all the testimony of the four
| hundred and fifty witnesses at the trial, and
| my compilation IN narrative form of the facts
| testified to by those witnesses, that | came to
| the conviction that Mrs. Surratt. though
/ aware of previous plots to abdu.t the Presl-
| dent and take him to Richmond, was entirely
uniformed of the sudden resolve of Booth
4 to kill him. The only direct testimony that
seemed to implicate her was that of the
| drunken, unreliable witness, Lloyd, who kept
| the tavern at Surrattsville. Her previous
| life and history, the testimony of those who
| knew her well, and Catholic priests of known
| probity and honor, all went to show her utter
| lncapaclty to engage IN so dlabotcal plot.
| WHAT THE TESTIMONY SHOWED.
The testimony went to show that the assas-
| sination of Lincoln was a sudden resolution
of Booth on finding that the President was to
visit the theater that night, and the hasty con-
| spracy Matched up with Payne, Atzerodt and
| Herold was confined exclusively to their
| knowledge and participation. The fact is
| that Mr.. Stanton, Judge-Advocate Holt, Bng-
ham, Burnett, and other officers of the gov
| eminent engaged in the prosecution, were
somewhat unbalanced by the imagined great.
ness of a conspiracy which did not exist.
Nothing but such a belief would justify the
treatment to which they were subjected.
A SECRET TRIAL.
The trial for the first two weeks was con-
Quoted in secret, and the prisoners-Herold,
Payne, Atzerodt, and l think two others
were masked in a close fitting helmet-hke
| white cap, which just left breathing hole
for the mouth and nostrlls. They were, be-
sides, manacled at the wrists and ankles. and
| to the latter were attached heavy ball and
chain. Mrs. Surratt was not thus masked,
but she was manacled at the feet throughout
the trial. The masks were removed when
the trial became public, after the expiration
OF two weeks, when admission was obtained
to the court only by the personal sanction of
General Hunter by card.
STANTON DEsPOI.
Correspondent-Do you think the govern
ment sanctioned this severity toward the
prisoners?
Mr.. Pitman-Mr. Stanton was the govern
ment at that time. He was man for whom
L still entertain a profound admiration; a
man of the Cromwell type, strong but un-
| feeling, and who, to obtain a desired end,
would, in an emergency, play despot-
strangely out of place under a republican
| form OF government. For instance, what
should be more sacred than the private cor
respondence of a. citizen, committed to the
public mails, yet, by MIR. Stanton's orders,
assisted TO open hundreds OF letters that
Washington, just after the assassination,
when every letter addressed to Cana la was
thus stopped. Mr.. Stanton's justification
was that the agents of Jefferson Davis, who
were then in Canada, were the instigators of
| the assassination plot. The letters opened to
detect these supposed Vaccinations led US to
very curious results in revealing other mat
tiers not directly sought for, and many a bril-
! liant career or army officer and politician was
stulti6ed by these revelations, which they
little suspected would ever be seen by the
powers at Washington.
AN INNOCENT MATRON HANGED.
The recommendation to mercy for Mrs.
Surratt, signed by members of the court In
secret session, Andrew Johnson affirmed he
never saw, and the efforts of Miss Anna Z.
Surratt to see President Johnson In behalf of
her Unfortunate mother were somehow cruel
ly frustrated. An innocent matron was
hanged. and history is dumb as to who il re-
sponsibe for the irreparAble wrong. Frantic
efforts were made to connect John Surratt
with the assassination plot; but, fortunately
for him, they were unsuccessful.
One OF wilkes booths Friends On the
ment.
Apropos of the recent article concerning
the assassination of President Lincoln which
the Herald quoted on Sunday from the Bal
timore Gazette, the Boston Globe, of Monday,
says:
As Colonel Thomas f. Richardson, the
well-known and popular dramatic agent of
this city, and John Wilkes Booth we're on
terms of the utmost intimacy, a Globe re-
porter was dispatched to interview him, and
the following colloquy ensued:
in your opinion, Colonel Richardson, was
John Wilkes Booth trained from earliest in
fancy to regard Brutus as a god and assassi-
nation as an act of Justice under oircum-
stances similar to those recorded by Shake.
speare in Julius Cesar?"
mo; emphatically, no. The very idea is
preposterous., His training from earliest in
fancy was such as to inspire in him the kind
Hest sentiments and the Hottest motives. A
man OF ms intellect, inherited genius, and
acquired abilities would never put such an
interpretation upon the work of the prince of
dramatIsts,"
I'm this connection, how long had you
known Wilkes Booth previous to the assas-
sination ="
had known him for six years. / met him
first in st. Louis. Previous to this had met
his brother Edwin when he was playing an
engagement there
THE SOUTH INNOCENT OF THE AssAssINA-
TON.
''Do you think the south had anything to
do Wlta melting him to asSassinate President
Lncoln2''
No, do not No such stigma can be
ardly a murder. No southern man or south
ern woman would commend or applaud such
an act, even if they were not in sympathy
with the administration.
did Wilkes Booth ever intimate to you
that he was IN sympathy with the south %
He never dId. | was with him IN Wash
lngton for three months previous to the assas-
sination. and conversed with him on all top
les, but never heard him lisp q word in that
respect. | always supposed he was in sym
pathy with Mr. Lincoln, by whom he was
very much liked, and he spoke very highly of
MIR. Lincoln as . good man. Some three
weeks previous to the assassination, when
Governor Morton, at indianapolis. received
the flags that we're captured in the Shenan-
doah valley by the Indiana troops, Wilkes
Booth was present. and as Mr.. Lincoln drove
down Pennsylvania avenue there was an i'm
mense crowd gathered In front of the Ma
tlonal hytel, where the reception was to take
place. When Mr.. Iincoln's carriage drove
up to the ladies enhance the officers divided
sle crowd so that the President could pass.
and thence through the palior to the veranda,
a.CrNa hoe Al 4