Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-07-01
The SurFaft Hanging.

A weak attempt has been made in a
late issue of the Glo6e-Densocrat TO lay
the burden of the blame Of the execu-
ton of Mrs. Surratt upon the shoulders
of Gen. Hancock. This miserable as
sault shows to what straights the nom
ination of the distinguished Union Gen
eral has reduced the opposition; for no
man, with the intelligence of even a
halfidiot would pretend to hold the
subordinate responsible for the execu-
ton of the orders of his superior-es-
peciaily when that superior is the COM
mander-in-chief of the army and Presi-
dent of the United States. In order
that the true history of the case may be
made familier to our readers, who
owing TO the great lapse of time,
may have forgotten the salient points
of the case. we reproduce letter to the
st. Louis Times of the eth ult., writ
ten by our distinguished fellow-ciiizen,
A. J. p. Garesche:
s'WhiIe believe that the execution of Mrs.
Surract was cold-blooded murder, planned by
the then admi stra1ion, and regretted that
General Hancock had not resigned rather han
ebey orders, the wish was father to me nougnt,
ana could not consure MIN that he did moi.
l always have believed her to be Innocent, and
if her execution be the ''staln upon hls escut-
cheon," it can only be that her death was muir
der under me forms of military law. Concede
that this be true, and how does it affect General
Hancock. Mr.. Speed, the Attorney General,
had in written opinion declared that the mul-
dercrs were responsible before a military tri
bunal. The President had not only on the 7th
of July, A. d. 1865, suspended the writ OF
habeas corpus, but he himself ordered the As
sistant Adjutant-General to detail board of
officers for the trial of the accused. The seq
tente of The commission had been reviewed by
the President, received his sanction, and 10
pursuance of it special order to carry out tue
sentence issued to General Hancock. Under
these circumstance the responsibility of aer
death eau By no reason be laid upon his shout
ders. II it were murder, let her blood rest
loon the Attorney-G General, the President, the
War Department, and the Republican party,
VINO clamorcd for her execution. The Attor-
was Mr.. Speed, of Louisville,
then and now shining light of the Republi-
was strongly urged upon Mr.. Hayes for tine
position of q. S. Judge at Louisville, made
vacant by the death of Bland Ballard. So vir
ulent has been the hate Of the Republicans to-
wards Mrs. Surratt that only few years since,
turing the closing days OF General Grants ad.
ministration or the beginning of that of Mr..
Hayes, her husband was dismissed from tue
of one of the departments, and for
no other reason han that he had disgraced
himself by his marriage with the daughter of
IN assassin of President Lincoln. Such at
east was the reason assigned at the Time by
he journals of the Administration.
''Of par with this impudence in asserting
hat General Hancock was responsible for her
leath, is the charge that had he obeyed the
writ of habeas corpus he would have saved her
life. Under the circumstances l have already
.ited of what avail such a return-he would
nave been instantly removed from his command
md another icer Observation-Disclosures the re-
urn made by General Hancock was written by
speed, the Attorney General Nay, more! Mr..
speed as Attorney General as sisted atthe near
ng, and in his haraugue to the court said to it
that theGoVernmentb has given the case anxious
and had directed that the writ |
should not be complied with This language
s clear and unequivocal, and must relieve |
General Hancock even from this charge-prov- |
ng again that on the Government and not on |
ieneral Hancock must rest the blame.
''While on this subject let me publicly an- |
'wer question repeatedly proposed to me |
since Hancock's nomination: NJ S. Surratt be- |
ng catholic, did not General Hancock deny |
% her the sacramento Mrs. Surratt as a |
prisoner was under the orders of General |
dartsuf, not General Hancock. But on no |
such ragged edge rests the refutatiOn of the |
SANDER upon General Hancock. Mrs. Surratt |
vas attended by two spiritual a,lvisers-Fath-
" waiter, pdsboT OI SL. Tdtrick's anu faIUer |
Niget, L. s., President of St. Aloysius' Col
eye. With both of them can claim the dis
inction of personal acquaintance. From
father Wiget's own lips l received the details
If the affair. Certainly, then, il he believed
General Hancock had acted unbecoming an
,ficer and gentleman, he would have told me
If IT, but he said nothing of the kind, and the
eal truth is, that on the eve of their EXECUTION
vas first announced to the prisoners by Cen
rails Hartsuf and Hancock the doom which |
waited them on the morrow, Mrs. Surratt |
begged a reprieve because she could not so
DON prepare for death, and asked that her
piritual advisers should be sent for. These
we're sent for and that evening admitted to a
Conference with hcr-to the scaffold on the
morrow they accompanied her, and from an
ccount published in the Washington Intelli-
,encer read: That Fathers Wiget and Wal
er prayed with her the entire morning, Mrs.
'urratt was attentive to her spiritual advisers,
nd while Father Wiget held the crucifx be-
ore her Father Walter read the preparatory
rayers for DEATH I have known Genera.
hancock intimately for thirty years and as
ert it with perfect confidence that will be
ustained by any one VINO knows him, that to
nature like his bigotry is impossible"
Samuel Il TiIhRn