The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-07-07
The surratt Murder-Gen. Hancock.


The Republican press have not pre-
tended to find more than one assailable
point in the record Of Gen. Hancock,
and that is the murder Of Mrs. Surratt,
for which he is not responsible. He
did not instigate the trial. He did
not find the verdict. He did not pro-
nounce the sentence. He did not exc
cute the brutal and bloody sentence.
The facts are these: Mrs. Surratt,
private citizen Of the United States, had
been arrested, tried, and sentenced 10
death by military commission. Her
daughter, Mary T. Surratt, July :,
1865, presented petition TO Judge
Andrew Wylie, one of the Justices Of
the Supreme Court Of the District Of
Columbia, praying that writ Of habeas
corpus might be issued, commanding
Gen. Hancock, who had especial charge
Of her mother, to bring the prisoner be .
fore the court and await its decision.
The reasons set forth in the petition
that Mrs. Surrratt was private citizen
Of the United States that she was in
no way connected with the military
that the alleged crime was committed
not within the enemy's territory, but
within the lines Of the armies Of the
United States; that the civil Jaw was
in full force and effect that her right
to a trial by jury was unquestion-
ed and that her trial and sentence by
4 military court martial was Illegal I'M
constitutional, and wholly without the
warrant Of law.
The writ was granted by Judge /
Wylie, was served upon Gen Hancock, I
and he was making haste to obey it
when the following order was put into
his hands:
"ExEcUrIvE OFFICE, July :, 1863.
To N1yor GeHerH ". 5. Haae9ck, Coptmguh /
ing, ETC.:
l. Andrew johnson. President Of the
United States, do hereby declare that the .
writ Of h1beas corpus has oeeu here tofore sus-
pended in such cases this, and do hereby {
specially suspend this writ, and direct that +
you proceed to execute the order heretofore .
given upon the Judgment of the Military Com
mission, and YOU VIII give this order in re- /
turn to this writ.
ANDREW JOHNSON. President"
The civil law was strangIed by the T
strong hand of military power, and Mrs.
Surratt was hung. Gen. Hancock de-
livered the order Of execution 10 Gen.
Hartranft, late Republican Governor Of
Pennsylvania, who had charge Of the
prisoners, and he carried out the sem
tence Of the military court. Gen. Ham
cock obeyed the mandates OF the civil
law He went with Miss Annie Suuatt
to the Executive mansion on the day Of
the execution of her mother, vainly
striving to see the President, and to
soften his heart into something like pity
with the sight Of womans agony and
a daughters tears. Unable 20 get into
the privacy Of the hiding tyrant, and
still hoping against hope that at the
final hour the President would at least d
save the woman's life, Hancock station
ed couriers thickIy along the route
from the White House to the place Of. ]
and waited as long as posi-
Die for some token ofreprieve or reIent- t
ng. None came, and the rope finished J
What cruelty and perjury had begun.
If the rule laid down by Gen. Han {
.ock in his administration Of Louisiana /
md Texas affairs, had been enforced in
he ease of Mrs. Surratt she would not {
AVE been tried by Military Commits !
ion, but by the civil courts, and it is 5
more than probable that her life would
lot have been cruelty sacrificed.