Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-21
AUNT RACHEL HAWKINS.
She Was Formsriy . Servant Of Mira. eurratt
and Talks About the Assassination.

"
She Was Formsriy Servant Of Mrs. surr.ts
and Talks A bout the Assassination.
Aunt Rachel Hawkins was slave in the Sur
southwest. The house is neat and coy. 1t 10
~ clean a. pin 10 said to be. The rooms arc
large and well ordered. In one Of them Aunt
Rachel lies buried in q white-sheetsd feather
bed. She is pretty low" She divides her
time between reminiscent talks and the telling
Of her prayer beads She is . devout Catholic
She likes to be addressed as aunty 1t soands
Ike 'old times" She propped herself up in
the pilows for . chat, for Aunt Rachel il
never so happy - when to an attentive listener
she 10 accounting the incidents Of the good old
days. She teens with them. Her memory il
vigorous and although little of on dates abe
IL usually able to indicate the time by associ-
ating II with some prominent event She will
gossip by the hour about the scenes and the
people she once knew. She will tell anecdotes
about the Grif6ns, the organs, the Landlords,
the Herts, the Jenkins, the Edelins. the Mudds
She can tell all about the parish church Of Saint
Mary: at Piscataway, and Of Father John DON
nelly, Father Lannahsn ct al.
Aunt Rachel was born, why, bress 20 heart,
honey, de Lawd on'y knows wen" She irst
belonged to the family Of Cornelius wildman
In the year that John Brown was hung she be-
gan her servitude with Mrs. Surratt. She was
the house servant at the homestead at Surratts-
vile, now Clinton, Nd Here she was welded
to one Of the slaves of Walter P. Griffin, the
father-in-law of Sidney E. Mudd She re-
manned with the surratt family till the close of
the war, when she moved to Washington. She
has never been in Maryland since. She speaks
tenderly Of her former mistress and says Mrs.
surratt always treated her like one Of the chill
dren. Mrs. Surratt was kind hearted and
wouldn't do hurt to a soul "Dere were Marse
John and Missus Annie, who tended school down
at Bryantown, In Charles county, and Marse
Isaac, who ruined away to Texas. 1t was not
long after the death Of John Surratt, sr.," con-
tinued the Auntie, when hrs. Surratt re-
moved to Washington and left the farm In
charge Of Mr.. John Lloyd. Booth and Dave
Herald used to como down often and they and
Mr. LLOYD were mighty thick Mrs. Surratt
visited the country home but seldom. Booth
used to recite by way of practice and frequently
paced the floor while rehearsing lines. He was
a very fine gentleman and great favorite with
the servants because of his liberality"
On the morning of Good Friday, 1865. while
coming to town she met Mrs. Surratt and Booth,
who were on the down road. She remembered
this particularly because the couple we're ia
very small buggy drawn by milk-white horse
The meeting occurred at the top Of Good Hope
Hill They returned to Washington the same
day, and that night the assassination took place
The kitchen where she was most employed adj
Joined the pantry where the guns we're after
ward found, and she had several times heard
Booth and Lloyd in there, but did not know
what for.
She over at Mr.. Griffin's when the SOL
diers took possession Of the place and ram
sacked things.
Nobody could persuade Aunt Rachael hut
that Mrs. Surratt was innocent Of the crime for
which she was hanged. Any suggestion of
hats 10 nj TO- IL
has several sons who are industrious men and
attentive to their mother in her declining days.