Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-26
MARY SURRATT'S CRY.
The Awful Sound That Yet Rings in
the Ears of an Unwilling
WITNESS OF LINCOLN'S DEATH.
An Actor in the Tragedy Who Became a
Victim to Drink, But
wLsCURED AFTER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

'T can almost hear Mary Surratt scream
ing yet," Harry Rowe said, while talkin.
with number of theatrical friends at thu
Grand Opera House last night.
Rowe is an old actor himself He wa
playing at Ferd's Opera House in Wash
ington on the night of April IA, 1865, wher
President Lincoln was assassinated. He
with other members of the company will
which he was playing, was arrested imme
diately after the great tragedy, and he wa:
telling last night of the hanging of Mrs
Surratt, Lewis Payne, David E Har.
rold and George A. Atzeroth, the chief con.
spirators in the crime
Rowe is a picturesque character. He has
spent all his life on the stage, and he has
travelled all over America and has made
seven trips to Europe. 81 have played in
some Of the best and some of the worst COM
psnies on the road, +" he said, while discuss
ing the subject, sand in my theatrical e1-
perience have drank enough rum to float
this Opera House across the continent.
He Will Never Drink Again.
"But, boys, I've quit it. Yes, sir; I've
quit it for good, and tell you I'm 25 years
Younger than was before 1 quit liquor.
I'm new man, and I am going back to the
stage whenever 1 can land just where was
before the habit tripped me"
Chow did you come to quit drinking
rum?'' one of his friends asked.
"Well, I'll tell you," Rowe answered.
"You remember when our party returned
from Europe eight years ago You remem-
Der how nv nose was swollen out like a
tomato. Well, 1 was all broken down. 1
had been living on whisky straight for ten
wears Eating was the last thing 1 ever
thought of. 1 had got to neglecting nv
work and / was released when the company
arrived in New York. 1 didn't have cent,
but had to have whisky. L begged and
borrowed money and finally came out here
to Glenwood where my mother lives. This
was new field for me and 1 drank around
for months until my ragged figure was
familiar to everybody in that section in all
the cheap barrooms in the city. Many
time borrowed 10 cents from my mother
for carfare to the CITY, I would buy drink
and walk in and out; that's just how liked
the old stuff.
Large and Valuable Stan.
'T used to have certain people on my
staff, from whom borrowed money Dr.
C. c. Wiley was on my list and about twice
a week used to 60 to his Office to borrow a
quarter. He never refused me, but he
often looked like a man that was more or
less weary. The fact that he was weary
didn't satisfy my appetite for the booze,
however, and L kept calling on him
regularly.
''Finally one morning when l walked
into the doctors office-I remember it WE'LL
too; it was some time last August-the
doctor was reading paper. He looked at
me fully minute. He then threw down
his paper and began laughing. Finally he
jumped to his feet and said:
"Iook here, Rowe, i don't object to giving
you money occasionally, but every time
do 1 am conscious of the fact as physician
that am simply intensifying condition
which with you has reached a point abso-
lutely beyond your control, and which is a
positive disease, and moreover a mania, as
much so as with scores of patients / have
had under my care at the State Asylum for
Insane at Dixmont, and who are regularly
committed there by the courts for dipso-
mania I am going to cure you of this alco-
holism.'
Bought His Last Drink of whisky.
s'The doctor insisted on giving me a dose
of medicine, and / agreed to take the medi-
cine if he would give me a quarter after
ward. We struck a bargain. / took the
medicine, and then before 1 got the quarter
he made me promise to come back and see
him the next dav. L went out and at the
first saloon L came to 1 spent the money for
whisky. That was the last cent spent for
drink. L haven't tasted drop of into1i-
cants since that day. 1 continued taking
medicine TOR month. You all know how 1 |
used to like it, but have no more dis |
position to drink whisky now than you |
have to drink water" he concluded, punch /
ing one of his friends in the short ribs.
"But the marvellous cure aside; began |
telling you of the hanging of Mrs. Surratt |
The conspirators were tried by a military |
commission. They were taken from the |
Jail every day to the trial, and myself and |
two or three others who had been arrested |
just on suspicion were left in our cells |
while the trial was going on. We were not |
allowed to see each other but we could at |
night hear each other talking and we kept |
to an extent posted on the progress Of the |
trial. The inquiry and investigation were
exhaustive and it was, think, on the 9th |
day of July, 1865, that the military COM
mission returneda verdict.
Mrs. Surratt Condemned to Death.
1.-THE commission condemned Mrs Sur
ratt, Payne, Harold and Atzeroth to death.
DR.. Samuel A. Mudd, Samuel Arnold and
Michael Mclaughlin were sentenced to i'm
prisonment for lite at hard labor on the
to six years imprisonment
mighty short shrift was awarded the four
conspirators condemned to death, for as
soon as the verdict of the military commits
sion was handed to President johnson, he
ordered that the execution should take
place the very next day in the Jail yard of
the old penitentiary building in Washing
ton. To the very last everybody
thought that Mrs. Surratt would be par
ShA ~ l
tressed, but she thought she would be par
doned at the last moment. Her daughter
Mary, then full grown, had been allowed to
spend the night previous with her and she,
too, was confident that they would not hang !
her mother.
''The 7th of July, the day of the e1ecu-
tion, was an intensely hot day in w ashing-
ton, and the city, crowded with strangers,
was fairly trembling with nervous excite
ment- There was great fear of an organized
attempt to rescue Mrs. Surratt, and about
5000 soldiers, all under arms, were on duty
about the jail and in the Jail yard. As
say, everybody was excited, nervous and
anxious, and of course the pc ople in Jail
were more excited and anxious than those
on the outside. Well, sir, we could hear
each other breathing, the strain was SO
heavy and great.
The Order for the Execution.
stFinally low rumbling sound disturbed
everybody. You all remember how Four
and One-Half street in Washington was
paved with cobble stone. The rumbling
was a carriage approaching, and when it |
stopped Immediately in front of the Jail we
all involuntarily jumped to our feet. We
all thought reprieve for Mrs. Surratt hal
come. Everybody listened General Hart
ranft, late Governor of this State, had
charge OF the Jail, and he also had charge of |