The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-17
A DARK BLOT.

In recent issue or The fortiand Ore- gonian we find an editorial on the sub ! Ject of one of the darkest stains on the escutcheon of our Government. The edi- torial refers to the recent death in Bal
 timore of Samuel Arnold. who was the
 last of those who were convicted by a military court of the murder of President Lincoln. The Oregonian says of these victims:
 of the Union cause that Mrs Surratt at the worst only believed that the original plot to abduct Lincoln was to be carried out that they signed a petition to Presi-
 death penalty. and it was carried to the President by her daughter. a beautiful young woman of admirable character. Johnson refused to see her, and the writ of habeas corpus in the case, although allowed. was suspended by order of the President. The President was an ambi- tious and heartless demagogue, and at that time was playing the part of a radi-
 ratt because he thought. and perhaps correctly, that a maddened public senti-
 ment demanded her death.
 As before stated, this military court and its results is q dark stain on our Govern
 ment. There was not a shadow of evi-
 dence that Mrs. Surratt had any com-
 pIicity in the crime. or that she even knew that 1t was contemplated. The most thoroughly friendless vagabond in the country could not be punished on charge
 of petty larceny in any civilized court on
 such evidence as was adduced in Mrs.
 Surratt's case. She was the mother of John H. Surratt. one of the alleged con- spirators. who would have been hanged if he had not made his escape And yet,
 within three years after the shameful
 episode was over. John surratt was ap- prehended. tried and acquitted, showing
 that even he was not considered guilty by court sitting when the excitement
 had passed. For the offence of being privy to the crime. Mrs. Surratt died
 feion's death on the gallows.
 What The oregonian says of Andrew
 Johnson Is entirely too mild. He was as
 brutal as he was ambitious, and as cow
 ardly as he was brutal. for he was afraid
 of public sentiment His action in this
 matter, and especially as regards Mrs
 surr att, would have disgraced the brutal
 and blood-thirsty Jeffreys himself. Nor was the case of Dr. Mudd any bet ter, though he escaped death. He was a
 thoroughly respectable Maryland physi-
 clan, to whose house Booth came after he
 had escaped with a broken leg from the Richmond theatre. Dr. Mudd set the broken limb and cared for the injured
 man a day. or two and then sent hinr on
 his way. He did what any physician | with a heart would have done, and did | no more. There Is no evidence that he
 knew Booth or of his crime. But for his act of humanity, he was convicted and sentenced to a living death on the Dry Tortugas for life. along with Arnold and o'Laughlin, whose alleged connection
 with the affair we do not now remember,
 but were probably as guiltless as the doctor.
 That even the thick skin of Andrew
 a sense of the injustice done, as soon as | the crazy passions of the people had sub | sided is not surprising. and 1t gave him
 another occasion to play the demagogue
 by pardoning the alleged conspirators.
 oLaughlin died on the Tortugas. but Ar
 mold was pardoned by the President in
 1865 and Dr. Mudd soon after. But the
 late repentance of Johnson could not re-
 store life to the woman so unjustly done
 to death. nor remove the stain from the
 memory of Andrew Johnson and his will
 ing coadjutor. Joe Holt. Pity the whole
 miserable business cannot be expunged
 from history.