The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-08

On the morning OF july :, Iso'' WI
Mary E. Surratt. who was condemned
10 die that dav on the scaffold. having
been adjudged by military commis-
sion guilty of completely with John
Wilkes Booth in the assassination OF
Lincoln, sought through her counsel d
writ of habeaS corpus. as a means Oh
respite, on the ground that she mad
been denied a trial by jury.
A Judge of a District of Columbia
court issued the writ. directing Gen.
Winfield S. Hancock, commander OF the
military department embracing WASH
ington, to produce the body OF Mary +.
Surratt in court. The writ was return
able at 10 a. m. the first hour OF Tour
within which Mrs. Surratts sentence
directed that she be hanged by the
neck until dead
When Gen, Hancock appeared in
court he was accompanied by the At
torney General of the United states,
James Speed, who placed in the hands
of the Judge an executive order freshly
signed by President Andrew Johnson
suspending the writ. The President. to
prevent delay in the death OF Mrs Sur
RAFT, had exercised a power placed in
his hands for employment in times Of
emergency.
FareweIIs to the Condemned.
In denying a stay to the condemned
obliged to set aside process of law,
hut he had to harden his heart to pitt
full appeals from Mrs. Surratts daugh-
ter. Anna. There was A tender affec-
ton between the mother and girl.
They had been rarely apart. In their
home life, their religious duties. their
tastes and sympathies they were in
close accord. The daughter could
scarcely believe that the whole pro-
ceeding against her mother was not
some hideous dream. She could not
conceive that one who had been al
ways good and kind and true L" her
should be the accomplice of an assas-
sin. Her heart had recoiled at the
terms of opprobrium heaped upon her
mother in her trial. and when at last
the order for death by hanging had
been signed by the President, on the
5th the unhappy girl sought franti-
cally to secure some mea assure of mercy
She had gone to the White House.
but had been sent away from its door
ON the fateful morning she had APP
peared there again. and. being denied
admission to the Presidents room. had
thrown herself in a paroxysm of grief
on the stairs leading to the room. She
pleaded to see the Presidents secre-
tary and when he came. pItNlng her.
she sank on her knees before him and,
with streaming eyes. kissed the skirt
of his coat. He could not aid her. and
At last. the fatal hour having come.
and all hope gone. she went to the old
0enitentiary 10 say farewell forever to
7er mother.
In American history there had never
neen. nor has there been since, such
scene as that of the morning of July
= 1865. in that dark old building he
side the Potomac. The walls of women
filled its corridors like the lamentations
fnr
IN the cruel times Of the French
Revolution. There was no hope, no APP
PEAL from the decree of the govern
ment
The tears and sobs OF Anna Surratt. AS
she hung on the neck of her mother-who
in her anguish suffered at her daughters
touch and tears the torture Of hundred
deaths-were Joined by those of seven
women who had come TO say farewell t"
another Of the condemned. They were
the sisters Of David F. Herold the youth
who was to pay for his fight with Booth
with his life.
No legal aid had been enjCined for
Herold The same was true Of Lewis
Powell alias Payne. who had made the
home of Secretary Of State Seward hos
ptal No one came to say farewell to
him His home was in Florida. where
his father. a Baptist clergyman. could
not vet have learned Of the swift execu-
tion OF the law that was now taking
place.
Least of the three condemned men. as
a man. was George A. AtZerodt. the poor.
shufffing little German who had feared
to do the task assigned him hv Booth. of
killing Andrew johnson. one woman
came to see him in his last hours. a sor
rowing drah VII" had loved him and lived
With him out OF Wedlock. He mingled
his tears with hers.
The President had ordered that the exc
cltion take place between the hours Of
10 and =: but such persons as had Sc
cured passes to the arsenal grounds, IN
which stood tho prison. had come long
before the earlier hour.
It was a day of GREATNESS heat. TIL"
land about the prison. bare and dusty.
shimmered under the torrid sun. Men
and women ca FRIED umbrellas to protect
themselves as they waited. and mopped
rerspiraton from their brows.
The Way to the Scan"Id.
As the crowd waited. with lines If
blue coated Veteran Reserve troops all
p bout. they studied the rough scaffold
that had been erected against the high
prison wall Four noos"s Of new. rope
hung from its heavy beam. -Four chairs
we're plac ed upon il. At its end were four
fresh graves and at the rear were four
rine collins.
Gen. Hancock fine. comma ndirC fg-
urc in tho full uniform of his rank. was
present to soc that every arrangement
had been made. At O'Clock there ap-
reared from the door in the prison wall
another officer with staff. This was
Mai. Gen. John T. Hartranft. who served
as provost marshal of the prisoners
guard.
Following these officers came A solemn
procession. Had it been arranged for
tragic effect il could not have been more
striking. for at its head marched the
condemned woman. She was clothed in
loose dark gown. full in the skirt. and
without collar. black bonnet and veil.
Her hands were pinoned before her.
The curious noted that she was neither
large nor small. but solid figure. with
dark brown hair Could they have seen
her face it would have revealed dark
gray ewes and firm. square features. II
was not an uncomcly face. even after
her great suffering. nor that Of an old
woman. for she but A.: and in her
youth she had been a belle in her little
world in Prince George County. Md.
ON either side of the woman walked
priest utterinc prayers in low and
solemn cadences. One of these men OF
Cod held before the breast Of the con-
dcmned woman jet crucifN.
Four soldiers. with musket at shoulder.
followed.
On passing out OF the prison. the con-
demned woman had said farewell to
friend who had come to see her. and
% In