Should Mary Surratt Be Hanged

Mary Surratt is said to be known as a part of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. After Lincoln died, investigators began looking for people who were part of the plot. They found Mary Surratt, since her son was one of Booth’s conspirators, and questioned if she should be hanged. Is Should Mary Surratt be hanged? Yes, Mary Surratt should be hanged because she has enough evidence to say she was involved in the assassination plot. Mary Surratt should have been hanged because she helped Booth get the binoculars and guns. On the day of the assassination, she traveled down to Surrattsville twice and visited John lloyd. Mary Surratt asked for binoculars and guns. When she got back, she handed Herold and Atzerodt ( who were part of the assassination)

This is true because two nights after the president’s murder Federal soldiers came looking for Mary’s son John Jr. As I mentioned earlier, John Jr. was a conspirator for Booth. At that moment, Powell arrived looking for a safe place to hide. Major H.W. Smith questioned Powell and Powell claimed he was there to dig a gutter for Mary. Major H.W Smith then asked Mary if she knew this man and she said,” Before God, sir, I do not know this man, and have never seen him, and I did not hire him to dig a gutter for me.” This is obviously a lie that Louis Powell and Mary Surratt told to Major H.W. Smith. This proves that Mary Surratt had to be a large part of the plan if she was too afraid to tell the truth to a Major.

There is a letter written by Booth claiming that Mary surratt was innocent. On the day of the murder, Booth ran into fellow actor John Matthews on the street and gave him a sealed letter for the National Intelligencer newspaper. The letter read Powell, Azterodt, and Herolds’ name, but did not mention Mary’s name once. Although, the letter left out other peoples names who were involved such as Dr. Mudd. Dr. Mudd helped Booth with his leg after Booth and Herold escaped and let them stay at his house. This is proof that Mary was guilty for participating in the plot, even if one little letter didn’t have her name on