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The Aftermath Rewriting History History is not history unless it is the truth. Abraham Lincoln Some felt that Mary Surratt's trial was a ruse to force her son to give himself up and save his mother. John Surratt was the one the government really wanted, not his "pious mother."' At the time of the trial,John Surratt's whereabouts were not known for sure. Witnesses placed him in Washington in front of Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14,but Surratt claimed he was in Elmira, New York, on his way to Canada at the moment of Lincoln's murder .? Learning of Lincoln's assassination on Saturday, April 15, in Elmira, Surrattmade his way to Canandaigua,New York, and then to Montreal where he hid out in the home of Confederate agentJohn Porterfield. From Montreal Surratt was taken across the St. Lawrence River to the small town of St. Liboire where he was hidden in the rectory of the local Catholic priest, Father Charles Boucher.' Surratt stayed in St. Liboire through the entire conspiracy trial and subsequent hanging of his mother on July 7. In August he was taken to Montreal where another priest, Father Lapierre, hid him while malung arrangements to take him to Quebec. From Quebec arrangements were made to secure passage aboard the steamer Pe?-uvian,which carried Surratt to Liverpool, England. From Liverpool, Surratt eventually made his way to the Vatican in Rome, where he enlisted as a papal Zouave under the aliasJohn Watson. Surratt was discovered through an ironic twist of fate. Serving as a Zouave at the same time was an old acquaintance of Surratt's, Henri Beaumont de Ste.Marie. Ste.Marie tipped off the United States consul thatJohn Surratt could be found in the Vatican among the Pope's guard. Ste. Marie turned "Watson-Surratt" in to the Vatican authorities in hope of receiving the reward money that had been offered for Surratt's capture. Although the reward had been withdrawn ayear earlier, Ste.Marie eventually was awarded fifteen thousand dollars for his tip,+which Congress later reduced to ten thousand dollars.' Although no extradition treaty existed between the two 232 Blood orz the Moon countries, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, agreed to have Surratt taken into custody and extradited back to the United state^.^ Before Surratt could be delivered to the U.S. authorities, he freed himself by breaking loose from his guards and jumping over a cliff, disappearing into a dark ravine below. Having escaped his captors, Surratt made his way to Naples where he boarded a freighter destined for Alexandria, Egypt. Once again the U.S. authorities were tipped off. On arriving in Alexandria, Surratt was met by the American Consul and local police, who arrested him and returned him to the United States, arriving February 19, 1867. Six months later, on June 10, 1867, Surratt was placed on trial in civil court in the District of Columbia charged as an accomplice in the murder of Abraham Lincoln . As in the trial of Mary Surratt, Louis Wiechmann became a principal witness for the prosecution. But unlike Mary's trial,John's ended differently. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision and the trial ended with a "hung jury." The government decided to retry Surratt, only this time on a charge of treason rather than murder. On July 17, 1862, Congress had enacted a treason statute that covered certain acts committed during the Civil U'ar. There was no doubt that Surratt had been a Confederate agent and that his alleged role in Lincoln's death fell under this statute. The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Edward C. Carrington, actually secured two indictments against Surratt under the treason statute and presented the first indictment to Judge George P. Fisher. Once again the government lost out-Fisher ruled that the government had waited too long to file charges and dismissed the case. The District of Columbia had a twoyear limitation on such crimes. Fisher's dismissal was based on the fact that the government listed April 15, 1865,as the date of the alleged offence while its indictment was dated June 18, 1868, three years later. car* appealed but the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia upheld qher's ruling.: The second indictment under the treason statutewas made moot when the grand jury, upon learning of the Court's ruling, decided to officially "ignore " the second treason indictment.' Thus...

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