Imagine standing upon your death stool, the tall platform looming straight overhead of you. Upon you are three other men, as frightened as you are. Before, you had been falsely accused of treason, you are now sitting on the death stool for something you did not do. You step up to the stool, where nobody attempts to help, although you are screaming for help. Finally, your last breath is taken, and you are up in the air hanging. You fight for breath, but in a quick snap, your heart collapses, and your lungs fail. This is exactly how Mary Surratt felt when it was her turn to be hung on her death day. Mary Surratt was innocent and had a harsh punishment because, she was falsely accused of a crime she did not commit, she only agreed to delivering …show more content…
the note, also her punishment far outweighs her crime, and she hid ammunition only because she did not know what it was for. To start, one reason that Mary Surratt was innocent was because she only agreed to deliver the note for Booth, but she did not understand the meaning of the note.
In the article, “Shortly before leaving Washington to kill Lincoln, Booth spoke with Surratt and handed her a package containing binoculars for one of her tenants, John M. Lloyd.” The article states, “He stayed at the Surratt boarding house in February 1865, but he proved to be a heavy drinker, and Surratt evicted him after just a few days.” This proves that Mary Surratt only agreed to deliver the note and binoculars. Also, that she saw Booth’s bad side and resulted her to evict him from her …show more content…
house. Also, Mary Surratt’s crime far outweighs her punishment. An article by History on Mary Surratt states, “She was hung for treason in July 1865, after being tried and convicted for her role in the plot, a plot prosecutors argued was hatched in her Washington, D.C. boarding house.” Also, another source states the meaning of treason, “The offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.” These statements prove that Mary Surratt’s crime is far under her punishment because she did not harm anybody, so she should not have been hung for treason. Lastly, Mary Surratt only hid the ammunition because she wanted to help Booth because they were friends, and she did not know the outcome. The article states, “The Tribune reported how Surratt arranged for guns and ammunition to be hidden in a tavern she owned in Maryland.” The article also states, “After Lincoln was shot, Booth and an accomplice ride to the tavern to collect the ‘shooting irons’.” This proves Mary Surratt hid the ammunition, although she did not know the possible outcome of hiding it. Some people say, that the trial of Mary Surratt was correct.
The Washington Post states, “And by most accounts, Surratt knew of the plot and abetted the plotters from her boarding house on H Street NW.” It is true that Mary Surratt knew Booth and that they were in fact friends, and Mary Surratt did help them with a place to stay before the assassination, but Mary Surratt did not know of the plot to kill President Lincoln, and was not fairly hanged. Mary Surratt got a harsher punishment and people who did far worse than her like Dr. Mudd. The article The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln states on Dr. Mudd, “A military commission found him guilty of aiding and conspiring in a murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, escaping the death penalty by a single vote.” This proves that Dr. Mudd helped Booth escape to further away, and aided his leg, which was basically releasing Lincoln’s killer escape when he could have turned him in. Besides this, Dr. Mudd was punished with life in prison, and even though Mary Surratt did do anything quite that awful, she was still hanged and Dr. Mudd was not. So, Mary Surratt should not have been hanged, and she should have had another, less harsh
punishment. In conclusion, Mary Surratt was innocent, and should not have been punished the way that she was punished. If you had been upon that death stool, and knew that you had not committed a crime like the officials said you did, how would you feel? It was unnecessary to take away an innocent living life like Mary Surratt’s. Mary Surratt was blameless and had an unfair trial because she was falsely accused of her crime and she was innocent because she only agreed to delivering the note, her punishment far outweighs her crime, and she hid ammunition only because she did not know what it was for. Although, Mary Surratt has been hanged because of her unfair punishment, many today still believe that Mary should have lived a longer life than what was taken away from her.
John Wilkes Booth was a famous actor, and could have had many assassination chances, including Lincoln’s second inauguration. Wanting the South to win the war, he never wanted the punishment of assassinating the president of the United States. Being a supporter of the Confederate, Booth believed that he assassinated Lincoln the momentum would spark the Confederate troops to life and lead them to victory. This book is very vivid in detail and is a great educational tool if you would like to learn more about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Booth assembled his men;the men he met over the years who were filled with southern pride and anger at the new nation. His conspirators in Lincoln’s assassination and escape were: Lewis Powell, David Herold, John Surratt Jr., Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen, and George Atzerodt.To prepare, Booth packed his weapons of choice: a .44 caliber pistol and a Rio Grande camp knife just in case. When Abraham and Mary Lincoln arrived at Ford’s Theatre, they were met with loud applause, even though they didn’t send word of their arrival;the crowd never thought that this would be the last night they would see Abraham Lincoln
Bridget Bishop was officially the first victim to be hung at the trials. As trials and executions continued, the colonist began to doubt that so many people could be guilty of witchcraft. The colonists feared that many innocent people were being
The Whole country had become relieved that Booth was died .No one wanted to Booth to be buried in their Cemetery .His body was given to his family and buried.
Imagine being wrongfully trialled for the murders of your father and stepmother. Well, this was Lizzie Borden’s reality in the notorious 19th century case. In August, 1892, the gruesome murders of Andrew and Abby Borden took place in a small town named Fall River. Because Lizzie Borden was believed to have a lot to gain with the murders of her parents, she was the only one accused of being the murder. With this case, I believe the council was right for pleading Lizzie as innocent. The public and police tried to use theories against her in court to prove she was guilty. With the whole public against her, Lizzie still stood strong and was proven innocent for the murders.
In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, by James L. Swanson, the main characters were; John Wilkes Booth, Dr. Leale, Abraham Lincoln (even though he dies.) When John Wilkes Booth (a.k.a Booth) found out that the North had won the Civil War, he felt anger and disgust but he could do nothing. Booth had one plot that the book talked about and that was to kidnap the president and sell him to the leaders of the South but that plot never got put into action. When booth went to Ford's theatre got a letter, Booth worked at the theatre, the letter that said that the President of the United states would be visiting ford's theatre quickly he put a plot into works. First he went to get accomplices and they too would kill someone that night. When the time had come to Booth snuck into the President’s box, not even noticed he pulled out a gun and shot a bullet into the left side and under the left ear of the President's head. That didn’t kill the President, yet. When Booth tried to leave he was stopped by General Henry Rathbone, they had a knife fight while trying to stop both of them from leaving, although Booth got away jumping from the President's box and onto the stage shouting "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Chasing Lincoln's Killer, by James L. Swanson.)
Screams and curses fill the air. The grassy plain runs blood red.” (page 61). All of these iconic Civil War battles led up to the Confederate surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse and the inescapable rebuilding of a new nation Abraham Lincoln had to deal with. Next, John Wilkes Booth is introduced and his pro-Confederate motives are made clear.
Mary Eugenia Surratt, née Jenkins, was born to Samuel Isaac Jenkins and his wife near Waterloo, Maryland. After her father died when she was young, her mother and older siblings kept the family and the farm together. After attending a Catholic girls’ school for a few years, she met and married John Surratt at age fifteen. They had three children: Isaac, John, and Anna. After a fire at their first farm, John Surratt Sr. began jumping from occupation to occupation.
In George Orwell’s essay, “A Hanging,” and Michael Lake’s article, “Michael Lake Describes What The Executioner Actually Faces,” a hardened truth about capital punishment is exposed through influence drawn from both authors’ firsthand encounters with government- supported execution. After witnessing the execution of Walter James Bolton, Lake describes leaving with a lingering, “sense of loss and corruption that [he has] never quite shed” (Lake. Paragraph 16). Lake’s use of this line as a conclusion to his article solidifies the article’s tone regarding the mental turmoil that capital execution can have on those involved. Likewise, Orwell describes a disturbed state of mind present even in the moments leading up to the execution, where the thought, “oh, kill him quickly, get it over, stop that abominable noise!” crossed his mind (Orwell.
“How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” According to DPIC (Death penalty information center), there are one thousand –four hundred thirty- eight executions in the United States since 1976. Currently, there are Two thousand –nine hundred –five inmates on death row, and the average length of time on death row is about fifteen years in the United States. The Capital punishment, which appears on the surface to the fitting conclusion to the life of a murder, in fact, a complicated issue that produces no clear resolution.; However, the article states it’s justice. In the article “How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” an author David B. Muhlhausen illustrates a story of Earl Ringo , Jr, brutal murder’s execution on September ,10,
Booth lived an exciting life as an actor and a secret agent, but he wanted more. So he joined a conspiracy to kidnap the United States president, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was an abolitionist and supported the north, so when he was elected president, it sent the confederates into rages of anger. They did not like Lincoln.
Here I write in the closing days of my life. My life has been full of many wonderful experiences, and I thank God for that. However, the events of almost ten years ago are a black mark on my legacy, an event that will forever haunt my spirit, while it walks the Earth within my body and when I have ascended to heaven to be with the Lord. The unjust hangings of many of God 's people, including the honourable John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, was a regrettable moment in my life and all of New England.
John Wilkes Booth infamously known for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was himself an interesting personality. The man was a well-known American stage actor at the Ford’s theatre, Washington. Booth believed slavery was a part of the American way of life and strongly opposed president Lincoln’s view on abolition of slavery in the United States.
... truth, denying her involvement as a witch, but be hung anyway for "lying" under oath. On the other hand, an innocent victim could lie and confess her involvement as a witch, accuse another witch instead and be let "off the hook". However, if the innocent victim lied and confess, but wasn't willing to turn in another witch, she would be hung anyway. (Starkey, 17) This created quite an ironic situation coming from a Christian based community of purity and holiness.
Is the death penalty fair? Is it humane? Does it deter crime? The answers to these questions vary depending on who answers them. The issue of capital punishment raises many debates. These same questions troubled Americans just as much in the day of the Salem witch trials as now in the say of Timothy McVeigh. During the time of the Salem witchcraft trials they had the same problem as present society faces. Twenty innocent people had been sentenced to death. It was too late to reverse the decision and the jurors admitted to their mistake. The execution of innocent people is still a major concern for American citizens today.