dly they were. The men were a
miserable parcel of fellows, belonging in that class of the community
called "roughs," except only Mudd, who was a country doctor. Mrs.
Surratt was a fit companion for such company. Herold, Atzerodt and Payne
were hanged on July 7; O'Laughlin, Spangler, Arnold, and Mudd were sent
to the Dry Tortugas, there to be kept at hard labor in the military
prison for life, save Spangler, whose term was six years. Mrs. Surratt
was also found guilty and condemned to be hanged. Five members of the
commission signed a petition to President Johnson to commute this
sentence, but he refused, and on July 7 she also met the fate which no
one could deny that she deserved. John H. Surratt escaped for the time,
but was apprehended and tried in the District of Columbia, in 1867; he
had then the advantage of process under the regular criminal law, and
the result was that on September 22, 1868, a _nolle prosequi_ was
entered, and he was set free, to swell the multitude of villains whose
impunity reflects no great credit upon our system of dealing with crime.

Besides those who have been named, the government also charged several
other persons with complicity in the plot. Among these were Jefferson
Davis and some members of that notorious colony of Confederates who, in
the wholesome and congenial safety of Canada, had been plotting mean
crimes during the war. Of course, since these men could not be captured
and actually placed upon trial, there was little object in seeking
evidence against them, and only so much was produced as came to the
possession of the government incidentally in the way of its endeavor to
convict those prisoners who were in its possession. Under these
circumstances there was not sufficient evidence to prove that any one of
them aided or abetted, or had a guilty knowledge of, the conspiracy; yet
certainly there was evidence enough to place them under such suspicion,
that, if they were really innocent, they deserve commiseration for their
unfortunate situation.

* * * * *

It is startling to contemplate the responsibility so lightly taken by
the mad wretch who shortly and sharply severed the most important life
which any man was living on the fourteenth day of April, 1865. Very
rarely, in the course of the ages, have circumstances so converged upon
a single person and a special crisis as to invest them with the
importance which rested upon this great leader at thi