Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. To this day, more than one hundred years after the events unfolded, there continues to be debate among historians as to whether Mary Saratt was or was not involved in the plot to assassinate the sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. What we know is Mary was hanged for treason in the summer of eighteen sixty five. Let's find out why. Welcome to
criminal Lea. I'm Maria trum Marquis and I'm Holly Fry. Mary was born in May or June of either eighteen twenty or eighteen twenty three. Records differ to Archibald and Elizabeth Jenkins. Her father's name may have been Samuel and
her mother perhaps was not named Elizabeth. The information, as you can see, is pretty fuzzy on her or jin She lived on her family's tobacco farm near Waterloo, Maryland, and today her place of birth actually lies within Andrew's Air Force Base, which you may know as the home of Air Force one raised Episcopalion. After the death of her father when Mary was about twelve years old, her mother enrolled her at Miss Winnifred Martin's Catholic Girls School,
operated by St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia. And Mary converted to Catholicism during that time, and it is said that she remained faithful to that religion throughout her life. In eighteen forty she married John Serat. They lived on land John had inherited from his parents in what is now the Congress Heights neighborhood in Washington, d c. The couple had three children, including two sons who became involved
in the Confederacy. Isaac was born in eighteen forty one, Elizabeth Susannah who was known as Anna in eighteen forty three, and John Jr. In eighteen forty four. In eighteen fifty three, John purchased two hundred and eighties even acres of land land that became known as Saratsville today That's Clinton located in Prince George's County, Maryland, which in Mary's day was
a tobacco growing region with a long history of slavery. There, John opened a tavern that served as a polling place in post office, and he also provided part time lodging. They eventually added carriage and blacksmith shops, and they had at least a half a dozen enslaved persons on their land. Maryland straddled the North and South during the American Civil War. It was what you would call a border state. Maryland was a slave state, but it never seceded from the Union.
When the Civil War began in eighteen sixty one, it was no secret that the Sarats favored the Confederacy, and their tavern became the destination for those looking to discuss the politics of the day. John was a non alcoholic. He's viewed by some modern historians to have been abusive to Mary, and Mary increasingly managed the business as he fell deeper and deeper into his disease. When he died in eighteen sixty two, she became the proprietor in name
as well. But Mary found herself with some significant financial challenges. In September possibly October of eighteen sixty four, Mary rented out her properties in Sarathsville and moved to the now infamous town house at six O four eight Street in Northwest Washington, d C. She had inherited it from the Sarat family upon John's death. The house was gray brick and had four stories. The first floor, which was level with the street, had two large rooms used as the
kitchen and the dining room. The second floor had a front and back parlor. The room in the rear was Mary's bedroom. The third floor had three rooms, two in the front, one larger in the back, and the fourth floor, which was technically considered an attic, was broken into two large rooms and one small room. It was usually occupied by Mary's domestic help. Mary operated her town house as a boarding house from the time she moved in through April,
when she was arrested. It's widely accepted as fact that she hosted and possibly also attended conspiratorial meetings to remove Lincoln from office. Meetings frequently held there by John Wilkes Booth and her son, John Jr. Booth enlisted help to
carry out this plot that was being put together. The co conspirator's list would end up including the following men, Samuel Arnold, George A. At Surat, David E. Harold, Dr. Samuel A. Mud Michael O'Laughlin, Louis Powell who was also known as Louis Payne, Edward ned Spangler, and John Serat Jr. Each man had a specific skill or knowledge to bring to the team. For example, at Serat was known for
helping Confederate spies safely crossed the Potomac River. Harold knew the poorly mapped roots that existed of the regions around the District of Columbia. John Jr. Was part of the Confederate Secret Service, and he knew all sorts of secret roots in southern Maryland that were used by the Confederates to discreetly enter and leave Washington. D C. Powell was chosen for his physical strength, which was going to be needed to overwhelm the six ft for President. Arnold and
O'Laughlin were old friends of Booth. The goal, at least when Booth and John Jr. Had begun to imagine this, was to remove President Lincoln and three other Northern leaders from office, and that included Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State WILLIAMS. Seward, and General Ulysses S. Grant. But plans do change, and sometimes more than once. Booth didn't
plan to assassinate Lincoln, at least not at first. He wanted to abduct him, take him to Richmond, Virginia, and exchange him for Confederate soldiers being held in Union prisons. Another plan was to kidnap Lincoln in Ford's theater while he watched a play. That plan involved snatching him from his viewing box and then lowering him onto the stage to carry him out of the building. This plan was scrapped as a number of the men did not think
it was feasible. Another plot hatched included capturing Lincoln while he was traveling to the Soldier's home. The Soldier's home was located only a few miles from the White House in what was then a rural part of the District of Columbia, and it was Lincoln's primary residence during the summer months. The President was known to take a carriage there with little or sometimes no protection, and they saw
this as a vulnerable target. Booth and his conspirators were scheming and kept on the lookout for any new opportunities while they tried to nail down their plan. In March seventeenth, eighteen six d five, Booth had a tip that Lincoln was going to the Campbell Military Hospital to see a play.
As John Junior later recalled quote, the report only reached us about three quarters of an hour before the time appointed but so perfect was our communication that we were instantly in our saddles on the way to the hospital. But they didn't go straight to the hospital. Instead, they met at a nearby restaurant to hammer out the details of this fast moving opportunity. They decided that they would stop the carriage as Lincoln returned home after the play.
They planned that they would overpower both him and his driver. They would handcuff both men and then take them across the Potomac River through southern Maryland. John Junior explained, quote, we felt confident that all the cavalry in the city could never overhaul us. Their group, he continued, had fast horses, knowledge of the countryside, and had a plan for getting
rid of the carriage once they were out of Washington. So, with their plan in place, Booth decided to pop over to the hospital to make sure everything was ready to go. But to his surprise and disappointment, the President wasn't there, he wasn't late, and he had not canceled. It's just that they had the wrong location. It turned out that the President was at a ceremony at the National Hotel.
While Booth may have been planning for presidential kidnapping, the men he'd recruited knew that he was also open to the idea of assassination. Booth floated the idea once, actually, but the group quickly shut it down, seeing he'd taken things too far. Booth excused himself, claiming he quote had drank too much champagne. After the Union's capture of Richmond, Virginia in early April, though, Booth's co conspirators noticed his
attitude change. And so if we jump ahead to reports from the treason trial for just a minute, Thomas T. Eckert, the Assistant Secretary of War from eighteen sixty five to eighteen six d seven, testified that Powell had said Booth clearly showed his intent to assassinate Lincoln during the celebration that followed the fall of Richmond, said Eckert, quote, the President made a speech that night from one of the windows of the White House, and he, Powell and Booth
were in the grounds in front. Booth tried to persuade him to shoot the President while in the window, but he told Booth he would take no such risk. That he left then and walked around the square, and that Booth remarked that is the last speech he will ever make as Americans and anyone who has studied u S history will know, Booth and his team carried out the assassination plot on the evening of April fourteenth, eighteen sixty, shooting Lincoln during a performance of the play Our American
Cousin at Ford's Theater. President died from his wounds the next morning. We're going to take a break for award from our sponsor, but when we're back, we're going to talk about the investig asition into the assassination, and we'll talk about why Mary's trial was actually a military commission. Welcome back to CRIMINALLYA. Let's talk about the night that Mary was arrested. Less than five hours after the shooting.
President Lincoln was on his deathbed. John Wilkes Booth had fled the city, and federal investigators, following up on a tip, paid a visit to Mary's boarding house. Mary revealed nothing, and the answer she did give her often described as just generally vague. In the two weeks immediately following the assassination, hundreds of people were detained, questioned, and in some cases in prison while federal agents tried to determine who was
responsible for Lincoln's death. Many who were known associates of Booth or who may have assisted in his escape, were brought in for questioning, but were released due to lack of evidence. Investigators honed in on ten individuals they believed were involved. John Wilkes Booth was of course, on their short list. John Suratt Jr. Was also on that list. They were the two most sought suspects, but there was a little problem. Booth with Harold had fled twelve days
after the assassination. Cornered in a barn while hiding at Richard Garrett's farm in Locust Hill in Virginia. Harold surrendered and Booth was killed by Union soldiers. John Jr. Fled the country. On the night of April seventeenth, Military investigators arrived at the boarding house on Eighth Street too again interview Mary and her boarders. During these interviews, Louis Powell, as fate would have it, knocked on Mary's front door when he claimed to have been hired by Mary to
come dig a gutter. Investigators asked Mary to confirm his story, but Mary didn't simply say just a yeah no. She's strongly answered quote before God, Sir, I do not know this man, and I have never seen him, and I did not hire him to dig a gutter for me that night. Investigators also uncovered various pieces of potentially incriminating evidence in her home, including a photo of John Wilkes booth on a mental piece. Mary was arrested for conspiring
to assassinate the president. The remaining suspects were also arrested and charged in the conspiracy. Mary stood before a nine officer military commission on May nine, eighteen sixty five. So a military commission is a military court of law, and the nine judges also act as jury. It was controversial to hold the trial in a military court of law, as those on trial were civilians, but federal authorities are that it was appropriate because Washington, d c. Was still
considered a war zone at that time. Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant on April ninth, which is considered the end of the American Civil War. For the last battle was actually fought at Palmido Ranch, Texas, on May thirteenth of eighteen sixty five, in the District of Columbia. Confederate troops were still in the field, so this act of assassination was considered an act of war.
Co conspirators also on trial included some now pretty familiar names, Samuel Arnold, George Atzerot, David E. Harold, Dr. Samuel A. Mud, Michael O'Laughlin, Louis Powell, and Ned Spangler. The prosecution sought to prove that, like her tavern in Suratsville, Mary's boarding house was a safe place for Confederate agents. Testimony from a total of three hundred and sixties six witnesses made it a really long trial. It took seven weeks to complete.
Most of their case against Mary rested on the testimony of just two men, John M. Lloyd and Louis J. Whiteman.
John Lloyd was a former police officer who at least Mary's property, including the tavern in Sarrottsville, upon her permanent move to the boarding house in Washington, d C. According to a man named Thomas Harris, a member of the military commission that tried Mary, Lloyd claimed that five to six weeks before the assassination, John Jr. David Harold, and George Atzerot came to Sarrattsville to drop off a few things. Those things were two carbines, ammunition about twenty feet of
rope and a monkey wrench. The men asked Lloyd to conceal those items at the tavern for them. Lloyd also testified that three days before the assassination, Mary herself told him that quote, the shooting irons left at his place would be needed soon. Then on the day of the assassination, she again mentioned them, and we can quote from his
testament going on this one. On the four of April, I went to Marlborough to attend a trial there, And in the evening when I came home, which I should judge was about five o'clock, I found Mrs Sarrott there. She met me out by the woodpile. As I drove in, she told me to have those shooting irons ready that night there would be some parties who would call for them. She gave me something wrapped in a piece of paper, which I took upstairs and found to be a field glass.
She told me to get two bottles of whiskey ready, and that these things were to be called for that night, he continued, quote. Just about midnight, Harold came into the house and said, Lloyd, for God's sake, make haste and get those things. I did not make any reply, but went straight and got the carbines, supposing they were the parties Mrs Sarrott had referred to you, so she didn't mention any names. From the way he spoke, he must have been apprized that I already knew what I was
to give him. Mrs Surat told me to give the carbines, whiskey and field glass. I did not give them the rope and monkey wrench Booth didn't come in. I did not know him. He was a stranger to me. Just as they were about leaving, the man who was with Harold said, I will tell you some news if you want to hear it, or something to that effect. I said, I am not particular, use your own pleasure about telling it. Well, said he, I am pretty certain that we have assassinated
the President and Secretary Seward. Fred Aiken, one of the defense attorneys, argued that Lloyd's testimony should be discredited because he was quote a man addicted to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors and was motivated to quote exculpated himself by placing blame on Mary. And then there was Wykeman's testimony. Wikeman had attended college with John Jr. And he resided at Mary's boarding house during the period in which the
conspiracy plot was conceived. Although he described her as quote exemplary in character and lady like in every particular. Wikeman also detailed numerous private conversations in the Surat house between Mary and Booth, as well as Mary and Powell and other conspirators. According to his testimony, if John Jr. Was not home, Booth would ask Mary if she could quote
go upstairs and spare a word. He testified that on April two, Mary told him she quote wished to see John Wilkes Booth on private business, and that Booth visited her often. Wikeman testified that Booth gave him ten dollars on the Tuesday before the assassination, which he was instructed to use to hire a buggy to take Mary to Surattsville to collect a small debt. On the day of the assassination, Mary did send for him to hire that buggy. He continued that she took with her quote a package
done up in paper about six inches in diameter. Mary remained inside the tavern for about two hours, during which Wykeman saw her speaking privately with Booth, According to Wykeman, Mary's demeanor changed after her visits with Booth that day, and she became quote very nervous, agitated, and restless. Additional testimony for the defense tried to show Mary was not
sympathetic to the Confederacy. Despite her lifelong sympathies to the Confederacy, they wanted to show that she was loyal to the Union. The New York Times observed, quote, those who have watched her through the whole of this protracted trial have noticed her utter indifference to anything and everything said or suggested about her. The most terrible flagellation produced no effect upon her rock key countenance, stolid, quiet, entirely, self possessed, calm
as a May morning. She sat uninterested from the opening to the close. Her guardians say she anticipated an acquittal. She alone knew why. As the trial went on, newspapers in the Northern States grew more and more critical of Mary, of what she said and what she didn't say, but often coverage was more like this than anything fair and balanced. One paper claimed that she had a quote criminal face
because of her small mouth and dark eyes. And on that note, we're going to take a little break for a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we are going to talk about Mary's execution. Welcome back to Criminaliat. George Atserrat, David Harold, Louis Powell, and Mary Serat were all found guilty of treasonable conspiracy. Let's talk about the day they were punished their hangings. Mary was held at an annex to the Old Capitol Prison before being transferred
to the Washington Arsenal on April. The Old Capital Prison, or the Old Brick Capital as it was known, was constructed in eighteen fifteen is a temporary meeting space for Congress after the British burned the US Capitol building during the War of eighteen twelve. It was repurposed during the Civil War and used as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, spies, and any Union Army officials convicted of insubordination. It held some very famous prisoners, including some of the
conspirators involved in the Lincoln assassination. Mary, though, was transferred to the Arsenal Penitentiary, which is now part of Fort McNair. That prison rose to national attention as the site of the imprisonment, trial, and punishment of these conspirators in President Lincoln's assassination, George at Serrat, David Harold Lewis Powell, and Mary Saratt were all imprisoned and executed there on Jean.
All four prisoners were found guilty of treasonable conspiracy. Mary was found guilty on almost all of the counts on which she had been indicted. The next day, she was sentenced to be executed. Upon hearing her sentence would be execution by hanging, reported The New York Times, Mary quote wailed forth great waves of sorrow. She fell upon the floor and gave rent to a parasy ism of grief,
partially hysterical and holy nervous. Wine of Valerian and other quieting drink was given to her, and she revived, But no longer was she the Mrs Sarratt of the courtroom. She desired to see her spiritual advisers, and they were sent for Five of the nine judges had recommended a part and vacating of the death sentence for Mary, a request based on her firstly being a woman and secondly being of quote advanced age. Okay, she was only about
forty two. Was a different time. Listen, She's just a babe in the woods in my book leave her age out of this. But their plea was delivered to the President by Judge Joseph Holt, representing the Military Commission. Mary's daughter Anna had also pleaded for her mother's clemency. President Andrew Johnson claimed after her execution that he had never seen any such request, but added that Mary's position as
proprietor was incriminating enough. The President reportedly commented, insinuating her guilt, that quote, she kept the nest that hatched the egg. However, there's a big however here. According to The New York Times July seven, the President did reply to the request, writing quote, I Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby declare that the writ of habeas corpus has
been heretofore suspended in such cases as thin. And I do hereby especially suspend this writ and direct that you proceed to execute the order heretofore given upon the judgment of this Military Commission. And you will give this order in return to this writ, Signed Andrew Johnson. So you know that's that. The New York Times continued in that
vein publishing the quote. It was well known that the council, family and friends of the culprit were determined to make every exertion, to strain every nerve in a strong pull and tug at the tender heart of the President. In Mary's behalf, she was a woman, and a sick woman. At that woman as she was, she knew her business well. Sick as she was, she had strength sufficient for her fearful purpose. And stern as the sentence was, its justice
was absolute, its execution certain. Early in the afternoon of July seven, less than three months after the assassination Mary at Sarat, Harold, and Powell, were brought to the courtyard of the Arsenal Penitentiary. It was blisteringly hot that day, and Mary, dressed in black and wearing a veil, became dizzy after a few steps in the sun. Four men, two soldiers and two priests helped her walk to the gallows,
where the hangman bound her arms and legs. It's reported she complained to him that the ropes were too tight and they chafed, and to that he replied, quote they would not for a long The four were given their last rites, and shortly after one thirty pm, the trap door opened and all four fell to their death. It was reported that at Sarat in his last moment, shouted quote, may we meet in another world. A crowd of nearly a thousand people had come with their exclusive tickets to
see this execution. Newspapers reported that all day long, people arrived on trains from out of state, and that local hotels were full to capacity. Major General Hancock, though, was in charge of who did and did not have access and what that access was too. For instance, if you were not on the courtroom admission list, you weren't going to buy or charm your way. In the day of her execution, the Surat boarding house was attacked by souvenir seekers,
who had to be stopped by police. In the end of the ten final suspects, one fled, one was killed. The four it this military commission were sentenced to death by hanging, and three others in a separate trial were given sentences of life at hard labor. Ned Spangler's sentence was the lightest six years. During the trial, the press and public largely regarded Mary with disgust, but many stepped
back from that position after witnessing her execution. Mary's conviction and her execution ignited a nationwide debate over whether or not female deserved special treatment in the eyes of the law. Mary was the first woman ever executed under federal orders in the United States. Her execution came under considerable criticism
in certain circles. H. L. Burnett, who served on the military commission that convicted her, defended her sentence, saying, quote whomever indulges in wide mouth proclamations or pronounces her conviction an inhumane crime, unsupported by evidence, betrays an animous to say the least, not over careful of truth. Civilians are no longer tried before military commissions a practiced. The U. S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in the ex part Milligan decision
of April eighteen sixty six. Mary's body was not released to the Sarat family until February of eighteen sixty nine. She has since been reburied in Mount Olive's Cemetery, one of the oldest and largest Catholic cemeteries in Washington, D C. Today, you can visit the boarding house if you'd like, but things have changed a lot. The building at six o four eight Street Northwest is now the home to a
restaurant in Karaoke Lounge in Washington's Chinatown neighborhood. A historical marker, located in Judiciary Square in the district, commemorates the site of the Mary Surat boarding house, about a seven minute walk from six o four eighth Street, which I bet we could carry our beverages as we can put it in a cup. Sure, exactly the perfect it's time for
the perfecty poor. So this is one that gave me much inspiration in a weird way, just in the timing of Mary's story takes place right around the same time that Jerry Thomas was working. And you'll recall his first
cocktail book came out in eighteen sixty two. We've talked about it before, so I pulled out my copy and started producing it for ideas, And one section that really got me thinking was he has a whole lot of punches in that book, specifically whiskey punches, and I was looking at those because Mary was said to hus specifically mentioned having whiskey ready as part of that testimony against her.
So this seemed like a good place to start, because Mary was accused of many things, but she was characterized as being the hostess of the meetings. I plotted their kidnapping slash assassination of Lincoln interestingly enough, Abraham Lincoln not a drink where he's not going to have he can have the mocktail exactly from the other side away. I did not use any of Jerry Thomas's punch recipes, but
I found some fun inspiration there. There was one punch in there that's called a vanilla punch that caught my eye. Of course, his is made with brandy. We're not doing that because I did stay true to the whiskey roots, but I still want to just point it out as an inspiration. It's a really fun book. For me. Just to like page through would be like, wait, they put what with what? It's always delightful. And because she was the first woman executed under federal order, I thought we
would call this one dubious honor. And this is really easy to put together, but it's very interesting. It's an ounce and a half of bourbon. I used bourbon. You could use another whiskey if you wish. It's obviously going to change the character, but I went with bourbon, one ounce of lemon cello, Oh, an interesting start, and a couple of drops of vanilla extract. You're gonna put those
in a shaker with ice. Shaky shake, shake, and then you will strain that into a glass with a large ice cube like you would use for an old fashioned because you have diluted it enough with the ice and the shaker, you don't want to exacerbate the dilution with a smaller ice cube. And then you top that with ginger beer. I love when we top things with ginger beer, Maria,
How delicious is this drink? Freakishly Because here's the thing, right, Bourbon or whiskey is obviously going to have its own bite. Ginger beer has its own bite. Depending on the brand you use, some of them are bitier than others. Lemon cello is sweet, but it also has that citrus bite to it, and yet two drops of vanilla extracts smooths all of that out. So it's almost like you get you get the power of it. And it's not that it lacks bite, but it doesn't make your face pucker,
you know what I mean? You know how sometimes when when you drink it really stiff drink, your lips kind of want to turn in on the situation. That's a great way to describe it. Not the case here, very yummy, very delightful, and refreshing. I am going to make a lot of these going forward, because I just was delighted and it's another great way against someone like me who has always been like man at the big on whiskey and bourbon. I will drink these all day long. I
might be in trouble, but so delicious. I use the lemon cello because a lot of the punches that are mentioned in that book, as well as a lot of cocktails have a citrus note and a sugar, you know, as part of your mix, and I just thought that kind of has both of them. Let's try that just for fun, and that was a better flavor. I did do it using lemon juice and simple syrup, and I just didn't like it as much. It didn't have the
same fullness of flavor. I just wasn't as good. Now for the mocktail, though, you want to get your lemon juice out, you are going to sub out the urban. You know how often for a whiskey or a bourbon, will say, make a very strong black tea. In this case, I want to do a combo of black tea and ginger tea or right like ginger tea. If you've never made it, you can buy it but also if you just have ginger, cut them up and pour boiling water
on it, you have. The more you chop it up, the finer you chop it up, the more ginger e it will taste, because again we're playing a surface area game there. But you can also just throw a slice of ginger in your cup while your black teeth steeps, or if you like to boil it all with loose leaf, you can just throw some ginger in with your loose leaves.
You're gonna strain it all anyway, so I would do that, and then in lieu of the lemon cello, you're gonna do half an ounce of lemon juice and half an ounce of simple syrup, and then you can still use your ginger beer and it is light and refreshing and not going to get you intoxicated. Hopefully. No, that was INGREDI answer unless you have an allergy, in which it's a different party, and I hope you you know you have the allergy and you do not lay dice with
that situation. So yeah, that is the dubious honor, which might be my favorite one of the seasons so far. Really interesting. Well surpriser there, Yeah, yeah, what is this episode six. Yes, yes, so we're in it. Yeah, that's the one. Well, I can't wait to try it. That's good. I want to try it some more. I'm gonna try it right after this year, to try a little more immediately, if not sooner. We want to thank you for trying out, spending some time with us, and we hope that you
need that again. Next week we will be right back here with another story of treason and another perfect poor. Criminalia is a production of Shonda land Audio in partnership with I heart Radio. For our podcasts from Shondaaland Audio, please visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.