Frederick aiken washington post biography of michaels

And, 3. Whether they are consistent with a reasonable theory by which guilt is excluded. We assume, of course, as a matter that does not require argument, that she has committed no crime at all, even if these facts be proved, unless there is the necessary express or implied criminal intent, for guilty knowledge and guilty intent are the constituent elements, the principles of all crime.

The intent and malice, too, in her case must be express, for the facts proved against her, taken in themselves, are entirely and perfectly innocent, and are not such as give rise to a necessary implication of malice. This will not be denied. Thus, when one commits a violent homicide, the law will presume the requisite malice; but when one only delivers a message, which is an innocent act in itself, the guilty knowledge, malice and intent, that are absolutely necessary to make it criminal, must be expressly proven before any criminal consequences can attach to it.

In the light of these principles, let us examine the evidence as it affects Mrs. What are the acts she has done? Surratt did, at Washington city, and within the military department and military lines aforesaid, on or before the 6th day of March, A. Herold, Lewis Payne, John H. Atzerdot, Samuel Arnold, and their confederates, with knowledge of the murderous and traitorous conspiracy aforesaid, and with intent to aid, abet and assist them in the execution thereof, and in escaping from justice after the murder of the said Abraham Lincoln, as aforesaid.

The first striking fact proved is her acquaintance with J. Wilkes Booth—that he was an occasional visitor at her house. From the evidence, if it is to be relied on, it distinctly appears that this acquaintance commenced the latter part of last January, in the vicinage of three months only before the assassination of the President, and, with slight interruptions, it was continued down to the day of the assassination of the President.

Whether he was first invited to the house and introduced to the family by Weichmann, John H. Surratt, or some other person, the evidence does not disclose. Surratt—John H. Surratt—and, in the absence of John H. Surratt, he would call for Mrs. Before calling the attention of the Commission to the next evidence of importance against Mrs. From the official record the following is taken: Q.

Will you state whether or not, some five or six weeks before the assassination of the President, any, or all of these men, about whom I have inquired, came to your home? They were there. All three together? Yes; John H. Surratt, Herold and Atzerodt were there together. What did they bring to your house, and what did they do there? When they drove up there, in the morning, John H.

Surratt and Atzeerodt came first; they went from my house, and went toward T. They had not been gone more than half an hour when they returned with Herold; then the three were together—Herold, Surratt and Atzerodt. What did they bring to your house? I saw nothing until they all three came into the bar-room.

Frederick aiken washington post biography of michaels

I noticed one of the buggies—the one I supposed Herold was driving or went down in—standing at the front gate. All three of them, when they came into the bar-room, drank, I think, and then John Surratt called me into the front parlor, and on the sofa were two carbines, with ammunition. I think he told me they were carbines. Anything beside the carbines and ammunition?

There was a rope and also a monkey-wrench. How long a rope? I can not tell. It was in a coil—a right smart bundle—probably sixteen or twenty feet. Were those articles left at your house? Yes, sir; Surratt asked me to take care of them, to conceal the carbines. I told him there was no place there to conceal them, and I did not wish to keep such things in the house.

You say that he asked you to conceal those articles for him? Yes, sir; he asked me to conceal them. I told him there was no place to conceal them. He then carried me into a room that I had never been in, which was just immediately above the store room, as it were in the back building of the house. I had never been in that room previous to that time.

He showed me where I could put them, underneath the joists of the house—the joists of the second floor of the main building. This little unfinished room will admit of anything between the joists. Were they put in that place? They were put in there according to his directions. Were they concealed in that condition? Yes, sir; I put them in there.

I stated to Colonel Wells through mistake, that Surratt put them there; but I put them in there myself. I carried the arms up myself. How much ammunition was there? One cartridge-box. For what purpose, and for how long, did he ask you to keep these articles? I am very positive that he said he would call for them in a few days. He said he just wanted them to stay for a few days and he would call for them.

It also appears in evidence against Mrs. Surratt, if the testimony is to be relied on, that on the Tuesday previous to the murder of the President, the 11th of April, she met John M. Lloyd, a witness for the prosecution, at Uniontown, when the following took place: Question by the Judge Advocate: Q. Did she say anything to you in regard to those carbines?

I told her that they were hid away far back—that I was afraid the house would be searched, and they were shoved far back. She told me to get them out ready; they would be wanted soon. Was her question to you first, whether they were still there, or what was it? Really, I can not recollect the first question she put to me. I could not do it to save my life.

On the afternoon of the 14th of April, at about half-past five, Lloyd again met Mrs. Surratt, at Surrattsville, at which time, according to his version, she met him by the wood-pile, near the house, and told him to have those shooting irons ready that night, there would be some parties calling for them, and that she gave him something wrapped in a piece of paper, and asked him to get two bottles of whisky ready also.

This message to Mr. Lloyd is the second item of importance against Mrs. Surratt, and in support of the specification against her. The third and last fact that makes against her in the minds of the Court, is the one narrated by Major H. Smith, a witness for the prosecution, who states that while at the house of Mrs. Surratt, on the night of the 17th of April, assisting in making the arrest of its inmates, the prisoner, Payne, came in.

Surratt, will you step here a minute? The witness repeats the language of Mrs. If there is any doubt as to whom they all belonged, reference to the testimony of Misses Surratt and Fitzpatrick will settle it. These three circumstances constitute the part played by the accused, Mary E. Surratt, in this great conspiracy. They are the acts she has done.

They are all that two months of patient and unwearyingly investigation, and the most thorough search for evidence that was probably ever made, has been able to develop against her. The acquaintance with Booth, the message to Lloyd, the non-recognition of Payne, constitute the sum total of her receiving, entertaining, harboring, and concealing, aiding, and assisting those named as conspirators and their confederates, with knowledge of the murderous and traitorous conspiracy, and with intent t aid, abet, and assist them in the execution thereof, and in escaping from justice.

The acts she has done, in and of themselves, are perfectly innocent. Of themselves they constitute no crime. They are what you or I, or any of us might have done. The little girl had been illegitimate. The birth father died before she was born and before her parents had been married. The Aikens had been raising Cora for three years, but they still lost the case.

Cora was not returned to her mother either. She became one of the first women to attend what was then Harvard College, according to the American Film Company. A newspaper later claimed that she knew nine languages. Like her husband, she was a writer and published stories, poems, and reviews in the Burlington Sentinel and other publications, according to Christine Christensen.

She was caught up in the "Contested Child" case too, writing a letter to the court about why she and Aiken should be permitted to raise Cora. Though Sarah Aiken's reputation was noted to be flawless, they still didn't win the case. After Aiken's death, she supported herself as a newspaper correspondent and a clerk for the Treasury Department, according to Christine Christensen.

Aiken became the Washington Post's first city editor in but died only a year later. Other than his defense of Surratt, very little was known about Aiken until Christine Christensen began to take an interest in him around She became curious about him because her favorite actor, James McAvoy, played him in the movie "The Conspirator," which told the story of Mary Surratt.

By March, , she had written a page paper on his life. She uncovered information about his early life, his war service, his political participation, and his scandals via Christine Christensen and The Washington Post. One of Christensen's other discoveries was Aiken's gravesite. He had been buried in an unmarked grave in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.

The museum is located in the building that was Surratt's tavern. Etched on the grave is a quote from Aiken's defense of Surratt: "For the lawyer as well as the soldier, there is an equally pleasant duty — an equally imperative command. Surratt's official defense counsel was Reverdy Johnson , a former Attorney General and then- Senator from Maryland; however, several members of the panel challenged Johnson's right to defend Surratt as he had objected to requiring loyalty oaths from voters during the presidential election.

Though the objection was withdrawn, Johnson nonetheless did not participate much in the process, and left much of the legal defense to Aiken and John Clampitt, who had recently set up their own law practice in Washington. Still relatively new to their professions and without Johnson's active participation in the case, Aiken and Clampitt were woefully unprepared for their task.

Their defense relied on trying to debunk the testimony of the prosecution's two chief witnesses, John M. Lloyd and Louis J. Weichmann , but instead ended up strengthening the prosecution's case. Ultimately, the defense was unsuccessful, and Mary Surratt was sent to the gallows on July 7, Aiken and Clampitt's law practice dissolved in , likely as a result of the backlash of the trial.

The New York Times reported that Aiken was arrested in June when he cashed a check with a merchant but did not have the funds to cover the amount. Aiken died in Washington on December 23, , as a result of heart-related illness, possibly resulting from wounds he incurred during the war. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, where his grave was originally unmarked.

However, the Surratt Society of Clinton, Maryland the town formerly known as Surrattsville conducted a campaign to raise funds to place a tombstone on the unmarked grave. On June 14, , a gravestone was placed at the site, in a dedication ceremony attended by descendants of Aiken's family.