Beschreibung:

JOHNSON, ANDREW, President . Manuscript document signed ("Andrew Johnson"), countersigned by Secretary of State Willam H. Seward, Washington, D.C., 1 March 1869. 3 pp., folio, large orange papered seal at center of page 3 (the seal slightly oxidized), very slight fold separations, otherwise in very good condition. ANDREW JOHNSON'S PARDON OF EDMAN SPANGLER, THE FORD'S THEATER STAGEHAND WHO WAS TO HAVE HELD BOOTH'S HORSE THE NIGHT OF LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION President Johnson certifies that "Whereas on [13 June 1865]...Edward Spangler, was, by the judgement of a military Commission...declared not guilty of...the charge against him, except as to the words 'the said Edward Spangler, on the said 14th day of April...1865...did aid and abet him (meaning John Wilkes Booth) in making his escape after the said Abraham Lincoln had been murdered...' and of these words was declared guilty: And whereas, said Spangler was...declared not guilty of the whole charge against him, but nevertheless was declared guilty of 'having feloniously and traitorously aided and abetted John Wilkes Booth in making his escape after having killed and murdered Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, he...at the time...well knowing that the said Abraham Lincoln had been murdered by the said John Wilkes Booth...And Wheras, said Spangler in consequence was sentenced to six years imprisonment, at hard labor...and has been been in confinement for more than three years and six months under said sentence...And Whereas, the pardon...is recommended by Robert Banks the Mayor, and by the City Council of Baltimore, and by a great many respectable citizens who are satisfied of his innocence...I, Andrew Johnson...do hereby grant to the said Edward Spangler a full and unconditional pardon..." The unfortunate Spangler (his real surname was Edman), was a stagehand and assistant carpenter at Ford's Theatre, and lived most of his life in Baltimore. His employer John T. Ford "characterized Spangler as 'a very good-natured, kind, willing man," and 'a very good, efficient drudge'" (Neely, p.283). John Wilkes Booth was well-known to Spangler, as were other members of the Booth family. For the performance of Our American Cousin on 14 April 1865, Spangler was stationed in the wings on the same side as the Presidential box and Booth, by messenger, requested that Spangler hold the reins of his horse at the rear door of the theater. Spangler did so, but when he had to return to the stage during the performance, he asked a doorkeeper to hold the horse in his place. After he shot Lincoln, Booth raced through the doorway, knocked the doorkeeper down, mounted, and sped away. Nevertheless, Spangler was arrested and convicted (partly on the testimony of an unreliable witness), of aiding the assassin, as detailed in the text of the pardon. Spangler was incarcerated for three years at Fort Jefferson, along with other convicted conspirators including Dr. Samuel Mudd, but in response to a petition from the mayor and citizns of Baltimore, Johnson agreed to pardon him in 1869, a month after Dr. Mudd was pardoned. Spangler went to live on Mudd's farm in Maryland, performing carpentry and other odd jobs for the doctor, but died in 1871.