Gravestone (Night), September 29, 1974

Gravestone (Night), Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Walker Evans, September 29, 1974

Graveyard (Night), September 29, 1974

Graveyard (Night), Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Walker Evans, September 29, 1974

Hanging Hooded (Surratt and Payne)

Washington, D.C. Hanging hooded bodies of the four conspirators; crowd departing (detail), Alexander Gardner, July 7, 1865.

Adjusting the Ropes (Herold and Atzerodt)

Washington, D.C. Adjusting the ropes for hanging the conspirators (detail), Alexander Gardner, July 7, 1865.

Don't Let Me Fall

Mary Surratt, 42, the first woman to be hanged by the United States government, is the body hanging at the left. Virtually everyone expected her sentence to be
commuted by President Andrew Johnson, but it was not. From the left, after Mary Surratt, hang the bodies of Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt.
Roughly 1,000 people, viewing from windows, walls, the courtyard, and buildings, witnessed the affair. Because such a large number of people wished to view
the execution, tickets had been issued to limit the actual number in the courtyard.

At approximately 1:26 P.M., July 7, 1865, the signal was given. The two soldiers underneath the gallows knocked away the supporting posts with long poles, and
the trap doors snapped downward. The bodies of the four victims dropped about five to six feet and then came up with a sharp jerk at the end of each rope. After
the hanging about 25 minutes elapsed, and the bodies were cut down. Doctors then examined them as they lay on top of their coffins which were really just crude
gun boxes. The bodies (with hanging-caps still on) were buried in shallow graves next to the gallows. Pieces of the gallows were soon distributed as souvenirs.
Outside the prison a large crowd was celebrating with lemonade and cakes.


Even Captain Christian Rath, the hangman, did not expect Mrs. Surratt to be executed. In his personal account of the hanging he stated, The night before the
execution I took the rope to my room and there made the nooses. I preserved the piece of rope intended for Mrs. Surratt for the last. By the time I got at this I was
tired, and I admit that I rather slighted the job. Instead of putting seven turns to the knot - as a regulation hangman's knot has seven turns - I put only five in this one.
I really did not think Mrs. Surratt would be swung from the end of it,but she was, and it was demonstrated to my satisfaction, at least, that a five-turn knot will perform
as successful a job as a seven-turn knot.



She wore a black dress and black veil. Her last words on the scaffold were "Don't let me fall."






From Roger Norton's research site - here and here.

Mrs. Surratt

The four condemned conspirators (Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Herold, Atzerodt), with officers and others on the scaffold; guards on the wall (detail),
Alexander Gardner, July 7, 1865.

Execution Day

1. Washington, D.C. The four condemned conspirators (Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Herold, Atzerodt), with officers and others on the scaffold; guards on the wall

2. Washington, D.C. Gen. John F. Hartranft reading the death warrant to the conspirators on the scaffold

3. Washington, D.C. Adjusting the ropes for hanging the conspirators

4. Washington, D.C. Hanging hooded bodies of the four conspirators; crowd departing

5. Washington, D.C. Coffins and open graves ready for the conspirators' bodies at right of scaffold

Alexander Gardner, July 7, 1865.

Payne, Close-up

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Lewis Payne, in sweater, seated and manacled (close-up), Alexander Gardner, April 1865.

Samuel Arnold, a Conspirator

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Samuel Arnold, a conspirator, Alexander Gardner, April 1865.

Samuel Bland Arnold (September 6, 1834 – September 21, 1906) was involved in the plot to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
Arnold was sentenced to life in prison at Fort Jefferson, in 1869 he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. After Samuel Arnold
returned home, he lived quietly out of the public eye for more than thirty years. In 1898 he returned to Fort Jefferson and took photographs
of his old prison, but these photographs did not survive.

Lewis Payne, in Sweater, Seated and Manacled II

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Lewis Payne, in sweater, seated and manacled, Alexander Gardner, April 1865.

Lewis Payne, in Sweater, Seated and Manacled

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Lewis Payne, in sweater, seated and manacled, Alexander Gardner, April 1865.

Lewis Thornton Powell (April 22, 1844 – July 7, 1865),[1] also known as Lewis Paine or Payne, attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate
United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, and was one of four people hanged for the Lincoln assassination conspiracy.

The Black Chapter (A Place to Wash the Heart)

From The Black Chapter of A Place to Wash the Heart by Monika Bielskyte

The Black Chapter of the A Place to Wash the Heart project by Monika Bielskyte was photographed in autumn 2009; a selection of The Black Chapter
images have first been published in SOME/THINGS MAGAZINE ISSUE002 / THE BLACK BOOK.