Surratt, Mary Eugenia

Surratt, Mary Eugenia, 1820-65, alleged conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, hanged on July 7, 1865. A widow (her maiden name was Jenkins) who had moved from Surrattsville (now Clinton), Md., to Washington, D.C., she kept the boardinghouse where John Wilkes Booth hatched his unsuccessful plot to abduct the President and his successful assassination plan. After Lincoln's assassination eight alleged accomplices in Booth's crime were tried (May 10-June 29, 1865) before a special military tribunal. Hanged with Mary Surratt and unquestionably guilty were Lewis Thornton Powell (or Payne), David E. Herold, and George A. Atzerodt. Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlin, Confederate ex-soldiers from Maryland who had taken part in the attempted abduction but not in the assassination, were sentenced to life imprisonment, as was Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who had set Booth's broken leg. Edward Spangler, a stagehand at Ford's Theater, charged with abetting Booth's escape, was given six years. Mary Surratt's son, who had participated in the abduction plot, was tried (June 10-Aug. 10, 1867) before a civil court. Although the jury stood eight to four for acquittal, he was not released from prison until June, 1868. The hanging of his mother is generally considered to have been a gross miscarriage of justice. The prosecution, headed by Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt, never established that Mary Surratt even knew (although she might have known) of the abduction plot, and it now seems certain that she was not a party to the assassination plans. Booth's diary and other evidence that might have cast doubt on the prosecution's case were suppressed by the government, and it is generally believed that some of the testimony against Mary Surratt was false. She has appealed to many writers and is the subject of several dramas, such as John Patrick's Story of Mary Surratt (1947).

Dame Eugenia Charles, DBE (May 15 1919 – September 6, 2005) was the Prime Minister of Dominica from July 21 1980 until June 14 1995. She was the first female prime minister in the Caribbean, and the first woman elected in her own right as head of government in North America. She was Dominica's first and to date only female prime minister.

Born Mary Eugenia Charles in Pointe Michel in Saint Luke parish, she studied overseas at universities in London, England, and Toronto, Canada. she began campaigning in politics during the 1960s against restrictions on press freedom. She helped to found the Dominica Freedom Party, which she served as leader from the early 1970s until 1995. She was elected to Parliament in 1970 and became Opposition Leader in 1975.

Though she and her party were frequently described as conservative, this was partially in comparison to socialist leaders in the Caribbean, as she did support some social welfare programmes. Other issues that were important to her were anti-corruption measures and individual freedom.

Eugenia Charles became Prime Minister when her party won elections shortly after Dominica gained full independence from British rule in 1979. She became more widely known to the outside world during the US invasion of Grenada in 1983, when, in her role as chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), she appeared on television with Ronald Reagan to offer her support.

For her uncompromising stance on this and other issues, she became known as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean" (after the original "Iron Lady", Margaret Thatcher). Shortly after her retirement from politics her party lost the 1995 elections. She also served as Foreign Minister of Dominica from 1980 to 1990. She was awarded a damehood in 1992.

On 30 August 2005, Dame Eugenia Charles was taken to a hospital in Fort-de-France, Martinique, for hip replacement surgery and died from complications soon after on 6 September, aged 86.

See also

• Frederick Newton

External links

• Obituary from The Guardian
• Caricom Biography

it: Eugenia Charles