Here’s a sample of what occurred on this day in the Lincoln conspiracy trial:
- The nine military officers who would serve as the judges and jurors in the conspirators’ case were selected
The May 6, 1865 entry for the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators is now released and has more information. Please click here to access it. You can also access it through The Trial homepage.
Throughout May and June of 2020, I am publishing a day by day chronology of the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. This includes almost daily posts announcing the release of what happened at the conspiracy trial 155 years ago. For more information about the creation of this project please click here.
LincolnConspirators.com 
Great idea, Dave! You always come up with something unique!
Are you going to be presenting us with Edwards’ transcripts, or Poore’s?
Ed Steer’s “The Trial,” which is a reprint of Pitman’s transcript, is a great research tool because it contains commentaries by the leading students of the assassination. Wouldn’t you agree that makes it better than any of the other reprints (which date back to 1954)? However, about eight years ago Eastin Press reprinted in a limited edition of 1,865 numbered copies. It’s strictly a collectible, with full gilt edging, marble boards, leather bound covers, and bearing the same decorations as Lincoln’s casket! (It has a slipcase similarly decorated!) They sprinkled in the primitive woodcuts from the rare Peterson transcript. Ebay sellers are asking between $75 and $250 for it. (Original selling price — $150.) But Steers’ “The Trial” is a bargain on eBay, with very affordable prices.
Do you have access, Dave, to a reproduction of a ticket of admission to the trial that you can reproduce for us as we all “enter” your courtroom?
P.S. Didn’t Poore publish vol.3. Aren’t I correct? Lincoln Memorial University has all three. (I wonder where Arno Press — a div. of the NY Times – got their hands on the images of the pages in vol. 3 when they reproduced all three vols. about thirty five years ago.)
P.P.S. The Peterson transcript includes some of the asides and descriptions by its reporters of the facial reactions of the accused, which I don’t think any of the other transcripts contain. How about throwing those in as you “report” the proceedings?
Richard,
I used Edwards’ transcript when creating my summarized version of each witness’s testimony since it is the most accurate one available. However, if you click on the witness’s name, it will take you to Poore’s version since that is the most detailed one available in the public domain. I highly recommend the purchase of Edwards’ version for those who want a really nice digital copy of the most accurate transcript out there.
Yes, I agree that the commentaries in Ed Steers’ edited version of the Pitman transcript are extremely helpful and make the volume a very worthwhile addition to any library. As nice as those commentaries are, however, the rest of the text is just a reproduction of Pitman which I believe to be the least exact version of the trial because it removes the true question and answer format.
We had similar ideas regarding the trial passes. The Introduction page ends with a trial pass that you can click to return to the home page of the project.
Poore did publish 3 volumes, though the 3rd volume is very rare to find. It was the fourth and final volume that he never published at all.
Remember that the Peterson Bros. version of the trial is just issues of the Philadelphia Inquirer reprinted. During this project I consulted the Inquirer and many other newspapers for those “you are there” details. I think you’ll be happy with all the insights these bring.