Hi y’all. I’m Leada Gore, substituting Ike Morgan for today’s Down in Alabama. Before we start, there’s a little bit of macabre history from Alabama today.
Alabama ties to Lincoln’s assassination
On Friday, July 7, 1865, 4 conspirators connected to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln were performed in Washington, D.C. The 4 consisted of Mary Surratt, the very first lady performed in the U.S. Also amongst them was Lewis Powell, which’s where the Alabama connection can be found in.
Lewis Powell was born in Randolph County on April 22, 1844, to a Baptist minister. His family transferred to Florida, where Lewis signed up with the Confederate Army at 17. He later on signed up with the Confederate Secret Service where he fulfilled John Surratt, who would later on be associated with the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Surratt was the one who presented Powell to Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.
Powell was designated to take co-conspirator David Herold to help eliminate Secretary of State William Seward. George Atzerodt was designated to assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson and Booth was to assassinate Lincoln.
Powell and Herold were not successful in their objective to assassinate Seward, though they did severely hurt his child and Seward himself. After hiding for a number of days, Lewis got away back to Mary Surratt’s rooming house where he was ultimately jailed for his part in the plot.
Lewis, 21, was ultimately condemned of conspiracy to dedicate murder and treason and sentenced to death by hanging. His last words to a Washington minister show his remorse for his actions:
“My course is run,” Lewis said. “I know now how foolish, vain and wholly useless it is and must have been, and were I set at liberty this morning, I should hope to be dead by sunset, as all men must hereafter point at me as a murderer.”
Read more about Alabama’s ties to Lincoln’s assassination.
Snake eliminates power, power eliminates snake
Talk about something you don’t become aware of every day.
Some locations of north Alabama were impacted by a power blackout Wednesday that was ultimately traced to a snake.
The Marshall DeKalb Electric Cooperative, which serves about 19,000 consumers, reported the blackout quickly prior to twelve noon.
Areas around Boaz were impacted by the blackout.
At initially, the issue was thought to come from with TVA. Then, the cooperative alerted its consumers by means of social networks that the offender was closer to home. It ends up a snake made its method into the Albertville Primary Substation and knocked out most of its system.
Spoiler alert – it didn’t end well for the snake.
State awards $1 million to killed deputy’s estate
The state of Alabama will pay $1 million to the estate of killed Bibb County Deputy Brad Johnson, who was shot to death in 2015 in the line of responsibility.
Johnson, 32, was killed June 29, 2022, when he and Deputy Chris Poole were going after Austin Patrick Hall in a taken vehicle. Authorities said Hall opened fire on them. Johnson passed away the following day. Poole made it through.
Hall, now 27, was rapidly jailed after the deadly shooting and was later on prosecuted on 5 felonies.
Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday revealed the settlement, stating, “Fundamental flaws in Alabama law granting correctional incentive ‘good time’ to inmates failed Deputy Johnson and his family.”
Tommy James, the lawyer representing Johnson’s estate, said the settlement addresses claims worrying the situations that resulted in Johnson’s death. Those claims concentrate on Hall’s prolonged criminal history and the reality that he ran out prison in spite of his record, that included an escape while he remained in a work release program.
James kept in mind that Hall’s rap sheet consists of a minimum of 46 charges and several prison stints.
You can learn more on the case from Carol Robinson on AL.com.
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