Assassins' Fate
Metro Stop: Judiciary Square
- Red Line
Front of the D.C. Courthouse (Credit: Wikipedia)
If you’ve ever tried to kill a president, chances are you’ve spent some time at the D.C. City Hall. The first of these defendants was Richard Lawrence who, in 1835, unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Andrew Jackson and was tried under D.C. prosecuting attorney Francis Scott Key. In 1867, the courthouse held the trial of John Surratt, an alleged conspirator in President Lincoln’s assassination. Surratt was acquitted, but justice was served when President Garfield’s assassin Charles Guiteau was convicted at the courthouse in 1882.