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Show I PLEASANT GROVE REVIEW The Trial of W . Aaron Burr I g flip t Wm IFiTohn MarshdT : J i -a -m w 1 1 i j - f Hgm $ay all d mm: yWtk f By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ' I dT V ' tSA 'T' ' J : NIS HUNDRED AND TWENTY-1 fjJ ,5 r" I I I 1 nation were turned toward Rich- Rl I 1 f , , fr Jsp (I ' I niond, Va.. for there was taking r L Tf W - ;j j I Place one of the most dramatic JaJ 'S1A STv "i vl I . events In American history what Gil f?- JV sX ' vT ? -4Vw I r has been called "the greatest crlm- r V 1 ' N f tfvS1 'VfjV J Y Inal trial In American history and J3J X V -Vf 'X W one of the notable trials In the an- fijn I V I ' Vif I ?,V Y' 1 sals of the law." No less a person cL. I i J ,!',: Nt f t V ' than Aaron Burr, but lately Vice ! ? ' ij o V Um , . Il By ELMO SCOTT WAT80N NIS HUNDRED AND TWENTT- flve years ago the eyes of the whole nation were turned toward Richmond, Rich-mond, Va., for there was taking place one of the most dramatic events In American history what has been called "the greatest criminal crim-inal trial In American history and one of the notable trials In the annals an-nals of the law." No less a person than Aaron Burr, but lately Vice President of the United States, was on trial for his life and the charge against him was that of committing a crime which was a threat to the safety of not just one person or a group of persons but to the safety of the whole nation, the crime of high treason. Although Burr was acquitted by what was substantially a Scotch verdict of "not proven, my lord," and historians are still doubtful as to whether or not the famous "Burr Conspiracy' was actually a treasonable scheme, the name of Aaron Burr has come down in popular belief among our "galaxy of scoundrels" second only to Benedict Arnold; Whether or not he has been assigned such a place Justly or unjustly Is matter over which again historians disagree, In the Presidential election of 1800 Burr and Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidates, each received 73 electoral votes. tie which threw the election Into the house of .representatives, which was strongly Federalist After balloting for a week, ten votes were cast for Jefferson and four for Burr, and nnder the Constitution as It stood then this made Jeffer-' Jeffer-' sod President and Burr, Vice President Be cause of political jobbery with the Federalists, o Burr lost whatever regard the leaders among the new party held for him. Then he became Involved In a bitter struggle for supremacy In New York politics and because of the antagonism antagon-ism of Jefferson all the patronage was thrown to Burr's rivals, the Clintons and the Living stons. Accordingly he accepted Federalist support sup-port In the gubernatorial race pf 1804, an alliance alli-ance which was fought bitterly y Alexander Hamilton. The result was the defeat of Burr, who held Hamilton chiefly responsible for his humiliation. Then followed the famous Burr-Hamllton Burr-Hamllton duel In which Burr's pistols ended the great career of Washington's secretary of the treasury and made Burr a political and social pariah. Discredited In the East where he had been a leader. Burr turned to the West to recoup , his fortunes, hoping to capitalize on the unrest among the Westerners where talk of disunion was rife. Crossing the Alleghenles he arrived at Blennerhassett's Island In the Ohio river where lived Harman Blennerhassett a wealthy Irishman, who had settled there In 179S. To Blennerhassett Burr proposed a wild scheme of raising an armed force In the Old Southwest driving the Spaniards out of Mexico and establishing estab-lishing a great aoutbera confederacy composed of these conquered Mexican possessions and the American territory west of the Alleghenles where the sentiment for disunion seemed so strong. Blennerhassett was - enough Impressed by Burr's scheme to mortgage his vast possessions to furnish the necessary money. They also hoped to gain the aid of Great Britain in car rying out their scheme and, further to Insure the success of the plan. Burr won the support of General Wilkinson, then governor of Loulsl ana territory, .commander of the United States army and "as two-faced a villain as ever served the United States government" Throughout 1805 and 1S06 Burr developed his plot which became well known throughout the West The federal authorities, however, seem to have been strangely blind to what was tak lug place until at last Wilkinson betrayed the scheme to Jefferson who on Nevember 27, 1S06, Issued a Presidential proclamation calling for the arrest of all those Involved. Wilkinson and the others, to save their own skins, deserted Burr and, in the modern parlanca, be was made the goat of the whole affair. Attempting to flee. Burr was srrested in Alabama and- brought back to Virginia for trial on the charge of treason. trea-son. ; ; . His case" was tried la the United States circuit cir-cuit court sitting at Richmond and never, perhaps. per-haps. In American history has there been gathered gath-ered together in a courtroom such a galaxy of notables as assembled In that little room In Cowtrobrh Scene at Burr'sTrial f, FROM THE PAINTING by CW. JEFTERY5 lrt "THE PAGEANTof AMERICA',' Courtesy yale university' press) Thomas Jefferson Richmond. John Marshall, chief Justice of the Supreme court of the United Stutes presided over the trial Luther Martin and Edmund Randolph Ran-dolph were counsel for the accused and William Wirt was counsel for the government. ' The foreman of the grand Jury which brought the Indictment against Burr was the waspish but brilliant John Randolph of Roanoke. And not the least of the great figures In this case was Burr's charming daughter. Theodosia. of traelc fame later. Obhn Randolph nemassett's island could not be regarded as his act, even granting that he had advised it, for, said they, advising war is one thing but levying it is quite another. If this interpretation was correct then no overt act of levying war, either within the Jurisdiction of the court er stated in the indictment, had been tr could be shown against Eurr. Next Chief Justice Marshall handed down an opinion accepting virtually the contention of xurr aurneys ana when the prosecution Although Aaron Burr was upon trial on UfeTOkfthle to produce twn rftnoMo trh t,. ....... most serious charge which can be placedrgalnst 'y Burr procure the assemblage on the Is- utv imicu vi vouuiry, iu reauiy ne was little more than a pawn In what was at the time regarded as a test of strength between the Republican Re-publican President Jefferson and the Federalist Chief Justice Marshall. The trial lasted from March 27 ta September 7, JS07, and the full story of the legal maneuvers executed by the two clashing forces would require a book for the telling. Under the Constitution, treason against the United States consists "only in levying war against them, or In adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort,' and no person may be convicted of it "unless oh the testimony of two witnesses to the same, overt act or on confession In open court" The crux of the whole case against Burr was whether or not on a cer tain date (December 10, 1S06) Burr had actual ly levied war against the United States" by assembling an armed force on Blennerhassett's Island and on the day following bad set In motion mo-tion this same armed force In an expedition against the City of New Orleans. The prosecution produced a series of wit nesses, mainly servants of Blennerhassett to prove this point Then it announced its Inten tion of introducing evidence to show Burr's connection with the assemblage on the island, whereupon the defense sprang a surprise which turned the tide In Burr's favor. Developing the fact that on the night of December 10 Burr had not been present at the Island, but bad been 200 miles away in Kentucky, they contended that under the Constitution the assemblage on Blen- 3 land, Jt aweU the case to go to the Jury ,uf mereaner tne following verdict was returned: "We of the Jury say that Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under this Indictment by any evidence submitted to ns. We therefore una nun not crnity." At the order of the chief Justice this Scotch verdict was entered on the records of the court as a simple "not guilty " I Acquitted. Burr bwame an exile and an outcast out-cast The man who came within one vote of be ! lng President of the United JSBrtes wandered ' about Lurope -for four years, borrowing small ! amounts, attempting dubious promotions, urg-! ing the Freuch to &e?j lnioton. icr, . ; Anally returning to h!s own land with a 'false wig and whiskers. Shortly after his arrival he encountered th k ne Mh.i hi 71 one tie that earth when his beloved Theo- world seemed to have turned against hJn. took ship frtm the South to meet him la New Tort The sh,p on which she sailed never rJchS "d wha fate was Is to this Z ,1 unsolved mystery. One of the most trsjfc t CTaced A Burr, a devoted fa to an in ZlTler- An " Anal touch ; him on the to 4me Jumel forced ' A!wJ?:niKwpr Unload i ALESon. CHIEFS BBBBBMBSSaSSBBSSSilllMSSSRVsB By ED1THA L. WATSON DEKANAWIDA AND HIAWATHA Creeping out to a hole In the river riv-er ice the Huron woman thrust her new-born baby Into the freezing waters. wa-ters. There was a fear born of supernatural things In her heart, for it had been revealed to her that her son would be a source of evil to her people. Hence It was loyalty to her tribe, and not hatred of her baby, that prompted the awful aw-ful deed. Morning came. The mother felt something warm In her arms. Curiosity Curi-osity triumphed over fear, and -sM dared to look at the little bundle-It bundle-It was her child! ' Twice more, she tried to drown her ill-omened son In the icy waters wa-ters of the river, and twice more he miraculously reappeared In her arms at dawn. She could no longer bear to attempt his death. Tills IS a legend, it is true, but the child, who grew into one of the greatest of Indian statesmen, is a historical reality. His name was Dekanawi'da, and It was he who, with one other, formed the first sue-, cessful league of nations, and propounded pro-pounded the idea of universal peace. The Hurons had united four tftbes about the year 1500, but this league did not last. Since it was the Iroquois confederation which destroyed that of the Hurons, the prophecy . about Dekanawlda would seem to have come to pass. It Is probable, however, that the young Indian had an unusually alert mind, which grasped the shortcomings shortcom-ings of the Huron union and later-turned later-turned them to account in the organization or-ganization of the Iroquois- confederacy. As soon as he had grown to man-' hood, Dekanawida traveled south. Among the Mohawk, about the same time, a younger niaa, who was railed Hiawatha, was filled with the same ideas. Legends have grown up around him, too, and in fact we think of Hiawatha as the hero of Longfellow's poem, but the truth is that the poem was written about Manabozho,, a Chippewa deity, and does not contain a single fact or ftetion relating to the real Hiawatha. Hiawa-tha. ' Somehow the two Indians met, and found powerful allies in each other." It was Dekanawida who formulated for-mulated the laws and principles of the confederation. It was Hiawatha Hiawa-tha who converted the five tribes to the idea of union.. Together they labored to establish reforms. As modern reformers can testify, tliis was a bitterly hard task, and the two were opposed, not by the general public so much as by men ofequarstandlng with their own. One of these, an Onondaga, among which , tribe Hiawatha started his campaign, went so far as to kill Hiawatha's Hia-watha's daughters In his efforts to halt him. Even this crime, however, how-ever, .proved unsuccessful in its purpose. H'uftwatha made three attempts to bring his scheme before the Onondaga Onon-daga council, but the crafty chief thwarted him each time. He then turned to his own people, the Mohawks, Mo-hawks, for aid. It Is well known what honor a prophet has in his own country, so that we are not surprised sur-prised to learn that his efforts met meager success. Then he went to the Oneida, and at last obtained their promise to join the projected confederacy If the Mohawks would do likewise. Armed with this agreement, agree-ment, he returned to the Mohawks, and finally was able to persuade them to unite with the Oneida and the "Cayuga, and to Invite the Onondaga to join them. This tribe at last promised to join If another, the Seneca, would also entfr the confederacy. Such, promises would have discouraged a less earnest man. At last about 1570, the five tribes were brought into confederation, confeder-ation, and united in adopting the laws framed by Dekanawida for the common welfare. It is worthy of .note that the remorseless Ononda-ga Ononda-ga chief-who had so opposed Hia-; wathas efforts in the beginning, was the one through whom that tribe accepted the proposed union. As the chief wag a reputed sorcer-er.ttils sorcer-er.ttils victory for Dekanawida and Hiawatha over Mm was looked upon up-on by the Indians as a sign of great supernatural power, a fact which added greatly to their prestige, now that it was. too late to be of much value. ' . The Iroquois Confederation was not the first league of nations, as the Hurons had united four tribes about thirty years earlier, but it was the first successful one. The sensible laws and stable foundation founda-tion given it by the able brain of Dekanawida, and the untiring efforts ef-forts of both Dekanawida and Hiawatha, Hia-watha, formed a project deemed worthy of study by our statesmen of modern times. , There are no statues erected to the memory of these two gifted men. They are scarcely known except by delvert In Indian loreT But the Iro quols confederation stands la his-tory his-tory aathelr monument and the memory of their success will en wurcgc uie peace-proponents our day. ' T te. im wm, Kwny rnloa , of WEATHER BLAMED "How much the baby looks like its father." "It's only the weather-.The child is usually bright, cheerful and hand some," NOT EVEN THERE "These, you see, are trousers that you can't wear out." "I. believe you. I'd scarcely dare wear them at home," POOR OUTLOOK "How's your garden, old man V "It's simply out of sight" "That's good." Tt's anything but good. Ths grass and weeds are a foot high all over it." A GOOD CATCH? "Did he have any luck on his fishing fish-ing trip?" "Enough to keep him in conver sation for several weeks." APPROPRIATE NAME "This is a bum restaurant" "Sb, This ain't a restaurant Ifi a famous chophouse." "Huh. Why chophouse t" "Why-er-because Ton hava tt have a hatchet to carve youi steas." EXCEPTION DId you find that rising In thi rmy is very slow?" "Not in my case. I belong to thi aviation corps." BUT ALL ON TOP "AH the big berries) are oa tof r the box, I supposed "No, sir, some of them ar on thi P of the other boxes." FnlL. -.1- u-! h "" Lik huuli.il i. 1 T5J Know PATRONIZB HOttl? W1 1 hi The public health d from six to eight gW a day is considered amount for a person W' STUDY ATI? University InstrsebW Enroll Anrtiat, ft,! Miniate Cwj Writ for Home fitndj Bii ' -EXTENSION Dili UNIVERSITY ml Silt Ulu Of, d THIS WEEK'S PRE There are few wteb ij plan the schootinf fir w U and to prepare for wiater. 1 Here in our Intcratuaal Terythinc- to neet m rqu Tory best of kIimIi h afci ren ; everythint te cUa oj warm during thou kef it and beat of foodi tad an t ahelrea. So tin thia u I education, keep them win with Intermountiin Prota MR! HOB Salt Lab 00, Ct "The laughter of ifi HI Ho, the sage of (E celestial music, but tie j;.,,.,w mi' Washington Star.. "GRAINS OF THE WHOLE WHK Western Made For W:. ATi 3 'I 1 MitVaVj tjniea: oaw - ID. EMU AM vn" It means the .sum er that yam aooui.-being aooui.-being found 3 course was teUoj golfer.-asuvjz a i. own 16, Z! Your SJtl Take Wool uoSj MOTORS Sold Wltn ; T 7. au..ar- A Frencn cr- money is W? don't -j-v sake. i""" ask roil Ths V mously w- er H s riau m $5.00 1 t J Ml r llltl did to hey m mi Jttei I tas pear Be fla I tie: m ipe Iter Il "i ftn Me juin ill Hah |