Show aeirial A aw A W of aaron at burr iff iva 74 L xa V am 4 71 ottohn mar ahall 4 r 4 burr dron 4 burr by ELMO SCOTT gatbon NE HUNDRED AID TWENTY five years ago the eyes of the whole nation were turned toward rich mond va for there was taking place one of the most dramatic events in american history what N has been called the greatest crim inal trial in american history and one of the notable trials in the an nals of the law no less a person than aaron burr but lately vice I 1 resident of the united states was on trial for his life and the charge against him was that of committing a crime which was a it threat to the safety of not just one person or op 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 te to whether or not the famous burr conspiracy was actually a treasonable scheme the name of aaron burr I 1 as come down in popular belief among our galaxy of scoundrels second only to benedict arnold whether or not he has been ass ened such a place justly or unjustly Is a matter over which again historians disagree in the presidential election of 1800 burr and thomas jefferson the democratic republican candidates each received 3 electoral votes a tie which threw the election into the house of representatives which was strongly noly federalist after balloting for a week ten votes were cast for jefferson and four for burr and under the constitution as it stood then this made jeffer son president and burr vice president because of political jobbery with the federalists darr lost whatever regard the leaders among tie tl e new party held for him then he became in a bitter struggle for supremacy in new lork politics and because of the antigon ism of jefferson all the patronage was thrown to burrs rivals the cliftons Clin tons and the living accordingly he accepted reder federalist alist support in the gubernatorial race of 1804 an alii ance which was fought bitterly by alexander hamilton the result was the defeat of burr who held hamilton chiefly responsible tor for his humiliation then followed the famous burr hamilton duel in wh ch eb burr burrs s pistols ended the great career of IN ashington 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 bis his fortunes hoping to capital ze on the unrest among the westerners where talk of disunion was rife crossing the alleghenies he arrived at blennerhassett Blenner hassett s island in the ohio river where lived barman harman blennerhassett Blenner hassett a wealthy irishman who had settled there in 1798 to blennerhassett Blenner hassett burr proposed a wild scheme of raising an armed force in the old southwest driving the spaniards out of mexico and establishing a great southern confederacy composed of these conquered mexican possessions and the american territory west of the alleghenies where the sentiment for disunion seemed so strong ett was enough impressed by burrs bures scheme to mortgage his vast possessions to furnish the necessary money they also hoped to gain the aid of great britain in car crying out their scheme and further to insure the success of the plan burr won the support of general wilkinson than governor of louis ana territory commander of the united states army and as two faced a villain as ever served the united states government throughout 1805 and 1800 1806 burr developed his plot which became well known throughout the west the federal authorities however seem to have been strangely blind to what was tab tak ing place until at last wilkinson betrayed the scheme to jefferson who on november 27 1803 1800 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 parlance he was made the goat of the whole affair attempting to flee barr burr was arrested in alabama and brought back to virginia for trial on the charge of trea son SOIL nis his case was tried in the united states cir cult alt court sitting at richmond and never per naps in american history has there been gath ered together in a courtroom such a galaxy of so notables tables as assembled in that little room in aa r 4 A NA ya 9 IN 16 I 1 4 W ea THE PANO by CW 6 iettie ESY YALE university 0 t 04 31 av ottohn nomas Jeffer voll Kan dolph richmond john marshall chief justice of the supreme court of the united states presided over the trial luther martin and edmund I 1 an dolph were counsel for the accused and william Wil liani wirt was counsel for the government ahe I 1 he foreman of the grand jury which brought the against burr was the waspish but brilliant john randolph of e and not the least of the gleat figures in this case was purrs charming daughton daugh toi tei theodosia of tragic fame later although aaron burr w s upon trial on the most serious charge which can an be placed against the citizen of a country in reality he was little more a than a pawn in what was at the lime time regarded as a test of strength between the republican president jefferson an i tl e federalist chief justice marshall the trial lasted froni from march 27 to september 7 1807 and the full etory story of the legal ma maneuvers executed by tie two clashing forces would lire a book for the telling under the 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 on the testimony of two witness to the same overt act or on confession it in open court the crux of the whole case against lurr burr was whether or not on a tain date december 10 burr had actual ly levied war against the united states by assembling an armed force on blennerhassett Blenner hassett s island and on the day following had set in motion this same armed force in an tion against the city of new orleans the prosecution proe cution produced a series of wit nesses mainly servants of blennerhassett Blenner hassett to prove this point then it announced its intention of introducing evidence to show burrs connection with the assemblage on the island whereupon the defense sprang a surprise which turned the tide in burrs favor developing the fact that on the night of december 10 burr bu had not been present at the island but had been miles away in kentucky they contended that ander under the constitution the assemblage on blen bien island could not be regarded as a his act even granting that he had bad advised it for said they advis ng 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 or stated in the ind cament hid bid I 1 een cen or could be shown against burr next ext chief justice marshall handed down an opinion accepting virtually ti tie e contention of burrs and ahen hen the prosecution was unable to produce two witnesses who had actual ly seen burr procure the assemblage on the island it allowed the case to go to the jury shortly thereafter the following verdict was returned IN we e of the jury say that aaron burr Is not proved to be guilty under this indictment by any evidence submitted to us ale e therefore find him not guilty at the order of the chief justice this scotch verdict was entered on the records of the court as a simple not guilty Vc Lc burr became an exile and an out cast the man who came within one vote of be ing president of the united states wandered about europe for four years borrowing small amounts attempting dubious promotions arg ing the french to seize louisiana in 1810 and finally returning to his own land with a false wig and whiskers shortly after his arrival he encountered the breakie br eakin of the one tie that held him to the earth when his beloved theodosia wl 0 I 1 ad stood by him when the whole world seemed to have turned against him took ship from the south to meet him in new york the ship on which she sailed never reached port and what her fate was Is to this day an unsolved mystery one of the most tragic pic pie tures in all american history Is that of the broken d aaron burr a devoted fa ther whatever else he may have been going down to the battery every day for years search ing the horizon for the sail sall of a ship which never came the ship bringing back to him his long lost daughter and then as a final touch to an III fated career was his unfortunate mar ariage to the famous madame jumel who divorced him hira on the day he died C by western newspaper Newe piper union |