Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1835-11-12
LAWRENCE, THE ASSASSIN

50 many other stirring incidents have occn,..,
since the incarcel alton of Lawrence, tina, Tho ~,
lie had almost forgotten that the poor n,,;,.
ofwhosc phrcnzled attempt to Kill the Preside,
certain Sycophantc politicians had we'll pisb a.
rieated another Popish plot, is nov >nocr;a.
the penalty Of his act in the jail of Wa>bino,on,
~.
The editor of the Georgetown Metropolitan
who recently paid him visit in company win
medical friend, gives the following narrative =,
what occurred on the occasion, which will ~
presume, satisfy any, who may have hereto.
fore doubted, of tho insanity of Lawrence:
" We found Lawrence sitting before the ,o,o
He is short lhick-sct man. with an es,crior by
no means unprcpos>cssine. AT FIRST his converse.
ton had nothing in it all indicating INSANITY. Ile
spoke Of his confinement, of his health. apnctte
e.. in Il manner perfectly natural and appropriate
and the conversation wandered of into a ,a,ic,,
of subjects, on all of which he delivered hm,ej.
with ease and voubity, his countenancc e, den.
cling all tie while, rs far physiognomy afforded
a clue, degree of OpCnneSs and candor which We
would scarcely have expected. 1t was not mil.
rs it were, by an accidental contingency of lr
conversations, that the bank was mentioned. that
the diseased chord in his mind was toucled,-
Once, however, woke, it Jared the whole system
Tie entered INTO the subject with great caccrnfg
and detailed at length his intentions and plans lr
killing tho President. Among other rcmarkahI,
instances, II we might so speak, of that lucdity
cunning, by which madmcn are known to carr,
ont their schemes, he stated that he reserved hi,
fire at the President unh he felt sure from hrs DO
sition that the daH after passing h,ough him
'cOuM NOT Kill anothcr-hc expressed great ,or.
for the failure fhis attempt, and said tina, the
powder had been distracted from tho pistol the
night before by one Of his fellow boarlcrs-ha
when he saw the President coming he had the
presence of mind" We quote his own words, 40
look into the mouth of his pistols to see that all
was right, and observing the balls, concluded that
ii was So" 1t may here be mentioned as an cyi
dcncc OF Lavrcncc'S general humanity that he
SAID on the question being put to hin,-tlIa he would
rather have given up his rights than gained them
by killing another person than the president On
asking him how he could find the heart to taxi
away tho lie Of so venerable, so GOOD and excel.
lent man as General jackson, he said he con.
cciycd he was doing no more than attacking pub
lie robbcr, and talked very wildly, and with great
volatility, on his royal Inheritance, and his rights
to the sword and bank. On asking him whether ho
would have shot Mr.. Van Buren, in the same way,
hc said certainly" iihc persisted in Jacksoa's
policy of keeping from him he sword and bank-but
he refused 10 say that he would shoot Mr. Pom.
dexter, on our pursuing ont the case into the proba
hiity oths being president. He seemed TO think
ihat Mr.. PolndrXtcr, or any other opposition
member, would grant him his rights and said uni
tormly that the ma lority of the Senate and great
part of the House of Representatives were onIns
side.
During Ill ofthis conversation, the evidences
OF insanity in Lawrence we're very apparent, the
ccasrleSS motion and wandering direction Of
tie eye, the excited and tremulous pulse, and
tongue tlIickly furrcd, left no doubt as to bis all
mcnt,-and there were times when his coun-
tcnancc assumed an expression of almost demona,
cal fcroci,y.
" On the whole. this interview with Lawrence
left no doubt on our minds that the ingenious
snppoS'ion OF several editors, that his was case
of pure political madness, was correct