The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1855-09-26

s. Gaines grieve over the misfOrtunes of
this great man. During the whole time
they were together, Colonel Burr never
once alluded to his arrest, his troubles, or
his future plans. From his carly youth
it had been his custom to conceal things
in relation to himself, and he always en-
deavored to throw an air of mystery over
his acts
After Colonel Burr had been safely
conducted to Fort Stoddart, the indefati-
gable Perkins departed for Wakefield,
and caused the arrest of Burr's travelling
companion, who was a Major Ashly. JUS
tees William II. Hargrave and John
Caller placed him under guard, from
whom he fed in the night, and made his
way rapidly to Tennessee, where he be-
came engaged in taking testimony for
Burr's trial in Richmond The distin-
guished prisoner had been confined at the
Fort for three weeks, before Lieut.. Gaines
completed his arrangements to convey him
to Washington city. The difficulties were
great. There were no roads, no carriages,
no ferries, and few men could be found in
the .parsely settled country, who would
undertake a journey so long and perilous
over savage lands. Finally, Col Burr
icft the Fort under guard, and proceeded
in government boat up the Alabama
river and into the Tensaw lake, with
Lieut.. Gaines, and stopped at the house
OF Mr.. John Mills Some ladies who
were there, wept upon seeing the low es-
tate to which this great man was reduced;
and one of them, Mrs. Jack johnson,
named her son Aaron Burr. He is still
alive, and he is not the only boy named
Aaron Burr in the Mississippi Territory.
The ladies everywhere espoused his cause
in the South Western new world. 1t is
a prominent and noble trait in the female
character, to admire man of daring and
generous impulses, and to pity and defend
him in his adversities.
At the boat yard in the present county
of Baldwin, State of Alabama, the crew
disembarkcd, and here lived William and
John Pierce, natives of New England,
who had, several years before, established
one of the first cotton gins in Alabama.
| and trading establishment. Lieutenant
Gaines here gave the command of the
guard intended to convey Burr to Wash
ington city to Col. Nicholson Perkins, a
lawyer, late from Tennessee His men
were Thomas Malone, formerly clerk in
the land Office at Raleigh, n. Carolina,
and the clerk of Washington county, AL
ALBANIA; John Henry, of Tennessee; John
Mills, native of Alabama; Henry B.
Slade, of North Carolina, and two broth
ers, McCormacks, from Kentucky-added
to these were two U. S. soldiers. They
were all men whom Perkins selected, and
whom he could rely upon under any cir
cumstances. He took these men aside,
and obtained from them the most solemn
| pledges, that upon the whole route to
Washington city they would not converse
with Burr, or let him escape alive. Per-
kins knew how fascinating Burr was, and
he feared his familiarity with the men;
indeed, he feared the same influence upon
himself His character for making strong
impressions upon the human mind, and
attaching men to him by association, was
well known to the world When Colonel
Burr fed from the Natchez settlement, he
procured disguised dress, and was still
attired in it. His pantaloons were of
coarse copperas cloth, with roundabout
of inferior drab. His hat, a tapping
wide brimmed beaver, had once been
white, but now gave evidence of having
encountered much rough weather. Placed
upon his fine horse, he bestrode him most
| elegantly, and flashed his large dark eyes
as though he were at the head of his New
York regiment. To use common ex-
preston of the old settlers, who saw him
in Alabama, 'his eyes were peculiar, they
looked like stars Each man carried
provisions for himself, and some for Col
Burr. They were all well mounted, with
no arms except pistols in holsters, and
two muskets carried by the two soldiers.
The party set out from the boat yard in
the latter part of February, 1907. In a
quarter Of a mile of this place occurred
/ the dreadful massacre of Fort Minis, six
years afterwards.
Pursuing the Indian path which led
from the 'Bigby settlement to Fort Will
kinson, on the distant Oconee, the guard
travelled the first day about thirty miles,
At night the only tent in company was
pitched for the prisoner, who reposed him
self upon his blankets. The lower part
of Monroe county abounded with immense
pine forests. Here the ex-Vice President
lay, the first night, by rousing fires, which
threw a glare over the dismal woods,
while his ears were saluted with the howl
of hungry wolves. In the wilds of Ala
bama, in small tent, reposed this august
parsonage, having no one to converse
with, and surrounded by guard pris-
oner of the United States, for whose lib
critics he had fought, and whose govern
ment he had helped to form; exiled from
New I 9ork, whose statutes and institutions
bore the impress of his great mind; his
only child then on the distant coast of
Carolina; his professional pursuits aban-
doned, and his fortune swept from him;
the magnificent scheme of the conouest