Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-05-29
Interesting Trials

The Chief Justice of the United States hav-
ing been clothed by recent act of Congress
with authority to hold special term of the
Circuit Court of the United States in this city,
it is now very generally conceded that ex-Pres-
ldent Davis will be arraigned for trial upon the
charge of treason either in the month of
June or of July next
The trial will be the most important which
has ever taken place either in this or any other
country. No such State trial ever occurred in
England 1t is remarkable fact in the his
tory of Richmond, that if the trial of ex-Presi-
dent Davis shall be held here, three of the most
important State trials which have taken place
in this country will have occurred in this city
The trial of John Thompson Calender, in
1900, for seditious libel upon President John
Adams, was the first of these famous criminal
cases.
Calender himself was little worthy of the
whirlwind of excitement which his trial then
excited
~ 4 y *
The next great State trial, which directed the
attention of millions to the Circuit Court of the
United States at Richmond, was that of Burr
for treason, which commenced on the 22d of
May, 1907. Richmond was then city of only
six thousand inhabitants, and it is said that
there were at the commencement of the trial
twice that number of strangers in the city
Among the striking scenes of that day was that
OF lank, ungalnly man, named Andrew jack
son, who is described as mounting upon the
steps OF corner grocery, and denouncing
Thomas Jefferson for the part he had taken for
frustrating the schemes of Aaron Burr The
trial took place in the present hall of the House
of Delegates, and the struggle for admission
was terrible,
The procurement of jury had occupied from
%ho 70 kho of
on that day the examination of the witnesses
for the Government commenced The exami-
nation OF the witnesses and the argument of
counsel continued from the seventeenth to the
twenty ninth of August, when Chief Justice
Marshall virtually decided the case by that ia
nous opinion, the reading of which occupied
more than three hours. No covert act' Of
treason had been proved against Burr, and the
decision of Marshall that mo testimony rela-
tive to the conduct or declarations Of the priso-
ner, elsewhere and subsequent to the transac-
ton on Blannerhassett Island, (the alleged
overt act Of treason, can be admitted; because
such testimony being in it's nature merely cor
roborative, and incompetent to prove the overt
act In itself, is irrelevant unt1 there can be the
proof of the oUet act by t,oo aoitnesses. - The
Jury with these instructions returned the fol-
lowing qualified verdict of acquittal 1--WE, of
the jury, say that Aaron Burr IS not prored to
be guilty, under the Indictment by any evidence
submitted to us. We therefore find him not
guilty.
This verdict greatly excited Burr, who at
once sprang to his feet, and with great excite
ment of manner protested against the form of
the Indictment, and demanded that it should
be rendered in the regular and less damaging
form. The verdict was finally simply entered
on the record as mot guilty." Burr was then
admitted to bail, and tried and acquitted of the
charge of mlsdemeanor, on the ground that the
offence was not committed in Virginia. Thus,
/ eight months after his arrest, and six months
after the commencement of proceedings against
him in Virginia, Burr was once more free.
| The trials of Calender and Burr, in their day
and generations enchained the attention Of the
whole nation, but compared with the proposed
| trial of the ex-President Of the Confederate
States, they shrink into absolute insignifcance.
Calender was low, brutal and drunken hack
writer, whose cause was espoused by a party
then rising into power to annihilate the Fed
/ era party. Burr was an unprlnclpled, disap-
/ pointed adventurer, whose real object must al
ways remain a question Of grave doubt.
The distinguished and unfortunate statesman
who Is soon to be tried is the representative of
the millions who agreed with him in sentiment,
and who conferred upon him unsolicited and
dangerous honors. His character as man OF
spot!ess integrity, ability, and Christian virtues
is not questioned, nor is it pretended that he is
the author and principal promoter of the late
civil war. Thousands who were far more ac-
tive in initiating hostilities than himself have
been long since pardoned. He alone, merely
as a consequence Of having held high Office,
is to be tried for his life.
| In this trial we recognize the arraignment
and prosecution. Hence in dignity and impor-
tance it will be the most important trial which
/ hoCa IL y
| AUNT E. was trying to persuade little Eddy
to retire at sundown-sYo You see, my dear, how
the little chickens go to roost at that time -
Yes, Aunty,' replied Eddy, ''but the old hen
always goes with them.'
The woman who undertook to scour the
woods has abandoned the lob owing to the