Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1866-06-14
TRIAL OF MIR. DAVIS.

The U. S. District Co.It for Virginia
judge UNDERWOOD presiding-convened
in Richmond on the 9th instant. A charge
to the grand jury, in which the people of
Virginia were denounced with that coarse
brutality characteristic only of Judge UN-
DERwooD, was delivered to the grand jury;
when VIM. B. READ, Esq, of Philadelphia
addressed the Court as follows:
May it please your Honor, I beg leave to
present myself, in conjunction with my col.
leagues, as the counsel of Jefferson Davis,
now prisoner of State at Fortress Monroe,
and under indictment for high treason in
your Honor's court We find in the records
of your Honor's court, an indictment charg.
ing Mr.. Davis with this high offence, and
it has seemed to US due to the cause of jus.
tice, due to the feeling of one sort or anoth-
er, which may be described as chrystalizing
around the unfortunate man, that We should
come at the very earliest day to this tribu-
nal, and ask your Honor, or more properly
the gentleman who represents the United
States, the simple question, what is propos.
ed to be done with this indictment? Is it
to be tried d? Is it-and this is a question
which, perhaps, have no right to ask-to
be withdrawn? Or is it to be suspended
If it is TO be tried, may it please your Hon
or, speaking for my colleagues and myself
and for the absent client, L say with empba-
sis, and I say it with earnestness, that we
come here prepared instantly to try that
cause and We shall ask no delay at your
Honor's hands further than is necessary to
bring the prisoner to face the Court, and to
enable him, under the statute in such case
made and provided, to examine the bill of
indictment against him. Is it to be with
drawn ? If so, justice and humanity seem
to us to prompt that We should know it. Is
it to be suspended-postponed? Ifso, may
it please the Court, with all respect to your
Honor and the gentleman who conducts the
public business here, your Honor must uu-
derstaud US as entering our most earnest
protest.
We ask speedy trial on any charge that
may be brought against Mr. Davis here or
in any other civil tribunal in the land. We
may be now here representing, may it please
the Court, dying man. For thirteen
months he has been in prison. The Con-
stitution of the United States guarantees to
him not only an impartial trial, (which, I
am sure, he will have, "but speedy trial"
and we have come no slight distance we
have come in all sincerity; we have come
with strong sympathies with our client, pro.
feesioual aud personal we have come here
simply to ask that question: address it to
the District Attorney, or to your Honor, as
may be the more appropriate: What dis
position is proposed to be made with the bill
of indictment against Jefferson Davis, now
pending, for high treason?
Mr.. Hennessy, Assistant District Attor.
ney, replied that Mr.. Chandler, the District
Attorney, had not arrived but was expected
that night He would telegraph immediate.
ly to Mr.. Chandler, and if that gentleman
failed to answer him, or to arrive, he would
promise positive answer to morrow (Wed-
nesday.)
Mr. Reed answered that this would be
satisfactory, and the matter rested here.
The counsel for Mr.. DAVIS are Messrs.
REED of Pennsylvania, O'CoNoR, BRADY,
and SHEA of New York, and BROWN of
Baltimore. These gentlemen, as we'll as
the distinguished prisoner himself, are
ready and anxious for the trial. Messrs
O'CoNoR and SHEA at the time the court
convened, were in Washington in consulta-
tion with the President and Cabinet. The
proceedings of the trial will be directed by
these high authorities, and the object of
counsel is to procure it at this sitting of the
court. In the event of failure to have
this done, an application for bail or release