Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-12-11
AARON RURR'S LOVE LErTt RS.
And the Terrible Depr:1vity that they
Show.

And the Terrible Dep-z.visy that they
show.
IThurlcw wesd's story TO New York Corr ssro li-
When knew Burr best he vas well advanced
III Year.. He vas one OF the worst men Ihai,
ever II ed. lie had no ScTUpleS whatever ab)ui
oe'Taytng woman, and he chose the loyetiest.
In the land for his victims. About the time OF
his cuel he had dsGracsfnl intrtgues with 4
dozen Gr twenty ladies' as once In New YORK
Albany New haven Providence Dos on.
baltimore, Richmond, and smaller towns b =
tween Some OF these were kept up for years
out most OF the ladies' had speedy Successors
speak OF them as iadies"-Ihey were wives
CT brilliant lawyers or wealthy merchants or
he young daughters OF the fashionable Old
these a9 Vscn VI" 5e an agany ,o Of fear
tAe guilty gallant should fall and their terrible
secret be- betrayed, and this fear deepenei
70 CONSERVATION when he died at last. Many
or the Oldest families OF New York Penn
sylvania and New England trembled then. And
v el they might. II had been rumored around
that BUR- bad never destroyed any letters from
ladies'. And this shows, better than anythtn ,
else bis lack OF any moral sense wnatever-,O%
he reused TO protect those whom he had griey-
ously injured. when they could have been pro
ftcted without moments thought He Used IN
boast that lie had never destroyed one letter
And with devillsh method he had fo,ded intll II
carefully and filed them regularly In On ;Gayes
each lady's letters by themselveI Wne1 Bur
died az last Matthew L. Davis, about his onie
friend. who became his administrator, sem 10.
me. went over There was nothing 10 admin
lister but the expressions OF tenderness gnich ~,
ScoundTel had caIOled from Respectable Won =,
and filed away. There was the Will which ne
MADE the day before his duel with H,rl;ii,,y
In That he said 70 his daughter, The u ,sii, hi,
only legitimate child, then at sea: in A nu
trunk in the attic you viii fad something 10
amuse, more 10 Instruct, and still more IN
regret" That blue trunk which he thus cooIly
beqneafhed to his only child. and that enid a
lovely daughter contained the carefully traas
ured love-letters, from dozen women at a
time, proofs OF her fathers depravity! Does
not that show that Burr was Withont anv
moral sense whatever? Theodosla was sgaI
lowed up by the waves. and never saw the
blue trunk.
We opened the blue trunk, which Davis had
partly examined and STALL never forget nv
astonfshment and disgust at What | saw l.
was nearly full uf letters from women filed in
packages. We looked at the Individual letters.
Most OF them had originally been signed with
Initials only, or 0ftener without any name or
with some pet name; but Burr, with ma
lgbuy whose motive | cannot yet uader-
stand had written out each name IN full.
He seemed resolved that Others should share
bis ffamy. Some Of the names belonged 20
tne most honored families in The land-tO
have revealed them Would have been to cause
terrible anguish, and In several cases probably
the breaking up Of families. l used TO go over
aud look al them when | had spare hour.
They were strictly guarded by Davis. He was
queer man bqs he had high sense OF
tered Davis $4,000 for that blue trunk and its
contents, but, of course, the offer was spurned
and the insult resented. Matthew Davis too,
had his eccentricitieS, and one of his queer
notions In regard to these captured love letters
was that they should all be returned to the
writer's! That seemed to me to inflict needless
pain. and argued with him about 1t, but ne
said the writers would be better satisfied If
they had chance TO destroy them themselves
Some OF them were Old ladies then, mothers
and graudmothers, but Davis undertook
the grim task Of returning all the packages
OF letters by the hands of trustT trends
good many ne gave back himself He gave me
one OF these delicate packages TO deliver when
was going to Providence Que day, but told
him ] would see him hanged first But know
that Gen. Scott did accept one OF these packages
from Matthew Davis, and returned tt with
his own hand to lady high In society In Rich
whether she thanked him or not, but forgot to
ask him. But think OF the moral nature of a
man capable OF deliberately leaving all those
letters ,i to his own daughter as legacy. Burr
ment and courteous In de,neanor. small hand
and foot. Not spirited OF dashlng at all, but his
and musical. He would strike one at first as
being slightly ef1eminate, but he was not So ne
was bold, strong. capable man. In converse
ton TN the last 10 years OF his life, he was
brilliant But, to return to the subject OF his
W1ckedness toward women. When he was 10
England he was greatly assisted and befriended
by learned professor OF oxford university,
whose name must not mention. In return Tor
this friendship Burr ruined his wife. Six years
afterward Burr obtained position for this pro-
lessor In New York college, for obvious rea.
sons, and when they came over to this city Burr
also seduced their daughter, lovely girl OF II,
whose confidence he had won when she was a
little girl, during his visit in England In due
time the professor died, and Burr became pen
nlless outcast- Then this mother and daughter
instead OF hating and spurning him, took hun
and supported him during his last years
by Keeping clearinghouse downtown. This
was on the well known Reese place on Broad
way. just below Wall street. Here his food aud
very MEDICINE were paid for by the Two women
On whom he had inflicted mortal injury IS years
before. he had 10 sense OF shame or OF graft
tude. lie was almost universally hated during
his last ears, and was really an objec5 OF pity
remember being on an Albany steamboat one
!itghT, and seeing crouchng form out on deck
went out, and there was Burr In the cold. |
asked him why he did not 60 In. He said he
was not very cold, but we went in together
There was Gov. Lewis Morgan, whom saluGed.
! noticed that they didn't speak, so | seated
my self between them. Finally Burr rose and
moved off. Don't you know Col. BURR" I
reptilei"