Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-08-08
AARON BURR.



an article headed Aaron Burr's Love
Letters and the Terrible Depravity
They Show" With your permission,
I wish to reply to il through the
CHRONICLE 1t does appear that it is
time that these abusive epithets on Aa-
ron Burr should have an end, as they
have no foundation in fact and cannot
be substantiated. In replying to the
article and all other such articles, do
it neither anonymously nor pseudony-
mously, but owe, my own signature
The writer says, Burr was one 81
worst men that ever lived." There il
nothing that can be proven to show
that he was bad man at all; on the
other hand, / think he was a good
man in many senses of the word. Nc
man ever raised more accomplished
daughter than he did, and be a bad
man. Theodosia married Gov. Allston
of South Carolina l have Matthew
l.. Davis Life of Burr "Parton's Life
of Burr" aBurr's Private Journal" his
Trial for Treason" and many other ar
ticles that have clipped from various
papers about him, and in all these ]
failed to find single case where he
injured any one; on the other hand
M. L. Davis says he was the dupe OIL
the cunning and the artful "from the
cradle to the grave" Parton, in sum
ming up his life, says he was no angel
and that he was no devil, but denomi
mated him fillibuster. He was tried
for treason in Richmond, Virginia, by
John Marshall, one of the ablest and
best Judges in the United States, and
was acquitted. The Chief Justice said
there were no real grounds for an ar
rest, to say nothing of conviction. II
has been said, and suppose with truth
that two such pairs of eyes as Aaron
Burr's and John MarshalPs rarely met
in this world. Silas Howe, editor oil
the Southern Quarterly Review, in
1916, says, in all the throng of witness
es, lawyers, etc., but two characters
stood out boldly from behind the cur
tain, John Marshall and Aaron Burr.
The writer OF the article to which this
is reply, says, about the time of his
duel, he had dIsgraceful intrigues with
dozen or twenty ladies at once in
New York, Albany, New Haven, Prov
idence, Boston, Baltimore and smaller
towns between. There was an agony
of fear among these when the duel
was fought, lest the guilty gallant
should fall and the terrible secret be
betrayed" Now everything in this
statement bears falsehood on its face,
the number involved, etc. do not
suppose there was a lady on earth that
knew anything about the hostile meet
ing, except his daughter, Theodosia,
and Mrs. Hamilton. / doubt that any
man knew it, except Gov. Allston, his
son-in-law, and the seconds. II it was
so generally known, why did they not
take some steps to prevent 10? The
duel was fought on the 18th day of
July, 1901, just 81 years ago this
month. The day before the duel he
wrote to his daughter, Mrs. Allston, as
follows: Having lately written my
will and given my private letters and
papers in charge to you, / have no
other direction to give you on the sub
ject but to request you to burn all such
as would injure any person, if by acct
dent made public. This is more par
ticuIarly applicable to my female cor
respondents" The writer says M. l..
Davis was very anxious to return all
these letters to the parties from whom
they originated, that he returned sew
eral in person, and that Gen. Scott de-
livered one in person to the lady who
wrote it. M. l.. Davis, in his preface
to Burr's life, says he burnt all letters
and copies OF letters that could possi-
bly, hurt the feelings of any one by be-
ing made public, and not vestige now
remains. The writer says, ain CONVEX
sation, till the last ten years of his life,
he was brilliant" He was always brill
liant. A writer says Of him, "At three
score and ten he wore a glow as at
twenty"
AIN due time the professor died, and
Burr became penniless outcast.
Then this mother and daughter, in
stead of spurning him, took him and
him during his last years,
by keeping a boarding house down
town. This was Oh the well-known
Reese place on Broadway, just below
Wall Street. Here his food and very
medicine were paid for by the two
women on whom he had inflicted NOR
tai injury fifteen years before"
Matthew l.. Davis says in his second
volume of the life of Burr page 446,
that Burr was not entirely destitute,
that he had an annual income of few
hundred dollars, besides his half pay
as Colonel in the Revolutionary ar
my, and that he lived several years
previous to his death on Staten Island
and died there. Ihave seen the house
he died in myself 1t was an old frame
house, with two rows of balconies 'front.'
ing on the street,
Il remember being on an Albany
one night, and, seeing a
crouching form on deck, / went out,
and there was Burr in the cold. ]
asked him why he did not go in. He
said he was not very cold, but we went
in together. There was Governor
Lewis Morgan, whom saluted. mo
ticed that they didn't speak, so [ seat
ed myself between them. Finally
Burr rose and moved of. Don't you
know Colonel Burr p Iasked, turning
TO Morgan. Yes said he, 4 know
the id reptile 2"
Well, If | mistake not, there never
was such governor of New York as
Lewis Morgan. The writer has the
art before the horse. 1t was Morgan
Lewis instead of Lewis Morgan. Nor
gan Lewis and Aaron Burr were rum
hing for Governor of New York, and
Alexander Hamiltun entered the con-
est with great vehemence against
Burr. Burr was defeated and Hamil-