The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-03-02
MISS BEASTON'S TALK.
Tells All About Aaron Burr
and Draws Personal APP
plications at Mrs. Nc
Dermott's Yesterday.

Browns daughter, Miss Beaston opened
her course of Lenten lectures at the resit-
dence of Mrs. Allan McDermott, NO. 5oS
Pavonia avenue. Nearly all the MEM
bers of Mrs. Horace Waits Current
Events Glass, have joined this course and
they were out in full force yesterday, fill
ing to overlooking Mrs. McDermott's
spacious drawing rooms.
Miss Beaston, by request began her lee
lures with her famous address on Aaron
Burr" given a few weeks ago before a
meeting of 1.-THE Colonial Danes. at Tren-
ton. The speaker, traced Aaron Burr's
ancestors back to the old Puritan days,
giving many psychological facts in con-
nection Herewith and dwelling particu-
larly. upon the religious views OF the
times and the Puritan ministers with their
strict adherence to the doctrine of pre-
destination. When a boy, she said, he was
puny, weak and suffering from i'll health,
he naturally dwelt upon these things UNI
til he was fired with an ambition for the
ministerial profession. Such a man was
Aaron Burr's maternal grandfather, the
Rev. Jonathan Edwards. of North
ampton, the writer of Freedom of the
WILL yet his relentless logical mind
brought him to stand between Herbert
Spencer and John Stewart.
Miss Beason then passed on to the
early life of Aaron Burr, how at the
age of two years he was left an orphan
and sent to live with the Honorable
Timothy Edwards, in El~izabethtown.
1--WE hould feel proud" said Miss
Beaston, "of the people in New Jersey
and then went on to sketch the life of
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, as
schoolmates in Elizabeth, and Burr's en-
trance to Princeton at the age of six
teen, which, she said, did not require any
extra amount of brains, as at that time
the requirements were not the same as
today. From Princeton he entered upon
the study of law. He was a small man with
a great attraction for women. Tile was
an American this far continued Miss
Beaston, when war broke out in 1775, he
enlisted before the end of the month"
Although on Washington's staff he never
liked the General, and after six months
left him for Putnam. Alexander Hamil-
ton, also of Washington's staff, never
had any personal liking for the man,
though he admired his good qualities as d
general.
Burr's courtship of the Widow Provost
and his marriage were interestingly de-
scribed, nor did Miss Beaston fail to draw
and apply the lesson taught by Aaron
Burr's extravaganza. HE entertained
like a PRINCE said She, .but where did
the money come from? He simply lived
in the community
'"The only person he ever loved" con-
tinued the speaker, was his daughter,
and ii was through means of her that ne
was punished" How the hatred between
him and Hamilton grew was then de-
scribed. He was an anti-Federalist, and
opposed both the constitution and Wash
ington, while Hamilton was a Federalist
and supported both. Burr's clever trick
in getting himself elected to the Assem-
bly, and subsequently Vice-President,
though he hoped for the Presidency, and
Hamilton's belief in him as a bad man
were also described. Then came the 1uel
in 1904, which was fought July II, on Wee
hawken Heights, and Hamilton's death,
which put a stop to the system of duel
ing in the United States. Burr's flight.
his trip down the Mississippi from Pitts
burgh to New Orleans in sixty-seven days,
his capture and the trial which, through
some technicality in the law, left him free;
his plan to found an empire with himself
as emperor and his daughter as empress,
his tampering with royalty, and then his
thirty-two years of exile in foreign coun-
tries, travelling from one place to another
as fast as his identity vas discovered,
were all graphically, interestingly, in
s~tructively and pathetically described.
with many side lights and personal appli-
cations on the. way, and Miss Beaston
concluded mid hearty applause.
Among the members are:-Mrs. Allan
McDermott, Miss Grace Toffey, Mrs. A.
J. Post, Miss Ann Post, Miss Cornelia
Post, Miss Louise Edge, Miss Margaret
Post, Mrs. Joel Brown, Mrs. Arthur
Brigham, Mrs. Walter Hastings. Miss
Bertha Hastings, Mrs. A. J.. Post, Jr.,
Mrs. Joseph D. Bedle, Mrs. S. D. Mackey.
Mrs. Willard Fisk, Mrs. A. Evans, Mrs.
Hollis Wells, Miss Leila Kinds, Mrs.
James Erwin, Mrs. Robert Lyle, Mrs.
Martha Dodd. Mrs. Livingston Clifford,
Mrs. Thomas II. Williams, Mrs. George
L.. Record, Mrs. Mcbride, Mrs. E.. B.
Kiersted, Mrs. F.. NJ. Lockwood. Mrs.
George B. Fielder, Mrs. Garrett Van
Horne, Mrs. F. D. Gray, Mrs. w. Patter-
son Atkinson, Mrs. J. B. Pond, Mrs.
George Miller. Miss Matte Miller. Mrs.
Oliver Blanchard, Mrs. J. j. Detwiller,
Miss Detwiller and Mrs. Limeburner.
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