Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-04-11
John Browns Trial.

account OF the deatn OF UeOTge W.
Boyer, one of the jurymen before
whom John Brown was tried and con-
victed in 1859. The only surviving
member Of that jury now is William
A. Martin, of Fauquier county, Vir-
ginia, and Of him correspondent of
the Richmond Dispatch has recently
written as follows
Living in this county, near Della
plane, a station on the Manassas Divis-
ion of the Southern Railway, is an old
gentleman who can be rightly termed
national celebrity. For years he
has lived in practical obscurity, and
is known to very few, even among his
own countrymen. That cruel master
"Adversity" soon relegates to the rear
and obliterates from the public mind
those who have been so unfortunate as
to become its victims. Such is the
case with this honorable old gentle
man, and while not blessed with an
abundance of this worlds goods, yet
he lives comfortably and is following
his trade, that of a wheelwright, for
his support. tits interesting to know
that the subject of this sketch is Will
liam A. Martin, now the last surviv-
ing member of the John Brown jury,
and when it is recalled what stirring
events followed this memorable trial,
this old hero can well take his place
among those Of the South whose names
have been made immortal. He is now
in his list year, and for a man Of his
age his faculties are well preserved.
His recollections of the trial are very
vivid and it is exceedingly interesting
to hear him give in detail his connec-
tion with it. Forty years has passed
since that time, yet, to him, he says,
ut seems but as yesterday"
"At the time OF the trial, which
commenced on the 25th day of Octo-
Der, 1859, l was living at Middleway,
Jefferson county, w, Va, at that time
a part of Virginia. l did not go to
Harper's Ferry at the time of the raid,
and, Of course, cannot tell anything
about it, only as the evidence was
given in by the witnesses (who were
many, and they were all Of one ac-
cord. twas proved that about eigh-
teen months before John Brown made
the raid on Harper's Ferry he came
there with two Of his sons, under the
assumed name Of Captain John Smith
(some writers have it Bob Smith but
that makes no difference, he came all
the same. He claimed to be hunting
for iron and other minerals, and this
ruse enabled him to become thorough
ly acquainted with the neighborhood
and to the citizens of that section.
His true mission was not suspected
until Sunday night, October 10th, or
rather Monday morning about 1890
o'clock, when Haywood Shepard, a
colored man, who was night watch
man at the railroad bridge, woke up
and told the telegraph operator that
he heard a noise and it was too soon
for the train, but he would 90 out and
see what was the matter. When he
got to the gate, he saw rifles pointed
at him, and the command came to
stop. He turned to run and they
fired, the ball piercing him through
the body. He reached the Office, fell
on his couch and said II am dead
mau. In FIVE minutes be was dead.
Now letme go back a little. When
Captain Smith, alias John Brown, was
prospecting for iron, he had several
heavy boxes shipped to him at Har-
per's Ferry, and on being asked what
they contained, he replied that they
contained tools with which to operate
the mines. 1t was afterwards proved
that they contained Sharp's rifles and
spear handles"
Mr.. Martin talked in an interesting
way about the trial. He said
"Now I will go back to the trial
AS I said before, the trial commenced
on the 25th day of October, 1859, and
lasted FIVE days. We were confined
six days on account of Sundays inter-
vening. On Sunday We were marched
to the old Presbyterian church to hear
old Parson Dutton preach, but l did
not think about his sermon very long.
You can easily guess what was upper
most in my mind.
"When court convened, on Monday
morning, John Brown arose and pro-
tested against the trial proceeding.
He declared that he had no counsel.
This was not true, for the court had