Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1906-09-05
THE TRIAL OF AARON BURR.
DRAMATIC EvEsT OCCURRED At RICH.
M0RD IN 1807--BURR ACQUITTED.

1t is safe to say that the trial of
Aaron Burr, for unreasonable designs
upon Mexico" was the most dra-
matio bit of forensic fireworks in all
the history of our country.
The celebrated contest came off in
the year 1907, in the city of Rich.
mond, Va, and for generation the
trial was the talk of the town and of
the nation.
The prosecution had as its leading
counsel the celebrated William Writ,
the author of the once popular "Life
of Patrick Henry" while the head
and front of the master array of
legal talent for the defense was
Luther Martin, the Attorney General
of Maryland, and one of the half
dozen greatest minds that this coun-
try has ever produced.
On the bench sat, in somber dig
nifty, the great John Marshall, Wash
ingtoh's close friend, and later the
illustrious Chief Justice of the Su.
preme Court of the United States.
In the galleries of the Court room,
and filling every available bit of
space upon the floor, were gathered
the cream of the nations beauty and
genius. Grand danes and fair bellies
We'd for admission with great law
yers, judges, statesmen, from New
Hampshire to Georgia, all anxious to
see and 70 hear everything that
should take place.
The "prisoner at the bar"-the
astutest legal mind, perhaps of them
all--was the busiest man on the floor.
All unconscious, apparently, of the
many pairs of eyes that were eagerly
fixed upon him, he was intent upon
the case from start to finish, suggest
ing to his counsel the telling points
for and against his cause.
Wirt's speech was a record
breaker, even for Writ. Vain, With
one eye on the case and the other on
the galleries, the eloquent Virginian,
putting his best foot forward, made,
in the opinion of many, the speech
of his life.
The climax of Wirt's speech came
when, after the most terrible arraigu-
ment of Burr, he asked the dramatic
question "And who is Blennerhas-
sett ?"-Blennerhassett, the simple,
oonfding soul who, according to the
argument, had been so numerically
feeced by the prisoner at the bar.
1t was, to say the least, most
affecting speech. The women cried,
and Sole of the sterner sex even
were seen to reach for their handker-
chiefs.
Writ had more than held his own,
and it was the opinion Of many in
the audience that Burr would be
convicted.
And then Luther Martin sprang
into the arena, like Bengal tiger,
licking his chops, thirsting for gore!
There came agrowl, as if from the
jungle, and the women trembled!
Here was man, and no mere
stage-player, virile, powerful, un-
compromising, intellectual athlete,
and it was plain, to the men folk at
least, that soon there would not be
left whole bone in Wert's body.
And it was even 80. The man
described by Henry Adams as "the
rollicking, witty, audacious Attorney
General of Maryland, boon compan-
ion of the whole bar, drunken, gen.
erous, slovenly, grand, the bulldog of
federalism, pitched into the counsel
for the defense, and when he was
through with him ne was-non est.
1t was the giant against the carpet
knight, native-born Hercules
against the very finished product of
tho gymnasium-and the result was
as might have been expected.
The great man on the bench lis
tened to Writ and listened to Luther
Martin, and although Writ was SOL