Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-06-09
A FORGOTTEN CONSPIRACY.

A FORGOTTEN CONSPIRACY.
When Burr Tried to Make Himself
Emperor of America Is an Interest
ing Bit of History.
His imperial majesty, Aaron l., en-
peror of the west!
But for a twist of fate this title
might have been borne by a little
American politician. And the United
States might have been split in two.
1t was a conspiracy beside which the
secession of the south would perhaps
have paled into insignificance.
The genius in whose clever brain
the great western project awoke was
an understood, dapper man, strikingly
handsome, with a pair Of snake-like,
charm of manner that almost no man
or woman could resist. Incidentally,
he was utterly without conscience or
scruples, and was fired with a bound
less ambition.
He was Aaron Burr. He has been
called a man of bad morals. This Is
not true. He was simply a man of no
morals at all.
Burr sought for military honors in
the Revolutionary war. A clash with
Washington hampered him. Then he
turned to law and politics, and in 1900
was Thomas Jeffersens opponent for
the presidency. The electoral vote re-
suited in tie. Largely through Alex
ander Hamilton's efforts congress gave
the high office to Jefferson. Burr was
made vice president, and ragged at
what he deemed the trickery that had
robbed him of the presidency. For
this and other causes in 1904 he chal-
lenged Hamilton to a duel and killed
him.
A wave of popular hatred on account
of this duel smashed forever all of
Burr's political hopes. His eager am
bition turned to wilder and more law
less schemes. Here, in brief, was the
plot he formed, so far as it's purposes
are known or surmised. (Some Of the
exact details will always remain a
mystery.)
The vast western portion Of the
United States was sparsely settled or
else was a wilderness. Louisiana and
the great additional tract of land that
went under that name had just -heen
purchased from France. Its inhabi-
tants had not yet become reconciled to
United States rule. Mexico Qncluding
Texas) was still Spanish province,
and there was bitter feeling in Amer
lea against the Spaniards. Our gov
ernment was young and weak, nor
well fitted to protect itself against
any general uprising within its own
borders.
Such was the situation as Burr
found it, There were also many old
Revolutionary soldiers and swarms Of
other adventurers all over the country
who were eager for excitement and
for new conquests. According to the
accusation made later, Burr planned
to combine these malcontents and
pioneers into a filibustering army,
swoop down upon Texas and Mexico,
| capture the whole Louisiana tract
| (making New Orleans the rebellion's
headquarters), induce the western
states to leave the Union, and to carve
out a huge southern and western en-
pire with himself as its ruler. This
domain would have stretched from the
Gulf Of Mexico to Canada and from
the Mississippi to the Pacific.
| Such a plot today would be laugh
able. But at that time 1t stood some
chance of success. Many Americans
still longed for a monarchy. The young
republic had not fulfilled the ideals Of
many grumblers. From documents
and testimony it seems certain that
Burr succeeded in interesting a por-
ton of the army, and more than one
famous statesman in so much Of his
conspiracy he dared reveal. He was
also shrewd enough to mask the pi-
lots earlier movements by pretending
he was on a purely legitimate western
i
posed mission he managed to interest
President Jefferson, Andrew Jackson,
| Gen. Wilkinson and other men OF note.
| Using this as blind, he set to work
with an almost diabolical cunning to
recruit his filibustering. army and to
prepare a temporary headquarters for
the rising. He bought thousands OF
acres of land on the Wichita river as
nucleus for the empire. His magnetic
| personality enabled him to raise enor-
nous sums of money and to enlist
hundreds of volunteers. He even
claimed Brightly or otherwise) that an
English fleet had agreed to cooperate
with him.
The plan was nearly ripe and the
first decisive blow was about to be
struck when General Wilkinson (who
was either Burr's dupe or partial ac-
complice) became alarm ed and sent
secret word of the whole project, as
he understood it, to President Jeffer-
son.
| The president took quick measures
to crush the insurrecton. Burr was ar
rested before he could consolidate his
schemes far enough to defy the gov
ernment, and in May, 1907, was put
upon trial for high treason. Through
his own crafty wit. and aided by An
drew Jackson and some of the best
legal talent in America, the accused
man fought the charge against him so
brilliantly during a six months trial
that the jury brought in at last a re-
luctant not guilty" verdict
But Burr was forced to leave Amer
lea at once and was forbidden to re-
turn. 1t was many years before he
ventured back, In disgust, to New York.
He died in lonely poverty in 1886, hated
by most of those who still remember
ed him as one of the greatest Might
Have Beens" of history.-New York
| Evening World.