Wilkinson supplied Burr with a new houseboat equipped with sails and assigned to it a detachment of soldiers which enabled Burr to make an impressive entry into New Orleans in keeping with his station as a statesman temporarily out of a job. Wilkinson provided him as well with several letters of introduction. Wilkinson was to play a major role in the alleged conspiracy. On his arrival in New Orleans Colonel Burr was cordially welcomed by Governor W. C. C. Claiborne as well as by the governor’s numerous and vociferous enemies. He saw much of the leaders of the Mexican Association, an organization sympathetic with Mexico’s aspirations for liberation from Spain. He was well received also by the Roman Catholic Bishop of New Orleans who favored this cause since at the time the Spanish rulers were threatening to confiscate church property in Mexico. After three weeks in New Orleans Burr retraced his steps northward as far as St. Louis. Again he gave an impressive demonstration of his physical fitness by traveling on horseback from New Orleans to Nashville through the roughest sort of country. By the end of the year he was back in Washington dining with President Jefferson at the White House. Late in the summer of 1806 he again set out for the western country. Summer gave way to autumn and as the days grew shorter alarming rumors about his doings spread through the East. Some of them reached the White House. What was Burr up to? Foremost among the informants was Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, U. S. District Attorney for Kentucky, who owed his appointment to President John Adams. As early as January he was writing letters to the President warning him of a plot and implicating Burr. But the President was not happy about this source of information. Daveiss was aided and abetted by former U. S. Senator Humphrey Marshall of Kentucky. Both were Federalists; both were brothers-in-law of the Chief Justice for whom Mr. Jefferson had no fondness. Humphrey Marshall, a first cousin of John Marshall, and Daveiss had married John’s sisters. Furthermore all the people they mentioned as being involved in the conspiracy were Republicans. Naturally the President wondered why his political enemies should be taking so much trouble to keep him informed, and suspected their motives.