The formal procedure took place on Monday, March 30. It was a matter of note among the Jeffersonians that the Chief Justice did not order the prisoner to be brought to court but instead went himself to the Eagle Tavern. They saw in this evidence of bias rather than a demonstration of John Marshall’s consideration for a fellow man once exalted and now humbled and reduced. Over the weekend Colonel Burr had supplied himself with a suit and fresh linen more in keeping with his station as a former Vice-President of the United States than the homely disguise he had worn on making his entry into Richmond. Shortly after mid-day Maj. Joseph Scott, the United States Marshal for the Virginia district, appeared at Burr’s quarters and politely informed him that the time had come for the serving of the warrant. News of Burr’s arrival had spread through the town and attracted a crowd of the curious to the tavern. It was “an awfully silent and attentive assemblage of citizens” that looked on as the Colonel was conducted by Marshal Scott to a retiring room where the Chief Justice was waiting to examine him. Present in the room with Judge Marshall were Caesar Rodney, newly appointed Attorney General of the United States, and George Hay, the District Attorney, representing the Government; and Edmund Randolph and John Wickham, attorneys for the defense. Present also, in addition to a few subordinates and friends of the accused, was Nicholas Perkins, who had conducted the prisoner from Alabama to Richmond. Of the principals the youngest man there was Caesar Rodney. He had just turned 35 and was an enthusiastic Jeffersonian who had seen service in the United States House of Representatives. His situation was embarrassing since he had recently been on friendly terms with Burr. Next in order of youth was Hay. Not a brilliant lawyer but a plodder, and a determined one, he had rapidly forged to the front at the local bar. In his rise he had no doubt been assisted by his loyal adherence to Republican ideals. In an atmosphere that laid emphasis on birth it was not overlooked that he was the son of Anthony Hay, keeper of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. Richmond, however, was producing so many self-made men that while the fact of humble origin may have been noted, and perhaps mentioned privately, it placed no obstacle in the path of those who were on their way up.