Shout treason : $b the trial of Aaron BurrBeirne, Francis F.
History
Shout treason : $b the trial of Aaron Burr
Beirne, Francis F.
Burr Conspiracy, 1805-1807; Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Treason) -- United States
A familiar figure to most of the Virginians in the hall was a tall,
gaunt man with absurdly long legs for so short a body who spoke in
a high falsetto voice. His leather breeches and his riding boots
identified him as a country squire. In actual fact he had ridden up
to Richmond from his estate, Bizarre, some sixty miles to the south.
This was the brilliant and eccentric John Randolph, master as well of
Roanoke. A horse, he once said, was to him what a ship was to a sailor.
A member of Congress, Randolph had acted none too astutely as one of
the Managers, or prosecutors, in the impeachment trial of Judge Chase.
He, too, had received a summons from the Marshal to appear for jury
duty. Like the Chief Justice and Edmund Randolph, he was a part of the
lengthened shadow of the prolific Turkey Island pair, William and Mary
Isham Randolph.
Standing out conspicuously in that dense throng was still another
youth. His height alone would have distinguished him, for he was 6 feet
4½ inches tall. Not content with looking over the heads of the crowd he
climbed up on the great lock of the entrance door of the hall in order
to get an unobscured view of the proceedings. From his perch he had a
good look at the accused. Colonel Burr saw him, too. The young man was
Winfield Scott. Years later, when he had become one of the nation’s
great soldiers, the two met again and Burr reminded the general of the
encounter. Contemporaries described Scott as the most magnificent youth
in all Virginia.
At the time of the trial young Scott was reading law in the office of
David Robertson, of Petersburg. Not only was Robertson well grounded in
Blackstone and Coke and the intricacies of the Virginia statutes, he
also was an accomplished linguist with a knowledge of five languages.
What is more, he had trained himself to take notes in shorthand, and
he was present at the trial to record the proceedings. Thanks to David
Robertson, posterity has in two fat volumes a reliable verbatim account
of much that was said at the trial. It was at Robertson’s suggestion
that young Scott came to Richmond to get a first-hand impression of the
leaders in what he then intended to be his chosen profession.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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