Shout treason

by Francis F. Beirne

When Commodore Truxtun had stepped down from the witness stand the prosecution called Peter Taylor, the Blennerhassetts’ English gardener. He was a simple country man of limited education, in striking contrast to the distinguished naval officer who preceded him. In introducing him Mr. Hay explained that the witness would directly prove the connection between Burr and Blennerhassett. It appears, too, that the prosecution counted on Taylor as one of the two witnesses to the overt act which the Constitution required to prove guilt of treason.

Taylor’s testimony began with the events on the island immediately after receipt of the President’s proclamation informing the public of the existence of a plot and cautioning all loyal citizens to have nothing to do with it. Mr. Blennerhassett and Mr. Alston, said Taylor, had gone down the river to join Colonel Burr. On reading the proclamation the people in the vicinity of the island had become alarmed and Mrs. Blennerhassett sent Taylor in search of her husband and Burr to warn Burr not to return to the island because of the public outcry against him.

According to Taylor’s story, after going to Chillicothe and Cincinnati, he caught up with Burr in Lexington, Kentucky. Burr inquired news of the island to which Taylor replied that he had been sent by Mrs. Blennerhassett to warn him not to return. Taylor quoted himself as saying: “If you come up our way the people will shoot you.” He also testified that he had told the Colonel the people were saying the land settlement was all a fib and that Burr had something else in view.

After further wandering in Kentucky, Taylor testified that he at last came up with Blennerhassett and that they set out together on a return journey to the island. He pictured Blennerhassett as shrouding himself in mystery and, when people at the inns along the way inquired Blennerhassett’s name, Taylor was instructed to tell them it was “Tom Jones.” Blennerhassett also directed Taylor to call him that.

Taylor said Blennerhassett began to inquire for young men who owned rifles, explaining that he and Burr had bought land and wanted young men to settle on it. To this Taylor replied that he would like to go along if he could take his wife and family with him. But, according to his testimony, Blennerhassett replied that he would have to have further consultation with Burr on that point.

Then, according to the witness, Blennerhassett paused and after a moment’s hesitation said: “I will tell you what, Peter, we are going to take Mexico, one of the finest and richest places in the whole world.” Taylor went on to say that Blennerhassett told him Burr would be king of Mexico, and Mrs. Alston, Burr’s daughter, was to be queen when Burr died.

Taylor said he inquired of Blennerhassett what would happen to the young men when they found out that the expedition was against Mexico, after they had signed up to settle the lands. He quoted the latter as replying: “Oh, by God, I tell you, Peter, every man that will not conform to order and discipline I will stab; you’ll see how I’ll fix them.”

The witness said he then remarked to Blennerhassett that people were spreading the rumor that he wanted to divide the Union. According to Taylor, Blennerhassett explained that he and Burr could not do that themselves. All they could do was to tell the people the consequences of it. Blennerhassett, said Taylor, pointed out that the people in the western states now paid $400,000 a year to the Government in taxes and received no benefit from it. What a fine thing it would be if they could keep the money among themselves on the western side of the mountains, make locks, build bridges, and cut roads.

The District Attorney now took over the witness. He wanted to know if Taylor was not on the island at the time of the assembly. On being answered in the affirmative he asked if the men had guns. Taylor replied that some of them had and that they went hunting. He could not give the exact number that were armed. Further questioning brought out that Taylor did not know whether the weapons were rifles or muskets. He said the only pistols he saw were Blennerhassett’s. He added that the men had powder and lead and that some of them were running bullets. He admitted that at no time had he seen Burr on the island and that he understood he was not in that part of the country at the time.

With the conclusion of Peter Taylor’s testimony Court adjourned for the day. There was no doubt that much of this testimony was damaging. Some of Taylor’s statements of what Blennerhassett said corresponded with the testimony of other witnesses. For example, Blennerhassett’s alleged remarks about Burr and himself being unable to divide the Union but only to point out the advantages of such a division, corresponded exactly with what John Graham, the Government’s investigator, said Blennerhassett told him. But could Taylor’s word be trusted on the matter of the Mexican empire with Burr at its head and Theodosia as his successor? The more melodramatic the evidence the greater the suspicion that the witness had been coached before taking the stand, or that such wild statements were mere figments of his imagination.