But Allbright’s most important testimony had to do with the appearance on the scene of the assemblage of Brig. Gen. Edward Tupper, of the Ohio militia, for on it depended proof of the use of force which might be construed as levying war. According to Allbright, General Tupper laid his hand on Blennerhassett and at the same time declared: “Your body is in my hands, in the name of the Commonwealth.” Then, continued the witness, seven or eight muskets were leveled at him at which Tupper protested, “Gentlemen, I hope you will not do the like.”
To this, said Allbright, one of the men who was about two yards away replied, “I’d as lieve as not.” This threat, Allbright testified, changed Tupper’s attitude and he wished Blennerhassett good luck. Allbright’s testimony was as close to showing an act of violence as that of any of the witnesses.
Recognizing the seriousness of the charge Burr questioned the witness at length in an effort to show that Allbright’s testimony had been different on an earlier occasion and, as he expressed it, “to degrade the witness by invalidating his credibility.”
Mrs. Blennerhassett, in Natchez, expressed herself as being shocked when she learned of the testimony of their former servants. In a letter to her husband she set forth in strong words her opinion of Peter Taylor and his responsibility for her husband’s indictment. “Gracious God!” she exclaimed, “confined in a prison in the dog days, and by the perjury of a wretch not many degrees from a brute!”
Next came the testimony of one Peter Love, still another of Blennerhassett’s retainers, a man who had volunteered for the expedition. He placed the number of persons assembled on the island at between twenty and twenty-five. He mentioned men with rifles, two braces of pistols, and a dirk belonging to Blennerhassett. But he weakened the charge of armed force by testifying that General Tupper and Blennerhassett had parted “in the greatest friendship,” or so he understood from others. Nor was he of much help to the prosecution when, in reply to a question, he said it was his understanding the expedition’s purpose was the settlement of the Washita lands.
On being asked by Mr. Parker, a juror, if he had seen any bullets run, Love replied that he had, but he could not say how many. “I was a servant in the house,” explained Love, “but could not mind my own business and other people’s too.”
Next to be heard was Dudley Woodbridge, Blennerhassett’s business partner and a man of parts. They operated together under the firm name of Dudley Woodbridge & Company. He testified that in September, 1806, Blennerhassett had called on him with Colonel Burr at the company’s counting house in Marietta. There, said Woodbridge, Blennerhassett told him Burr wished to buy a quantity of provisions.
The Colonel, said Woodbridge, then inquired the price of provisions and the cost of boats best calculated to carry the provisions up and down the river. Burr left with him a memorandum of the provisions wanted and also put in an order for the boats to be built. The latter were to be of the Schenectady model such as were used on the Mohawk River.
The witness described Burr ordering provisions which included pork, flour, whiskey, bacon, and kiln-dried meal, but the only thing actually purchased was the pork. The boats, said Woodbridge, were built on the Muskingum River about seven miles above Marietta. Only eleven of the fifteen ordered were completed. He then went on to tell about their seizure by the Ohio militia following publication of the President’s proclamation. He also told of being on the island the night of December 10, but added nothing new to what other witnesses had testified as to the happenings there.
Then, under the direction of Mr. Hay and with the consent of the Court, Woodbridge proceeded to recount the circumstances leading up to the assembly on the island. Late in August or early in September, he said, Blennerhassett mentioned to him that he had embarked on an enterprise with Colonel Burr; that General Eaton and others were engaged in it and that the prospects were flattering. From Blennerhassett’s statements Woodbridge inferred that the object was Mexico, though he admitted that that was not positively stated.