These cruelties were even surpassed by those that were exercised on the female prisoners; and it must be owned that the Flathead women showed a more fiendish barbarity than the men. The details of the tortures which they inflicted are too horrible to be described, save with a pen dipped in blood.

BURR'S CONSPIRACY.

IN 1805, Aaron Burr first made his appearance in the West. With a conscience racked with remorse for the murder of Hamilton in a duel, and politically disgraced by his quarrel with President Jefferson, he sought the West to bury his anguish and disgrace in active schemes of unhallowed ambition. At this time, the affairs of the United States with Spain were in an embarrassing In the spring of 1806, their forces advanced to the Sabine, and General Wilkinson, commander of the United States troops in Louisiana, had orders to repel them if they should cross the river. At this time, Burr again appeared in the West, passing most of his time at Blannerhasset's Island, but being seen in Kentucky and Tennessee. His plans appear to have been threefold:

1. To ascertain the sentiments of the people of the West upon the subject of a separation from the Atlantic States, and, if favorable, to have attempted to erect a separate republic in the West, of which he was to be the head, and New Orleans the capital.

2. To raise a force and make arrangements for a private expedition against Mexico and the Spanish provinces, in the event of a war between the United States and Spain, which at that time seemed inevitable.

3. In the event of the failure of both of these measures, to purchase a tract of land of Baron Bastrop, lying on the Washita River, in Louisiana, upon which he contemplated the establishment of a colony of wealthy and intelligent individuals, where he might rear around him a society remarkable for its elegance and refinement.

The unsettled relations with Spain presented a specious cloak to his enterprise in that quarter, and enabled him to give to each person addressed such representations of his plans as best suited their character. To the daring youth of the West, desirous of military adventure, he could represent it as an expedition against a nation with whom the United States would shortly be at war-that gov ernment would connive at it, but could not openly countenance it until hostilities actually commenced. There is but little doubt but that many concurred in the enterprise without being aware of its treasonable character, while to others all his schemes were exposed in their full deformity.

In the prosecution of his object, he applied himself with all his great powers of address, to any one who would be useful to him in

his schemes. Among a large number of persons whom he enlisted, was Herman Blannerhasset, an Irish gentleman of wealth, residing on a beautiful island on the Ohio, twelve miles below Marietta. He moulded him to his purpose, and obtained a complete command of his ample fortune.

The scheme of separation from the Atlantic States had been too much agitated in Kentucky, not to have left some materials for Burr to rally upon, and he neglected no opportunity to work upon the fragments of the old party. Not only in that State, but in every State and Territory in the West, from Western Pennsylvania down to Louisiana, he gained a large number of adherents to the cause, among whom were some of the leading men of the country.

During the summer of 1806, the public mind in the West became agitated by rumors of secret expeditions and conspiracies, in which Burr and others were implicated, but all were wrapped in mystery and doubt. In the following November, Burr was seized at Lexington, Kentucky, and arraigned before the United States Court, to answer to a charge of high misdemeanor, in organizing a military expedition against a power with whom the United States. were at peace. He was defended by the Honorable Henry Clay, on his first assuring him upon his honor, that he was engaged in no design contrary to the laws and peace of the country. The arrest was premature, and owing to the absence of important witnesses, he was acquitted. Yet, at that very time, an armed force in his service occupied Blannerhasset's Island, and a large number of boats had been built on the Muskingum, and were then at Marietta, laden with provisions and military stores.

All danger of collision with Spain had, ere this, been removed; but Burr, notwithstanding, adhered to his original design. President Jefferson, who had been kept fully advised by General Wilkinson of Burr's movements, on the 25th of November, issued a proclamation denouncing the enterprise, and warning the West against it. This proclamation reached Ohio about the 1st of December, and soon after, by the orders of the governor of that State, the boats of Burr on the Muskingum were seized. At the same time, the Virginia militia, of Wood county, lying opposite Blannerhasset's Island, took possession of the mansion of Blannerhasset. The owner, however, succeeded in effecting his escape down the Ohio in one of his boats. Burr, in the meanwhile, had gone to Nashville; but before the proclamation had reached Tennessee had descended the Cumberland, with two boats laden with provisions and a few adherents. At the mouth of that river his forces congregated, and from thence they proceeded down the Mississippi, in a flotilla of eleven boats.

His adherents at this time had dwindled to but a comparatively small number. A part of his original confederates had been engaged simply as settlers of Bastrop's lands, but the greater number were engaged under the express assurance that the projected enter

prise was against Mexico, and secretly authorized by government. Many expressly enlisted in the name of the United States. The proclamation, as it reached the different parts of the West, undeceived both these classes and, of course, drew them off from any participation in the enterprise.

The West had now become thoroughly aroused to the true nature of the conspiracy. The authorities of the different States and Territories on the Ohio and Mississippi had ordered out the militia for the apprehension of the parties; and from Pittsburgh to the Gulf, the most rigid measures had been adopted to give an effectual check to the further progress of the expedition.

General Wilkinson, who commanded the United States forces in the West, had been Burr's confident in his schemes. Burr and his principal confederates carried on a continual correspondence with that officer in cipher, during the formation and execution of his plans. What Wilkinson's original intentions were, is a matter of conjecture; but it is certain that he acted treacherous toward Burr, as during this time, he informed Jefferson of all the movements of the conspirators, and became, at length, the most active person in arresting those who were supposed to have been connected with it. It is probable that he first favored Burr from ambitious motives, determining to be governed by circumstances in his ulterior movements. If war should occur with Spain, then, as a military man, there would be an opportunity, in connection with Burr, to win distinction in a campaign against Mexico; but if not, there was a chance of his gaining eclat by exposing a conspiracy dangerous to the welfare of his country.

Confident of the aid of Wilkinson and of the forces under his command, Burr continued his exertions, notwithstanding all prospects of a war with Spain had ceased, and in spite of the proclamation of the President and the efforts of the governors of the various States and Territories of the West to deter him.

In January (1807) the flotilla of Burr had arrived at Bayou Pierre, on the Lower Mississippi. He was there seized by the order of Cowles Mead, the acting Governor of Mississippi, and conducted to the town of Washington. Burr, shortly after, managed to escape from custody, and a reward of two thousand dollars was offered for his apprehension. In the meantime, several arrests of the supposed accomplices of Burr were made at Fort Adams and New Orleans. Among these were Bollman (the celebrated deliverer of Lafayette), Ogden, Swartwout, Dayton, Smith, Alexander, and Gen. Adair, against whom the most rigid and unjustifiable authority was exercised by Gen. Wilkinson, in many cases upon bare suspicion.

Late at night, about the 1st of February, a man in the garb of a boatman, with a single companion, arrived at the door of a small log tavern, in the backwoods of Alabama, and inquired the way to a Col. Hinson's, who resided in the neighborhood. Col. Nicholas Perkins observed by the light of the fire, that the stranger, although

coarsely dressed, possessed a countenance of unusual intelligence and an eye of sparkling brilliancy. The tidy boot, which his vanity could not surrender with his other articles of finer clothing, attracted Perkins' attention and led him truly to conclude, that the mysterious stranger was none other than the famous Col. Burr, described in the proclamation of the governor.

That night Perkins started for Fort Stoddart, on the Tombigbee, and communicated his suspicions to the late General Edmund P. Gaines, then the lieutenant in command. The next day, accompanied by Perkins and a file of mounted soldiers, Gaines started in pursuit of Burr, and arrested him on his journey. Burr attempted to intimidate Gaines, but the young officer was firm, and told him he must accompany him to his quarters, where he would be treated with all the respect due the ex-Vice President of the United States.

About three weeks after, Gaines sent Burr a prisoner to Richmond with a sufficient guard, the command of which was given to Perkins. They were all men whom Perkins had selected, and upon whom he could rely in every emergency. He took them aside and obtained the most solemn pledges, that upon the whole route they would hold no interviews with Burr, nor suffer him to escape alive. Perkins knew the fascinations of Burr, and he feared his familiarity with his men-indeed, he feared the same. influences upon himself.

Each man carried provisions for himself and some for the prisoner. They were all well mounted and armed. On the last of February, they set out on their long and perilous journey. To what an extremity was Burr now reduced! In the boundless wilds of Alabama, with none to hold converse; surrounded by a guard to whom he dared not speak; a prisoner of the United States for whose liberties he had fought; his fortune swept away; the magnificent scheme for the conquest of Mexico broken up; slandered and hunted down from one end of the Union to another! These were considerations to crush an ordinary man; but his was no common mind, and the characteristic fortitude and determination, which had ever marked his course, still sustained him in the darkest hour.

In their journey through Alabama they always slept in the woods, and after a hastily prepared breakfast it was their custom to again remount and march on in gloomy silence. Burr was a splendid rider, and in his rough garb, he bestrode his horse as elegantly, and his large dark eyes flashed as brightly as though he were at the head of his New York regiment. He was always a hardy traveler, and though wet for hours together with cold and drizzling rains, riding forty miles a day and at night stretched on a pallet upon the ground, he never uttered one word of complaint. A few miles beyond Fort Wilkinson they were, for the first time, sheltered under a roof-a tavern kept by one Bevin. While they were seated around the fire awaiting breakfast, the inquisitive host

inquired "if the traitor Burr had been taken ?" "Was he not a bad man?" "Wasn't everybody afraid of him?" Perkins and his party were very much annoyed, and made no reply. Burr was sitting in the corner by the fire, with his head down, and after listening to the inquisitiveness of Bevin until he could endure it no longer; he raised himself up, and planting his fiery eyes upon him, said:

"I am Aaron Burr; what is it you want with me?"

Bevin, struck with his appearance, the keenness of his look, and the solemnity and dignity of his manner, stood aghast, and trembled like a leaf. He uttered not another word while the guard remained at his house.

When they reached the confines of South Carolina, Perkins watched Burr more closely than ever, for his son-in-law, Colonel, afterward Governor Alston, a gentleman of talents and influence, resided in this State. He was obliged, in a great measure, to avoid the towns for fear of a rescue. Before entering the town of Chester, in that State, the party halted, and surrounding Burr proceeded on, and passed near a tavern where many persons were standing, while music and dancing were heard in the house. Burr conceived it a favorable opportunity for escape, and suddenly dismounting, exclaimed:

"I am Aaron Burr, under military arrest, and claim protection from the civil authorities!"

Perkins leaped from his horse, with several of his men, and ordered him to remount.

"I will not!" replied Burr.

Not wishing to shoot him, Perkins threw down his pistols, and being a man of prodigious strength, and the prisoner a small man, seized him around the waist, and placed him in the saddle, as though he was a child. Thomas Malone, one of the guard, caught the reins of the bridle, slipped them over the horse's head, and led him rapidly on. The astonished citizens, when Burr dismounted, and the guards cocked their pistols, ran within the piazza to escape from danger.

Burr was still to some extent, popular in South Carolina; and any wavering or timidity on the part of Perkins, would have lost him his prisoner; but the celerity of his movements, gave the people no time to reflect, before he was far in the outskirts of the village. Here the guard halted. Burr was highly excited; he was in tears! The kind-hearted Malone also wept, at seeing the uncontrollable despondency of him who had hitherto proved almost iron-hearted. It was the first time any one had ever seen Aaron Burr unmanned.

On Burr's arrival at Richmond, the ladies of the city vied with each other in contributing to his comfort. Some sent him fruit; some clothes; some one thing; some another.

Burr was tried before the Supreme Court of the United States, at Richmond, for treason, and found not guilty, though the popular