EXIT JAMES ANSON DRANE
"Treason doth never prosper, ... for, should it prosper, none dare
call it treason."
During the spring of 1806 the country became greatly agitated over
rumors of secret expeditions and conspiracies of a most startling
nature, in which many men of prominence were concerned. The old
difficulty over the free navigation of the Mississippi River, and the
schemes which grew out of this difficulty, although already settled in
a large measure by the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, had been
too much agitated in Kentucky not to leave much material for
conspirators. Hence, Kentucky became the stage upon which were enacted
many of the incidents of that dramatic episode of American history
known as "Burr's Conspiracy."
Opinion was then, as it will ever be, somewhat divided as to the exact
nature of the schemes which Aaron Burr was at that time maturing.
According to his own statements and to the extracts from his journal of
that period, his designs were not actually treasonable; but they were
certainly dangerous to the future well-being of the States along the
southern Mississippi.
In 1805 this brilliant, ambitious and fascinating man, whose term as
Vice-President had just expired, and who had, by his ill-advised attack
upon the administration and by his duel with Alexander Hamilton,
forfeited much of his political prestige, as well as the sympathy of
most of his adherents in the North, came to Kentucky. He spent some
weeks at Frankfort in an apparently quiet manner, and next proceeded on
a tour down the Mississippi, visiting all important points from St.
Louis to New Orleans. The following year he again appeared in the West,
this time paying several visits to Lexington and Louisville. His
headquarters on both these Western tours was the romantic, ill-fated
island home of Harman Blennerhassett, where he was met more than once
by many prominent men of Kentucky and other Western States. Soon after
these visits, rumors began to be circulated that boats were being built
in Kentucky and Ohio; provisions and military accoutrements ordered,
which, when furnished, were stored on Blennerhassett Island; and that
some daring military expedition was planned in which many were to be
engaged.
Presently the "Western World," a newspaper published at Frankfort, came
out with a series of articles in which the old Spanish intrigues and
these later projects of Aaron Burr were blended in a confused manner.
Mingled with hints and vague innuendoes, some facts were stated and
some names given that created no little sensation. Sebastian, a judge
of the Supreme Court; Brown, United States Senator from Kentucky;
Innes, a judge of the Federal Court; Wilkinson and Adair, generals in
the regular army, and many other Kentuckians of more or less
prominence, were implicated by these articles, which also plainly
denounced Aaron Burr as a traitor and his scheme as a treasonable
design against the United States Government. Truth and error in these
articles were so mixed together that no one was able to separate the
two, and people all over the country were bewildered and excited.
Friends of those implicated resented the attacks, and demanded a
retraction of the charges; but the paper sturdily adhered to its
policy. Other papers began to take up the matter, until the public
awoke to the fact that some dangerous movement was on foot; and the
unsettled condition of the country, and the unsatisfactory relations
between the United States and Spain, caused these rumors to arouse
alarm.
In November, 1806, Joseph Hamilton Daviess, United States attorney for
Kentucky, brought at Frankfort an indictment against Burr for high
treason; and Wednesday, December 2, was set for trial. Burr succeeded
in convincing Henry Clay and John Allen, another able lawyer of the
Lexington bar, of his innocence, and secured them as counsel.
Shortly before this movement of Daviess, however, Graham, a detective
in the United States employ (though not known to be such at the time),
came to Kentucky; and, after spending some time in Fayette and Woodford
Counties, came out to Cane Ridge. He represented himself as a land
agent, and in this capacity called on Abner Logan one evening about
sunset. He was invited to stay the night, and accepted. After supper,
taking up a copy of the "Western World" which was lying on the table,
he naturally turned the conversation upon the charges which the paper
had been making. He said that, as a stranger in the State, he was of
course ignorant in a great measure of the charges, whereupon Logan
enlightened him as well as he could, discussing the matter with him at
some length. The next morning Graham took his departure, and the Logans
attached no importance to the visit.
James Anson Drane had by no means severed his friendly relations with
Hiram Gilcrest. He was at this time employed by Gilcrest to settle some
old and troublesome land claims, and this business called him to
Oaklands on the Thursday before the day set for Burr's trial at
Frankfort. While Drane and Gilcrest were in the latter's library, one
of the little negroes about the place brought Drane a note which the
little darkey said had been left at the kitchen door by a peddler. The
two men were seated at a center table littered with papers and
documents. As Drane read the note, Gilcrest noticed that he appeared
greatly disturbed; his cheeks and lips turned ashy pale, and the hand
holding the note shook with agitation. He quickly commanded himself,
however, thrust the note into his pocket, and explained that he was
called to Lexington at once on urgent business. Gilcrest, seeing that
the business must be of a grave and peremptory nature, did not urge
Drane to stay, but gave the order for the lawyer's horse to be brought
immediately. Telling his host that he would call again in a few days,
Drane gathered up his papers which were scattered about the table, and
hurried into the hall for his hat and great coat. He tried to thrust
the papers into his breast pocket, but there were too many for one
pocket, and, in taking some of them out to put in a different
receptacle, the little note which he had just received fluttered to the
floor unperceived either by himself or his host.
Shortly afterwards, Polly, the housemaid, brought her master a crumpled
slip of paper, explaining that she had found it on the hall floor, and
thought it might perhaps be something important. Without glancing at
the address, or thinking much about the matter, Gilcrest opened the
paper and read the contents before he realized that it was the note
which had been handed to Drane a few minutes before. It read thus: "A
sincere and disinterested friend warns 'A. D.' that he is to be
summoned as a witness in the trial of B---- at F----, and advises him
to leave the country at once, taking with him or destroying all
compromising papers which he may have in his possession."
After gazing at the note in amazement for a few moments, Gilcrest
crossed over to the secretary in one corner of the room, and took from
a locked receptacle the two papers which James Anson Drane, four years
since, had exhibited to him in that room.
As Gilcrest now sat musing with the two documents in his hand, he
recalled several points which, had he not been so completely under the
influence of the wily lawyer, would have aroused grave suspicions. One
was the exceeding reluctance Drane had shown in regard to leaving the
two papers at Oaklands; another was the singular fascination which, of
late, the old mahogany secretary had seemed to hold for the lawyer; and
still another was this, that once when Drane and Gilcrest were in this
room, the latter had been called out. Returning unexpectedly, a moment
later, he found Drane with his hand on the knob of that little locked
inner drawer, as if he were trying to pull it open. At the time, Drane
had averted suspicion by saying that he was examining the peculiar
mechanism of the old and valuable secretary, and admiring its beautiful
carving and workmanship.
Major Gilcrest now also remembered that for several months prior to the
showing of the two papers--in fact, ever since Logan's visit to
Virginia--Drane had been dropping hints and insinuations against Abner.
But Gilcrest recalled, too, that even earlier than this, Logan had
once, in a conversation at Rogers' house, expressed the greatest
admiration for Aaron Burr; also that he had been seen in what appeared
to be close counsel with Wilkinson, Sebastian and Murray at the tavern
on court day, and that he had visited Blennerhassett Island in company
with Sebastian and Murray. So that for several years Gilcrest had
entertained no doubt that his son-in-law was to some degree implicated
in this treasonable movement. But now, having read that anonymous
warning which Drane had dropped in the hall an hour since, Gilcrest was
altogether puzzled. There could be no doubt that the initials "A. D."
in the anonymous note stood, not for Abner Dudley, but for Anson Drane,
who probably for greater security had dropped his first baptismal name
in the correspondence with the intriguers. "Can it be," he thought,
"that both men are implicated in this nefarious matter? For even if
this letter from B. S. to A. D. was written to Anson Drane instead of
Abner Dudley, this torn fragment, which is undoubtedly in Logan's
handwriting, seems suspicious; but, perhaps, if I had the whole letter,
the references in it would bear an entirely different construction to
that which I have placed."
Early Friday morning Gilcrest called for his horse, and rode to
Lexington. Arriving there, he went straight to Drane's office, but
found it locked. He then made inquiry at the young man's tavern, where
he was told that Drane had left town very hurriedly the evening before,
and had not said when he would return.
That was the last time that James Anson Drane was seen in Kentucky.
When the day set for Burr's trial in Frankfort arrived, Drane was
sought in vain. Later, when Burr, Blennerhassett, and other
conspirators, were arraigned at Natchez, and still later at Richmond,
Drane was again in demand, but he had completely disappeared; and his
exact connection with that famous episode of American history, the
Aaron Burr conspiracy, was never known. About twelve years later, a man
said to be very like him was reported as an influential and wealthy
lawyer of St. Louis.
Upon the same Thursday that Drane received at Oaklands the anonymous
warning, Abner Logan, while at work in a field near the road, received
from a passing packman a note which, the bearer said, had been given
him for Logan, by a man whose name the peddler had forgotten, but who,
as the peddler said, "lived down that way," pointing vaguely down the
road. The messenger was not Simon Smith, the packman who periodically
visited the neighborhood to sell his wares to the housewives
thereabout, but a stranger. The note which he gave Logan was worded
exactly as the one Drane had received an hour earlier at Oaklands.
Abner's first feeling upon reading this missive was bewilderment as to
the identity of the friend who had sent it; his second, indignation
that any one should think him in any way implicated in the Burr affair.
"'A sincere and disinterested friend,' indeed," he thought; "it's some
ruse to get me into this queer business."
Before receiving the anonymous communication, Logan, being desirous of
hearing Clay and Daviess speak, had partly promised Mason Rogers, who
felt a lively interest in the trial, to go with him to Frankfort. Logan
now fully determined to let nothing prevent his going; and, fearing to
alarm his wife, he resolved to say nothing of the warning he had
received.
Upon the following Tuesday evening Graham, the detective, came to
Oaklands, and spent the night there. He was able to supply to Gilcrest
at least one missing link of evidence--the fellow to the torn piece of
letter to Charles M. Brady. This, with one or two other documents of a
more or less compromising nature, Drane had overlooked in his haste to
get out of the vicinity of Frankfort; and Graham, when he searched the
apartment a few hours after Drane's escape, had found the papers in the
escritoire.
Early Wednesday morning Logan, in company of Mason Rogers, Samuel
Trabue and William Hinkson, set out on horseback for the State capital.
On the way they were overtaken by the Gilcrest coach-and-four driven by
Uncle Zeke. In the coach sat Hiram Gilcrest, a strange gentleman from
Louisville, and the pretended land agent, Graham. As the vehicle passed
the four equestrians, Gilcrest gave a distant salutation to Trabue and
Hinkson, who were riding on the left, but did not turn his head to the
right where rode his son-in-law and his former bosom friend, Mason
Rogers.
The trial at Frankfort did not come off, because of Daviess' failure to
secure the attendance of some important witnesses; but those people who
were gathered at the court-house were by no means defrauded of
entertainment; for they heard a brilliant debate between Henry Clay and
Joseph Hamilton Daviess. The crowds that filled the floor, windows,
galleries and platform of the big court-room remained for hours
spellbound while these two renowned men, each stimulated by the other's
thrilling oratory, and glowing with the ardent conviction of the
justice of his cause, met in intellectual combat. Henry Clay was the
leader of the popular political party in the State, and had the
sympathy of the audience on his side. Daviess was a Federalist, and his
prosecution was regarded by many of his hearers as simply a persecution
of an unfortunate and innocent man who, from motives of political
hatred only, was here arraigned as a traitor. Daviess, however, was
made strong by his full conviction of Burr's guilt; moreover, this very
infatuation of the audience, and the smiling security and
self-assurance of the suspected traitor who sat before him, spurred
Daviess to brilliant effort. But all was in vain, for the present at
least; for, on account of the non-appearance of proper witnesses, the
prosecution was dismissed--to the great rejoicing of the friends of
Burr, who were at that time so under the spell of his fascinating
personality that even had the court found a true bill against him, they
would still have believed him innocent. To show their admiration and
sympathy, these friends and admirers gave a grand public ball at
Frankfort the next evening to celebrate "Aaron Burr's triumph over his
enemies." This ball was followed by another equally brilliant given by
the friends of Daviess, to show their admiration of him and their
belief in the justice of his suit against Burr.
Logan and his three companions returned from Frankfort late Thursday
afternoon. On Saturday, as Logan was leaving the house after an early
breakfast, he was astonished to see Hiram Gilcrest on horseback at the
front gate. Abner hastened down the walk to meet him; but, instead of
accepting the invitation to alight and enter the house, Major Gilcrest
with stern dignity replied that he preferred to remain where he was,
having called that morning, not to pay a visit, but to atone for an
injustice of which he had for a number of years been guilty.
Logan, thinking that the "injustice" had reference to Gilcrest's
opposition to his daughter's marriage, replied that no explanation or
apology was necessary, as the very fact that Major Gilcrest was there
at Crestlands was apology enough. He again invited the Major to come
in, urging the pleasure it would be to Betsy to welcome her father in
her own house, and to have him see her little son William, now a fine
little fellow two years old, and the tiny baby daughter. Hiram,
however, again refused the invitation.
"Mr. Logan," he said, "I have for some years back been greatly in error
with regard to you, as the result of the base representations and lying
statements of James Anson Drane, in whose character I have been most
woefully deceived." Handing Logan the anonymous note that Drane had
dropped in the hall, the letter from "B. S." to "A. D.," and the two
torn parts of the letter to Charles Brady, he then entered into a full
explanation of all the circumstances which had influenced him to think
Logan a political traitor.
When Gilcrest had finished his explanation, Logan replied that he was
fully satisfied, and that he could not wonder that, under the
circumstances, Major Gilcrest had been deceived. "But now," he went on,
smiling cordially and extending his hand, "let us forget all hard
feelings, and be to each other henceforth as father and son should be.
Betty will be wild with happiness to welcome her father into her own
home."
But the stubborn old fellow would neither grasp his son-in-law's hand
nor accept the invitation to enter the house. "No, Mr. Logan," he said
firmly, "I am an honorable and, I hope, a just man; and my sense of
honor and of justice prompted me to apologize for an unjust suspicion
of you; but, sir," and his deep-set eyes flashed as he spoke, "though
you are exonerated from all blame in this political intrigue, you are
still guilty of a far greater wrong--that of alienating the affections
of my child, my only daughter, of basely abducting her from her
father's house, and well-nigh breaking that father's heart. That wrong,
sir, I can never forget, and for that, sir, I can never forgive you."
"But--but, Major Gilcrest, I beg of you," began Abner, earnestly; but
Gilcrest would not listen, and, with a wave of his hand to command
silence, he continued: "No explanation, no apology, no reparation, or
prayer of either you or your wife, can atone. I shall never under any
circumstances enter your door; but I will no longer forbid my wife to
visit her daughter, nor object to you and your wife returning those
visits. I bid you good morning, sir," and the proud and unyielding old
man rode away.
Several years later, Logan, while on a trip to Louisville, again
encountered Graham, and learned from him that the strange peddler who
had delivered the anonymous note to him and the one to Drane was Graham
himself in disguise. He had employed this ruse to ascertain which of
the two young men was the guilty one. When, in the guise of a land
agent, he had in 1806 visited that region, his suspicions had already
been slightly aroused against Drane. He had therefore managed to be
much in the company of the young lawyer, who, if he suspected that
Graham was other than he claimed to be, had the art to hide his
suspicions, and in pretended unconsciousness and innocence had also
managed to instill into the stranger's mind much doubt of Logan. These
doubts were in a measure allayed by Graham's visit to Logan; but, to be
entirely sure as to which was his man, he had resorted to the device of
sending the two warnings, intending that the one who took alarm should
be arrested. Drane, however, had been too swift in his movements, and
had thus escaped.