CHAPTER XXXII
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 overrumors of secret expeditions and conspiracies of a most startlingnature, in which many men of prominence were concerned. The olddifficulty over the free navigation of the Mississippi River, and theschemes which grew out of this difficulty, although already settled ina large measure by the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, had beentoo much agitated in Kentucky not to leave much material forconspirators. Hence, Kentucky became the stage upon which were enactedmany of the incidents of that dramatic episode of American historyknown as "Burr's Conspiracy."
Opinion was then, as it will ever be, somewhat divided as to the exactnature of the schemes which Aaron Burr was at that time maturing.According to his own statements and to the extracts from his journal ofthat period, his designs were not actually treasonable; but they werecertainly dangerous to the future well-being of the States along thesouthern Mississippi.
In 1805 this brilliant, ambitious and fascinating man, whose term asVice-President had just expired, and who had, by his ill-advised attackupon the administration and by his duel with Alexander Hamilton,forfeited much of his political prestige, as well as the sympathy ofmost of his adherents in the North, came to Kentucky. He spent someweeks at Frankfort in an apparently quiet manner, and next proceeded ona 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. Hisheadquarters on both these Western tours was the romantic, ill-fatedisland home of Harman Blennerhassett, where he was met more than onceby many prominent men of Kentucky and other Western States. Soon afterthese visits, rumors began to be circulated that boats were being builtin Kentucky and Ohio; provisions and military accoutrements ordered,which, when furnished, were stored on Blennerhassett Island; and thatsome daring military expedition was planned in which many were to beengaged.
Presently the "Western World," a newspaper published at Frankfort, cameout with a series of articles in which the old Spanish intrigues andthese later projects of Aaron Burr were blended in a confused manner.Mingled with hints and vague innuendoes, some facts were stated andsome names given that created no little sensation. Sebastian, a judgeof the Supreme Court; Brown, United States Senator from Kentucky;Innes, a judge of the Federal Court; Wilkinson and Adair, generals inthe regular army, and many other Kentuckians of more or lessprominence, were implicated by these articles, which also plainlydenounced Aaron Burr as a traitor and his scheme as a treasonabledesign against the United States Government. Truth and error in thesearticles were so mixed together that no one was able to separate thetwo, and people all over the country were bewildered and excited.Friends of those implicated resented the attacks, and demanded aretraction of the charges; but the paper sturdily adhered to itspolicy. Other papers began to take up the matter, until the publicawoke to the fact that some dangerous movement was on foot; and theunsettled condition of the country, and the unsatisfactory relationsbetween the United States and Spain, caused these rumors to arousealarm.
In November, 1806, Joseph Hamilton Daviess, United States attorney forKentucky, brought at Frankfort an indictment against Burr for hightreason; and Wednesday, December 2, was set for trial. Burr succeededin convincing Henry Clay and John Allen, another able lawyer of theLexington bar, of his innocence, and secured them as counsel.
Shortly before this movement of Daviess, however, Graham, a detectivein the United States employ (though not known to be such at the time),came to Kentucky; and, after spending some time in Fayette and WoodfordCounties, came out to Cane Ridge. He represented himself as a landagent, and in this capacity called on Abner Logan one evening aboutsunset. 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 paperhad been making. He said that, as a stranger in the State, he was ofcourse ignorant in a great measure of the charges, whereupon Loganenlightened him as well as he could, discussing the matter with him atsome length. The next morning Graham took his departure, and the Logansattached no importance to the visit.
James Anson Drane had by no means severed his friendly relations withHiram Gilcrest. He was at this time employed by Gilcrest to settle someold and troublesome land claims, and this business called him toOaklands on the Thursday before the day set for Burr's trial atFrankfort. While Drane and Gilcrest were in the latter's library, oneof the little negroes about the place brought Drane a note which thelittle darkey said had been left at the kitchen door by a peddler. Thetwo men were seated at a center table littered with papers anddocuments. As Drane read the note, Gilcrest noticed that he appearedgreatly disturbed; his cheeks and lips turned ashy pale, and the handholding the note shook with agitation. He quickly commanded himself,however, thrust the note into his pocket, and explained that he wascalled to Lexington at once on urgent business. Gilcrest, seeing thatthe business must be of a grave and peremptory nature, did not urgeDrane to stay, but gave the order for the lawyer's horse to be broughtimmediately. Telling his host that he would call again in a few days,Drane gathered up his papers which were scattered about the table, andhurried into the hall for his hat and great coat. He tried to thrustthe papers into his breast pocket, but there were too many for onepocket, and, in taking some of them out to put in a differentreceptacle, the little note which he had just received fluttered to thefloor unperceived either by himself or his host.
Shortly afterwards, Polly, the housemaid, brought her master a crumpledslip of paper, explaining that she had found it on the hall floor, andthought it might perhaps be something important. Without glancing atthe address, or thinking much about the matter, Gilcrest opened thepaper and read the contents before he realized that it was the notewhich had been handed to Drane a few minutes before. It read thus: "Asincere and disinterested friend warns 'A. D.' that he is to besummoned as a witness in the trial of B---- at F----, and advises himto leave the country at once, taking with him or destroying allcompromising papers which he may have in his possession."
After gazing at the note in amazement for a few moments, Gilcrestcrossed over to the secretary in one corner of the room, and took froma locked receptacle the two papers which James Anson Drane, four yearssince, had exhibited to him in that room.
As Gilcrest now sat musing with the two documents in his hand, herecalled several points which, had he not been so completely under theinfluence of the wily lawyer, would have aroused grave suspicions. Onewas the exceeding reluctance Drane had shown in regard to leaving thetwo papers at Oaklands; another was the singular fascination which, oflate, the old mahogany secretary had seemed to hold for the lawyer; andstill another was this, that once when Drane and Gilcrest were in thisroom, the latter had been called out. Returning unexpectedly, a momentlater, he found Drane with his hand on the knob of that little lockedinner drawer, as if he were trying to pull it open. At the time, Dranehad averted suspicion by saying that he was examining the peculiarmechanism of the old and valuable secretary, and admiring its beautifulcarving and workmanship.
Major Gilcrest now also remembered that for several months prior to theshowing of the two papers--in fact, ever since Logan's visit toVirginia--Drane had been dropping hints and insinuations against Abner.But Gilcrest recalled, too, that even earlier than this, Logan hadonce, in a conversation at Rogers' house, expressed the greatestadmiration for Aaron Burr; also that he had been seen in what appearedto be close counsel with Wilkinson, Sebastian and Murray at the tavernon court day, and that he had visited Blennerhassett Island in companywith Sebastian and Murray. So that for several years Gilcrest hadentertained no doubt that his son-in-law was to some degree implicatedin this treasonable movement. But now, having read that anonymouswarning which Drane had dropped in the hall an hour since, G
ilcrest wasaltogether 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 namein the correspondence with the intriguers. "Can it be," he thought,"that both men are implicated in this nefarious matter? For even ifthis letter from B. S. to A. D. was written to Anson Drane instead ofAbner Dudley, this torn fragment, which is undoubtedly in Logan'shandwriting, seems suspicious; but, perhaps, if I had the whole letter,the references in it would bear an entirely different construction tothat which I have placed."
Early Friday morning Gilcrest called for his horse, and rode toLexington. Arriving there, he went straight to Drane's office, butfound it locked. He then made inquiry at the young man's tavern, wherehe 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 wassought in vain. Later, when Burr, Blennerhassett, and otherconspirators, were arraigned at Natchez, and still later at Richmond,Drane was again in demand, but he had completely disappeared; and hisexact connection with that famous episode of American history, theAaron Burr conspiracy, was never known. About twelve years later, a mansaid to be very like him was reported as an influential and wealthylawyer of St. Louis.
Upon the same Thursday that Drane received at Oaklands the anonymouswarning, Abner Logan, while at work in a field near the road, receivedfrom a passing packman a note which, the bearer said, had been givenhim for Logan, by a man whose name the peddler had forgotten, but who,as the peddler said, "lived down that way," pointing vaguely down theroad. The messenger was not Simon Smith, the packman who periodicallyvisited the neighborhood to sell his wares to the housewivesthereabout, but a stranger. The note which he gave Logan was wordedexactly as the one Drane had received an hour earlier at Oaklands.
Abner's first feeling upon reading this missive was bewilderment as tothe identity of the friend who had sent it; his second, indignationthat any one should think him in any way implicated in the Burr affair."'A sincere and disinterested friend,' indeed," he thought; "it's someruse to get me into this queer business."
Before receiving the anonymous communication, Logan, being desirous ofhearing Clay and Daviess speak, had partly promised Mason Rogers, whofelt a lively interest in the trial, to go with him to Frankfort. Logannow fully determined to let nothing prevent his going; and, fearing toalarm his wife, he resolved to say nothing of the warning he hadreceived.
Upon the following Tuesday evening Graham, the detective, came toOaklands, and spent the night there. He was able to supply to Gilcrestat least one missing link of evidence--the fellow to the torn piece ofletter to Charles M. Brady. This, with one or two other documents of amore or less compromising nature, Drane had overlooked in his haste toget out of the vicinity of Frankfort; and Graham, when he searched theapartment a few hours after Drane's escape, had found the papers in theescritoire.
Early Wednesday morning Logan, in company of Mason Rogers, SamuelTrabue and William Hinkson, set out on horseback for the State capital.On the way they were overtaken by the Gilcrest coach-and-four driven byUncle Zeke. In the coach sat Hiram Gilcrest, a strange gentleman fromLouisville, and the pretended land agent, Graham. As the vehicle passedthe four equestrians, Gilcrest gave a distant salutation to Trabue andHinkson, who were riding on the left, but did not turn his head to theright where rode his son-in-law and his former bosom friend, MasonRogers.
The trial at Frankfort did not come off, because of Daviess' failure tosecure the attendance of some important witnesses; but those people whowere gathered at the court-house were by no means defrauded ofentertainment; for they heard a brilliant debate between Henry Clay andJoseph Hamilton Daviess. The crowds that filled the floor, windows,galleries and platform of the big court-room remained for hoursspellbound while these two renowned men, each stimulated by the other'sthrilling oratory, and glowing with the ardent conviction of thejustice of his cause, met in intellectual combat. Henry Clay was theleader of the popular political party in the State, and had thesympathy of the audience on his side. Daviess was a Federalist, and hisprosecution was regarded by many of his hearers as simply a persecutionof an unfortunate and innocent man who, from motives of politicalhatred only, was here arraigned as a traitor. Daviess, however, wasmade strong by his full conviction of Burr's guilt; moreover, this veryinfatuation of the audience, and the smiling security andself-assurance of the suspected traitor who sat before him, spurredDaviess to brilliant effort. But all was in vain, for the present atleast; for, on account of the non-appearance of proper witnesses, theprosecution was dismissed--to the great rejoicing of the friends ofBurr, who were at that time so under the spell of his fascinatingpersonality that even had the court found a true bill against him, theywould still have believed him innocent. To show their admiration andsympathy, these friends and admirers gave a grand public ball atFrankfort the next evening to celebrate "Aaron Burr's triumph over hisenemies." This ball was followed by another equally brilliant given bythe friends of Daviess, to show their admiration of him and theirbelief in the justice of his suit against Burr.
Logan and his three companions returned from Frankfort late Thursdayafternoon. On Saturday, as Logan was leaving the house after an earlybreakfast, he was astonished to see Hiram Gilcrest on horseback at thefront gate. Abner hastened down the walk to meet him; but, instead ofaccepting the invitation to alight and enter the house, Major Gilcrestwith stern dignity replied that he preferred to remain where he was,having called that morning, not to pay a visit, but to atone for aninjustice of which he had for a number of years been guilty.
Logan, thinking that the "injustice" had reference to Gilcrest'sopposition to his daughter's marriage, replied that no explanation orapology was necessary, as the very fact that Major Gilcrest was thereat Crestlands was apology enough. He again invited the Major to comein, urging the pleasure it would be to Betsy to welcome her father inher own house, and to have him see her little son William, now a finelittle 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 errorwith regard to you, as the result of the base representations and lyingstatements of James Anson Drane, in whose character I have been mostwoefully deceived." Handing Logan the anonymous note that Drane haddropped in the hall, the letter from "B. S." to "A. D.," and the twotorn parts of the letter to Charles Brady, he then entered into a fullexplanation of all the circumstances which had influenced him to thinkLogan a political traitor.
When Gilcrest had finished his explanation, Logan replied that he wasfully satisfied, and that he could not wonder that, under thecircumstances, Major Gilcrest had been deceived. "But now," he went on,smiling cordially and extending his hand, "let us forget all hardfeelings, and be to each other henceforth as father and son should be.Betty will be wild with happiness to welcome her father into her ownhome."
But the stubborn old fellow would neither grasp his son-in-law's handnor accept the invitation to enter the house. "No, Mr. Logan," he saidfirmly, "I am an honorable and, I hope, a just man; and my sense ofhonor and of justice prompted me to apologize for an unjust suspicionof you; but, sir," and his deep-set eyes flashed as he spoke, "thoughyou are exonerated from all blame in this political intrigue, you arestill guilty of a far greater wrong--that of alienating the affectionsof my child, my only daughter, of basely abducting her from herfather'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; butGilcrest would not listen, and, with a wave of his hand to commandsilence, he continued: "No explanation, no apology, no reparation, orprayer of either you or your wife, can atone. I shall never under anycircumstances enter your door; but I will no longer forbid my wife tovisit
her daughter, nor object to you and your wife returning thosevisits. I bid you good morning, sir," and the proud and unyielding oldman rode away.
Several years later, Logan, while on a trip to Louisville, againencountered Graham, and learned from him that the strange peddler whohad delivered the anonymous note to him and the one to Drane was Grahamhimself in disguise. He had employed this ruse to ascertain which ofthe two young men was the guilty one. When, in the guise of a landagent, he had in 1806 visited that region, his suspicions had alreadybeen slightly aroused against Drane. He had therefore managed to bemuch in the company of the young lawyer, who, if he suspected thatGraham was other than he claimed to be, had the art to hide hissuspicions, and in pretended unconsciousness and innocence had alsomanaged to instill into the stranger's mind much doubt of Logan. Thesedoubts were in a measure allayed by Graham's visit to Logan; but, to beentirely sure as to which was his man, he had resorted to the device ofsending the two warnings, intending that the one who took alarm shouldbe arrested. Drane, however, had been too swift in his movements, andhad thus escaped.
Crestlands: A Centennial Story of Cane Ridge Page 35