he third story, extending one hundred feet, where he was allowed
to see his friends without the presence of a witness. His rooms were so
thronged with visitors at times as to present the appearance of a levee.
Servants were continually arriving with messages, notes, and inquiries,
bringing oranges, lemons, pineapples, raspberries, apricots, cream,
butter, ice, and other articles--presents from the ladies of the city.
In expectation of his daughter's arrival, some of his friends in
town provided a house for her accommodation. The jailer, too, was all
civility." * Little wonder that such goings-on are said to have "filled
the measure of Jefferson's disgust."

* Parton's "Life and Times of Aaron Burr" (13th Edition, N.Y.,
1880), p. 479.

The trial itself opened on Monday, the 3d of August. The first business
in hand was to get a jury which would answer to the constitutional
requirement of impartiality--a task which it was soon discovered was
likely to prove a difficult one. The original panel of forty-eight men
contained only four who had not expressed opinions unfavorable to
the prisoner, and of these four all but one admitted some degree of
prejudice against him. These four were nevertheless accepted as jurors.
A second panel was then summoned which was even more unpromising in its
make-up, and Burr's counsel began hinting that the trial would have to
be quashed, when Burr himself arose and offered to select eight out of
the whole venire to add to the four previously chosen. The offer was
accepted, and notwithstanding that several of the jurors thus obtained
had publicly declared opinions hostile to the accused, the jury was
sworn in on the 17th of August.

At first glance Burr's concession in the selecting of a jury seems
extraordinary. But then, why should one so confident of being able to
demonstrate his innocence fear prejudice which rested on no firmer basis
than ignorance of the facts? This reflection, however, probably played
small part in Burr's calculations, for already he knew that if the
contemplated strategy of his counsel prevailed the case would never come
before the jury.

The first witness called by the prosecution was Eaton, who was prepared
to recount the substance of numerous conversations he had held with
Burr in Washington in the winter of 1805-6, in which Burr had gradually
unveiled to him the treasonable character of his project. No sooner,
however, was Eaton sworn than the defense entered