Verdicts of History by Thomas Fleming

Author:Thomas Fleming [Thomas Fleming]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History/United States/Revolutionary Period
ISBN: 9781612309743
Publisher: New Word City, Inc.
Published: 2016-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

The court clerk droned on while the tall, bearded man and his four allies stood before the bench. Few men, according to one reporter, could look John Brown in the eye for more than a moment. But Judge Richard Parker asked John Brown how he pleaded to the grand jury’s accusations of treason, servile insurrection, and murder.

Brown replied, “Not guilty,” then retreated to a cot, drew a blanket up to his chin, and closed his eyes. The trial that would inflame a nation had begun.

The country courtroom’s floor was littered with peanut and chestnut shells. The benches on three sides of the courtroom were crammed with as many as 600 spectators. Outside in the streets of Charlestown, Virginia, several thousand more people were held at bay by lines of militiamen.

At the lawyers’ table, Andrew Hunter, special counsel for the Commonwealth of Virginia, sat alongside Charles Harding, Jefferson County’s regular prosecutor. A notorious drunk, Harding’s hair was uncombed, and stubble covered his chin. On the other side, representing the defense, were Lawson Botts, and Thomas C. Green, the mayor of Charlestown. But all eyes were on Brown, whose fanatic daring had created this epic drama.

John Brown could unleash an undeniable power when he chose to. The spectators had gotten a glimpse of it the day before, when the sheriff brought Brown and his confederates into the courtroom to be arraigned before eight justices of the peace for the grand jury hearing. Brown had walked from the nearby jail, head erect and his stride steady. Prosecutor Harding, in charge of the arraignment, asked if the defendants had counsel, or if they wished the court to assign them qualified lawyers. Brown rose, and in a low, intense voice struck the first blow in his own defense: “Virginians, I did not ask for any quarter at the time I was taken. I did not ask to have my life spared. The governor of the state of Virginia tendered me his assurance that I should have a fair trial. But, under no circumstances whatever will I be able to have a fair trial. If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment, without this mockery of a trial. I have had no counsel. I have not been able to advise with anyone. I know nothing about the feelings of my fellow prisoners, and am utterly unable to attend in any way to my own defense. My memory don’t serve me. My health is insufficient, although improving. There are mitigating circumstances that I would urge in our favor, if a fair trial is to be allowed us. But if we are to be forced with a mere form — a trial for execution — you might spare yourselves that trouble. I am ready for my fate. . . . I have now little further to ask, other than that I may not be foolishly insulted only as cowardly barbarians insult those who fall into their power.”

From boyhood, Brown believed that he was destined for great things.

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