Williamsburg, Virginia
When we
think of the Virginia of colonial times, the Virginia of Washington, Madison
and Jefferson, we seldom think of the word MURDER. And yet behind the façade of graceful
mansions and quaint cobblestone streets, evil lurked. Take for example the strange case of Colonel
John Chiswell, someone today we might call “a celebrity murderer.”
Colonel John Chiswell was a very
busy and important man. He owned a huge
plantation, he was a member of the House of Burgesses, and he was a colonel in
the militia. His wife was from a fine
old family. The Royal Governor, Francis
Fauquier, was a close friend. His
son-in-law was Treasurer of the colony.
This was not a little man unknown in the colony. Soon he would be even better known.
On June 3, 1766, Colonel Chiswell attended a
session of the Cumberland County Court, to look after some land deals. That evening he entered Benjamin Mosby’s
tavern. One Robert Routlidge, a blunt
Scottish merchant who had had dealings with Chiswell before, approached the
colonel. Routlidge was clearly drunk,
and not just a little drunk. Routlidge
proceeded to insult Chiswell and then threw a glass of wine in his face. The short fused Chiswell picked up a pair of
fire tongs and made for Routlidge. The
crowd in the room restrained him. He
next came at Routlidge with a candlestick.
Again he was restrained. Next he
picked up a punchbowl and made to break it over Routlidge’s head. Again he was restrained. A sheriff entered and ordered Col. Chiswell
to leave, which he did, only to return moments later carrying a sword.
The sheriff tried to keep him
from Routlidge but Chiswell bellowed that he would “run through any man” who
tried to stop him. Routlidge and
Chiswell exchanged curses across the room until finally Chiswell called
Routlidge a “Presbyterian fellow”, which was too much for Routlidge who broke
free from those trying to calm him and squarely faced Chiswell. In the next instant the colonel ran his sword
directly into Routlidge’s heart. The
merchant fell dead. Colonel Chiswell
handed the sword to a servant for cleaning and then ordered a bowl of punch
declaring, “He deserves his fate, damn him.
I aimed at his heart and I have hit it.”
The gaping sheriff immediately took Chiswell into custody.
The cold blooded murder of an
unarmed man in front of a room full of witnesses, including a sheriff, was this
an open and shut case? Not according to
Colonel Chiswell’s attorney. According
to the defense, due to his drunkenness Routlidge threw himself on the colonel’s
sword. The incident was a mere accident.
After hearing the testimony of the witnesses, the examining court found
sufficient evidence to prosecute the case.
Chiswell was held without bail, and an under-sheriff was ordered to
transport the colonel to Williamsburg
where he was to be jailed in chains while awaiting trial before the
Governor. News of the murder spread fast
among Virginia’s
power elite. Three of the Governor’s
closest confidants intercepted the under-sheriff and his prisoner before they
could reach Williamsburg. The distinguished deputation ordered the
under-sheriff to release Chiswell on bail.
The colonel returned to the comforts of his townhouse in Williamsburg where he
remained in seclusion.
Was the whole matter to be swept
under the rug by Chiswell’s powerful friends?
Perhaps it could have been and would have been had it not been for one
Robert Bolling who published an anonymous query in the Virginia Gazette of June
20, 1766. Bolling broke the story
to the general public. “Upon an inquisition
taken before the Coroner in Cumberland county, Robert Routlidge was found to be
murdered (June 3d) by a sword in the hand of John Chiswell, Esq; whereupon he
was committed to the county prison, and the examining Court, upon full evidence
(refusing to bail him on a motion for that purpose) ordered him to the public
prison, as the law directs, to be tried for murder.” Bolling continued the
anonymous query by relating the special treatment given to Colonel Chiswell by
the Judges of the General Court. “ But before he was delivered to the keeper of
the public prison, the Judges of the General Court, out of sessions, took him from
the sheriff who conveyed him from Cumberland, and admitted him to bail, without
seeing the record of his examination in the county, or examining any of the
witnesses against him.” Bolling’s query
came to a thunderous summation, “I ask, whether this act of the three Judges of
the General Court be legal. If it is legal, I have nothing more to say. If it
is not legal, then I ask whether the act of these Judges has not a tendency to
overturn the laws and constitution of the country, by their exercising an extra
judicial power and controlling the course of law in a case of the highest consequence
to the safety of the (king’s) subject(s)? Whether the bail taken by these
Judges in an extra judicial manner can be liable on their recognizance, if Mr.
Chiswell should not appear to take his trial? If they are not liable, whether
it is not in fact a rescue, under pretense of law, of a person charged with an
atrocious crime?”
As the facts became known, outrage spread among the general
public. Increasingly angry voices were
raised about both the murder and the special privileges that were being granted
Colonel John Chiswell. The murder was
fast becoming, “the crime of the century”, pitting the power elite against the
common man in a contest over equality before the law.
In fact, Colonel Chiswell never came to trial. Either pressured by friends or collapsing
under the nervous strain, Colonel Chiswell committed suicide in his Williamsburg
townhouse. The Virginia Gazette reported that he died of “nervous fits, owing to a
constant uneasiness of mind.” This did
not entirely end the matter. By now the
people so distrusted their political masters that they suspected a plot to
smuggle a still very much alive John Chiswell out of the colony. An angry mob stopped Chiswell’s funeral
procession and demanded to see the body.
The coffin was duly opened and Colonel Chiswell’s body publicly
identified.
Murder in Colonial Virginia
Virginia Legends and Lore
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