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The Trial of Cyrus B. Dean, for the Murder of Jonathan Ormsby and Asa Marsh, Before the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Vermont, at Their Special Sessions, Begun and Holden at Burlington, Chittenden County, on the 23d of August A. D. 1808. Revised and Corrected From the Minutes of the Judges.

Burlington: Printed by Samuel Mills, Sold at His Bookstore, by Mills and White, Middlebury, and by the Principal Booksellers in the United States, 1808. 8vo (8.25” x 5.15”), disbound (removed from sammelband), lacking wrappers, “No. 10” and “286” inscribed in ink on title page. 48 pp., additional manuscript page numbers in ink at upper-right corners. CONDITION: Good, title page partially detached and pp. 41–48 detached, minor punctures to pp. 39–40 with partial losses to five words, puncture to pp. 19–20 affecting parts of two words.

A revised transcript of the murder trial of Lake Champlain smuggler Cyrus Dean in the sensational Black Snake Affair, which resulted in the first official use of capital punishment in the State of Vermont.

The Black Snake Affair of 1808, as it came to be called, was a deadly clash between federal customs agents and smugglers aboard the Black Snake on Lake Champlain. With the 1807 Embargo Act, the U.S. outlawed trade with Britain and France. “At the time, British Canada was Vermont’s main trading partner, making the embargo controversial and unpopular among many Vermonters” (“Black Snake Affair”). In spite of the embargo, smuggling into Canada by Vermont citizens took place. The U.S. Collector of Customs for Vermont, Dr. Jabez Penniman, enlisted the help of Lieut. Daniel Farrington to crack down on such activity. A battle broke out when the Black Snake was detained by Farrington and federal agents in August 1808 on suspicion of potash smuggling. Three Vermonters—Jonathan Ormsby, a bystander, and militia members Ellis Drake and Asa March—died in the melee. 

Cyrus Dean, a crew member of the Black Snake, was convicted of murder and, after a failed appeal, hanged before some 10,000 souls in Burlington. “Vermont’s Supreme Justice, Royall Tyler, was placed in charge of the popular and politically controversial trial. Before he could proceed, the Vermont Supreme Court had to convene a grand jury and hand down an indictment…The murder trial riveted public attention…Printed pamphlets of the trial transcript were offered for sale” (Ramsey). Several other smugglers were also put on trial for their part in the incident; three were found guilty and were given jail sentences. 

This transcript, “revised and corrected from the minutes of the judge,” covers the Vermont Supreme Court trial, beginning with the indictment handed down on August 26th against eight men, including Dean. Dean pleaded not guilty and on September 2nd he was put to the bar for trial—“but the challenges, peremptory and for favor, were so numerous, that after an ineffectual attempt to fill the panel, the Court ordered a new venire for petit Jurors, and adjourned to Saturday morning.” The trial began on September 3rd, and the first witness, Josiah Edson, a crew member on the Black Snake, stated, as recorded here, that

To my certain knowledge, this was the fourth time this boat had gone to Canada with Potash, and they always went well armed, but not so strongly as lately.…The captain’s orders were not to fire until they were fired upon, to endeavour to escape, and if they could not, to fire as strait as they could…I understand from the men that they had from eight to ten dollars a trip and the captain paid them, and he had five or six dollars per barrel for running the Potash. 

The weapons of the men on the Black Snake were presented in court and Lieut. Farrington, who survived the conflict, was among the witnesses who testified. After an unsuccessful attempt by Dean’s attorney to appeal the guilty verdict, Dean was sentenced to death: “the Court sentenced the prisoner to be taken to the place of public Execution, on Friday the 28th day October, 1808, then and there, between the hours of 10 o’clock in the forenoon, and three o’clock in the afternoon, TO BE HUNG BY THE NECK UNTIL HE IS DEAD.”

REFERENCES: BAL, 20734; McDade, 246; Ramsey, Connie Cain. “The Black Snake Affair,” Courthouse Chronicle #7 at Chittenden County Courthouse online; “‘Black Snake Affair’ Papers, 1805-1809” at Vermont History online; Roth, Randolph. “‘Blood Calls for Vengeance!’ The History of Capital Punishment in Vermont,” Vermont History, Vol. 65, No. 1 & 2 (1997).

Item #9481

Price: $450.00

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