Tuesday, November 18 - Treason & Historical Fiction

Andrew Jackson, a 67 year old man, was walking in the capital during his presidency when an assassin jumped at him with a flintlock pistol. This assassin, Richard Lawrence, had attempted to kill the president because he believed the government had owed Richard Lawrence an extremely large sum of money. When the would-be assassin attempted to fire his gun, it misfired. Andrew Jackson slowly and menacingly walked over to Richard Lawrence and beat him repetitively with his walking stick. After maiming him, Richard Lawrence pulled out his secondary backup pistol, which also misfired. By this time an entire mob had joined into the fight and pinned Lawrence to the ground, disarmed him, and took him away. When tried for his crimes, Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.