War of 1812 - When Bones Cry Out Motive, Means, and Opportunity. Wilkinson had them all. He had the best of all motives – the preservation of his own life. He had a trained doctor’s medical knowledge which would provide the know-how to kill effectively. Wilkinson also had the opportunity, perhaps through the use of his loyal followers or unknowing caregivers who could administer a fatal poison. While the suggestion of murder and the identification of Wilkinson as the murderer cannot be conclusively proven the circumstantial evidence could be enough to convict. If one does not accept that Wayne was murdered then one must accept that his natural death was one of the most extraordinary coincidences in history as Wilkinson would almost certainly have been exposed as a traitor had Wayne lived. Wayne’s words of July 28, 1796, five months before his death, “my presence with the army is very inconvenient, to the nefarious machinations of the Enemies of Government & may eventually prevent them from dissolving the Union.” His presence was indeed preventing the dissolving of the Union. That presence made him a target for murder. In addition, there is Wilkinson’s September letter to Carondelet where he says he will “…secure myself the commandant of the army.” Wilkinson made a statement about an event, his assumption of command, that was very uncertain, at best. Or was it? Dr. Wallace used a custom common to American Indians to solve the dilemma. He dismembered the body and boiled it in a large iron kettle until the flesh dropped off. He cleaned the bones and packed them into Isaacs boxes for travel to the re-burial. Note : Isaac studied Law and was admitted to the Chester County bar in 1795. ( I suspect this was done to hide the poisoning of Wayne ) Bones Link : americanrevolution.org/wayne.html Murder link : allthingsliberty/2013/08/was-general-anthony-wayne-murdered/
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 20:09:06 +0000
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