With his request for Jefferson to reprieve Billy, Mann Page included a copy of the indictment, conviction, and sentence from the Prince William County Court.
The summary of Billy's trial included the accusation that he "did in Company of & Conjunction with diverse Enemies of the Commonwealth in armed Vessels feloniously & Traiterously Wage & Levy War against the Commonwealth." His lawyers argued that he…
On September 13, 1902, the registrar in Warren County asked Charles Wilson Butler, a blacksmith, to explain section 4 of the new state constitution. Butler replied "that you men have no right to refuse to register me." But the registrar wrote that…