Well, it looks as though the escalating problems I was experiencing have now been resolved and we've returned to normal programming, I'll leave it to you folk to decide whether that's a good thing or not. ;^)
Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale. There will probably be changes in the first hour or so as I proof read it as well.
Over the next couple of hours, they discussed any potential issues with the officers of all of ships within range. Eventually Chuck sent the names of two ships to Uncle Sam to be sent to New Orleans (one of them being the USS Florida, the steam frigate that took them to Washington last time, and the other her sister ship the USS Iowa), and six ships who's officers should be investigated to determine whether their questionable loyalties represented a threat to the country. When they got to Washington, the full list would be handed to Uncle Sam, but those ships had a marked majority of officers who raised concerns.
With the important task out of the way, they settled back to relax with the others, as they had four or five days wait for the ships to arrive. Joseph pointed his glass at Chuck and Sarah. "You know, young Mister Weed filled me in on a few things on the way here, including who's ward you were Missus Barton, did you not trust me enough to tell me this?"
Tom went to speak, but he cut him off. "I'll deal with you later my boy, for now my question is for Sarah."
Sarah shook her head. "It wasn't like that Joseph, it was like Chuck told you down south, there were too many ears on the boat. We had meant to tell you once we were settled at the hacienda, but having to deal with Captain Stevens and his men took the opportunity to do so before you and Scottie went back east to organise you and your wives' move to the hacienda away from us. Then as soon as the babies were settled down, we headed east to get Alex back to school and tell the families about the other babies who were on the way. And you know how much time we had to talk when we came home from that trip to get ready for this one. We were going to tell you, but events conspired to prevent us."
Joseph nodded at that, and turned to Tom and Hattie. "So, would someone care to explain why I was not told that until recently, my daughter-in-law was working for the Secret Service under her Aunt Carina's name instead of her own?"
Tom went to answer, but Hattie put her hand on his arm to stop him. "Don't go blaming Tommy for that! It wasn't his secret to tell, it was mine. I told you that I joined the Secret Service through one of my aunt's lovers" (Joseph went to say something and she nodded quickly) "no, I called him a friend, didn't I? Well the fact is he was one of her lovers, and I must admit that I used her name and acted like her for much of the time I was in the Secret Service, up until I caught up with Sarah again and became part of their world." (Joseph had to smile when he heard her put it just as Weed had) "I met Tommy and realised that I didn't want to be like that any more, so I asked the President to help me get everything changed back to my real name, Harriet Quinlan, so I could try to be myself again, rather than a copy of my Aunt Carina."
She had tears in her eyes as she was telling him this, and Joseph stood and crossed the room to her to pull her into his arms, kissing her on the head and telling her that everything would be fine. She put her arms around him and hugged him back fiercely, and they stood like that for a while until she'd settled down and he asked softly. "Are you all right, Daughter?"
She smiled up at him tearfully and stretched up to kiss him on the cheek, whispering. "Yes, Father."
Sarah piped up at that point. "It appears that Weed has been telling you rather a lot of things Commodore?"
Joseph shook his head. "It wasn't like that Sarah," (not missing the irony of repeating her own words back to her) "he just let slip a few things, like President Grant's concern for you, and that Harriet was known as Carina when he met her, and I asked him to explain. None of it was done out of malice, he has nothing but the highest regard and affection for all of you."
He stopped and turned back to Tom. "That was the other thing I wanted to ask you Thomas, why isn't that man an officer? He's better than most officers I know!"
Tom shook his head with a smile. "Well truth be told Dad, he is an officer. Weed was given a permanent promotion to First Sergeant, a Brevet promotion to First Lieutenant and the Medal of Honor after the Battle of Cripple Creek. He reverted to First Sergeant after the war, but the President reinstated all the men with Brevet First Lieutenant promotions as Brevet Captains when we started this business in case we needed extra clout to deal with the Army when we needed them. So Weed is officially Captain Michael Johnson, but he's still using his First Sergeant rank."
Joseph nodded, and then looked at Bill and Ben thoughtfully. Tom smiled again, nodding. "Yes Dad, Bill and Ben are currently using their Brevet ranks of Captain. Hank and Jerry were also made Brevet Captains, but they've been reinstated as Brevet Majors because of their seniority. We have four more who were made Brevet First Lieutenants, so they're Brevet Captains now too."
They kept to lighter subjects after that, which included the story of how Casa Memphis had actually been the Bartowski family's home until they had to sell it in the war.
John, Chuck, Joshua (the reason Chuck had asked for him to come was that he was an experienced and respected officer, and as a lieutenant colonel he outranked everyone except for him and John down there) and Tom were overseeing the incarceration of the traitors while they awaited the Navy ships, with the men of their platoon making use of their brevet officer ranks in key positions. The officers who had been stationed at the Jackson Barracks weren't happy about being pushed aside and told what to do, but they couldn't argue with two colonels and a lieutenant colonel.
The USS Florida and USS Iowa arrived together (as sister ships, they had similar capabilities), and once they'd had their coal bunkers and water tanks filled, the prisoners were transferred to the Florida, along with their men to guard them.
While the ships were docked (with the other troopers of Tom's 'Company' and the ships' marines guarding the docks), they briefed the Captains of the two ships on how the operation would proceed. Though surprised by Joseph's presence and rank (both Captains had known him in the war, and knew that he'd been discharged after the war for medical reasons, for that matter they'd seen him a few times on social occasions since then as a civilian), they accepted their orders and his authority without question.
They left it to Joseph to brief the Captains, as Navy matters were his responsibility. The briefing was fairly simple, in essence that the prisoners would be carried on the Florida, while the Iowa would deal with anyone who tried to interfere with them. With that, the two Captains were handed their sailing instructions and they ordered their ships fired up.
When both ships had indicated that they were fired up and ready to proceed, they cast off and departed the harbour. The trip to Washington would take them about the same time as their previous trip to Washington. When the Florida and Iowa departed, three of their troopers and three of their marines headed to the station to load all of their mules onto the three waiting horse cars on the train that would take them back to Oakland, and hence the hacienda, while the other troopers returned to Washington by train.
When they arrived in Washington, the Iowa stood off below Alexandria, but the Florida proceeded on up to the Arsenal, where they signed the prisoners over to the President's aides (who they knew by sight) as previously agreed with the President. They made their goodbyes to the Captain and officers of the Florida and disembarked there as well. Joseph was a little choked up to be given full honours as a Commodore for the first (and most probably only) time as he disembarked.
Many people wondered about the cavalcade of steam carriages and wagons that trundled through Washington, especially when they all pulled into the Willard. The Willard had their bookings ready (they'd sent a confirmation before they left the Arsenal), so they were all directed straight to their rooms. As usual Adele took a bedroom in Chuck and Sarah's suite, and she'd be looking after the babies with Ellie (and a protection detail) while the main members of the team were tied up in meetings. She laughed when Sarah asked her if she'd be OK here.
"Oui, I believe that I can struggle through here Sarah!" Sarah shared her laugh and went to the other room to get back to work with Chuck, organising the evidence that they were putting together for the case against the traitors.
They really wanted to get out of there and head home to California, but they were fully expecting to be told that they'd have to stay around to testify in the trial. For that matter, they expected to get tied up in the Navy's proceedings relating to what they'd put together with Joseph about the naval officers on the ships that they'd reviewed as well.
Sarah was held up getting things ready for the babies the next morning so Chuck went in with Tom, Zondra, Andy, Ben and a protective detail, while John waited to come in with Sarah and Hattie when they were ready (Hattie was poorly as the morning sickness was starting to hit her hard).
Chuck and the others had been in with Uncle Sam for half an hour by the time Sarah, Hattie and John reached the President's house, and at that they'd saved ten minutes by coming in via the rear entrance. Bill was telling Hattie about a remedy for morning sickness that his mama had sworn by, and they were laughing about some of the ingredients that he was telling them about, when Hattie looked the other way as they turned a corner in the hall and froze.
When she first whispered "Johnny?", she was so quiet that no-one heard her, but they certainly did when she screamed "Johnny!", because the fear and horror in her voice was quite clear! They all froze when they spun around and saw what she was staring at, but only for a moment. John darted a look at Sarah, and she nodded for him to go, letting him know with that nod that she'd look after Hattie.
Sarah's nod had the effect of releasing the hounds, and John charged down the hall, with Bill and half of the protective detail trying to keep up with him. At the same time, Chuck was tearing out of Uncle Sam's office with Tom, Andy, Ben and their protective detail trying to keep up with him, as he'd felt Sarah's reaction and saw the image on her mind.
John had the man that he'd gone after down on the floor with the muzzle of his pistol tearing into the man's cheek before anyone else could reach them. The other marshals standing around had all gone for their guns when this madman had knocked Len down and put a gun to his head, but their hands went in the air quick smart when they found themselves staring down the maws of a large number of pistols.
One of the marshals was in the middle of yelling at John that he and these others were in big trouble for attacking United States Marshals like that when Chuck arrived. Chuck put a hand on his shoulder and John took a breath, trying to relax, eventually responding to the tug on his shoulder to stand up.
Chuck looked up from the creature at their feet to the one who was doing all the talking. "What is that doing here? It was supposed to be in a federal prison, or hanging from a rope a long time ago!"
The man tried to draw himself up, ignoring the futility of that act as John, Chuck Tom and Andy all towered over him. "What are you talking about? That's Len Merrick, a United States Marshal! You're the ones who will be in prison, attacking authorised government officials for no good reason like this!"
He looked up at the commotion down the hall, to see the President approaching with a military escort and sneered at Chuck. "Enjoy the daylight Sonny, it's the last you'll see of it!"
His bravado evaporated though when the President walked straight up to Chuck, asking. "Charles, what is going on?"
Chuck waved to the figure at his feet. "I was just going to ask you that Mister President! We were told that THIS was processed and dealt with a long time ago, so what is it doing here?"
Uncle Sam looked down at the man on the floor, confused. "What do you mean, who is he?"
"This is Daniel Shaw, the one who you told us had been arrested and dealt with before we left Denver!"
The Marshal with the mouth started up again. "Who is this lunatic? I've already told him that this is United States Marshal Len Merrick!"
A look from John made him shut up quick smart, and wet his pants to boot.
Uncle Sam accepted what Chuck had told him unquestioningly, but for appearances' sake he made a point of addressing John next. "Marshal Casey, can there be any doubt as to the identity of this man?"
John shook his head. "No Sir, this is definitely the man that we met as Daniel Shaw, the one we were told was supposed to be picked up from Denver by the Marshals Service and brought back here for processing, followed by incarceration or execution as a traitor. He also pissed himself when he saw me, which I'd say was confirmation that he recognised me."
He waved at the one with the mouth. "And this one seems to have an awful lot to say, so I believe we should….. Question him as well, to determine just what he knows."
The President turned to look at the man, who was all but pleading with him to save him now, all of his bravado gone, but he nodded grimly. "Very well, and perhaps you should question the rest of them as well" (glancing at Chuck and seeing him nod grimly) "to see how far this goes!"
He turned to the Captain of his guard. "Captain, take these men" (waving at the marshals) "into custody, and ensure that no-one talks to them without explicit written authority from me! You are to make sure that no-one from the Marshals Service in particular gets anywhere near them until we've confirmed just how far this goes... Other than Marshal Casey here, of course!"
"But sir, we can't leave you unguarded!"
For the first time, the grim pall over the President's face lifted as he smiled. "I can assure you Captain, I could not be safer than I would be with Colonel Barton's people!"
They escorted Uncle Sam back to his office, but they were all having trouble concentrating on the matter at hand with the Shaw matter hanging over their heads.
The first thing that Uncle Sam did upon his return to his office was to call for all the files relating to Shaw's arrest and processing, and he called Roan Montgomery to his office as well, to determine just how Shaw had slipped through the cracks. They knew about Roan's history with Hattie, so they weren't questioning him, but underhanded dealings must have been done for Shaw to be here, masquerading as a U.S. Marshal, now.
Once the files on Shaw arrived, things started to make more sense, as the two U.S. Marshals listed as having been sent to collect Shaw were Len Merrick (the name Shaw was using now) and Justin Sullivan, the mouthy one. The official report was that Shaw had been killed, trying to escape in Denver, so the real Len Merrick was presumably dead out there somewhere.
When Roan arrived, they talked the matter over and determined that in the chaos that had ensued while he was trying to straighten out the Secret Service just after he'd taken over, both he and Uncle Sam had presumed that the reports about Shaw had gone to the other one when they came in, when in fact that they'd just been salted away in the files under orders of Judge Turpin, who had also been the one who assigned Merrick and Sullivan to collect Shaw from Denver.
By now, it was obvious that there was a conspiracy going on, even more so when U.S. Marshals turned up at the cells, presenting orders (signed by Judge Turpin and Judge Frollo) to the officer of the guards watching 'Merrick', Sullivan and the others, and demanding that Merrick and Sullivan be turned over to them. Those Marshals started desperately shouting threats of dire consequences when they in turn were locked up beside the others, and the paperwork for their orders was sent straight to the President's office.
Chuck and Sarah had gone to look at the new 'Marshals', and to take a better look at the ones who had been with Shaw as well. What they came back with confirmed that the other side were already moving their minions into key positions, so they obviously had something planned. As a result of Chuck and Sarah's reports about the type of so-called 'men of the law' who were currently accumulating in Washington, and the incidents leading up to that, the President issued orders removing all Marshals except for John from the facilities where the trial prisoners were being held or processed. He put Joshua and Tom in charge of the military security forces that took over (the men who'd been sent to New Orleans made up much of this security force as they'd earned a level of trust in New Orleans), with their troopers holding all the key roles (using their brevet officer ranks).
As their security team had been appropriated to take over guarding the prisoners, Uncle Sam insisted that Chuck, Sarah and the rest of the team move into the residential wing of the President's house, where they'd be better protected.
It took a while before the hearings of the traitors from Louisiana (and the others who were being collected) could begin, because President Grant had to present evidence to those selected (after being vetted by Chuck and Sarah, of course) to preside over the trials to explain not only why other senators and judges were excluded from the process, but why it was forbidden to discuss even the existence of these trials with anyone else.
Any senators or judges with known southern sympathies, any associations with the Culper Ring, Knights of the White Camelia, White League, Knights of the Golden Circle of other organisations involved, or connections to the prisoners or others on whom they had records of nefarious activities (like Woody Woodcomb, who had yet to answer for his actions) were excluded. The majority of the judges affiliated with the United States Marshals Service had also been excluded after Judge Turpin and Judge Frollo had been arrested and incarcerated by the military. It was actually the overwhelming evidence against Turpin and Frollo, and the type of criminals that they'd been filling the United States Marshals Service with, that went a long way towards convincing the selected members of the panel to agree to the need for secrecy.
The Chief of the United States Marshals Service only barely avoided being arrested himself when he started running around squawking about how many of his marshals and judges had disappeared. The primary reason he hadn't been arrested was that there was more evidence to show that he was no more than a fool who didn't have a clue about what was going on than there was to show that he was part of this, but they still kept an eye on him, just in case.
Tom had his first argument with Chuck when the time came to 'question' Daniel Shaw, because Chuck ordered him to stay out of it, citing that he couldn't be objective because of Hattie and what Shaw had forced her to do. It was only John taking Tom aside and quietly telling him that Chuck had also taken himself out of the process for similar reasons and, in addition, had insisted that he agreed to abide by strict conditions before he allowed him to proceed with the 'questioning' that allowed Tom to reconcile with Chuck over that.
John, Hank and Jerry worked on Shaw and his partner Sullivan until they were both finished (though Sullivan's 'questioning' hadn't been drawn out for anywhere near as long as Shaw's). They went that far for two reasons, the first being that when someone is begging for his very life they are less likely to try and hold anything back unless they have far more strength of character than either of those two did. The second, and possibly more important reason, was to make damned sure that Shaw definitely gone this time.
Once they'd processed Shaw and Sullivan, they moved on to the other nine so called marshals. They were much the same as Sullivan (In all respects, Chuck and Sarah had been reeling, stomachs churning, when they'd seen their faces and heard their names, because they were recalling what they'd done to men, women and children, especially the women and children. They'd struggled to keep it in, both figuratively and literally, as they couldn't risk letting any of those images leak out for fear that their children would see them.) so all together the information extracted from them was barely twice what they'd extracted from Shaw alone, but all in all it was a good harvest, they'd extracted quite a bit of useful information from them.
John gave Chuck and Sarah the transcripts of the 'questioning', and they in turn expanded the names and information that had been extracted from the 'marshals' into a veritable mountain of evidence against corrupt marshals, judges, politicians and doyens of society by way of the memories of hundreds of dead people in their heads.
It took Chuck and Sarah the best part of a week to write up everything they put together from what John, Hank and Jerry had extracted, what with their meetings with Uncle Sam and others, and looking after their children. In this time, Hattie, Ellie and Adele were climbing the walls because John, Mei and Zondra were assisting Tom, Andy and the others with the security arrangements and they'd all sided with Tom, Andy Chuck and Sarah in insisting that Hattie, Ellie and Adele stay well away from any situations that may put them or their babies at risk (much like they'd all sided with Chuck for the same reason back when Sarah was pregnant, which was something that she took a small amount of vindictive pleasure in reminding them of, throwing their own words back at them).
Given that they couldn't be with their husbands or family while they worked (aside from Chuck and Sarah, who were working at the President's House itself), and they had to be careful around Aunt Julia and Nellie, Hattie came up with the idea for them to look into expanding the reference libraries that they'd put together for Coburn House and the hacienda, so they had the law firm send over the lists of what they'd initially put together, and began doing research into what directions that they believed that it would be beneficial to expand the libraries in.
When they finally got into the courtroom, Chuck and Sarah were proven correct, that they were indeed required to attend. At first, there was a lot of resistance from the ones selected to preside over the trials, and Chuck and Sarah knew that this related more to their own dirty laundry than the traitors', so they talked it over and agreed on taking a big chance in hope of getting those concerns out of the way. They didn't tell anyone else about what they were going to do, so Uncle Sam, the team and everyone else was caught by surprise when Chuck just put the file in his hand down and addressed those presiding directly the next time the proceedings got bogged down by their bickering.
"Gentlemen, this isn't getting us anywhere. Yes, everyone of importance was investigated to determine whether they were involved in this or other conspiracies, but we were only interested in those matters which effect the good of the country. We have no interest in pursuing youthful indiscretions at Columbia, Yale, Harvard, or even West point. So long as it was determined that these indiscretions were isolated incidents which weren't part of any greater conspiracy or on-going illegal practices, we stopped investigating questionable financial dealings that had occurred at a personal, family, or business level."
"Likewise, extra-marital affairs, whether they involved domestic staff, other worthy's daughters or wives were let lie, so long as they were consensual and didn't leave the parties open to blackmail or coercion. Even minor slips in ethics in the practices used to gain anyone's position were ignored as long as they couldn't be used to compromise your integrity."
Chuck subtly made eye contact with the person he was directing each point at to ensure that they understood that he was, in fact, addressing them directly.
"I do not know how to state this any more clearly gentlemen, we all have skeletons in our closets, but so long as they cannot be used to compromise your integrity and/or coerce you into doing anything against the interests of our country, we have no interest in exposing those skeletons for the world to see, or even to your peers."
That gave them all a lot to think about, and the room was quiet when he finished, until one of them cleared his throat. "Colonel Barton, you and your people have obviously done a very thorough job of investigating us, so I expect that you already know that I have made arrangements to ensure that my daughter is properly looked after," (Chuck nodded) "but I think that I, and I believe others as well, would feel more comfortable knowing something of your own skeletons, because… Pardon me for saying this Colonel, but you appear to be something of a saint, and saints tend to make many of us uncomfortable, because they tend to deal in hellfire and brimstone."
Chuck laughed out loud at that as he shook his head. "I can assure you that I am no saint Senator, and my wife, sister and in fact most anyone who knows me can attest to that. As for my skeletons… well, I am not Charles Barton from Boston, my real name is Charles Bartowski and I am from New Orleans, but I falsified my name, age and where I was from when I got a job with the Pony Express to get some money together after I ran away to come north and join the fight against slavery before the war against my father's wishes, and I enlisted in the Army with the Charles Barton identity when the war started. My family gave up everything to come north to try and find me during the war, and I believe that some of you may have known my father, Stephen Bartowski, from the Mexican-American War. I've also severely beaten several men for doing or saying things against those I care about. Does that help to give you any degree of comfort Senator?"
The senator stared at him, more than a little shocked that the man had so readily shared these things, as he hadn't really expected any response, and certainly nothing like what he was told. He cleared his throat again and replied "It is Colonel, and I thank you for being so candid and sharing that with us... No, sorry, I would like to ask one more thing if I may?"
Chuck just nodded. "You said that you falsified your age as well, may I ask how old you actually were at Cripple Creek?"
After communicating silently with Sarah and agreeing that they had enough to find out now if they checked anyway, he looked back at the Senator. "I was Sixteen at Cripple Creek Sir."
The shocked silence at that statement prevailed in the courtroom until Chuck spoke again. "I hope that I have managed to convince you gentlemen that the purpose of these proceedings is not a witch hunt directed at any of you, but it is in fact exactly what you have been advised, an attempt to determine how to proceed against those who have been found to be conspiring against our country for their own profit and glory." With that, he picked up the file he'd been holding and went back to his previous point.
Their gambit worked, and those presiding over the hearings were now concentrating on the matters at hand. With the problems out of the way, they proceeded to bring the conspirators into the court room to face the charges against them. Most of the time when those on trial were in the room, Chuck, Sarah, John and the others were hidden behind screens, and only spoke to present evidence to refute the claims being made by those on the stand as a general rule.
The only exceptions to that rule were when the accused had recognised their voices and started asking questions. John took great delight in confronting his father and brothers' co-conspirators and all but convincing them that he'd returned from the dead. Chuck, Sarah and John did the same to Woody Woodcomb, as Woodcomb had for some reason been convinced that Chuck, Ellie and the rest of them had died when they'd 'disappeared'.
Woodcomb hadn't bothered paying any attention to Sarah or John's names, as his only interest in Sarah had been related to her beauty and what he wanted to do to her and he'd had no interest in noting anything about John at all, so he hadn't reported their names to his Ring associates, he'd only reported that Charles and Eleanor Bartowski, along with another woman and rather large man had attacked him.
The Ring had known nothing of Charles Barton before his and Sarah's first trip to Washington, and their altercations with the ones sent to ambush them, Larkin and his supervisor. Also, when Ellie was added to the team, it was as Eleanor Helsing. It was known that Eleanor Helsing was Charles Barton's older sister, so the Ring had presumed that she was a young war widow. The military records for Charles Barton hadn't been hard to find and they hadn't bothered investigating Ellie any further after they discovered a number of Helsings among the listings of the Union soldiers killed in the war.
There had been nothing to connect either of them to the Bartowskis, so no mention had been made to Woodcomb of them, hence his shock and fear when he heard Chuck's voice in the court room, and then saw him, Sarah and John step out from behind the screen. He'd actually wet his pants, but it didn't take much to make something like Woodcomb do that.
When Woodcomb started calling Chuck Bartowski though, those presiding over the hearing looked at each other, surprised to hear this confirmation of what Colonel Barton had told them from something such as Woodcomb. (There was no way that any of them would have predicted that Woodcomb would have recognised Chuck's voice, because several of them knew the man better than Chuck did, and were well aware that he was normally oblivious to anything other than a pretty face, or a pert behind in a skirt).
It was Chuck's reaction when Woodcomb shouted dire threats of what would happen to his wife and sister when the Ring found them that sealed Woodcomb's fate though. Woodcomb had been a minor player in these conspiracies, so he had been slated to just be stripped of his position and ill gotten gains, and probably incarcerated for a short time as punishment for his actions. When they saw the fear in this hero's (they'd seen sanitised copies of Chuck's and the others' records and had read about why he'd been given the Medal of Honor, which was the senator had asked how old he really was at Cripple Creek) eyes at the threats against his family though, those presiding launched into a heated (whispered) debate, and with almost no dissension they handed down the ruling that Woodcomb would be hung.
Chuck knew why they were doing this and tried to argue against the death penalty for Woodcomb (which only served to enhance their respect for him), but they remained firm on the matter, no word of Charles Bartowski or his wife and sister would be allowed leave the courtroom, and nor would any threats of retribution against his family. They also knew about the Bartons' babies, even though Woodcomb hadn't, and they weren't about to allow any harm to come to them or the women as a result of some pathetic creature's attempt at revenge.
It had been in some ways similar when some of the Louisiana traitors had recognised Alexander Coburn's voice (after Chuck had aired some of his skeletons, Sarah had done the same, telling about pretending to be a man to attend Colombia Law and be admitted to the bar, and John had told them about how Alexander Coburn had 'died' and he'd become John Casey (though he hadn't mentioned being the Confederacy's infamous 'Bear'), and these admissions had made those presiding a lot more comfortable about what they realised these people knew about them). Those men had already been slated to be hung for their part in the conspiracy in Louisiana, but their diatribes expedited the approvals for them to be 'questioned' prior to their deaths.
These diatribes also brought up the question of the Coburn estates. Sarah thoughtfully reminded John that Alexandra was the only 'legitimate' issue of any of the Coburn family, and that they'd already had all the requisite legal paperwork to that effect officially recognised in a court of law. They could use that to protect both Alexandra's interests and the people of the Coburn plantation by having the plantation and everything else that made up the Coburn estate legally bequeathed to Alexandra Joan Coburn, as the only legitimate daughter of the 'late' Captain Alexander John Coburn, and offering the people of the plantation a stake to run it for her, with Oncle Andre in New Orleans as the nominal manager for the estate.
John was delighted with that proposal, so they requested that the hearings be adjourned for a few days while they went to New York to have Jim Goodman get Tolbert, Ives and Jager to commence proceedings to have ownership of the entire Coburn estate officially bequeathed to Alex.