and one of the reasons that it got so big so fast was that william henry seward, who was then best known as the governor of recent governor of new york, defended freeman pro bono. and, of course, we know that 20 years later, after this, william henry seward would become the secretary of state to abraham lincoln and he would broker the sale of alaska. if you've ever heard of seward's folly. that's him. that was in the future, however. the prosecutor was john van buren, who was the son of the recent president. martin van buren. so this was a clash of the titans, and it got very big, very fast. and the there were daily transcripts of the trial, went out daily on telegraph, and they got published far and wide. the trial attracted the commentary of walt whitman, james mccune smith, horace greeley, a lot of very well-known people commented on it. now, freeman was entirely clear about why he killed he wanted back pay, and if he couldn't have it, he would have payback. but no one, the prosecution or the defense, wanted to hear freeman's challenge to the auburn system, because the auburn system w