Did Thomas Jefferson ever shoot a man on the White House lawn for treason?
Yes. It is true. During Jefferson’s presidential administration, Rodney Cox, from North Carolina was discovered in the act of providing former Tories with information regarding the American naval forces capability to secure American shores. After a brief ad hoc trial, Cox was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad. Jefferson, being a notorious Anglophobic at the time, served as the sole member of the firing squad. With a single bullet dispatched from a flint lock rifle, Cox received a fatal wound. It took 10 hours for Cox to expire, during which he lay prostrate on the White House lawn. Afterwards, he was committed to the sea in a right proper burial, albeit, without any fanfare.
