Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Joseph Jenkins Napp Junior was expecting to receive a sizeable
Speaker 2: inheritance upon the death of his eighty two year old
Speaker 2: great uncle, Captain Joseph White, but with debts piling up,
Speaker 2: Napp decided he couldn't wait for natural causes. He and
Speaker 2: his brother, John Francis Knapp also known as Frank, hired
Speaker 2: a hitman to murder him, and then things got way
Speaker 2: out of their control. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Fryme in eighteen thirty When This Tail Unfolds.
Speaker 1: Captain Joseph White was a wealthy retired shipmaster and trader
Speaker 1: who lived in a grand home at one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty eight Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts. He employed Benjamin White,
Speaker 1: a distant relative who was house handyman Lydia Kimball, a
Speaker 1: domestic worker, and Mary White Beckford, his niece and housekeeper.
Speaker 1: Mary White Beckford's daughter, also named Mary, lived a short
Speaker 1: distance away in the town of Wenham, and she was
Speaker 1: married to Captain White's grand nephew Joseph Jenkins Nap Junior.
Speaker 2: Joseph Junior learned through his mother in law that White
Speaker 2: had changed his will, and he was angry that he
Speaker 2: would be getting less inheritance than he had expected and
Speaker 2: that his wife's family too had been impacted. He had
Speaker 2: an idea. He got greedy is what he got. White
Speaker 2: was a widower and had no children. He did have
Speaker 2: potential heirs, though the children of his siblings. His brother
Speaker 2: had four children and his sister had one. If he
Speaker 2: didn't name an heir, his wealth could legally have been
Speaker 2: split in basically one of two ways. If Captain White's
Speaker 2: assets were distributed per capita, each niece and nephew would
Speaker 2: receive an equal one fifth of the total fortune. Alternative,
Speaker 2: if it was divided for sturpys, then each branch of
Speaker 2: the family would receive an equal share of his estate,
Speaker 2: meaning his brother and his sister would both receive fifty percent.
Speaker 2: Joseph Junior convinced himself that if his great uncle died
Speaker 2: without a will, his mother in law White's niece would
Speaker 2: be in a position to inherit a significant amount of
Speaker 2: that fortune, and he believed that money would go directly
Speaker 2: to write into his own pocket. He was incorrect on
Speaker 2: all of this, but he didn't know that.
Speaker 1: The Captain was a wealthy member of the White family.
Speaker 1: But he wasn't necessarily a beloved family member. He was
Speaker 1: known to be a bit of a tyrant when it
Speaker 1: came to his money, and he was known to weaponize
Speaker 1: and exploit how he would distribute his assets after his
Speaker 1: death to get what he wanted while he was still alive.
Speaker 1: The Captain did not much like Joseph Junior, who had
Speaker 1: worked for him, and he considered him a quote lazy
Speaker 1: cow fortune hunter. When his grand niece Mary Beckford married
Speaker 1: Joseph Junior without White's consent, he disinherited her and fired
Speaker 1: Nap from his employment. This event is what sets our
Speaker 1: story in motion.
Speaker 2: Joseph Junior conspired first with his brother Frank to hire
Speaker 2: local criminal Richard Crowninshield to murder Captain Joseph White. The
Speaker 2: Knapp brothers had known Richard and his brother George since
Speaker 2: they were all teenagers, and Frank made the deal next
Speaker 2: to decide. When, on the night of April second, eighteen thirty,
Speaker 2: they finalized the plan, it was decided it would take
Speaker 2: place on April sixth, a night when they knew Mary
Speaker 2: White Beckford would be in Wenham at Joseph Junior's home
Speaker 2: with her daughter.
Speaker 1: Four days before the murder, so pretty close to the
Speaker 1: time they made this decision, Joseph Junior looted the Captain's
Speaker 1: iron chest, stealing what he erroneously believed to be White's
Speaker 1: legal will. An iron ches generally was used to store
Speaker 1: important and sometimes secret papers, but there was another will,
Speaker 1: a newer version favoring his nephew, Stephen White, and that
Speaker 1: will was not in his home. It was secured in
Speaker 1: the office of his lawyer. Unaware of his mistake, Joseph
Speaker 1: Junior hid the will that he had and then burned
Speaker 1: it after the murder. Basically, he ordered White's death to
Speaker 1: get his hands on a fortune that would never be
Speaker 1: his to have.
Speaker 2: On April sixth, Joseph Junior visited the Captain's home and
Speaker 2: before leaving, he unlocked the back parlor window. That night,
Speaker 2: murderer for hire, Richard Crouninshield, entered the house through the
Speaker 2: unlatched window, reaching it by climbing a wooden plank. He
Speaker 2: went to the Captain's bedroom, where he then clubbed White
Speaker 2: in the head and stabbed him multiple times with a
Speaker 2: long dagger known as a dirk while he slept. Neither
Speaker 2: of the Knapp brothers entered the house that night.
Speaker 1: The next morning, Benjamin White woke at six am, and
Speaker 1: upon opening the shutters the kitchen window, observed that the
Speaker 1: back window of the parlor was unexpectedly open. Also unexpectedly,
Speaker 1: a plank was raised to the window from the backyard.
Speaker 1: The captain's bedroom door, upon investigation, was also unexpectedly open.
Speaker 1: White was lying in his bed, his clothing and bedding
Speaker 1: saturated with blood. Nothing in the house, including valuables, appeared
Speaker 1: to have been tampered with. Nothing seemed to be missing.
Speaker 2: Stephen White was a prominent Salem merchant and political leader,
Speaker 2: and he was also the captain's favored nephew. We've seen
Speaker 2: him referred to as White's adopted son. They were that tight.
Speaker 2: He was also the principal heir to the captain's fortune.
Speaker 2: Immediately upon hearing of the death, Stephen sent for William Ward,
Speaker 2: who had been Joseph White's clerk and business assistant for
Speaker 2: many years, and Samuel Johnson, a prominent Salem position. Ward
Speaker 2: made an interesting note from the crime scene near the
Speaker 2: plank left at the open window, he discovered two footprints.
Speaker 2: This was still decades before footprints were considered important evidence,
Speaker 2: or evidence at all, but Word covered them with a
Speaker 2: milk pan to secure them from tampering and from weather
Speaker 2: in case they could be helpful.
Speaker 1: Upon cursory examination of the body, doctor Johnson concluded that
Speaker 1: the death had occurred as little as three to four
Speaker 1: hours earlier. He noted thirteen stab wounds, five in the
Speaker 1: region of the heart, three near the left nipple, and
Speaker 1: five others placed as though White's arms had been lifted
Speaker 1: up and he had been stabbed underneath. He also determined
Speaker 1: a blow to the head was the initial wound, and
Speaker 1: he concluded that a full autopsy should be conducted. Doctor Johnson,
Speaker 1: assisted by his colleague doctor Abel Pearson, performed the autopsy
Speaker 1: on April eighth. It was agreed that the skull fracture
Speaker 1: was due to a single severe blow from something like
Speaker 1: a cane or a bludgeon. The chest wounds they determined
Speaker 1: were caused by a dirk, and noted that its crossguard
Speaker 1: had struck the ribs with enough force to break them.
Speaker 1: Though Johnson believed there was one assailant, Pearson was not
Speaker 1: so sure. Stephen White gave the Salem Gazette permission to
Speaker 1: publish the autopsy findings, no matter how gruesome, and that
Speaker 1: report read, in part quote, A fracture of the skull
Speaker 1: bone was discovered, the largest diameter of which was three
Speaker 1: and a half inches. This portion of bone was depressed
Speaker 1: below the level of the surrounding skull and was somewhat
Speaker 1: loose and moveable. On examining the heart, there were found
Speaker 1: at its apex two wounds. Also, a little nearer the
Speaker 1: base of the heart were two long slits. The slits
Speaker 1: were found connected with the perforations and were evidently produced
Speaker 1: by the same blows. The posterior and inferior portion of
Speaker 1: the left lung was likewise perforated in several places.
Speaker 2: The residents of Salem were shocked, one that there'd been
Speaker 2: a murder, but two a murder of such a prominent citizen,
Speaker 2: contrary to his behavior with his family. People in town
Speaker 2: considered White to be quite amicable. They organized a twenty
Speaker 2: seven member group they called a Committee of Vigilance, also
Speaker 2: known as the Vigilance Committee, to investigate Vigilante groups like
Speaker 2: this are typically citizens who organize outside of legal authority
Speaker 2: to keep order and punish criminals because they believe the
Speaker 2: usual legal agencies to be inadequate, or in some cases
Speaker 2: those agencies just don't exist. The committee was sanctioned to
Speaker 2: do things law enforcement could not, such as quote, search
Speaker 2: any house without a warrant and interrogate every individual. So
Speaker 2: if you're thinking, but yes, you are right. This was
Speaker 2: in direct opposition to the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
Speaker 2: But that's not what the citizens of Salem were worried
Speaker 2: about in that moment. They were worried about a brutal murderer.
Speaker 1: At large.
Speaker 2: Rewards and some quite sizable, were offered for information leading
Speaker 2: to the perpetrator or perpetrators and for any information about
Speaker 2: the crime. Immediately after the Captain's death, Stephen White offered
Speaker 2: a one thousand dollars reward. Soon after, the town fathers
Speaker 2: offered five hundred dollars for information about the crime.
Speaker 1: There were many articles published addressing moral outrage in Salem,
Speaker 1: as well as general confusion among its residents, and the
Speaker 1: press seemed to print more commentary than actual news. On
Speaker 1: April ninth, the Salem Gazette published quote, A murder has
Speaker 1: been perpetrated so horrible and atrocious that we should in
Speaker 1: vain search the records of crime in any country for
Speaker 1: a case exceeding it in the single purpose of the
Speaker 1: perpetrator seems to have been the taking of life. The
Speaker 1: next day, the Salem Observer reported on the climate this
Speaker 1: created among residents of Salem, stating, quote, the imagination of
Speaker 1: everyone is busy not only devising possible ways in which
Speaker 1: the assassin proceeded to execute his hellish purpose, but also
Speaker 1: in framing adequate motives for his conduct.
Speaker 2: About three weeks after the murder, while emotions were still
Speaker 2: running very high, the Knap brothers came forward to falsely
Speaker 2: testify before the Vigilance Committee that on the night prior
Speaker 2: to the murder, they were approached near Wenham Pond by
Speaker 2: three robbers who had come upon their carriage while they
Speaker 2: were returning from Salem to their home and Wenham, a
Speaker 2: journey that's less than ten miles. One of them grabbed
Speaker 2: the horse's bridle, and the other two stole a small
Speaker 2: trunk they were carrying in the bottom of their carriage
Speaker 2: and that tall tail. That just added to the confusion
Speaker 2: of the scene, and it led many to fear that
Speaker 2: there was a gang of criminals at work. In their village.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break here for a word
Speaker 1: from our sponsors. When we return, we will talk about
Speaker 1: how authorities started to close in on the perpetrator, who
Speaker 1: sent blackmail letters to whom and who gave a detailed
Speaker 1: written confession about the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's keep moving along with the case,
Speaker 2: specifically when and how investigators finally got their first clue.
Speaker 1: There were no clues in the case until Stephen White
Speaker 1: received a letter from a jailer roughly eighty miles away
Speaker 1: in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was holding a relatively un
Speaker 1: own petty thief who stated that he knew a man
Speaker 1: named Richard Crowninshield who had told him that he intended
Speaker 1: to kill Captain Joseph White in Salem. Following up on
Speaker 1: this lead, the Vigilance Committee learned that the prisoner named
Speaker 1: Hatch had been arrested for shoplifting and had been in
Speaker 1: jail the night of White's murder, but had some interesting
Speaker 1: information about White's death. During questioning, the committee learned that
Speaker 1: a few months before the murder, back in February, before
Speaker 1: Hatch was incarcerated, he had overheard Richard and George Crowninshield
Speaker 1: discussing their intent to steal Joseph White's iron chest. He
Speaker 1: also overheard them discussing their murderous intentions at the gambling
Speaker 1: house that night. The Crown and Shields were a notable
Speaker 1: and wealthy local family. Richard and George, though preferred spending
Speaker 1: their time in quote haunts of vice.
Speaker 2: The Committee of Vigilance brought Hatch to testify before a
Speaker 2: Salem grand jury, after which on May fifth, Richard Crowninshield
Speaker 2: was indicted for murder. George Crowninshield, as well as two
Speaker 2: men who'd been in the gambling house that same night
Speaker 2: as Hatch, were charged with abetting the crime. The two men,
Speaker 2: Selman and Chase, were soon discharged.
Speaker 1: About a week later. On May fourteenth, Joseph J. Knapp, senior,
Speaker 1: father of the Nap brothers, received correspondence from a mister
Speaker 1: Charles Grant of Belfast, Maine, who was demanding a large
Speaker 1: sum of money to avoid quote ruinous disclosures regarding the Naps.
Speaker 1: Grant wrote, quote, I am acquainted with your brother Franklin
Speaker 1: and also the business that he was transacting for you
Speaker 1: on the second of April last and that I think
Speaker 1: you were very extravagant in giving one thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: the person that would execute the business for you. You see,
Speaker 1: such things will break out. This letter, a blackmail letter,
Speaker 1: made no sense to Joseph Senior. He didn't know anyone
Speaker 1: by the name of Charles Grant, he had no acquaintances
Speaker 1: in Belfast, Maine, and he was completely boggled why he
Speaker 1: needed to pay three hundred and fifty dollars. Alarmed, he
Speaker 1: consulted with his sons, and Joseph Junior, the letter's intended recipient,
Speaker 1: called it quote a devilish lot of trash, and he
Speaker 1: advised his father to take it to the Vigilance Committee,
Speaker 1: and Joseph Senior did just that.
Speaker 2: And then Joseph Junior wrote two letters, both claiming to
Speaker 2: be from Charles Grant. The first letter was sent to
Speaker 2: the Committee of Vigilance, in which he claimed that he
Speaker 2: now remember Joseph Junior is pretending here to be Grant
Speaker 2: had been hired to murder Joseph White by the Captain's nephew,
Speaker 2: Stephen White. The second letter from the fake Grant was
Speaker 2: sent to Stephen White, demanding payment for the murder and
Speaker 2: read as follows, quote, mister White sent five thousand dollars
Speaker 2: or part of it before tomorrow night, or suffer the
Speaker 2: painful consol sequences Grant.
Speaker 1: Things were getting tense. According to one published account, one
Speaker 1: of Stephen White's brothers in law, discovering that Stephen had
Speaker 1: inherited the bulk of the captain's estate quote, seized White
Speaker 1: by the collar, shook him violently in the presence of family,
Speaker 1: and then he accused him of being the murderer. And
Speaker 1: as we know, he got that wrong.
Speaker 2: The Vigilance Committee sent fifty dollars anonymously to Grant, promising
Speaker 2: to send more. They also sent a messenger to Belfast, Maine,
Speaker 2: where they'd arranged to arrest at the post office whomever
Speaker 2: came to retrieve Grant's mail. When a man identifying as
Speaker 2: their target collected the extortion money, he was taken into custody.
Speaker 2: But Grant, it turned out, wasn't Charles Grant either. He
Speaker 2: was an ex convict named Palmer, and he was a
Speaker 2: friend and associate of Richard Crowninshield. He had been privy
Speaker 2: to the whole murderous plot, and he knew it was
Speaker 2: the Knap brothers who instigated the entire thing. Palmer was
Speaker 2: detained as a possible accessory to the Captain's murder and
Speaker 2: was promised immunity for his testimony against the perpetrators.
Speaker 1: Palmer made the following statement quote, I have been an
Speaker 1: associate of George and Richard Crown and Shield, and on
Speaker 1: April second, eighteen thirty, I was sitting by a window
Speaker 1: in their house and saw Frank Knapp drive up the
Speaker 1: Crown and Shield brothers and Nap then went for a walk.
Speaker 1: Upon their return, George and Richard informed me that Frank
Speaker 1: Knapp had asked them to kill mister White and that
Speaker 1: Joseph Napp Junior would pay one thousand dollars for the job.
Speaker 1: Several different modes of executing it were discussed, but it
Speaker 1: was finally decided to kill him at night when Missus
Speaker 1: Beckford was not home. After his testimony and the discovery
Speaker 1: that the false letters written to the committee and to
Speaker 1: Stephen White were in Joseph Junior's handwriting, warrants for the
Speaker 1: arrests of the Nap brothers were procured.
Speaker 2: Richard Crowninshield initially was certain that he would be found innocent.
Speaker 2: He kept quiet after his arrest. After all he knew
Speaker 2: if he implicated Frank or Joseph Jr. He would be
Speaker 2: confessing to his own role in the crime. During his imprisonment,
Speaker 2: he asked for books on mathematics as well as Cicero's orations,
Speaker 2: But everything changed for him when Joseph Junior confessed to
Speaker 2: his role in the murder plot. It was on his
Speaker 2: third day of imprisonment when Napp made a full confession.
Speaker 2: He laid it all out, from his motive to his
Speaker 2: role in planning the murder, to fabricating the story of
Speaker 2: being robbed and for forging blackmail letters. The confession document
Speaker 2: was penned by the Reverend Henry Coleman, a close friend
Speaker 2: of the White family, but was signed by Napp.
Speaker 1: That confession was nine pages long, and we'll share some
Speaker 1: of the details that he provided. Quote. I knew that
Speaker 1: mister White had made out a will in which he
Speaker 1: gave my mother in law, Missus Beckford, a legacy of
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand dollars, according to my understanding of the law,
Speaker 1: which I have since learned was erroneous, I believed she
Speaker 1: would get two hundred thousand if no will was found.
Speaker 1: I therefore decided to steal the will and have mister
Speaker 1: White assassinated. My brother Frank negotiated with Richard Crown and Shield,
Speaker 1: who agreed to do the deed for one thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Crown and Shield and my brother Frank met at ten
Speaker 1: o'clock that night by appointment and proceeded to a spot
Speaker 1: where they could observe the movements in White's mansion. It
Speaker 1: was a beautiful moonlit night. Crown and Shield requested Frank
Speaker 1: to go home. He left, but soon returned.
Speaker 2: His confession continued quote. During his absence, the lights in
Speaker 2: the mansion were extinguished, and shortly afterward, the hired assassin
Speaker 2: placed a plank against the house, entered the window, and
Speaker 2: crept upstairs to White's sleeping chamber. Crown and Shield swung
Speaker 2: his bludgeon and struck White on the left temple, probably
Speaker 2: killing him instantly, but to be certain, he lowered the
Speaker 2: bedclothes and stabbed him repeatedly in the region of the heart.
Speaker 2: He then felt his pulse, and, being satisfied that the
Speaker 2: job was well done, he departed. He met Frank on
Speaker 2: a side street. After hiding the bludgeon under the steps
Speaker 2: of a meetinghouse on Howard Street, he returned to Danvers.
Speaker 2: I was home in Wenham on this night.
Speaker 1: Joseph Junior continued, quote. A few days later, Crown and Shield,
Speaker 1: accompanied by my brother Frank, called on me at my
Speaker 1: home in Wenham and demanded his money. I was only
Speaker 1: able to pay him one hundred five franc pieces. He
Speaker 1: related to me all the details of the assassination, and
Speaker 1: I informed him that our work had been all in vain,
Speaker 1: that the will I stole was not the last one,
Speaker 1: and even if it had been, my object would not
Speaker 1: have been accomplished because of my misunderstanding of the law.
Speaker 1: The story my brother and I told the Vigilance Committee
Speaker 1: on April twenty seventh in regard to the alleged robbery
Speaker 1: was a sheer fabrication, and he added quote it was
Speaker 1: I who wrote the two anonymous letters.
Speaker 2: Of the weapons used. Joseph Junior described them as quote.
Speaker 2: The bludgeon was two feet long, turned of hardwood, and
Speaker 2: ornamented with beads at the end to keep it from slipping.
Speaker 2: The dirk was about five inches long on the blade,
Speaker 2: sharp at both edges and taboring to a point. Officers
Speaker 2: immediately proceeded to the meetinghouse on Howard Street, where they
Speaker 2: found the bludgeon described by Nap exactly where he said
Speaker 2: under the steps.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break here for a word
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and when we're back we will introduce
Speaker 1: lead prosecutor Daniel Webster and why it was such a
Speaker 1: big deal that he signed on to this case.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. We're going to talk about the
Speaker 2: details of the trial, but before we do, we have
Speaker 2: to address another life taken.
Speaker 1: This story is just tragedy upon tragedy, and here we
Speaker 1: have another. When he learned about Joseph Junior's confession, Richard,
Speaker 1: seeing no hope, on June fifteenth, took his own life
Speaker 1: in his jail cell. That act, in the eyes of
Speaker 1: the law, created a problem. Here's why the Knapp brothers
Speaker 1: were to have been tried as accessories to murder. But
Speaker 1: under the existing law of the time, accessories to murder
Speaker 1: couldn't be convicted unless the actual murderer was first convicted.
Speaker 1: Crown and Shield had been the actual murderer, the principal
Speaker 1: in the crime, and now he couldn't be tried.
Speaker 2: But still they went on with the trials. And will
Speaker 2: explain how that problem was resolved. In just a moment.
Speaker 2: The case was heard by judges Marcus Morton, Samuel Putnam,
Speaker 2: and Samuel S. Wilde and tried before the Salem Division
Speaker 2: of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Frank Knap's trial began
Speaker 2: during the court's July term. His brother, Joseph Juniors began
Speaker 2: in November that same year. Joseph Junior was promised immunity
Speaker 2: if he would testify for the prosecution, but when he
Speaker 2: was called to the stand, he refused to testify against
Speaker 2: his brother. A strong case was made, however, without his assistance.
Speaker 1: And that's because Stephen White asked lawyer, lawmaker, and future
Speaker 1: Secretary of State Daniel Webster to prosecute the case. Webster
Speaker 1: didn't immediately jump at the chance. Not yet fifty, he
Speaker 1: had already served several terms in the House of Representatives
Speaker 1: before being elected to the United States Senate in eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty seven. He was known as a distinguished defense attorney
Speaker 1: and called the Great Daniel Webster because his courtroom skills
Speaker 1: were impeccable and his oration very persuasive. Will emphasize again
Speaker 1: defense attorney. He also considered that his personal connections with
Speaker 1: the victim's relatives raised some issues over legal ethics, but
Speaker 1: In the end he agreed, and he was paid a
Speaker 1: fee of one thousand dollars by Stephen White to assist
Speaker 1: the prosecution, although this really meant that he was leading
Speaker 1: the prosecution.
Speaker 2: With a bit of legal paperwork. An indictment for murder
Speaker 2: was found against Frank Knapp, with Joseph J. Knapp Junior
Speaker 2: and George Crowninshield named as accessories to that murder. Webster
Speaker 2: began by addressing the jury regarding his switch from defense
Speaker 2: to prosecution, as follows quotes, I am a little accustomed
Speaker 2: gentleman to the part which I am now attempting to perform.
Speaker 2: Hardly more than once or twice has it happened to
Speaker 2: me to be concerned on the side of the government
Speaker 2: in any criminal prosecution whatever, and never until the present occasion,
Speaker 2: in any case affecting life.
Speaker 1: He described Captain White's murder as quote a most extraordinary
Speaker 1: case in some respects. It has hardly a precedent anywhere,
Speaker 1: certainly none in our New England history. This bloody drama
Speaker 1: exhibited no suddenly excited, ungovernable rage. The actors in it
Speaker 1: were not surprised by any lion like temptations springing upon
Speaker 1: their virtue and overcoming it before resistance could begin. Nor
Speaker 1: did they do the deed to glut savage vengeance or
Speaker 1: satiate long settled and deadly hate. It was a cool,
Speaker 1: calculating money making murder. It was all higher in salary,
Speaker 1: not revenge. It was the weighing of money against life,
Speaker 1: the counting out of so many pieces of silver again,
Speaker 1: so many ounces of blood.
Speaker 2: Frank Knapp's defense attorneys, Franklin Dexter and W. H. Gardner,
Speaker 2: argued that Knapp had been outside the house, standing in
Speaker 2: the street, at least three hundred feet away from the
Speaker 2: bedroom where the murder took place. Trying to keep the
Speaker 2: focus of the trial on the fact that Webster had
Speaker 2: not satisfied the legal requirements for conviction, the defense stated, quote,
Speaker 2: upon this evidence, the prisoner cannot be convicted as a
Speaker 2: principle in the murder. A principle in the second degree,
Speaker 2: according to the law of England, is by our statutes
Speaker 2: an accessory before the fact, and cannot be tried until
Speaker 2: there has been a conviction of the principle.
Speaker 1: In response to this, Webster stated, quote, to constitute a presence,
Speaker 1: it is sufficient if the accomplice is in a place
Speaker 1: either where he may render aid to the perpetrator of
Speaker 1: the felony, or where the perpetrator supposes he may render aid.
Speaker 1: If they selected the place to afford assistance, whether it
Speaker 1: was well or ill chosen for that purpose is immaterial.
Speaker 1: The perpetrator would derive courage and confidence from the knowledge
Speaker 1: that his associate was in the place appointed. Technically, the
Speaker 1: law supported the defense, so it was not an easy
Speaker 1: case for Webster to argue or for a jury to decide.
Speaker 1: Without Richard as the principal in the murder case, Webster
Speaker 1: had to establish that Frank Knapp had been more than
Speaker 1: an accessory. He argued that Frank wasn't just casually waiting
Speaker 1: outside on Brown Street. He asserted that Frank gave direct
Speaker 1: aid to the murderer. The jury deliberated for twenty five
Speaker 1: hours before announcing that they were deadlocked. The judge declared
Speaker 1: a mistrial and the case was retried two days later.
Speaker 2: It was reported that the crowds of people trying to
Speaker 2: enter the courtroom to watch Webster were like quote, the
Speaker 2: tide boiling up on the rocks. He was arismatic, and
Speaker 2: he was a force of nature. Webster addressed the jury
Speaker 2: again stating, quote, are the Croninshields and the Naps innocent?
Speaker 2: What is innocence? How deep stained with blood, how reckless
Speaker 2: in crime, how deep into pravity may it be, and
Speaker 2: yet retain innocence. The law is made if we would
Speaker 2: speak with entire accuracy to protect the innocent by punishing
Speaker 2: the guilty. But there are those innocent out of court
Speaker 2: as well as innocent prisoners at the bar.
Speaker 1: This time, it took just five hours of deliberation. The
Speaker 1: jury agreed with Webster that John Francis Knapp, whom we
Speaker 1: have been calling Frank, was principal to the crime, and
Speaker 1: convicted him of murder. Four months later, Joseph Junior was
Speaker 1: convicted as well. The Knap brothers were both sentenced to
Speaker 1: execution by hanging Frank on September twenty eighth, eighteen thirty
Speaker 1: and Joseph Junior on December thirty first, eighteen thirty and
Speaker 1: George Crown and Shields. Don't worry. We did not forget
Speaker 1: about him. But he dropped out of the story when
Speaker 1: he proved that he had spent the night of the
Speaker 1: murder with two women. Both of those women provided him
Speaker 1: with an alibi, and he was acquitted.
Speaker 2: In the end, this became one of the first cases
Speaker 2: in which accessories to murder were tried, convicted, and executed,
Speaker 2: despite the fact that the actual murderer was never convicted.
Speaker 2: So also, it's true that fictional murder mysteries are often
Speaker 2: based on real murders, right, and this is one of
Speaker 2: those murders, not for its outcome or that White had
Speaker 2: been wealthy, but because of Daniel Webster and his outstanding
Speaker 2: legal performance. The trials spawned pamphlets and broadsides, and many
Speaker 2: scholars believe that American writer Edgar Allan Poe relied heavily
Speaker 2: on Webster's oratory prowess when writing the dramatic and deliberate
Speaker 2: speech of the narrator in his short story The Telltale Heart,
Speaker 2: which he first published in eighteen forty three. Poe pops
Speaker 2: up a lot on the show Poe Is everywhere. It
Speaker 2: takes influence on a lot of things in life.
Speaker 1: Of course, he does. Would you like to have a
Speaker 1: little coercion concoction that story? Yes, consider this case. This
Speaker 1: was an interesting one for me. I accidentally made something
Speaker 1: better than I intended to. If that makes sense. It
Speaker 1: does make sense because I knew from the beginning, I
Speaker 1: wanted to call this drink blunt force, because that was
Speaker 1: the manner of death. H Ia is a little grizzly.
Speaker 1: But I thought, oh, I'll make a really strong drink
Speaker 1: that is maybe not a soft, delicious sip, but has
Speaker 1: its own unique thing. I ended up making something delicious.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's gonna also shock you because it involves
Speaker 1: we're gonna kick right off with something that I am not.
Speaker 1: Some people love, but I have been very open. I
Speaker 1: don't especially love it. I also was a little inspired
Speaker 1: by drinks like the Sasarac coming into being around this time,
Speaker 1: although in New Orleans, not in Massachusetts. But so we're
Speaker 1: gonna start with a glazed glass. That's my Sazaac inspiration here.
Speaker 1: And you're gonna glaze your rocks glass with COMPARI whoa,
Speaker 1: I know, right, pour a little bit in, roll it
Speaker 1: around in there to glaze the whole interior, and then
Speaker 1: fill it with ice and let that sit and get
Speaker 1: cold while you were making the rest of the drink.
Speaker 1: So then into your shaker you were gonna put three
Speaker 1: quarters of an ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice. A
Speaker 1: quarter ounce of orjois a half ounce of Saint Germain
Speaker 1: or another elderflower liqueur, and then an ounce and a
Speaker 1: half of rum. Take this and get a nice and
Speaker 1: cold and strain it into your glazed glass. Had this
Speaker 1: been the end of the drink, you would have been like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is what you wanted to do. But I didn't
Speaker 1: love it. I wanted it to be at least a
Speaker 1: little more tasty. It was just too heavy. It wasn't bad,
Speaker 1: kept going, but it was too heavy. And then I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what I bought recently on a whim,
Speaker 1: some blood orange ginger beer.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: So I just added not very much an ounce to
Speaker 1: an ounce and a half on top of it, and
Speaker 1: it suddenly became the most delicious interesting. It's a little complex.
Speaker 1: I get a little bit of almost a prickly effect
Speaker 1: on my lips from the campari because it's bitter and
Speaker 1: it's right there at the glass, but it's so incredibly delicious.
Speaker 1: I will say this in case you're like, blood orange
Speaker 1: ginger beer, Where am I going to find that? The
Speaker 1: answer is it's actually pretty easy these days. It's quite popular.
Speaker 1: If you cannot, though, don't worry, I got you. If
Speaker 1: you can find blood oranges. You can add about a
Speaker 1: half ounce of blood orange juice and regular ginger beer.
Speaker 1: That's an option like an ounce of ginger beer. If
Speaker 1: you don't have that either, you can do a half
Speaker 1: ounce of grapefruit juice with a couple dashes of bitters,
Speaker 1: and then your ginger beer. And that is the blunt force.
Speaker 1: Now the mocktail for this we gotta skip the glaze.
Speaker 1: I don't know a good way to approximate COMPARI and
Speaker 1: it's very unique, very bitter. Liqueur call it bitter again,
Speaker 1: do not worry, though, we have a delicious drink free
Speaker 1: in this instance. Start with your blood orange ginger beer
Speaker 1: as the main star. And again same substitutions. If you
Speaker 1: can't find that you can squeeze blood orange, you can
Speaker 1: use grapefruit juice and bitters if you are amenable to them.
Speaker 1: Some people don't do bitters even at all if they're
Speaker 1: one hundred percent alcohol free. And then you are going
Speaker 1: to add a half ounce of an elderflower syrup, which
Speaker 1: is pretty easy to get. Also, same thing, quarter ounce
Speaker 1: of almond syrup, three quarters or or jia, three quarders
Speaker 1: of an ounce of lime juice, and I would actually
Speaker 1: just say, skip the rum, just double up on your
Speaker 1: blood orange ginger beer to three ounces, because in this
Speaker 1: case we're not using a spiced rum. We're using a
Speaker 1: white rum, a clear rum, and it doesn't add to
Speaker 1: my palette in the final drink a significant element to
Speaker 1: the flavor profile. So you can skip it and just
Speaker 1: double up on your ginger beer, which is delicious anyway.
Speaker 1: That is the blunt force, which is stupidly delicious. I
Speaker 1: meant to make a drink that was mean and had,
Speaker 1: you know that thing like when there are just some
Speaker 1: drinks that we'd joke. It felt like I got slapped
Speaker 1: by this drink, and I wanted to do that, and
Speaker 1: then I instead made something yummy in my tummy.
Speaker 2: So I love this blood orange ginger beer addition to this.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, me too.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I literally found mine in my grocery store. I wasn't
Speaker 1: even on the regular soda ale and I checked, and
Speaker 1: a lot of grocery stores in my area carry it.
Speaker 1: So I think it probably is not too hard to
Speaker 1: get just about anywhere, at least in the US. If
Speaker 1: you're outside the US, I don't know. It's because I
Speaker 1: also don't know what is available in your grocery stores
Speaker 1: that I don't have access to that would probably make
Speaker 1: me happy weekend.
Speaker 2: Just go shopping and shoo stores.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna I'm gonna fly to France and see
Speaker 1: what they have in their grocery stores for the weekend.
Speaker 2: Sounds good.
Speaker 1: Be right back, babe, Gonna go get groceries Paris. Oh great,
Speaker 1: as long as I have time for to hit my
Speaker 1: favorite bars of Paris and my favorite restaurants of Paris.
Speaker 1: Right a little walk along the Seine sounds amazing. We
Speaker 1: are so grateful that you are hanging out with us
Speaker 1: to hear these stories and hear us talk about drinks.
Speaker 1: We will be right back here again next week with
Speaker 1: another story of blackmail and another coercion concoction. Criminalia is
Speaker 1: a production of shondaland A in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows