WEBVTT - Inheritance Lost: The Murder of Captain Joseph White 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:12.920 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.440 Joseph Jenkins Napp Junior was expecting to receive a sizeable 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.800 inheritance upon the death of his eighty two year old 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:25.640 great uncle, Captain Joseph White, but with debts piling up, 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:29.520 Napp decided he couldn't wait for natural causes. He and 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.960 his brother, John Francis Knapp also known as Frank, hired 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.080 a hitman to murder him, and then things got way 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:41.519 out of their control. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria Tremarky. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:46.000 And I'm Holly Fryme in eighteen thirty When This Tail Unfolds. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:50.159 Captain Joseph White was a wealthy retired shipmaster and trader 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.040 who lived in a grand home at one hundred and 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:58.440 twenty eight Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts. He employed Benjamin White, 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.720 a distant relative who was house handyman Lydia Kimball, a 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:07.040 domestic worker, and Mary White Beckford, his niece and housekeeper. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.560 Mary White Beckford's daughter, also named Mary, lived a short 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.360 distance away in the town of Wenham, and she was 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.480 married to Captain White's grand nephew Joseph Jenkins Nap Junior. 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.759 Joseph Junior learned through his mother in law that White 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.600 had changed his will, and he was angry that he 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:28.560 would be getting less inheritance than he had expected and 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.080 that his wife's family too had been impacted. He had 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.839 an idea. He got greedy is what he got. White 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.880 was a widower and had no children. He did have 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.000 potential heirs, though the children of his siblings. His brother 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.920 had four children and his sister had one. If he 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.680 didn't name an heir, his wealth could legally have been 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.360 split in basically one of two ways. If Captain White's 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.640 assets were distributed per capita, each niece and nephew would 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:00.080 receive an equal one fifth of the total fortune. Alternative, 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.200 if it was divided for sturpys, then each branch of 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.840 the family would receive an equal share of his estate, 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:10.200 meaning his brother and his sister would both receive fifty percent. 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.040 Joseph Junior convinced himself that if his great uncle died 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.960 without a will, his mother in law White's niece would 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.800 be in a position to inherit a significant amount of 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:25.239 that fortune, and he believed that money would go directly 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:29.160 to write into his own pocket. He was incorrect on 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.239 all of this, but he didn't know that. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.320 The Captain was a wealthy member of the White family. 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.200 But he wasn't necessarily a beloved family member. He was 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.160 known to be a bit of a tyrant when it 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.000 came to his money, and he was known to weaponize 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.520 and exploit how he would distribute his assets after his 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.800 death to get what he wanted while he was still alive. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.160 The Captain did not much like Joseph Junior, who had 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.520 worked for him, and he considered him a quote lazy 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:04.320 cow fortune hunter. When his grand niece Mary Beckford married 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.840 Joseph Junior without White's consent, he disinherited her and fired 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.600 Nap from his employment. This event is what sets our 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:13.520 story in motion. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.760 Joseph Junior conspired first with his brother Frank to hire 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:24.400 local criminal Richard Crowninshield to murder Captain Joseph White. The 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.560 Knapp brothers had known Richard and his brother George since 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.680 they were all teenagers, and Frank made the deal next 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:36.200 to decide. When, on the night of April second, eighteen thirty, 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.360 they finalized the plan, it was decided it would take 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:42.040 place on April sixth, a night when they knew Mary 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.120 White Beckford would be in Wenham at Joseph Junior's home 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:46.080 with her daughter. 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.680 Four days before the murder, so pretty close to the 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.560 time they made this decision, Joseph Junior looted the Captain's 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.600 iron chest, stealing what he erroneously believed to be White's 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.640 legal will. An iron ches generally was used to store 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:07.520 important and sometimes secret papers, but there was another will, 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.280 a newer version favoring his nephew, Stephen White, and that 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.240 will was not in his home. It was secured in 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.760 the office of his lawyer. Unaware of his mistake, Joseph 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.920 Junior hid the will that he had and then burned 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.520 it after the murder. Basically, he ordered White's death to 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:29.680 get his hands on a fortune that would never be 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:30.599 his to have. 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.800 On April sixth, Joseph Junior visited the Captain's home and 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.000 before leaving, he unlocked the back parlor window. That night, 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.920 murderer for hire, Richard Crouninshield, entered the house through the 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.000 unlatched window, reaching it by climbing a wooden plank. He 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.640 went to the Captain's bedroom, where he then clubbed White 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.479 in the head and stabbed him multiple times with a 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:57.080 long dagger known as a dirk while he slept. Neither 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.279 of the Knapp brothers entered the house that night. 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.159 The next morning, Benjamin White woke at six am, and 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.919 upon opening the shutters the kitchen window, observed that the 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:14.320 back window of the parlor was unexpectedly open. Also unexpectedly, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.919 a plank was raised to the window from the backyard. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:23.240 The captain's bedroom door, upon investigation, was also unexpectedly open. 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.320 White was lying in his bed, his clothing and bedding 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:32.640 saturated with blood. Nothing in the house, including valuables, appeared 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.960 to have been tampered with. Nothing seemed to be missing. 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.320 Stephen White was a prominent Salem merchant and political leader, 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:44.800 and he was also the captain's favored nephew. We've seen 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.359 him referred to as White's adopted son. They were that tight. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.640 He was also the principal heir to the captain's fortune. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:57.040 Immediately upon hearing of the death, Stephen sent for William Ward, 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.160 who had been Joseph White's clerk and business assistant for 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:05.559 many years, and Samuel Johnson, a prominent Salem position. Ward 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.040 made an interesting note from the crime scene near the 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.360 plank left at the open window, he discovered two footprints. 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.600 This was still decades before footprints were considered important evidence, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.719 or evidence at all, but Word covered them with a 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.279 milk pan to secure them from tampering and from weather 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:23.839 in case they could be helpful. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:29.200 Upon cursory examination of the body, doctor Johnson concluded that 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.560 the death had occurred as little as three to four 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:37.080 hours earlier. He noted thirteen stab wounds, five in the 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:40.320 region of the heart, three near the left nipple, and 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.840 five others placed as though White's arms had been lifted 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.800 up and he had been stabbed underneath. He also determined 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.880 a blow to the head was the initial wound, and 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:56.000 he concluded that a full autopsy should be conducted. Doctor Johnson, 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.840 assisted by his colleague doctor Abel Pearson, performed the autopsy 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:03.040 on April eighth. It was agreed that the skull fracture 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.279 was due to a single severe blow from something like 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.080 a cane or a bludgeon. The chest wounds they determined 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.520 were caused by a dirk, and noted that its crossguard 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.160 had struck the ribs with enough force to break them. 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.800 Though Johnson believed there was one assailant, Pearson was not 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:25.000 so sure. Stephen White gave the Salem Gazette permission to 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:29.480 publish the autopsy findings, no matter how gruesome, and that 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.800 report read, in part quote, A fracture of the skull 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:36.560 bone was discovered, the largest diameter of which was three 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:40.320 and a half inches. This portion of bone was depressed 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.480 below the level of the surrounding skull and was somewhat 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:47.520 loose and moveable. On examining the heart, there were found 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:51.480 at its apex two wounds. Also, a little nearer the 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.960 base of the heart were two long slits. The slits 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.600 were found connected with the perforations and were evidently produced 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:03.040 by the same blows. The posterior and inferior portion of 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:07.080 the left lung was likewise perforated in several places. 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.520 The residents of Salem were shocked, one that there'd been 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.120 a murder, but two a murder of such a prominent citizen, 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.240 contrary to his behavior with his family. People in town 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:24.480 considered White to be quite amicable. They organized a twenty 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.679 seven member group they called a Committee of Vigilance, also 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:32.240 known as the Vigilance Committee, to investigate Vigilante groups like 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.520 this are typically citizens who organize outside of legal authority 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.880 to keep order and punish criminals because they believe the 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.120 usual legal agencies to be inadequate, or in some cases 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.640 those agencies just don't exist. The committee was sanctioned to 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.520 do things law enforcement could not, such as quote, search 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:58.320 any house without a warrant and interrogate every individual. So 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.480 if you're thinking, but yes, you are right. This was 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.960 in direct opposition to the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.000 But that's not what the citizens of Salem were worried 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.240 about in that moment. They were worried about a brutal murderer. 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:14.599 At large. 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.640 Rewards and some quite sizable, were offered for information leading 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.679 to the perpetrator or perpetrators and for any information about 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.200 the crime. Immediately after the Captain's death, Stephen White offered 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.920 a one thousand dollars reward. Soon after, the town fathers 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.520 offered five hundred dollars for information about the crime. 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:39.000 There were many articles published addressing moral outrage in Salem, 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.000 as well as general confusion among its residents, and the 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.240 press seemed to print more commentary than actual news. On 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.880 April ninth, the Salem Gazette published quote, A murder has 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.679 been perpetrated so horrible and atrocious that we should in 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.040 vain search the records of crime in any country for 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:02.400 a case exceeding it in the single purpose of the 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.679 perpetrator seems to have been the taking of life. The 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.800 next day, the Salem Observer reported on the climate this 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.840 created among residents of Salem, stating, quote, the imagination of 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.520 everyone is busy not only devising possible ways in which 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.640 the assassin proceeded to execute his hellish purpose, but also 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.160 in framing adequate motives for his conduct. 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.040 About three weeks after the murder, while emotions were still 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:36.119 running very high, the Knap brothers came forward to falsely 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.520 testify before the Vigilance Committee that on the night prior 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.360 to the murder, they were approached near Wenham Pond by 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.720 three robbers who had come upon their carriage while they 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.320 were returning from Salem to their home and Wenham, a 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.760 journey that's less than ten miles. One of them grabbed 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.120 the horse's bridle, and the other two stole a small 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.600 trunk they were carrying in the bottom of their carriage 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:01.200 and that tall tail. That just added to the confusion 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.520 of the scene, and it led many to fear that 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.719 there was a gang of criminals at work. In their village. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:09.640 We're going to take a break here for a word 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.760 from our sponsors. When we return, we will talk about 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.560 how authorities started to close in on the perpetrator, who 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.559 sent blackmail letters to whom and who gave a detailed 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:22.760 written confession about the whole thing. 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.440 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's keep moving along with the case, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:47.400 specifically when and how investigators finally got their first clue. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:52.320 There were no clues in the case until Stephen White 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.880 received a letter from a jailer roughly eighty miles away 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.880 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was holding a relatively un 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.559 own petty thief who stated that he knew a man 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.280 named Richard Crowninshield who had told him that he intended 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.560 to kill Captain Joseph White in Salem. Following up on 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.839 this lead, the Vigilance Committee learned that the prisoner named 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:16.880 Hatch had been arrested for shoplifting and had been in 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.120 jail the night of White's murder, but had some interesting 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.640 information about White's death. During questioning, the committee learned that 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.120 a few months before the murder, back in February, before 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:32.840 Hatch was incarcerated, he had overheard Richard and George Crowninshield 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:38.040 discussing their intent to steal Joseph White's iron chest. He 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.040 also overheard them discussing their murderous intentions at the gambling 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.040 house that night. The Crown and Shields were a notable 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:51.400 and wealthy local family. Richard and George, though preferred spending 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.040 their time in quote haunts of vice. 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.280 The Committee of Vigilance brought Hatch to testify before a 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.520 Salem grand jury, after which on May fifth, Richard Crowninshield 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.439 was indicted for murder. George Crowninshield, as well as two 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.559 men who'd been in the gambling house that same night 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:12.480 as Hatch, were charged with abetting the crime. The two men, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:14.920 Selman and Chase, were soon discharged. 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:20.040 About a week later. On May fourteenth, Joseph J. Knapp, senior, 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.120 father of the Nap brothers, received correspondence from a mister 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:28.480 Charles Grant of Belfast, Maine, who was demanding a large 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:33.400 sum of money to avoid quote ruinous disclosures regarding the Naps. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.520 Grant wrote, quote, I am acquainted with your brother Franklin 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.679 and also the business that he was transacting for you 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.920 on the second of April last and that I think 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.720 you were very extravagant in giving one thousand dollars to 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.360 the person that would execute the business for you. You see, 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:56.120 such things will break out. This letter, a blackmail letter, 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:00.400 made no sense to Joseph Senior. He didn't know anyone 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.479 by the name of Charles Grant, he had no acquaintances 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.920 in Belfast, Maine, and he was completely boggled why he 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.520 needed to pay three hundred and fifty dollars. Alarmed, he 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:16.080 consulted with his sons, and Joseph Junior, the letter's intended recipient, 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.640 called it quote a devilish lot of trash, and he 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.600 advised his father to take it to the Vigilance Committee, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:24.920 and Joseph Senior did just that. 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:30.040 And then Joseph Junior wrote two letters, both claiming to 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.560 be from Charles Grant. The first letter was sent to 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.280 the Committee of Vigilance, in which he claimed that he 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.040 now remember Joseph Junior is pretending here to be Grant 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:44.680 had been hired to murder Joseph White by the Captain's nephew, 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.080 Stephen White. The second letter from the fake Grant was 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.720 sent to Stephen White, demanding payment for the murder and 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:56.040 read as follows, quote, mister White sent five thousand dollars 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.160 or part of it before tomorrow night, or suffer the 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.600 painful consol sequences Grant. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:07.360 Things were getting tense. According to one published account, one 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.560 of Stephen White's brothers in law, discovering that Stephen had 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.120 inherited the bulk of the captain's estate quote, seized White 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.680 by the collar, shook him violently in the presence of family, 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.560 and then he accused him of being the murderer. And 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.400 as we know, he got that wrong. 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:27.640 The Vigilance Committee sent fifty dollars anonymously to Grant, promising 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.600 to send more. They also sent a messenger to Belfast, Maine, 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.520 where they'd arranged to arrest at the post office whomever 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.720 came to retrieve Grant's mail. When a man identifying as 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:43.040 their target collected the extortion money, he was taken into custody. 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.560 But Grant, it turned out, wasn't Charles Grant either. He 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:50.360 was an ex convict named Palmer, and he was a 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.320 friend and associate of Richard Crowninshield. He had been privy 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.400 to the whole murderous plot, and he knew it was 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:01.560 the Knap brothers who instigated the entire thing. Palmer was 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:04.760 detained as a possible accessory to the Captain's murder and 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.560 was promised immunity for his testimony against the perpetrators. 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.880 Palmer made the following statement quote, I have been an 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.000 associate of George and Richard Crown and Shield, and on 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.400 April second, eighteen thirty, I was sitting by a window 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.400 in their house and saw Frank Knapp drive up the 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.560 Crown and Shield brothers and Nap then went for a walk. 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.400 Upon their return, George and Richard informed me that Frank 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.160 Knapp had asked them to kill mister White and that 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.000 Joseph Napp Junior would pay one thousand dollars for the job. 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.320 Several different modes of executing it were discussed, but it 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.200 was finally decided to kill him at night when Missus 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:49.040 Beckford was not home. After his testimony and the discovery 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.480 that the false letters written to the committee and to 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:56.360 Stephen White were in Joseph Junior's handwriting, warrants for the 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.760 arrests of the Nap brothers were procured. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:06.000 Richard Crowninshield initially was certain that he would be found innocent. 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.200 He kept quiet after his arrest. After all he knew 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.560 if he implicated Frank or Joseph Jr. He would be 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:18.280 confessing to his own role in the crime. During his imprisonment, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.760 he asked for books on mathematics as well as Cicero's orations, 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.879 But everything changed for him when Joseph Junior confessed to 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.679 his role in the murder plot. It was on his 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.399 third day of imprisonment when Napp made a full confession. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.320 He laid it all out, from his motive to his 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.480 role in planning the murder, to fabricating the story of 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:43.200 being robbed and for forging blackmail letters. The confession document 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.280 was penned by the Reverend Henry Coleman, a close friend 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.240 of the White family, but was signed by Napp. 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:54.879 That confession was nine pages long, and we'll share some 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.159 of the details that he provided. Quote. I knew that 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.439 mister White had made out a will in which he 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.560 gave my mother in law, Missus Beckford, a legacy of 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:08.240 fifteen thousand dollars, according to my understanding of the law, 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:12.040 which I have since learned was erroneous, I believed she 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.280 would get two hundred thousand if no will was found. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.920 I therefore decided to steal the will and have mister 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:23.880 White assassinated. My brother Frank negotiated with Richard Crown and Shield, 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.920 who agreed to do the deed for one thousand dollars. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.080 Crown and Shield and my brother Frank met at ten 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.359 o'clock that night by appointment and proceeded to a spot 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.919 where they could observe the movements in White's mansion. It 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:41.520 was a beautiful moonlit night. Crown and Shield requested Frank 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.879 to go home. He left, but soon returned. 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:50.439 His confession continued quote. During his absence, the lights in 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.960 the mansion were extinguished, and shortly afterward, the hired assassin 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:57.520 placed a plank against the house, entered the window, and 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.760 crept upstairs to White's sleeping chamber. Crown and Shield swung 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.520 his bludgeon and struck White on the left temple, probably 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:09.240 killing him instantly, but to be certain, he lowered the 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.399 bedclothes and stabbed him repeatedly in the region of the heart. 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:15.879 He then felt his pulse, and, being satisfied that the 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.159 job was well done, he departed. He met Frank on 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.080 a side street. After hiding the bludgeon under the steps 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.080 of a meetinghouse on Howard Street, he returned to Danvers. 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.200 I was home in Wenham on this night. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:32.760 Joseph Junior continued, quote. A few days later, Crown and Shield, 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.760 accompanied by my brother Frank, called on me at my 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.240 home in Wenham and demanded his money. I was only 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.919 able to pay him one hundred five franc pieces. He 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.199 related to me all the details of the assassination, and 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.080 I informed him that our work had been all in vain, 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.320 that the will I stole was not the last one, 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:55.439 and even if it had been, my object would not 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.080 have been accomplished because of my misunderstanding of the law. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.480 The story my brother and I told the Vigilance Committee 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.440 on April twenty seventh in regard to the alleged robbery 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:10.119 was a sheer fabrication, and he added quote it was 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:13.560 I who wrote the two anonymous letters. 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.520 Of the weapons used. Joseph Junior described them as quote. 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.040 The bludgeon was two feet long, turned of hardwood, and 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.080 ornamented with beads at the end to keep it from slipping. 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.040 The dirk was about five inches long on the blade, 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:32.119 sharp at both edges and taboring to a point. Officers 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.159 immediately proceeded to the meetinghouse on Howard Street, where they 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.359 found the bludgeon described by Nap exactly where he said 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:39.520 under the steps. 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:42.840 We're going to take a break here for a word 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:46.200 from our sponsors, and when we're back we will introduce 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.639 lead prosecutor Daniel Webster and why it was such a 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:52.919 big deal that he signed on to this case. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.040 Welcome back to Criminalia. We're going to talk about the 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.000 details of the trial, but before we do, we have 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:15.480 to address another life taken. 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.720 This story is just tragedy upon tragedy, and here we 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:26.280 have another. When he learned about Joseph Junior's confession, Richard, 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:30.200 seeing no hope, on June fifteenth, took his own life 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.800 in his jail cell. That act, in the eyes of 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:39.000 the law, created a problem. Here's why the Knapp brothers 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:42.720 were to have been tried as accessories to murder. But 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:46.439 under the existing law of the time, accessories to murder 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:51.400 couldn't be convicted unless the actual murderer was first convicted. 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.600 Crown and Shield had been the actual murderer, the principal 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.199 in the crime, and now he couldn't be tried. 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.040 But still they went on with the trials. And will 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:05.200 explain how that problem was resolved. In just a moment. 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:10.200 The case was heard by judges Marcus Morton, Samuel Putnam, 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:13.760 and Samuel S. Wilde and tried before the Salem Division 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:18.760 of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Frank Knap's trial began 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:22.680 during the court's July term. His brother, Joseph Juniors began 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:27.600 in November that same year. Joseph Junior was promised immunity 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:31.000 if he would testify for the prosecution, but when he 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:33.919 was called to the stand, he refused to testify against 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:38.800 his brother. A strong case was made, however, without his assistance. 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:43.320 And that's because Stephen White asked lawyer, lawmaker, and future 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:48.000 Secretary of State Daniel Webster to prosecute the case. Webster 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:51.879 didn't immediately jump at the chance. Not yet fifty, he 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:54.840 had already served several terms in the House of Representatives 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.119 before being elected to the United States Senate in eighteen 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:02.680 twenty seven. He was known as a distinguished defense attorney 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:06.760 and called the Great Daniel Webster because his courtroom skills 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:12.359 were impeccable and his oration very persuasive. Will emphasize again 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:17.879 defense attorney. He also considered that his personal connections with 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:21.960 the victim's relatives raised some issues over legal ethics, but 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:24.359 In the end he agreed, and he was paid a 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:27.600 fee of one thousand dollars by Stephen White to assist 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:32.080 the prosecution, although this really meant that he was leading 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:33.479 the prosecution. 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.240 With a bit of legal paperwork. An indictment for murder 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:40.880 was found against Frank Knapp, with Joseph J. Knapp Junior 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:46.000 and George Crowninshield named as accessories to that murder. Webster 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:49.720 began by addressing the jury regarding his switch from defense 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:54.400 to prosecution, as follows quotes, I am a little accustomed 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:58.080 gentleman to the part which I am now attempting to perform. 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:01.280 Hardly more than once or twice has it happened to 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:03.440 me to be concerned on the side of the government 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:08.800 in any criminal prosecution whatever, and never until the present occasion, 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:11.840 in any case affecting life. 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:16.119 He described Captain White's murder as quote a most extraordinary 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:20.480 case in some respects. It has hardly a precedent anywhere, 0:24:21.080 --> 0:24:25.040 certainly none in our New England history. This bloody drama 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:30.399 exhibited no suddenly excited, ungovernable rage. The actors in it 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:34.520 were not surprised by any lion like temptations springing upon 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:39.359 their virtue and overcoming it before resistance could begin. Nor 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:42.480 did they do the deed to glut savage vengeance or 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:46.600 satiate long settled and deadly hate. It was a cool, 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:52.080 calculating money making murder. It was all higher in salary, 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:56.399 not revenge. It was the weighing of money against life, 0:24:56.800 --> 0:24:59.880 the counting out of so many pieces of silver again, 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:02.000 so many ounces of blood. 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:07.760 Frank Knapp's defense attorneys, Franklin Dexter and W. H. Gardner, 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:11.280 argued that Knapp had been outside the house, standing in 0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:15.040 the street, at least three hundred feet away from the 0:25:15.080 --> 0:25:18.359 bedroom where the murder took place. Trying to keep the 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:20.840 focus of the trial on the fact that Webster had 0:25:20.840 --> 0:25:26.000 not satisfied the legal requirements for conviction, the defense stated, quote, 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:29.399 upon this evidence, the prisoner cannot be convicted as a 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:32.760 principle in the murder. A principle in the second degree, 0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:35.520 according to the law of England, is by our statutes 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:38.880 an accessory before the fact, and cannot be tried until 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:40.879 there has been a conviction of the principle. 0:25:42.080 --> 0:25:46.359