1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,800 Speaker 1: You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 2 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:12,040 Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. Listener Discretion Advised. Welcome to History on Trial. 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Mira Hayward. Every episode will go behind 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: the scenes of a famous trial from American history. We'll 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: meet the real people who make up the legal system, 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: from victims and defendants to lawyers and judges. Will follow 7 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: their stories as they duke it out in the courtrooms 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: of the past and learn how their cases irrevocally shaped 9 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:36,840 Speaker 1: the present. Will watch the law as it evolves along 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: with the country, or as it fails to do so. 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: Every trial is a battle, and what we choose to 12 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: fight over and how we choose to do it can 13 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: be revealing. Trial by trial will gain new insight into 14 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: the story of America. This week The People v Levi Weeks. 15 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: On a cold January morning in Manhattan, a crowd gathered 16 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,199 Speaker 1: to watch something strange. The spot where they stood would 17 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: one day become Soho, the fashionable New York City neighborhood 18 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: filled with clothing stores and expensive lofts. But on this day, 19 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: January second, eighteen hundred, the area was a sprawling wildland 20 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: called Lispynard's Meadow, nestled between the settled southern tip of 21 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: Manhattan and Greenwich Village. The meadow was more often the 22 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,400 Speaker 1: site of courting couples or small hunting parties rather than 23 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: large crowds. But today was different. Today, at a well 24 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: in the southwest corner of the meadow, something was happening. 25 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: Half a dozen men were straining to lift a makeshift 26 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: net and its heavy cargo from the well. As they 27 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: heaved and grunted their burdens, slowly rose into view a 28 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: flash of white fab a mass of dark hair, too pale, 29 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: bare feet. It was a woman long dead. An onlooker 30 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: ran to fetch the police. When the constable arrived, he 31 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,639 Speaker 1: found the woman's body laid out on a plank, her 32 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: head at an odd angle. The men who had lifted 33 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 1: her out explained how they had found her. The woman, 34 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: whose name was Julielma Sands, known to all as Elma, 35 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: had been missing for nearly two weeks since December twenty second. 36 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: Not a trace of Elma had been seen until her muff, 37 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: a tube of fabric worn as a handwarmer, had turned 38 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: up in the well. When Elma's landlord, Eli Ring and 39 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: neighbor Joseph Watkins heard of the discovery. They raced to 40 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 1: the meadow, sounding the well with poles. They felt the body. 41 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: Now with the question of where Alma had gone tragically answered, 42 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: a new question arose. She ended up in the well. 43 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: Someone in the crowd thought they knew Levi Weeks is 44 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: to blame. He's who she was last with. A man 45 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: called out to the constable. Levi Weeks. The crowd quickly 46 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: learned was a fellow boarding house resident of Elma's, and 47 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: the two were rumored to be romantically involved. Seizing the lead, 48 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: the constable and a group of men set out to 49 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: locate Levi. They found the young carpenter at his workshop. 50 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: When the Constable tapped him on the shoulder, Levi turned startled. 51 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: He saw the angry, confused faces of the men and 52 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: burst into speech. It is too hard, he started, before pausing. 53 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: Then is it the Manhattan well she was found in? 54 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: It was? The men shared a look. How could he 55 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: have known that Alma was found in a well? How 56 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: could he have known it was Manhattan Well? In particular? 57 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: None of them had mentioned it. Levi was placed under arrest. 58 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: It didn't take long for word to spread through New 59 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: York City that a beautiful young woman was dead, and 60 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: that a handsome young man was under arrest for her murder. 61 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: It was said that Levi and Elma had been courting 62 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: and planned to marry, but something had gone terribly wrong. 63 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: People spoke of the case in the streets, and journalists 64 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: wrote of it in the papers. One poet, Philip Freneau, 65 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: even wrote a poem about it. If thou injured Elma 66 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: had not fallen a prey to fierce revenge that sees 67 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: thy life away, not through the glooms of conscious night, 68 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,359 Speaker 1: been led to find a funeral for a nuptial bed, 69 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: when by the power of midnight fiends you fell plunged 70 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:54,119 Speaker 1: in the abyss of Manhattan. Well, but the media friends 71 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:58,159 Speaker 1: you was only beginning. Soon, Levi Weeks would go to trial, 72 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,479 Speaker 1: and thanks to his family ca connections, two of the 73 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: city's most prominent lawyers would be defending him. Their names 74 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. In fact, if you're familiar 75 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: with the musical Hamilton, the name Levi Weeks might ring 76 00:05:15,279 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: a bell. The case gets a mention in the song 77 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 1: non Stop when Alexander Hamilton sings, this is the first 78 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: murder trial of our brand new nation. The liberty behind deliberation. 79 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: I intend to prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, 80 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: our client, Levi Weeks, is innocent. The song isn't entirely 81 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: historically accurate. Levi Weeks's trial wasn't actually the first murder 82 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: trial in American history, but it is the first murder 83 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: trial that we have a complete transcript from, and that transcript, 84 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: published only weeks after the trial, gives us some amazing insights. 85 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: It lets us see the American legal system in its 86 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: earliest days, as it struggled to figure out just how 87 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: trials should work work. And it also reveals incredible parallels 88 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,720 Speaker 1: between people two hundred years ago and people today, our 89 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: shared desire for justice, our interest in the darker sides 90 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: of human nature, our determination to get to the bottom 91 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: of things. But most of all, the transcript provides a 92 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: riveting portrait of one of the juiciest, most shocking trials 93 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: of the early nineteenth century. Because the story of Levi 94 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: and Elma may have seemed like a straightforward one of 95 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: love gone very wrong, but as everyone would soon learn, 96 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: this case was anything but simple. On January third, the 97 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: day after the discovery of Elma's body, the physicians Benjamin 98 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: Prince and William Macintosh conducted the post mortem examination. Elma 99 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: was long dead. The state of decomposition made it clear 100 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: that the body had been in the well for quite 101 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: some time, probably since the night she went missing, so 102 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 1: the doctors didn't expect to find much. The most pressing 103 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: question was whether Elma was pregnant or not. Newspapers were 104 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: already speculating that an unplanned pregnancy had been Levi's motive 105 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: for murder, but Princeton Macintosh found no evidence of pregnancy. 106 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: They found barely anything on the body at all, only 107 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,679 Speaker 1: some slight bruising and scraping on the face and knees, 108 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: but decomposition made it hard to determine when or how 109 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: Elma had incurred these small injuries. Despite the lack of evidence, however, 110 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: the city coroner announced a verdict of murder. He likely 111 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: did so to avoid public outrage. New Yorkers had rioted 112 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: in the past over what they saw as miscarriages of justice, 113 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: and a finding of unknown cause of death might have 114 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: sent the city over the edge, and the public was 115 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,239 Speaker 1: about to get even more invested in the case. After 116 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: the inquest, Elma's body was released to Catherine and Eli 117 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: ring Catherine and Elma were related, and the Rings had 118 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: been happy to give Elma a spot in their boarding 119 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: house when she arrived in the city from upstate New 120 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: York in seventeen ninety six. Now they opened their doors 121 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: for her body. The family was Quaker, and their funeral 122 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: practices were normally simple in private, but the Rings decided 123 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: that such a horrifying death warranted something different, and so 124 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: they set Elma's body in their living room, inviting neighbors 125 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: into mourn for her and bare witness to be evil done. 126 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: Two days later, on Monday the sixth, the body was 127 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: readied for burial, slipped into a simple wooden coffin, and 128 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: carried from the home. But as the coffin traveled through 129 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: the streets, the Rings, still reeling, were struck by an idea. 130 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: It wasn't enough for just their neighbors to see Elma. 131 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: They thought the whole city needed to understand the depths 132 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: of the tragedy. The funeral procession came to a halt 133 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: and the coffin was set down. The lid cracked open, 134 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: Elma's pale face and unseeing eyes peered out. A crowd 135 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: began to gather, soon numbering in the thousands, all shocked 136 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: by the sight. Death was not unknown in this disease ridden, 137 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: poverty stricken city. But something about the vision of this 138 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: dead young woman, taken too soon, laid bare for all 139 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:34,319 Speaker 1: to see, struck a chord with New Yorkers. Levi Weeks, 140 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: they said, needed to pay. As the public gawned at 141 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: Elma's corpse, Levi Weeks languished in jail. Though conditions were 142 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: wretched in Bridewell Jail, Levi was luckier than most of 143 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: the inmates. He had a powerful brother who was working 144 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: tirelessly on his defense. Ezra Weeks was one of the 145 00:09:55,920 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: city's most prominent contractors, with no shortage of fun or 146 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: influential connections. One of those connections was Alexander Hamilton, who 147 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: just so happened to owe Ezra Weeks thousands of dollars 148 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: for construction done on Hamilton's summer home in Harlem Heights. So, 149 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: of course Hamilton would be happy to help Ezra's younger 150 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: brother with his legal troubles. Ezra had a connection to 151 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:26,360 Speaker 1: Hamilton's longtime frenemy, Aaron Burr, as well. In seventeen ninety nine, 152 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: Burr had presided over the creation of the Manhattan Company, 153 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: a company with the stated goal of providing fresh water 154 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: to New York City. But the Manhattan Company was much 155 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: more than a simple utility. Because of clever corporate organization, 156 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: the company could also function as a bank of sorts, 157 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: which Burr and his Republican colleagues could use to fund 158 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,800 Speaker 1: political candidates. To maximize the money the bank brought in, though, 159 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: the company needed to actually build water infrastructure, and so 160 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: they had hired Ezra Wheat to build and lay wooden 161 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: pipes to carry fresh water into the city. This fresh 162 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: water came from wells dug in Lisbernard's Meadow, including the 163 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: well that Elma Sands's body was found in. Having a 164 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:16,839 Speaker 1: dead body turn up in your company as well is 165 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: bad publicity, and Burr wanted to control the narrative. There 166 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: was no better way to do this than to serve 167 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: as Levi Weeks's attorney. Plus Burr could use the work. 168 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: Like Hamilton, he was deeply in debt. Rounding out Levi's 169 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,160 Speaker 1: defense team was h. Brockholst Livingstone, a political ally of 170 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: Burrs and a member of the Manhattan Company board. He 171 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: was one of the top lawyers in the city, known 172 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: for his sharp mind and quick temper. Hamilton, Burr and 173 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: Livingston quickly got to work getting Levi out on bail 174 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: and gathering evidence for his defense. They would have to 175 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 1: work hard. They were up against an ambitious young prosecutor 176 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 1: with something to prove. Cadwalader Colden, the Assistant Attorney General, 177 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: had recently suffered a major legal humiliation at the hands 178 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: of none other than Brockholst Livingstone. In October seventeen ninety nine, 179 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: a man named John Pistano had been convicted of the 180 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: brutal murder of his landlord, Mary Castro. The jury had 181 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,839 Speaker 1: taken only minutes to sentence Pistano to death, unconvinced by 182 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: Livingstone's assertions that Pistano was not responsible because he was insane. 183 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: After all, insanity was not at that time a leal defense, 184 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: but as Livingstone had predicted, Pistano's insanity won him sympathy 185 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,559 Speaker 1: the New York State Legislature and Governor John Jay, having 186 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 1: reviewed the facts of the case, found that quote at 187 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: the time of the conmission of the Act aforesaid he 188 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 1: was insane and is therefore a proper object of mercy. 189 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: As an aside, the Pistonano's story is wild. Both his 190 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: guilt and his mental instability are pretty well established. Take 191 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: for example, the story of his capture, which came when 192 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: Pistano was spotted at a public water pump holding his hat, 193 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 1: which he had filled with his victim's blood. The police 194 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: came quickly, and as they arrested Postano, he protested clumsily 195 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: in English, his second language, why you catch me, me 196 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:28,320 Speaker 1: not do it, which would be a lot more convincing 197 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: if he wasn't holding a hat full of blood. But 198 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: in any case, Pistano was pardoned, his sentence commuted, and 199 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: he was deported to his home country of Portugal. Many 200 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 1: believed Pistano should never have been charged at all, given 201 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: his insanity. It was a devastating reversal for the Attorney 202 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,679 Speaker 1: General's office, and Colden was determined to not let it 203 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: happen again. Colden also carried the weight of public opinion 204 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: on his back. The story of Elma Sands's murder had 205 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: traveled the whole Eastern seaboard. Seemed like no one spoke 206 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: of anything else. When the trial began on March thirty first, 207 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, hundreds of angry citizens flocked to watch the 208 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: proceedings at City Hall, packing the hallways and spilling out 209 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: into the street, and they were all convinced of one thing, 210 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks's guilt. Colden could not fail his public. As 211 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: I mentioned before, New Yorkers loved nothing more than rioting 212 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: over legal matters, and Colden needed to maintain the peace 213 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: at any cost. So he had prepared tirelessly, tracking down 214 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: and interviewing witnesses, establishing timelines, and conducting research. When he 215 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: entered the courtroom that morning, he was confident in his 216 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: case and in Levi Weeks's guilt. All he had to 217 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: do now was convinced the jury. At ten am on 218 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: March thirty, first Court Clerk William Coleman called court to order, 219 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:05,880 Speaker 1: with the Right Honorable John Lansing presiding as judge. A 220 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: jury was quickly selected, made up mainly of local merchants 221 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: at the time. Jurors had to be tax paying land 222 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: owning men between the ages of twenty one and sixty, 223 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: with property worth at least two hundred and fifty dollars, 224 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: the equivalent of a year's salary for a common man. 225 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: As Paul Collins puts it in his wonderful book on 226 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: the Trial Duel with the Devil, the jury box was 227 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: what women and the poor faced, not what they sat in. 228 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: With the jury seated, Cadwalader Colden took to his feet 229 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: to deliver his opening argument. He knew that his high 230 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: profile opponents were drawing attention, so he addressed them head on. 231 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: While the defendant might have clever lawyers, he told the 232 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: jury he had something more important, the truth. And what 233 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: was that truth? Here? Coldon laid out his theory of 234 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: the case, one that had been god in newspapers across 235 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: the region for the past few months. Levi Weeks was 236 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: a player. He was handsome as everyone in the court 237 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: could see, and charming, and he was fickle in his attentions. 238 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: He liked to flirt with the women in his boarding house, 239 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: and he had eventually fixed his sights on the naive, 240 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: innocent Alma Sands. We expect to prove to you that 241 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: the prisoner won her affections, Colden declared, and that her 242 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: virtue fell a sacrifice to his assiduity. Once he had 243 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: gotten what he wanted from Alma Sands, Colden continued, Levi 244 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: grew tired of her cleanness and affection and made a 245 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: plan to shake her off for good. Quote after a 246 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 1: long period of criminal intercourse between them. He deluded her 247 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: from the house of her protector, under the pretense of 248 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: marrying her, carried her away to a well in the 249 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: suburbs of this city, and there her here cold and 250 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,720 Speaker 1: dramatically paused and seemed to lose himself. Then turned to 251 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: the jury and said, no wonder, gentlemen, that my mind 252 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: shudders at this picture and requires a moment to recollect itself. 253 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: He then laid out for the jury the path he 254 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,880 Speaker 1: would take to prove Weeks's guilt, a path that would 255 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: now begin with the testimony of Levi and Elma's landlords, 256 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:30,199 Speaker 1: Katherine and Eli Ring. Catherine Ring was now called to 257 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: the stand, a pale, blue eyed woman in her late 258 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: twenties with auburn hair tucked under a lace cap. Catherine 259 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,119 Speaker 1: was a respectable Quaker woman, a good person for Coldon 260 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: to begin his case with. Unfortunately for the prosecutor, things 261 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: got off to a rocky start. Much of Catherine Ring's 262 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: testimony had to do with things that she had been 263 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:56,360 Speaker 1: told by Elma Sands. Because Elma Sans had not made 264 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: these statements under oath, and because she could not now 265 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: testify to them in court being dead. Anything Catherine reported 266 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: Elma as having said was pure hearsay and thus an 267 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: admissible in court. When Hamilton objected on these grounds, Colden 268 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: tried to argue that these statements were allowed because they 269 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,439 Speaker 1: showed Elma's state of mind. To support this argument, he 270 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: cited several legal cases. But here was the strange thing 271 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,399 Speaker 1: about being a lawyer in early America. The country was 272 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: too young to have legal precedence of its own, so 273 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: lawyers had to rely on British cases, one vestige of 274 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: colonial rule that they still could not shake. Colden had 275 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: a few relevant British examples, but unfortunately he was up 276 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: against seasoned lawyers. Burrn Livingstone quickly replied that of the 277 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: cases Colden had cited, one argued against hearsay being admitted 278 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 1: in this fashion, and the other came from the Scottish court, 279 00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: which had an entirely different legal system. Oops are quickly 280 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: ruled against allowing the testimony. Colden recovered, guiding Catherine instead 281 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 1: through her impressions of Elma and Levi's relationship. It had begun, 282 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: Catherine said when Levi's previous love interest, another boarder named Margaret, 283 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: went off to the country to escape the yellow fever 284 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 1: epidemic in the city. Catherine herself soon did the same. 285 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: Upon her return to Manhattan six weeks later, she observed 286 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: quote an appearance of mutual attachment between Levi and Elma. 287 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: After covering the events of the night of Alma's disappearance 288 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: December twenty second, coldon led Catherine through the following days, 289 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: during which she said she observed Levi acting strangely. On 290 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: Tuesday the twenty fourth, Catherine told the court she decided 291 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: to confront Levi with something. Alma had told Catherine on 292 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 1: the day of her disappearance that she and Levi were 293 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: to be married that very night. Levi had been shocked 294 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 1: by Catherine's revelation. I had not proceeded much further, Catherine 295 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,640 Speaker 1: testified before he turned pale, trembled to a great degree, 296 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 1: was much agitated, and began to cry. Clasping his hands together, 297 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 1: he cried out, I'm ruined, I'm ruined, I'm undone forever 298 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: unless she appears to clear me. Catherine's suspicions only deepened 299 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: on Thursday the twenty sixth, when, during a discussion amongst 300 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: borders over Elma's fate, Levi declared missus Ring, it's my 301 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,919 Speaker 1: firm belief she's now in eternity. How could he know that? 302 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: Levi explained that he believed Alma had committed suicide. The 303 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,359 Speaker 1: whole house knew that she was frequently in poor health 304 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: and had more than once said that she wished to die. 305 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: But in Catherine's opinion, these were only the melodramatic statements 306 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: of an impressionable young woman. Her suspicions were not assuaged. 307 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:03,040 Speaker 1: Now it was Hamilton's turn to cross examine. He went 308 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:07,120 Speaker 1: easy on Catherine, only asking her general questions about Levi's 309 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 1: character and behavior, all of which she agreed were quote 310 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: very good. He also asked a peculiar question about whether 311 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,080 Speaker 1: Elma's bedroom shared a wall with the bedroom of their neighbor, 312 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: Joseph Watkins. It did, Catherine said, but Hamilton moved on 313 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: before explaining why he cared. Catherine was dismissed. Eli Ring. 314 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: Catherine's husband picked up the story. He had once heard 315 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: noise in a vacant room, he said, and in the 316 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: morning had found the bed rumpled and Alma's clothes from 317 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: the previous day scattered through the room. The only people 318 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: in the house that night had been himself, Elma, Levi, 319 00:21:55,080 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: and Levi's young apprentice. Despite the seemingly damning nature of 320 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: Eli's testimony, Hamilton didn't press him much on cross only 321 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: asking him whether or not he knew that Levi and 322 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,639 Speaker 1: Elma had been in bed together. Eli said he did not, 323 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: as in Catherine's cross examination. Hamilton asked Eli about their neighbor, 324 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,439 Speaker 1: Joseph Watkins. Was he a clever man and a good neighbor? 325 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: Hamilton asked yes, Eli replied, and what was the wall 326 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 1: between the Rings and Watkins house made of wood and plaster? 327 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: Eli said again. Hamilton did not explain himself. He moved 328 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: on asking Eli if he had ever threatened Lee by weeks. 329 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: Eli denied it, saying I never threatened him that I 330 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: know of. I had a conversation with him in which 331 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: he asked me if I had not said certain things 332 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 1: about him, respecting Elma being missing, and he said if 333 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,639 Speaker 1: I told such things of him, he would tell of 334 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: me and Croucher. Before Hamilton could act ask what things 335 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,480 Speaker 1: Levi could tell about Eli and Croucher, Colden jumped in 336 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 1: with a question. Unlike trials today, where who can ask 337 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:13,159 Speaker 1: questions and when is tightly regulated, things were looser in 338 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: the early nineteenth century. The transcript is littered with examples 339 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 1: of opposing attorneys, the judge, and even jurors jumping in 340 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:26,480 Speaker 1: mid examination to ask the witnesses something. Colden's clever interjection 341 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: here changed the subject, and Hamilton did not return to it, 342 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: wrapping up his cross examination shortly after the next three 343 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: witnesses were all fellow borders at the rings. The first 344 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,919 Speaker 1: said she had not seen any relationship between Levi and Elma, 345 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: the second said he had, and the third, Richard Croucher, 346 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:49,959 Speaker 1: shocked the court by declaring that he had not only 347 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: seen Levi spend two nights in Elma's room, but quote 348 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: once too, at a time when they were less cautious 349 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: than usual. I saw them in a very intimate situation. 350 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,640 Speaker 1: Unlike the previous witnesses, who had only insinuated or guessed 351 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: at a romantic relationship between Levi and Alma, Croucher had 352 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:18,880 Speaker 1: actually seen it. But Hamilton had some questions about Croucher's credibility. 353 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,199 Speaker 1: On cross he got Croucher to admit that he and 354 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: Levi had once argued and the argument had started over Elma. 355 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: Croucher said that he had once surprised Alma while running 356 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,199 Speaker 1: up the stairs, and Alma had fainted. Levi appeared and 357 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: angrily declared that this was not the first time Croucher 358 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 1: had insulted Elma. Croucher in turn called Levi an impertinent puppy, 359 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 1: which is one of the sickest burns in history. So 360 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: Levi apologized to Croucher. Despite this run in, Croucher claimed 361 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: to bear Levi no malice, but added that I despise 362 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: every man who does not behave in character. After questioning 363 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: Croucher about his own where on the night of the 364 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: murder a birthday party, Croucher said Hamilton let him go. 365 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: Now that Colden had established a potential motive for Levi, 366 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: the desire to get rid of an unwonted lover, he 367 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:18,120 Speaker 1: needed to establish opportunity. Levi had a relatively strong alibi 368 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 1: for the night of the disappearance. He had been at 369 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: his brother's house in the early evening, then returned to 370 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 1: the Ring house around eight pm. Thirty minutes later. He 371 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 1: had returned to his brother's house, according to the testimony 372 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: of Ezra, his wife, and his apprentice. The Rings next 373 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: saw him around ten pm. Assuming that the week's household 374 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,879 Speaker 1: was being truthful, that gave Levi only thirty minutes to 375 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: kill Elma, who had been at the Ring House until 376 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: at least eight, and put her body in the well. 377 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 1: How could he have pulled it off? Colden had a 378 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: theory about that, and it involved a sleigh he now 379 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: called Susannah Broad to the stand. Missus Brod was an 380 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: elderly woman who lived across the street from Ezra Weeks. 381 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: She testified that on the night of Elma's disappearance, she 382 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,320 Speaker 1: had heard a gate open and a sleigh come out. 383 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: The sleigh, unusually had no bells. Bells were a crucial 384 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: safety device, giving pedestrians warning to get out of the way, 385 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,880 Speaker 1: so a sleigh traveling without them caught her attention. Why 386 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,880 Speaker 1: was the sleigh trying to hide? The relevance of Broad's 387 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: testimony soon became clear with his subsequent witnesses, who all 388 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:40,360 Speaker 1: testified to seeing a sleigh similar in appearance to Zbres 389 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: near Greenwitch Street, where the Ring Boarding House was, and 390 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: then traveling up Broadway in the direction of the Manhattan Well. 391 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 1: Colden painted a picture of how Levi could have committed 392 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: the crime. By borrowing his brother's sleigh. Levi could have 393 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,479 Speaker 1: traveled back to Greenwitch Street, picked up Elma, and traveled 394 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: to the well relatively quickly. In fact, Colden had timed 395 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 1: it in a thoroughly CSI sounding move. He'd hired a 396 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: man to drive a horse from the Ring House to 397 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 1: the Manhattan Well and then to Ezra's house. The man 398 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: reported back that he had made the trip in only 399 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:22,200 Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, without going faster than a trot. With both 400 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,920 Speaker 1: motive and opportunity now established, Colden began introducing witnesses who 401 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,960 Speaker 1: lived near the Manhattan Well. Several of these witnesses had 402 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: heard a woman crying out on that December night. Altogether, 403 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: Colden had called nearly twenty witnesses. It was one thirty am, 404 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:47,159 Speaker 1: and he hadn't yet rested his case. The crowd was exhausted. 405 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,959 Speaker 1: Most of them had expected a traditionally speedy trial. The 406 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: average length of a murder case in England at the 407 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:59,199 Speaker 1: time was only thirty minutes. The defense called for an adjournment. 408 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: Judge Lancing wanted to continue, but the jurors, who had 409 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: now been watching proceedings for more than fifteen hours, needed 410 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: a break. Lancing agreed to the adjournment, but he wasn't 411 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 1: about to let the jurors go home where they could 412 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: be influenced by friends, family, and public opinion. He ordered 413 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: that they be sequestered or kept away from the public. Unfortunately, 414 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: at one point thirty in the morning, no inn in 415 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,880 Speaker 1: the city was open to new customers, so the jurors 416 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 1: were taken to the second floor of City Hall, where 417 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: they passed an uncomfortable night in the drafty portrait Hall, 418 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: huddled on the cold floor. At ten am the next morning, 419 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: the trial resumed. After several more witnesses, Colden wrapped up 420 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: his case by addressing what he was sure was a 421 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: pressing concern for the jury, the circumstantial nature of the case. 422 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: Colden had no witness who could definitively place Levi and 423 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: Elma together after eight pm on the night of Elma's disappearance, 424 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: no smoking gun. But citing John Morgan's influential book Essays 425 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: upon the Law of Evidence, Colden argued that circumstantial evidence 426 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: could be just as, if not more powerful, than eyewitness testimony. 427 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: A positive allegation, he read aloud, maybe founded in mistake 428 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 1: or what is too common in the perjury of the witness. 429 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: But circumstances can't not lie brick by testimonial brick, Colden 430 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 1: had painstakingly built up a circumstantial wall of guilt around 431 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks. Now it was up to the defense to 432 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 1: try to knock it down, and to do that they 433 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: had a very special weapon of their sleeve, a witness 434 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: with the secret to share. Aaron Burr now rose to 435 00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: deliver the defense's opening argument methodically. He broke down the 436 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: prosecution's case, promising the jurors that the defense would rebut 437 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: Colden's arguments on every point in a case, depending on 438 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: a chain of circumstances. Burr said, all the fabric must 439 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: hang together or the whole must tumble down. The prosecution's 440 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: case was based on assumptions, Burr's opening implied, and all 441 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: of those assumptions were about to be challenged. Assumption number one, 442 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks had taken a sleigh from his brother's home 443 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: on the night of the murder. The defense had actually 444 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: gone a long way towards disproving this assumption during the 445 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:42,120 Speaker 1: prosecution's own case. The lynchpin of Colden's argument was the 446 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: testimony of Susannah broad Ezra Weeks's neighbor, who said she 447 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: had seen a sleigh furtively slip out of Weeks's yard 448 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: on the night in question. Without this evidence of Levi 449 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 1: having access to a sleigh, the testimony of the other 450 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: witnesses to a sleigh driving from Greenwich Street up Broadway 451 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: were irrelevant and on cross Hamilton had raised serious questions 452 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 1: about Susannah Brod's memory. Question when was this? What month 453 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: was it? Answer? I don't know the month I know 454 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: it was. So question was it after Christmas or before Christmas? Answer? 455 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: It was after I believe it was in January. Question 456 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 1: that you are sure of it was in January? You say? 457 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 1: Answer yes, I am sure it was in January. The 458 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:39,400 Speaker 1: night in question was December twenty second. So Susannah Brod's 459 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: testimony was suspect and there was about to be another 460 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: blow to Colden's sleigh theory. The defense called Demus Mead 461 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: to the stand. Demus Mead was Ezra Weeks's apprentice. He 462 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,880 Speaker 1: lived with the Week's family, and, among other duties, was 463 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: tasked with looking after Ezra's horse and sleigh. On December 464 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: twenty second, he was certain that he had locked the 465 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: gate around seven thirty pm and then put the key 466 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: on either the mantelpiece of the room he slept in 467 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: or in his pocket, just as he did every night. 468 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,080 Speaker 1: Unlike Susannah Broad, he was a confident and reliable witness. 469 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,520 Speaker 1: When a juror asked him, was this a weekday or 470 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:25,720 Speaker 1: a Sunday, Demas quickly and correctly answered on Sunday. Further, 471 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: he testified that the horse's harness had bells tied to it, 472 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: that those bells would take some time to remove, and 473 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,000 Speaker 1: that setting up the horse and the sleigh for a 474 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: journey took some ten to fifteen minutes. It was looking 475 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: less and less likely that Levi Weeks could have taken 476 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 1: his brother's sleigh, leaving him with little opportunity to commit 477 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: the murder. One assumption down on to the next. When 478 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,959 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks was arrested, he had asked if Elma had 479 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: been found in the Manhattan well, but no one in 480 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: the arresting party had mentioned the well. Assumption number two, 481 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks had no way of knowing the body's location 482 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: besides being the murderer. The next defense witness would put 483 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:15,000 Speaker 1: this assumption to rest. Loreena Forrest, a neighbor of Levi 484 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: Weeks who ran a grocery store with her husband, testified 485 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: that at one o'clock on January Tewod, the day Alma's 486 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: body was found, Levi had visited her store. Missus Forrest 487 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: had updated him on something she'd just heard from Missus Ring. 488 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,480 Speaker 1: Alma's muff had been found in a well near Bayard's Lane. 489 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,440 Speaker 1: An hour later, Levi went to lunch at Ezra's house 490 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 1: and shared this news with his brother. Ezra testified that 491 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,600 Speaker 1: upon hearing this, he'd told Levi, I suppose it must 492 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: be Manhattan well. Thus, when Levi was arrested later that afternoon, 493 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 1: his question of is it the Manhattan well she was 494 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: found in? Was not a slip of the tongue, an 495 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: inadvertent admission of guilt, but a natural follow up to 496 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: the information he had heard earlier in the day. Two 497 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,839 Speaker 1: assumptions down, Now it was time for the big one, 498 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,480 Speaker 1: the foundation upon which months of gossip news and the 499 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:25,120 Speaker 1: very trial itself were based. Assumption number three, Levi Weeks 500 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:29,640 Speaker 1: and Elma Sands were romantically involved, giving him motive to 501 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 1: murder her. For the prosecution, Cadwalader Colden had elicited testimony 502 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,720 Speaker 1: from Eli and Catherine Ring about a romantic relationship between 503 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 1: Levi and Elma. In Cross examining the Rings, Hamilton hadn't 504 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,720 Speaker 1: achieved much in shaking them from their stories, but he had, 505 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: if you'll remember, asked them strange questions about their neighbor, 506 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: Joseph Watkins and his house. And now the defense was 507 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 1: calling Joseph Watkins to the stand. Watkins had been among 508 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,400 Speaker 1: the party who helped recover Elma's body from the well, 509 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,880 Speaker 1: but the story of the discovery had been thoroughly covered 510 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:11,840 Speaker 1: by the prosecution. What could he add now, Hamilton dove 511 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: right in. Do you remember anything in the conduct of 512 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:20,239 Speaker 1: mister Ring that led you to suspicions of improper conduct 513 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 1: between him and Elma? He asked, shock rippled through the courtroom. 514 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:32,360 Speaker 1: Mister Ring Eli Elma's landlord, who had testified only the 515 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,400 Speaker 1: day before to hearing a couple in an empty room 516 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,359 Speaker 1: and finding Elma's discarded clothing there in the morning, that 517 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:45,760 Speaker 1: mister Ring Yes, him and Watkins had in fact noticed 518 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: many things in mister Ring's conduct to make him suspicious. Namely, 519 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: in the middle of September, when Catherine Ring had been 520 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: away in the country, he had heard noise coming through 521 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:02,839 Speaker 1: his bedroom wall, a wall shared per Catherine Ring's own 522 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:07,560 Speaker 1: testimony with Elma's bedroom. He heard the sound of a 523 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,600 Speaker 1: bed moving. The noise was so loud and lasted so 524 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: long that it woke him up. He heard a woman's voice. 525 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: He heard a man's voice, and this man's voice he 526 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 1: was certain was not Levi Weeks's. Levi had a low, 527 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:30,839 Speaker 1: soft pitched voice. Eli Ring, by contrast, had a high 528 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: pitched voice. Joseph turned to his wife on that September 529 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:39,799 Speaker 1: night and said, it is Ring's voice that girl will 530 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:45,280 Speaker 1: be ruined. He heard the same noises at least eight times, 531 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,280 Speaker 1: possibly more, throughout September and October. Then at the same 532 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: time that Catherine Ring returned to the city, the noises stopped. 533 00:36:55,400 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 1: Watkins's testimony was stunning. The entire foundation that the prosecution's 534 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:05,800 Speaker 1: case of the public suspicion was a supposed relationship between 535 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:09,960 Speaker 1: Elma and Levi. But what if that relationship never existed. 536 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:15,040 Speaker 1: What if Elma had instead, or additionally been engaged in 537 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:19,840 Speaker 1: an affair with Eli Ring. This revelation might seem like 538 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: it served the prosecution. Jealousy of Elma's relationship with Eli 539 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: Ring could have given Levi a stronger motive to kill Elma. 540 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 1: But watkins testimony benefited the defense even more because it 541 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,800 Speaker 1: discredited the Rings. Their testimony had been key to establishing 542 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,920 Speaker 1: the relationship between Levi and Alma, but now it seemed 543 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,840 Speaker 1: that they might have had ulterior motives. The rest of 544 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: Watkins's testimony and that of his daughter, who also testified, 545 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:55,400 Speaker 1: further complicated the prosecution narrative. During their testimony, Eli and 546 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,839 Speaker 1: Catherine Ring had implied that they had suspected Levi from 547 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: the moment of Elma's desay disappearance, but the watkinsons both 548 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,920 Speaker 1: said that the couple had had nothing but good things 549 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:09,279 Speaker 1: to say about Levi and had never mentioned a relationship 550 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:12,920 Speaker 1: between Levi and Elma up until the inquest. That was 551 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,359 Speaker 1: the Rings weren't even the ones who had first drawn 552 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,000 Speaker 1: attention to Levi as a suspect. It turned out that 553 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: dubious honor went to someone else, Richard Croucher. Croucher was 554 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,359 Speaker 1: the same tenant who had once gotten into a fight 555 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,640 Speaker 1: with Levi and called him an impertinent puppy. A British 556 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,759 Speaker 1: immigrant and cloth merchant, Croucher had a poor reputation with 557 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 1: his neighbors given his habit of dropping by unannounced at 558 00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:47,439 Speaker 1: meal times and overseeing his welcome but his behavior after 559 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:52,399 Speaker 1: Elma's disappearance had been particularly galling. A neighbor named Hugh 560 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,680 Speaker 1: McDougall testified that on the day Alma's body was found, 561 00:38:56,120 --> 00:39:00,760 Speaker 1: Croucher was quote extremely busy among the crew to spread 562 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 1: improper insinuations and prejudices against the prisoner who was then taken. 563 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: Croucher didn't stop there, dropping by McDougall's house a week 564 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,440 Speaker 1: before the trial and telling McDougall, quote, the thing has 565 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:14,759 Speaker 1: all come out, the thing is settled. There is point 566 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:19,919 Speaker 1: blank proof, to which MacDougall replied that he quote thought 567 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,600 Speaker 1: it wrong and highly improper that Croucher should persecute Weeks 568 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 1: in such a manner when he had a difference with him, 569 00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: that for my own part, I wanted some further evidence 570 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,480 Speaker 1: before I should condemn the man. Croucher's crusade was not 571 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:38,480 Speaker 1: limited to McDougall. Several shopkeepers now testified to bizarre incidents 572 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,240 Speaker 1: where Croucher walked into their stores, announced that Levi Weeks 573 00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:46,719 Speaker 1: was guilty, and then walked out without buying anything. His 574 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 1: sole purpose, it seemed, was to turn the public against 575 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: Leevi Weeks, and the Rings had been fully complicit in 576 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: this campaign. Further, defense witnesses confirmed what the Watkinsons has 577 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,799 Speaker 1: said that despite the Rings claiming to have immediately suspected 578 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:07,759 Speaker 1: Levi of murdering Elma, the couple had both spoken warmly 579 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 1: about Levi's comforting presence in the days after her disappearance, 580 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,480 Speaker 1: and further that Eli Ring had organized a search of 581 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:19,880 Speaker 1: the waterfront believing that Alma had committed suicide, But only 582 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:23,360 Speaker 1: weeks later, Eli Ring was heard saying that if he 583 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: encountered Levi weeks in a dark alley, he wouldn't hesitate 584 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: to shoot him. So certain was he of Levi's guilt. 585 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:36,280 Speaker 1: What had caused this abrupt about face? Again, Joseph Watkins 586 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:40,360 Speaker 1: provided an answer. The only person besides his wife that 587 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,239 Speaker 1: he had told of the possible affair between Eli Ring 588 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: and Alma Sans he revealed, was Richard Croucher, and he 589 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,800 Speaker 1: had told Croucher about it at the inquest, the event 590 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,839 Speaker 1: after which the Rings had suddenly begun accusing Levi. Could 591 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:00,600 Speaker 1: Croucher have blackmailed Eli Ring into pinning the blame on 592 00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:05,439 Speaker 1: Levi weeks by threatening to reveal his affair, But why 593 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:09,160 Speaker 1: would Croucher want to do this? He didn't like Levi? 594 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,480 Speaker 1: Sure but that seemed like a thin reason to accuse 595 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,760 Speaker 1: a man of murder. Why was he so desperate for someone, 596 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:21,120 Speaker 1: anyone to take the blame for the crime. After all, 597 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,680 Speaker 1: he had a strong alibi for the night of the murder, 598 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,480 Speaker 1: a birthday party at one Anne Ashmore's house. The defense 599 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,680 Speaker 1: didn't have any real dirt on Croucher, but his suspicious 600 00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:35,480 Speaker 1: behavior and the shocking evidence about the rings were certainly 601 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,919 Speaker 1: damaging to the prosecution case, and that was on top 602 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,520 Speaker 1: of all of the other gaps beginning to appear in 603 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: Colton's assumptions. Satisfied that they had done enough, the defense 604 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:50,200 Speaker 1: rested with Burr reading a quote from Matthew Hale's foundational 605 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,319 Speaker 1: legal text History of the Pleas of the Crown, to 606 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:58,600 Speaker 1: conclude quote, In some cases, presumptive evidences go far to 607 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:01,960 Speaker 1: prove a person guilty, though there be no express proof 608 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,760 Speaker 1: of the fact to be committed by him. But then 609 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 1: it must be warily pressed, for it is better that 610 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 1: five guilty persons should escape unpunished than one innocent man 611 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:18,800 Speaker 1: should die. It was now two thirty am. The jury, 612 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,760 Speaker 1: running on a poor night's sleep and forced to focus 613 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:26,200 Speaker 1: for more than sixteen hours, were exhausted so too was 614 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,280 Speaker 1: kudwalad Or Coldon, who stated that he had not slept 615 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:32,800 Speaker 1: in forty four hours and begged for an adjournment before 616 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:37,840 Speaker 1: closing arguments, but Judge Lancing refused, saying that the jurors 617 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,200 Speaker 1: could not be made to sleep another night in city Hall. 618 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:43,920 Speaker 1: The defense quickly chimed in, saying that they were happy 619 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,280 Speaker 1: to forego closing arguments and begin jury deliberations right away. 620 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:53,040 Speaker 1: Judge Lancing agreed no closing arguments would be made. It 621 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:55,880 Speaker 1: was a blow to Coldon he had no real chance 622 00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:59,279 Speaker 1: to rebut the defense case and what came next would 623 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:04,120 Speaker 1: be worse. Judge Lancing now instructed the jury on their 624 00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:08,000 Speaker 1: duty quote to find the prisoner guilty if in their 625 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:11,400 Speaker 1: consciences they believed him so from the evidence, and to 626 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,319 Speaker 1: acquit him if they thought him innocent. He didn't talk 627 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: about the concept of beyond a reasonable doubt, which most 628 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,040 Speaker 1: of us are familiar with today. This was a relatively 629 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,759 Speaker 1: new legal idea at the time, which had only just 630 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:28,440 Speaker 1: begun to appear in trials, but the idea of innocent 631 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:33,080 Speaker 1: until proven guilty was well established. Legal authorities of the 632 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: time constantly stressed the same point that Burr had made 633 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: earlier it was better to find a guilty man innocent 634 00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: than sentence an innocent man to death, which might explain 635 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:47,839 Speaker 1: Judge Lancing's shocking final declaration to the jurors. In the 636 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:51,560 Speaker 1: opinion of the court, he said the proof was insufficient 637 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:55,120 Speaker 1: to warrant a verdict against the prisoner. From his seat, 638 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:59,240 Speaker 1: Colden could only pray that the jury disagreed. He wouldn't 639 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,840 Speaker 1: have to wait long time to find out. The jury 640 00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:04,919 Speaker 1: filed out, only to return less than five minutes later 641 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:07,920 Speaker 1: with a verdict. In the case of the murder of 642 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: Elma Sands, they declared Levi Weeks was found not guilty. 643 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,439 Speaker 1: The not guilty verdict came as a shock to many 644 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:28,359 Speaker 1: New Yorkers, but the newspapers, who only days earlier had 645 00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: been calling for Levi's execution, quickly changed their tune after 646 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:36,719 Speaker 1: the verdict came down by evidence of the facts alone. 647 00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,680 Speaker 1: When an article in the New York Daily Advertiser on 648 00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:45,000 Speaker 1: April second, is this young man's innocence completely established. Not 649 00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:48,040 Speaker 1: a single doubt remains on the minds of any person 650 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:51,520 Speaker 1: who was president at the trial, and soon even those 651 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,560 Speaker 1: New Yorkers who hadn't managed to cram into the courtroom 652 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:59,840 Speaker 1: could experience the trial for themselves because an unprecedented publication 653 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,759 Speaker 1: was about to hit the shelves. On April fourteenth, a 654 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:08,400 Speaker 1: ninety nine page pamphlet went on sale called A Report 655 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,520 Speaker 1: of the Trial of Levi Weeks on an Indictment for 656 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,239 Speaker 1: the Murder of Julielma SAMs on Monday, the thirty first 657 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:17,520 Speaker 1: day of March and Tuesday, the first day of April 658 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:20,000 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, taken in shorthand by a clerk of the court. 659 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,239 Speaker 1: Despite its less than catchy title, the pamphlet was a hit, 660 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:29,160 Speaker 1: mainly because of its revolutionary contents. For the first time 661 00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:32,840 Speaker 1: in US history, a full transcript of a murder trial 662 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:37,680 Speaker 1: had been published. William Coleman, the court clerk, had captured 663 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:41,520 Speaker 1: the trial in vivid detail, including not just the words 664 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:46,239 Speaker 1: spoken by the lawyers, but their actions too. When Lin 665 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:50,280 Speaker 1: Manuel Miranda described Levi Weeks's trial as the first murder 666 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:54,960 Speaker 1: trial in Hamilton, he was only slightly off. Levi Weeks's 667 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:57,880 Speaker 1: trial was not the first murder trial, but it is 668 00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:02,960 Speaker 1: the first fully documented murder tree in American history. Never 669 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,120 Speaker 1: before had such a complete account been captured and published. 670 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:09,760 Speaker 1: There were two innovations that allowed for this new kind 671 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:13,080 Speaker 1: of text. The first was the rise of shorthand, a 672 00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: system of coded writing that allows users to quickly and 673 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:21,000 Speaker 1: accurately capture dialogue as it happens. The second was the 674 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:26,160 Speaker 1: rise of the adversarial trial system. In previous centuries, when 675 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:30,080 Speaker 1: trials lasted only a matter of minutes and rarely involved 676 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:34,360 Speaker 1: much testimony or conflict, a transcript would have been pretty boring. 677 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:38,680 Speaker 1: But now drama was baked into the judicial process itself, 678 00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:44,160 Speaker 1: guaranteeing a riveting read. The transcript is also an invaluable 679 00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:49,080 Speaker 1: historical and legal resource. In eighteen hundred, America was still 680 00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:53,640 Speaker 1: in its infancy, and so were its institutions. The legal 681 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:58,400 Speaker 1: system was still clumsily defining itself. You can see that 682 00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:02,520 Speaker 1: throughout the transcript, when Colden struggles to find legal precedents 683 00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,440 Speaker 1: to admit hearsay, when the jurors jump in to ask questions, 684 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:10,600 Speaker 1: when the court is completely unprepared for a trial lasting 685 00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 1: two dates. These problems weren't unique to America. In Britain, too, 686 00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:19,520 Speaker 1: the legal system had been radically changing in the past decades. 687 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,279 Speaker 1: On both sides of the Atlantic. The trial process was 688 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:27,800 Speaker 1: evolving into the adversarial system we know today lawyers became 689 00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:31,680 Speaker 1: more important to the trial process, the rights the defendant changed, 690 00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,520 Speaker 1: and so did the role of the judge. The transcript 691 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:38,080 Speaker 1: of the trial of Levi Weeks let's us see these 692 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:41,759 Speaker 1: changes in action, transporting us into the moment where our 693 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:46,080 Speaker 1: modern trial system was born. It also lets us discover 694 00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:51,759 Speaker 1: surprising similarities between early nineteenth century Americans and ourselves. The 695 00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:56,239 Speaker 1: public's obsession with the Levi Week's case feels familiar. A 696 00:47:56,280 --> 00:48:00,600 Speaker 1: beautiful young woman killed in mysterious circumstances, perhaps by the 697 00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:04,240 Speaker 1: man she loved, is a classic of the true crime genre. 698 00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:08,719 Speaker 1: Writing about this cultural obsession, which is commonly called the 699 00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:13,200 Speaker 1: dead girl trope, the author Alex Segura describes an archetypal 700 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:17,799 Speaker 1: TV example. The camera pans to capture the victim's face 701 00:48:17,840 --> 00:48:22,360 Speaker 1: for the first time. A young, beautiful, virginal woman slight 702 00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:27,640 Speaker 1: superficial wounds on her angelic, sleepy face. This is almost 703 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:31,720 Speaker 1: exactly the scene that a pedestrian walking along Granite Street 704 00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:34,879 Speaker 1: in eighteen hundred would have seen when they stumbled upon 705 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:40,360 Speaker 1: Elma Sands's displayed body. The film writer Meg Shields, exploring 706 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:45,359 Speaker 1: how this trend dehumanizes victims, writes, the beautiful, young dead 707 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:49,359 Speaker 1: girl is not allowed to exist as a complex, three 708 00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:55,280 Speaker 1: dimensional person with flaws, sins, and jagged edges. Instead, especially 709 00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:58,600 Speaker 1: in America, she's held up as a symbol DuJour of 710 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:02,759 Speaker 1: innocence lost. This narrative is identical to the one that 711 00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,280 Speaker 1: played out at Elma's trial, with the prosecutor describing Elma 712 00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,600 Speaker 1: in his opening as a young girl who till her 713 00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:14,239 Speaker 1: fatal acquaintance with the prisoner was virtuous and modest. Burr 714 00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:17,440 Speaker 1: didn't cite the dead girl trope in his opening, obviously, 715 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:21,520 Speaker 1: but he came close, describing how the public's obsession with 716 00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:25,520 Speaker 1: the case led to Levi's prosecution. We have witnessed the 717 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:29,960 Speaker 1: extraordinary means which have been adopted to inflame public passions 718 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:33,560 Speaker 1: and to direct the fury of popular resentment against the prisoner. 719 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:36,840 Speaker 1: Why has the body been exposed for days in the 720 00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:40,200 Speaker 1: public streets in a manner the most indecent and shocking 721 00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,200 Speaker 1: to attract the curiosity and arouse the feelings of numberless spectators. 722 00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:50,799 Speaker 1: Such dreadful scenes speak powerfully to the passions. They petrify 723 00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:54,200 Speaker 1: the mind with horror, congeal the blood within our veins, 724 00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:59,440 Speaker 1: and excite the human bosom with irresistible but undefinable emotions. 725 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:04,200 Speaker 1: As Burr's speech reminds us, tropes don't just exist in 726 00:50:04,239 --> 00:50:07,800 Speaker 1: books are on TV. They are derived from real cultural 727 00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:12,399 Speaker 1: trends and to have real life consequences. So let's step 728 00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,240 Speaker 1: back from the theoretical and return to the real people 729 00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,520 Speaker 1: at the heart of this trial. What were the consequences 730 00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:28,200 Speaker 1: for them? First up, Levi Weeks. Despite being found not guilty, 731 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:32,080 Speaker 1: Levi knew that people were still suspicious of him, and 732 00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:35,760 Speaker 1: after several years he left New York, first for his parents' 733 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:40,200 Speaker 1: home in Massachusetts. Finding small town life there too sleepy, 734 00:50:40,560 --> 00:50:44,400 Speaker 1: he headed next to Natchez, the capital of the Mississippi Territory. 735 00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:48,360 Speaker 1: A booming frontier town, it was the perfect place for 736 00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:52,920 Speaker 1: Levi to reinvent himself. Drawing on the carpentry and contracting 737 00:50:52,920 --> 00:50:56,239 Speaker 1: skills he had learned from Ezra, Levi became an architect. 738 00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:59,520 Speaker 1: His first client was a good friend of Aaron Burr's, 739 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:03,520 Speaker 1: for whom Levi built a mansion called Auburn, which today 740 00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:07,480 Speaker 1: is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Levi married 741 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:12,000 Speaker 1: and had four children before dying in eighteen nineteen. Ezra 742 00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:14,879 Speaker 1: Weeks continued to prosper as a developer. In the years 743 00:51:14,920 --> 00:51:19,600 Speaker 1: after the trial. Cadwalader Colden, despite his failure to secure 744 00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:23,640 Speaker 1: a conviction, also found success after returning to private practice. 745 00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:27,280 Speaker 1: He became the Mayor of New York City in eighteen eighteen. 746 00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:32,000 Speaker 1: William Coleman, the court clerk, became famous as the editor 747 00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:36,640 Speaker 1: of the New York Evening Post. Brockholst Livingston, the third 748 00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:39,799 Speaker 1: defense attorney, went on to be appointed to the Supreme 749 00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:43,960 Speaker 1: Court by President Thomas Jefferson, serving from eighteen oh seven 750 00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:48,520 Speaker 1: to eighteen twenty three. But not everyone involved in the 751 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:53,640 Speaker 1: trial had such a happy ending. Judge John Lansing, despite 752 00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:56,360 Speaker 1: a long career on the New York Supreme Court, is 753 00:51:56,400 --> 00:52:01,680 Speaker 1: today best remembered for his mysterious disappearance. On December twelfth, 754 00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:05,440 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty nine, Lansing left his hotel room in Manhattan 755 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:09,279 Speaker 1: to mail a letter and was never seen again. The 756 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:13,040 Speaker 1: case is still unsolved. The rumours sworld that Lancing had 757 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:17,640 Speaker 1: been killed by political opponents. Eli Ring, saddled with a 758 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:20,520 Speaker 1: boarding house best known for hosting a murder victim whom 759 00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:23,360 Speaker 1: he may have had an affair with, lost his house 760 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:26,640 Speaker 1: within a year of the trial. He soon went bankrupt 761 00:52:26,719 --> 00:52:29,719 Speaker 1: and turned to alcohol. He was kicked out by the 762 00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:33,640 Speaker 1: Quakers for his excessive drinking. In disgrace, Eli moved his 763 00:52:33,680 --> 00:52:36,920 Speaker 1: family to Alabama, but his new start in the South 764 00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:39,839 Speaker 1: did not go as smoothly as Levi's had. He ended 765 00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:43,880 Speaker 1: up dying of yellow fever. Catherine moved her surviving family 766 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:46,640 Speaker 1: members to upstate New York, where they lived in relative 767 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:50,320 Speaker 1: anonymity for the rest of their lives. And of course 768 00:52:50,520 --> 00:52:54,040 Speaker 1: there's the tragic fate of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, 769 00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:57,439 Speaker 1: which we'll come back to in a minute. What about 770 00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:01,120 Speaker 1: the well? The Manhattan well are been largely out of 771 00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:04,080 Speaker 1: use by eighteen hundred, and after the murder, it was 772 00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:09,120 Speaker 1: completely abandoned. Lisbernard's Meadow was soon developed and built over, 773 00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:11,960 Speaker 1: and for the next two hundred years the wells location 774 00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:17,040 Speaker 1: was forgotten and then rediscovered several times. Today, a clothing 775 00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:19,680 Speaker 1: store rests on the remains of the well at one 776 00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:22,320 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty nine Spring Street in New York City. 777 00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:26,319 Speaker 1: The Manhattan Company survived much longer than its first, ill 778 00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:30,359 Speaker 1: fated well. You're likely familiar with its modern incarnation, JP 779 00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:35,200 Speaker 1: Morgan Chase, or as it was once known, Chase Manhattan Bank. 780 00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:39,839 Speaker 1: There is of course, no closure for one trial participant. 781 00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:44,399 Speaker 1: We still don't know who killed Elma sans we likely 782 00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:48,719 Speaker 1: never will, but theories are out there, and there's one 783 00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:52,920 Speaker 1: advanced by Paul Collins that I think deserves particular attention. 784 00:54:02,560 --> 00:54:06,680 Speaker 1: Remember Richard Croucher, the meddling boarding house resident who was 785 00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:12,160 Speaker 1: so involved in spreading accusations against Levi in the trial. 786 00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:16,239 Speaker 1: The defense hadn't tried to explain why Croucher had accused Levi, 787 00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:21,400 Speaker 1: or even put Croucher forward as a suspect. After all, 788 00:54:21,600 --> 00:54:24,120 Speaker 1: he had an alibi for the night of Elma's disappearance, 789 00:54:25,239 --> 00:54:29,799 Speaker 1: or did he. The birthday party Croucher claimed to be 790 00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:33,520 Speaker 1: at that night was hosted by Anne Ashmore, who it 791 00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:36,680 Speaker 1: turns out, ran a brandy distillery out of her house. 792 00:54:37,360 --> 00:54:43,080 Speaker 1: The parties she hosted there were notoriously drunken affairs. In fact, 793 00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:47,000 Speaker 1: at the trial, fellow attendees at the party couldn't even 794 00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:50,080 Speaker 1: consistently remember what day of the month they were supposed 795 00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:53,240 Speaker 1: to have seen Croucher at the party. A shaky alibi 796 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:58,160 Speaker 1: doesn't imply guilt, of course, but there's more. Unbeknownst to 797 00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:01,920 Speaker 1: any of his New York City acquaintances. Croucher's testimony at 798 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:06,239 Speaker 1: Levi's trial wasn't his first appearance in a courtroom. In 799 00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:10,240 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety seven, in his home country of England, Croucher 800 00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:13,440 Speaker 1: had appeared at the Old Bailey, this time as a 801 00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:18,480 Speaker 1: defendant accused of stealing a pair of boots. At his trial, 802 00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:23,080 Speaker 1: neighbors testified that Croucher, though once a respectable merchant, now 803 00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:27,520 Speaker 1: behaved so erratically and violently that he was widely known 804 00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:31,640 Speaker 1: as Mad Croucher. Due to his abuse, his wife and 805 00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:35,239 Speaker 1: daughters had received an order of protection against him. He 806 00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:39,080 Speaker 1: once threatened to shoot a neighbor. Drinking seemed to trigger 807 00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:42,800 Speaker 1: his rages, which was unfortunate because he drank heavily and often. 808 00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:46,120 Speaker 1: Croucher was found not guilty of the theft, but his 809 00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:49,880 Speaker 1: reputation was clearly damaged by the testimony, and he fled 810 00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:53,280 Speaker 1: to America, where he eventually washed up on the steps 811 00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:57,920 Speaker 1: of Eli and Catherine Rayne's boarding house, and three weeks 812 00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:01,480 Speaker 1: after the week's verdict, Crowchu with lapse into his old 813 00:56:01,640 --> 00:56:06,800 Speaker 1: despicable ways and commit a horrible crime. On April twenty third, 814 00:56:07,239 --> 00:56:11,359 Speaker 1: Croucher lured Margaret Miller, his thirteen year old stepdaughter, from 815 00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:14,560 Speaker 1: his second marriage into his room at the Ring House 816 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:17,239 Speaker 1: on the pretense of needing her help to clean it. 817 00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:20,480 Speaker 1: Once he had Margaret in the room, he seized her 818 00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:25,160 Speaker 1: and threatened if you scream, I will kill you. Say 819 00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:29,120 Speaker 1: he brutally raped her. Margaret was so badly hurt that 820 00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:32,360 Speaker 1: she could barely walk home the next day. The abuse 821 00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:37,080 Speaker 1: continued for weeks. Two months later, Richard Croucher was back 822 00:56:37,120 --> 00:56:39,760 Speaker 1: in the court room at City Hall, charged with rape. 823 00:56:40,719 --> 00:56:43,600 Speaker 1: In an eerie echo of the week's trial, the prosecutor 824 00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:47,080 Speaker 1: was Cadwalat or Colden and the defense attorney was Brockholst 825 00:56:47,080 --> 00:56:51,239 Speaker 1: to Livingstone, but this time, aided by the brave testimony 826 00:56:51,239 --> 00:56:56,000 Speaker 1: of Margaret Miller, and despite Livingstone's disgusting efforts to portray 827 00:56:56,120 --> 00:56:59,400 Speaker 1: the thirteen year old victim as an eager and consenting party, 828 00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:03,719 Speaker 1: prevailed and Richard Croucher was sentenced to a life of 829 00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:07,560 Speaker 1: hard labor. He got out only three years later after 830 00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:09,920 Speaker 1: a pardon from the governor on the condition that he 831 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:13,680 Speaker 1: left the country. Croucher, of course did not obey, and 832 00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:16,760 Speaker 1: instead snuck off to Virginia, where he resumed a life 833 00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:21,160 Speaker 1: of crime. His exact fate is unknown, but one of Alexander. 834 00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:26,800 Speaker 1: Hamilton's sons recorded that Croucher did eventually return to England, where, unsurprisingly, 835 00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:30,439 Speaker 1: he met his end on the gallows, executed for yet 836 00:57:30,480 --> 00:57:35,880 Speaker 1: another heinous crime. So Richard Croucher had no real alibi 837 00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:39,200 Speaker 1: for the night of Elma's disappearance. He had a pattern 838 00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:44,120 Speaker 1: of violent behavior, particularly against women, and he for some 839 00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:48,520 Speaker 1: reason seemed dead set on pinning Elma's murder on Levi. 840 00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:52,560 Speaker 1: Of course, this case against Richard Croucher is just as 841 00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:56,400 Speaker 1: circumstantial as the one against Levi Weeks. We will likely 842 00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:59,120 Speaker 1: never find out what happened to Elma Sands that night 843 00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:02,400 Speaker 1: at the Manhattan Well, never know the full story of 844 00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:05,880 Speaker 1: her short life and tragic death. But thanks to court 845 00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:08,960 Speaker 1: William Coleman, we know what happened at the trial of 846 00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:12,840 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks, giving us an amazing window into justice in 847 00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:18,440 Speaker 1: early America. That's the story of the people v Levi Weeks. 848 00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:21,040 Speaker 1: Stay with me after the break for a little more 849 00:58:21,080 --> 00:58:26,760 Speaker 1: on Hamilton Burr and the strange practice of socially sanctioned murder. 850 00:58:31,360 --> 00:58:34,000 Speaker 1: While we will never know for certain whether or not 851 00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:37,560 Speaker 1: Levi Weeks was a murderer, there is no doubt that 852 00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:41,200 Speaker 1: several once and future killers were present in the courtroom 853 00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:45,040 Speaker 1: during his trial, and I'm not just talking about Richard Croucher. 854 00:58:45,680 --> 00:58:48,720 Speaker 1: One of the strangest facts about this case is how 855 00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:53,160 Speaker 1: many of the lawyers and court officials involved killed people 856 00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:57,200 Speaker 1: in the years before and after the trial. Most obviously, 857 00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:02,560 Speaker 1: there's Aaron Burr. Four years after Levi Weeks's trial, Burr 858 00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:06,720 Speaker 1: and Alexander Hamilton faced one another pistols in hand, on 859 00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:09,600 Speaker 1: the banks of the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey. 860 00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:14,320 Speaker 1: Despite their excellent teamwork on the week's trial, the animosity 861 00:59:14,440 --> 00:59:17,200 Speaker 1: between the two men had only grown, and they had 862 00:59:17,240 --> 00:59:21,520 Speaker 1: finally decided to settle their differences via duel. It would 863 00:59:21,560 --> 00:59:26,520 Speaker 1: prove tragic for both men. Burr fatally shot Hamilton, killing 864 00:59:26,560 --> 00:59:29,480 Speaker 1: not just his enemy but also his own reputation in 865 00:59:29,520 --> 00:59:32,560 Speaker 1: the process. And Burr was not the only one with 866 00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:36,680 Speaker 1: a dueling death on his conscience. In seventeen ninety nine, 867 00:59:36,960 --> 00:59:41,200 Speaker 1: Brockholst Livingston made a joke about a political rival, James Jones, 868 00:59:41,360 --> 00:59:46,040 Speaker 1: in a newspaper editorial. Jones responded by physically attacking Livingston 869 00:59:46,120 --> 00:59:48,000 Speaker 1: in the street while he was walking with his wife 870 00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:52,160 Speaker 1: and children. Livingstone challenged Jones to a duel and killed 871 00:59:52,240 --> 00:59:57,520 Speaker 1: him with a single shot. Livingston was not arrested. Court 872 00:59:57,560 --> 01:00:01,360 Speaker 1: clerk William Coleman also killed someon in a duel. In 873 01:00:01,440 --> 01:00:04,120 Speaker 1: early eighteen oh four, he shot the New York Harbor 874 01:00:04,200 --> 01:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Master Captain Jeremiah Thompson in a duel held in the 875 01:00:07,520 --> 01:00:11,680 Speaker 1: middle of a snowstorm. In the minds of most early Americans, 876 01:00:11,920 --> 01:00:16,400 Speaker 1: these deaths were not truly murders. Dueling was extremely common 877 01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:19,880 Speaker 1: at the time. The historian Joanne Freeman, who was written 878 01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:23,920 Speaker 1: extensively on the role of violence in American politics, records 879 01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:26,760 Speaker 1: at least ten other duels taking place near New York 880 01:00:26,760 --> 01:00:30,160 Speaker 1: City just in the time period around the Burr Hamilton duel. 881 01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:35,560 Speaker 1: Duels were used to resolve personal grievances, political squabbles, matters 882 01:00:35,560 --> 01:00:39,880 Speaker 1: of honor, and more. Certain words alone were enough to 883 01:00:39,920 --> 01:00:44,600 Speaker 1: spark a duel. Words like rascal, scoundrel, or even puppy, 884 01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:49,000 Speaker 1: the insult Richard Croucher had used on Levi Weeks seriously. 885 01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:52,360 Speaker 1: Several major duels were fought over men calling each other puppies. 886 01:00:53,320 --> 01:00:56,320 Speaker 1: There are some obvious differences between duels and the murder 887 01:00:56,360 --> 01:00:59,960 Speaker 1: of Elma Sans, of course. Elma was an unwitting victim 888 01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:03,760 Speaker 1: not a willing participant. But to my mind, the line 889 01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:06,920 Speaker 1: drawn between these dueling deaths and other crimes is a 890 01:01:06,920 --> 01:01:10,320 Speaker 1: blurry one. How do we determine when it's acceptable to 891 01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:14,600 Speaker 1: take a life? For many Americans, the answer to that 892 01:01:14,680 --> 01:01:18,560 Speaker 1: question would change after the bur Hamilton duel. The public 893 01:01:18,680 --> 01:01:22,720 Speaker 1: was outraged and horrified over the senseless loss of life. 894 01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:25,240 Speaker 1: The pall of the killing would haunt bur for the 895 01:01:25,240 --> 01:01:28,240 Speaker 1: rest of his life, and though he was vice president 896 01:01:28,280 --> 01:01:31,320 Speaker 1: at the time, he would never achieve his long hoped 897 01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:35,880 Speaker 1: for dream of the presidency. He died in eighteen thirty six, 898 01:01:36,120 --> 01:01:41,200 Speaker 1: broke and alone. However, dueling would not disappear from American 899 01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:45,080 Speaker 1: culture permanently. It would take the traumatizing bloodshed of the 900 01:01:45,080 --> 01:01:49,480 Speaker 1: Civil War for the public appetite for dueling to finally wane. Today, 901 01:01:49,600 --> 01:01:52,640 Speaker 1: dueling is illegal in most US states and prosecuted as 902 01:01:52,720 --> 01:01:56,280 Speaker 1: murder or assault, but in early New York it was 903 01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:59,400 Speaker 1: not uncommon to find an alleged murder being defended in 904 01:01:59,480 --> 01:02:04,480 Speaker 1: court by a confirmed killer. Thank you for listening to 905 01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:08,480 Speaker 1: History on Trial. The main sources for this episode were 906 01:02:08,480 --> 01:02:13,320 Speaker 1: William Coleman's trial transcript and Paul Collins's book Duel with 907 01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:17,200 Speaker 1: the Devil, The true story of how Alexander Hamilton and 908 01:02:17,360 --> 01:02:21,439 Speaker 1: Aaron Burr teamed up to take on America's first sensational 909 01:02:21,520 --> 01:02:25,040 Speaker 1: murder mystery. For a full bibliography, as well as a 910 01:02:25,080 --> 01:02:28,920 Speaker 1: transcript of this episode with citations, please visit our website 911 01:02:29,480 --> 01:02:37,720 Speaker 1: History on Trial podcast dot com. History on Trial is 912 01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:41,480 Speaker 1: written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. The show is 913 01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:45,560 Speaker 1: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Trevor 914 01:02:45,600 --> 01:02:50,880 Speaker 1: Young and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, Matt Frederick, 915 01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:54,600 Speaker 1: and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show at History 916 01:02:54,600 --> 01:02:58,840 Speaker 1: on Trial podcast dot com and follow us on Instagram 917 01:02:58,840 --> 01:03:03,680 Speaker 1: at History on Trial and on Twitter at Underscore History 918 01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:08,080 Speaker 1: on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by visiting the 919 01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:12,240 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 920 01:03:12,240 --> 01:03:13,040 Speaker 1: favorite shows.