WEBVTT - Elma Sands and the Manhattan Well Murder 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.399 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:05.359 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:14.080 If there had been true crime podcasts in the year 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:18.160 eighteen hundred, this sensational murder trial would have been a 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:22.239 hot topic under discussion. A young woman was killed just 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:24.720 before Christmas in New York City on the night she 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.160 was to elope with her lover. The prime suspect was 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.440 Levi Weeks, her presumptive fiance, but he denied to authorities 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.839 they had any relationship and he denied any involvement in 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.920 her death. His defense team was the hottest trio of 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.000 lawyers in town. We're here to tell the story of 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.800 Elma Sands and how the criminal justice system never established 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.600 what really happened to her or who was to blame. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.360 Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky and. 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.959 I'm Holly Frye. Levi Weeks was a twenty three year 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.920 old carpenter living in New York City in the seventeen nine. 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.399 He dreamed of becoming an architect and builder like his 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.640 powerful brother Ezra, and he was working with him to 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.640 develop his skills and contacts. Ezra Weeks was well known, 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:16.880 well liked, and very well connected. He socialized in the 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.200 most elite of elite circles. He was one of the 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:24.200 city's most successful builders, involved in and responsible for the 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:29.640 construction of much of the growing city's infrastructure, plus notably 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.640 the Hamilton Grange, a country estate built for Alexander Hamilton 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:38.000 in uptown Manhattan, and Gracie Mansion, the official residence of 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:39.399 the Mayor of New York City. 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.000 In the summer of seventeen ninety nine, Levi fell in 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:48.480 love with a woman named Elma Sands born Gulielma Elmore Sands, Elma, 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:50.800 as she was known, moved to New York City from 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.720 the Connecticut Valley at age twenty two to work at 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:57.200 a millinery shop owned and operated by her cousin Katherine 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:01.920 Ring and Catherine's husband Elias. Elma lived in the Rings 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.960 boarding house at to oweight Greenwich Street, above their commercial space. 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.520 Elma and Levi met coincidentally, they were living under the 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.680 same roof. At first, they tried to keep their love 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:18.680 affair hidden, but the relationship intensified quickly. Other tenants soon 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.680 found them out. On a few occasions, the pair were 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:26.359 caught scantily clad, caught having sex, or sometimes were overheard 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:30.639 having sex, and this was a big deal. And that's 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.400 in all caps. This was very scandalous because they weren't 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.680 a married couple. Levi promised Elma theyde marry, and just 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.200 before Christmas, the two decided to Elope. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:45.640 On December twenty second, a Sunday night, other boarders heard 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:50.240 Elma in her room, presumably dressing for her elopement. She 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.000 had told her cousin, Hope Sans, who was also a 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.360 border in the same house, that she was going to 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:58.480 marry Levi and that the two planned to Elope that night. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.120 Levi had wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.240 but Elma was so excited and she just had to 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.040 tell someone. Hope, though, did not keep it a secret, 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.840 and she told Catherine, and after that words spread quickly 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.640 among the tenants. Levi and Elias were in the sitting 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.520 room that evening, assumed by the other boarders to be 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.680 waiting for Elma. Catherine later testified that while Elma was 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.440 readying in her room, Levi quote went out into the 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.679 entry that moment the door opened, and directly I heard 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.440 a whispering near the door at the bottom of the stairs. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.520 For nearly a minute, but so near the door, I 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.440 thought I might understand what was said, and I listened 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:45.840 for that purpose. Soon I heard them step along. Elma 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.520 was seen leaving the boarding house a bit later around 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.560 eight o'clock, while fellow boarders saw Levi return later that 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:57.400 night at about ten o'clock, Elma did not return. The 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:02.960 next morning, Elma still wasn't home. Levi expressed surprise to 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.920 Catherine that Elma had been out so late alone, and 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.640 when questioned if they'd been together, he denied to Catherine 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.040 that Elma had even been with him that evening. The 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:18.040 rings reported Elma missing. She had simply vanished. 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:22.320 Without a body or much information at all about the 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:26.160 events of that night. Authorities opened an investigation, and they 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.320 started by dragging the Hudson River for her body, but 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:30.400 came up with nothing. 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.200 A friend of Elma's stated to investigators that she had 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.640 bumped into her by chance the night that she went missing, 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.039 in a crowd on snow covered Greenwich Street near the 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.719 boarding house. She observed that Elma was wearing a fur 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.880 muff on that cold winter night, and she also noted 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.440 that Elma's companion, whom the friend could not identify, kept 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.839 her from chit chatting, saying to her quote let's go 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.720 while moving her along toward Lis Bernard's Meadows, then Marshland 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.880 and now the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. This was the 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.279 last account of Elma seen alive. 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:12.440 When authorities questioned Levi about his engagement and impending elopement, 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.000 he denied it. He also denied seeing Alma the night 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.320 she disappeared, and claimed he had spent most of that 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.200 night at his brother's house with friends. Despite the alibi, 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.480 the rings didn't believe Levi's claims of ignorance or innocence, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.479 and they took Elma's story to the media looking for answers. 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:34.240 They offered reporters details of Elma, details of the night 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.719 of her disappearance, and how they believed she had been murdered. 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.520 Reporters and New Yorkers gobbled the story up. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.320 But before we talk about where and when Elma was found, 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:47.080 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:51.039 our sponsors. When we're back, will unfold the details leading 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.159 up to the trial of the people versus Levi weeks. 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.640 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how little evidence 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:13.120 there was in this case and where Alma's body was 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.000 eventually discovered. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.240 A few days after Elma vanished, a young boy found 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.120 the muff that she had been wearing the night she disappeared. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.440 He had found it near the Manhattan Well. His father, 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.599 Andrew Blank, would later testify to his son's discovery that 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:34.000 was the first solid piece of evidence. Articles of Elma's 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.920 clothing were also found near the Manhattan Well, and that 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.320 well was part of a newly constructed water supply system 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.320 to the north of the city, located in today's Soho neighborhood, 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.600 about a twenty minute carriage ride from the boarding house 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.520 where Elma lived. The well was not fully searched until 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:58.440 January tewond, eleven days after her disappearance. Elma's body was 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:03.240 discovered there accidentally by fore men and a child. The 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.560 body was removed and her identity was confirmed. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.400 A coroner's inquest was held and an autopsy performed. It 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.360 was concluded that Elma had been quote deliberately killed by 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.800 some person or persons yet unknown. Her body was placed 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.440 on public display, as was customary in the Rings Home 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.280 for three days, during which hundreds of New Yorkers came 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:26.920 to view her. 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:32.560 The press continued their coverage and began publishing unverified and 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.560 lurid accounts of what might have happened to Elma, and 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.160 they nicknamed the crime and the case the Manhattan well Murdered. 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.240 They printed anything and everything to drum up a public 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:49.200 outcry against Levi. The New York Gazette and General Advertiser 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:53.120 reported Elma was to have wed, but quote alas little 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.840 did she suspect that the arrangements she had been making 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.920 with so much care, instead of conveying her to the 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:02.280 Temple of Hymen, would direct her to that born from 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:07.080 which no traveler returns. Although Levi hadn't been arrested, he 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.440 had already been convicted in the court of public opinion. 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.400 Many New Yorkers flat out believed he was guilty. 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.840 Four days after the coroner's report was released, Levi was 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.600 indicted for the murder of Elma Sans. The indictment charged 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.440 that Levi quote not having fear of God before his eyes, 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:30.080 but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.880 on the twenty second day of December, with force and arms, 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:39.400 feloniously wilfully did make an assault strike, beat and kick 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:43.320 with his hands and feet in and upon the head, breast, back, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:47.160 belly's sides and other parts of the body before casting 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.000 Mulielma Sands into a certain well. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.640 This trial was sensational, but it was also special. It 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.480 was the first murder trial in the United States for 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.200 which there is a formal record. It was all so 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.920 the appearance of the first Defense Council dream team. Through 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:08.080 his brother's influence, Levi was represented by a team of 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:13.880 highly skilled and renowned lawyers and their names Alexander Hamilton 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.920 and Aaron Burr. At the time, these rivals were considered 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:22.280 the best lawyers in the city. Hamilton was former Secretary 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.240 of the Treasury and leader of New York's Federalist Party. 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:30.079 Burr was a former United States Senator and future Vice President. 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.880 Their fateful duel in Weehawk and New Jersey would take 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:35.640 place just four years later. 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.840 Burr and Hamilton each had personal motivations for agreeing to 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.760 defend Ezra Weeks's brother. The well in which Elma's body 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.520 was found was owned by and located on the property 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.400 of the Manhattan Company, a business founded by Aaron Burr. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.880 A newly established bank that was backed by Burr provided 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.679 the funding for several of Ezra's projects in the city. 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:02.480 Projects that included the Manhattan Well. Hamilton joined Levi's defense 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.959 team because Ezra Weeks was his friend and had been 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.640 involved in the construction of the Hamilton Grange. Hamilton was 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.640 also convinced of Levi's innocence. Hamilton and Burr had worked 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:17.120 together on cases before, but neither had worked a murder trial. 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.760 To cover all their bases, Ezra brought in a third 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:26.360 defense attorney, future Supreme Court Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston joined 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:27.240 the team. 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.640 In eighteen hundred, the United States was still really young, 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.880 just a teenager, and there was no established case law yet, 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.760 which is as important to criminal lawyers as legal statute. Briefly, 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.760 case laws are established by court rulings, while legal statutes 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.920 are enacted by legislative bodies. That meant there would be 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:49.960 a lot of legal work to do and of it. 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:54.000 Aaron Burr remarked, quote, the law is whatever is boldly 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.120 asserted and plausibly maintained. They didn't know it when they 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.319 signed up to be Levi's defense, but this trial set 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.800 legal precedent for cases that followed throughout the nineteenth century. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.160 The trial The People Versus Levi Weeks began on March 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.720 thirty first, eighteen hundred, with New York Supreme Court Chief 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:19.480 Justice John Lansing, Junior Mayor Richard Harrison, and Recorder Richard 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.200 Verick presiding. The courtroom in New York City's City Hall 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:28.439 now at Federal Hall was packed with onlookers. Outside crowds 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.240 also gathered, many calling for justice, which to them meant 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.600 Levi's death. At this time in American history, most trials 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.240 took less than one day, but this trial continued for 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:43.040 more than forty hours, as seventy five witnesses were called 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:43.760 to the stand. 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.960 Before we talk testimony, though, we're going to take a 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.160 break for a word from our sponsors, and when. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:12:00.959 We're back, we'll go to court. 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.960 Welcome back to Criminalia. Most people in the courtroom assumed 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.640 Levi Weeks was guilty. But was there evidence or was 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.440 it all just speculation? We have questions, but not a 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:14.200 lot of answers. 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:15.360 Let's go to court. 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.240 The lead prosecutor was Assistant Attorney General and future Mayor 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:24.520 of New York, Cadwalader Colden. The prosecution's case largely rested 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.240 on circumstantial evidence, and the team tried to use the 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:32.880 growing scandal and publicity around the trial to their advantage. 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.600 They had very little to go on, though the defense too, 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.600 had a few hurdles to overcome. First, the public did 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:45.600 not like Levi and believed that he was guilty of murder. Second, 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:49.360 Levi's alibi on the night Elma went missing, that he 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:53.400 was at his brother's house, was weak at best, and 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.000 other than his brother, he had very few character witnesses 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:58.839 who would agree to testify on. 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.959 His Behalf of the seventy five witnesses called to testify, 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:07.280 Let's hit the big bangs. More than one witness testified 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.600 seeing Elma with two men in a one horse sleigh 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.640 that appeared to be similar to a sleigh owned by Ezra, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.760 though no one had been close enough to accurately identify 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.679 it one way or the other, stated witness youth Throng Anderson. 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:22.600 He saw the. 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.960 Sleigh quote about half past eight in the evening, on 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.959 a full gallop, with two or three men or women 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.880 in it. I can't say whether they were men or women. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.240 The horse seemed to be dark colored, but other than 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.960 sleigh tracks seen near the well, there was no tie 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:43.000 to either Levi or Elma, just speculation over a sleigh 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:44.439 seen on a snowy. 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.880 Night Arnetta van Norden and Catherine Lyon were just two 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.200 of a few witnesses to testify that they heard a 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.120 woman screaming near the well that night. Said Arnetta, quote, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.560 we live about halfway from Broadway to the well. About 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.080 eight or nine o'clock in the evening, my husband heard 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.040 a noise and he stood up and observed it was 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.240 from the well. I then looked through the window and 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.679 we heard a woman cry out from towards the well. 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.560 Lord have mercy on me, Lord help me. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.520 Prosecutors claimed Levi had seduced Elma with phony promises to 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:22.720 marry her, and they insisted he never intended to. Instead, 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.840 they explained he'd only wanted a sexual relationship with her 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:30.480 before casting her aside. They argued Elma had gotten pregnant 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.160 and that Levi killed her because he didn't want that responsibility. 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:38.320 Their ongoing talk of premarital sex and pregnancy outside of 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.560 marriage was meant to shock the jury about the nature 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.160 of the relationship and Levi's morals. 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.320 One of the men who would helped lift Elma's body 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.080 from the well testified that he'd noticed her clothing had 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.440 been torn and that he believed her neck was bruised 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:58.280 and broken. Medical testimony was given by a dentist who 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:02.360 examined the body after the coroner's inquest, and he stated 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.840 he had seen scratches and bruises on her body, including 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:10.480 bruising around her neck, indicating she had been strangled. A 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:14.360 medical expert called by the defense, also not part of 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.720 the coroner's inquest, testified to refute evidence that Elma's neck 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.760 had been broken and that her body showed evidence of trauma. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.480 The defense noted the facts of the coroner's report, which 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:29.600 stated Elma was not pregnant when she died. That was 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:33.320 critical because, as we said earlier, pregnancy had been considered 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.560 by the prosecution as a possible motive for Levi to 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:37.160 kill her. 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.120 Several witnesses for the defense, including members of Levi's family, 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:45.240 testified that he had spent much of the night of 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:49.680 December twenty second at his brother Ezra's house, although there 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.080 wasn't an admission that he had gone out for about 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:56.600 an hour before returning. The prosecution insisted this was more 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.640 than enough time for him to have killed Elma and 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.800 returned to Ezra's house, but again it was all speculation. 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.520 The defense took a different direction, altogether painting a scenario 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.280 in which Elma wasn't murdered, but in fact had died 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.160 by suicide. Acquaintances of Elma testified that she had a 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:19.360 melancholy streak about her sometimes, and one witness stated that 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.800 Elma had once casually remarked that she should overdose with laudanum. 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.640 Physicians who examined the body for the coroner's jury testified 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.600 that it was possible she had jumped into the well 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:31.760 of her own will. 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:36.760 Elma's character was called into question, in particular her love life. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:41.040 Elias Ring testified that quote Levi and Elma were constantly 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:45.880 together in private. Prosecutors also called a man named Richard Croucher, 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:49.080 also known as Mad Croucher to the stand, a man 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.520 they considered their star witness because they were convinced his 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.600 testimony would show Levi was a man of dubious character. 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.840 Richard was a short term lodger at the Rings boarding 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:04.960 head and a quote shady salesman of Ladies garments. He 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.479 claimed he personally saw Elma and Levi having sex at 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.520 the house. Richard also claimed he knew Levi wanted out 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.320 of the relationship and that Levi was nothing more than 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.600 a con man. Witnesses who claimed that Elma had also 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.760 slept with others at the boarding house were brought to 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:24.840 the stand to testify regarding her character as well. 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.800 What was then and now considered to be the most 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.639 dramatic moment in the trial was the cross examination of 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.960 Richard Croucher. The defense team, piece by piece, took apart 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.680 his claims with witnesses who rebutted much of his testimony. 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:45.400 Hamilton and Burr pointed the finger at Richard, stating he 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.879 was the one who had the affair with Elma and 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.520 that he was the one of dubious character. They brought 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.880 a witness to the stand who testified they personally saw 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:59.119 Croucher near the Manhattan Well on the night of Elma's disappearance, 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:05.200 cast a suspicion on him and not Levi. Additional witnesses 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.080 testified that Croucher had argued recently with Levi and had 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.000 been spreading rumors in the weeks before Elma's death that 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.879 he was a playboy and a scoundrel. According to a 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.879 court record of the trial and of Croucher on the stand, 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.399 quote one of the prisoner's council held a candle close 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.840 to Croucher's face and asked the witness if it was he, 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:30.840 and he said it was okay, So rivals to the 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.960 bitter end. Which lawyer being referred to there is debated 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.720 by Burr's family and Hamilton's. An eighteen fifty eight biography 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.480 of Aaron Burr claimed that Burr held two candelabra to 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:48.080 Croucher's face and yelled out, quote, behold the murderer, gentlemen. 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.679 Hamilton's family told the story differently, his son writing that 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.199 Alexander held a candle to Croucher's face, and when the 0:18:56.280 --> 0:19:01.800 prosecution objected, he responded, quote, I have spas reasons that 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:05.480 when the real culprit is detected and placed before the court, 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:07.280 will be understood. 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.119 Around two thirty in the morning on April second, the 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.639 defense rested, certain of the strength of their case, and 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.440 aware that the jury at this point had to be exhausted, 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.840 The defense declined to present a closing argument. Court reports 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.280 note that a prosecutor fell asleep at his table in 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.600 court during the final hours of the trial. It had 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:33.280 been a long forty four hours. Chief Justice Lancing instructed 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.760 the jury before they deliberated that there was not sufficient 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.000 evidence against Levi weeks to warrant a decision against him, 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.280 but the decision was up to them. Quote the court 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:48.400 were unanimously of the opinion that the proof was insufficient 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.439 to warrant a verdict against him, and that with this 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.920 general charge, they committed the prisoner's case to their consideration. 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.480 The jury only needed five minutes to reach a verdict 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.159 of not guilty. 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.120 The New York Daily Advertiser reported on the verdict, writing 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.159 that everyone in the court had been quote more or 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.840 less impressed with the idea that he was guilty, but 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.840 were as soon as the verdict not guilty was given, 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:19.880 just bursting into involuntary and exulting acclamations. There was enormous 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.919 controversy surrounding Levi's acquittal, and Judge Lansing's charge to the 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:29.600 jury was widely criticized ostracized, Levi fled New York City. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.000 He moved south, relocating to Natchez, Mississippi, where he was 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.359 free to follow his dream of becoming a successful architect. 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.320 The Auburn Mansion, which he designed, is today a National 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:42.480 Historic Landmark. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:47.399 Richard Croucher, though, remains an intriguing character and not just 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.240 to us. The defense had tried to paint him as 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:54.240 the actual killer. He appears to be the best suspect 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:57.040 they had at the time. He went on to live 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.240 a life of crime. Just months after the trial, he 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:04.040 was convicted for sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter, but was 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:08.040 later pardoned due to his unstable mental health. After a 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.520 similar incident occurred in Virginia, he left the United States 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:15.240 for his native England, where he continued his criminal activities 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:19.280 and was in due time executed for it. 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.080 And for Elma. No other suspect was ever charged after 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:28.399 Levi's acquittal. This is quite a case justice for Ilma. 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:32.560 This is another one where it's hard to want to 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.280 make a drink about it. But I think I have 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.199 already figured out an ongoing theme that will happen for 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:42.080 me this season, which is like trying to focus on 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:42.600 the victim. 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:45.720 Well, and that's really it's an interesting thing for this 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:51.040 particular story because this story always gets told with Alexander 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.120 Hamilton and Aaron Burr as the stars of the story, 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.320 and they're not. They're the defense team. 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.600 Right, And Elma gets care rised as like, you know, 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.600 this sort of slutty mess who can't you know, use 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:10.280 her more lady like reasoning to not get herself into trouble. 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:16.080 It's very victim blamey, which I have feelings about. Right, So, 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:20.280 I wanted to think about what should have been part 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:24.000 of Elma's evening that night had she not been entwined 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.920 with any of these people, which is that she should 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.240 have had a very delicious, cozy drink by the fire 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:31.960 in the boarding house and gone to. 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:33.920 Bed in the sitting room of Elias and. 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.560 Gone safely to bed. And this is a drink that 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.720 I'm calling snowy Ground because I also like to think 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:44.040 of it as like the the calm of a beautiful 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:48.720 snowy evening without any of the violence. And this is 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:51.679 a really easy one to put together. It's actually a 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.800 little bit of a variation on a drink called a 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.040 French Connection. I don't know if you've ever had that. 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:04.720 It is a French Connection is equal parts cognac and omaretto. 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:08.679 Oh okay, delicious, very up my alley. 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:10.520 I actually feel like maybe I have had that. 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:14.639 Note it's a drink that kind of popped up in 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.119 the seventies and has had many variations on it. This 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:22.919 one is a foamy one, so you're gonna start out 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:27.159 with two ounces of heavy whipping cream and add to 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:29.520 that an ounce of amaretto, and you're going to put 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:32.800 that in a shaking tin or whatever container, and you're 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:35.760 gonna get your frother out and foam that baby up. 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:38.920 It's not gonna get stiff the way a whipping cream 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:41.119 would on its own, because the omaretto thins it a 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:43.959 bit too much. But it does get very foamy, and 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:47.040 the foam has a nice density and a nice body 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.800 to it. Once you have that all whipped together, you 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:55.560 are just going to put two ounces of cognac in 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:58.400 a smallish glass. I used a small Nick and Nora. 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:02.080 Now we are getting into a moment of potential debate, 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:06.040 not really debate. This is your preference. A lot of 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:12.159 people like cognac to be served room temperature. I am 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.400 one of them. It also gets put in mixed drinks 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:19.320 and chilled, so I did this with no chilling on 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:20.000 the cognac. 0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:20.640 But if you. 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:23.080 Would prefer to have it as a colder drink, you 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:27.480 can give your cognac a quick shake with ice and 0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:29.960 strain it into your Nick and Nora glass, and then 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.000 you're just gonna spoon your foamy bit on top of it, 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:36.080 it's not gonna sink in because the foam has so 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:38.560 much air and texture to it, and you end up 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:40.879 with one that like the bottom half is like the 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:44.080 brown of the kgnak and the top is the whippy 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:48.479