Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
If there had been true crime podcasts in the year eighteen hundred, this sensational murder trial would have been a hot topic under discussion. A young woman was killed just before Christmas in New York City on the night she was to elope with her lover. The prime suspect was Levi Weeks, her presumptive fiance, but he denied to authorities they had any relationship and he denied any involvement in her death. His defense team was the hottest trio of
lawyers in town. We're here to tell the story of Elma Sands and how the criminal justice system never established what really happened to her or who was to blame. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky and.
I'm Holly Frye. Levi Weeks was a twenty three year old carpenter living in New York City in the seventeen nine. He dreamed of becoming an architect and builder like his powerful brother Ezra, and he was working with him to develop his skills and contacts. Ezra Weeks was well known, well liked, and very well connected. He socialized in the
most elite of elite circles. He was one of the city's most successful builders, involved in and responsible for the construction of much of the growing city's infrastructure, plus notably the Hamilton Grange, a country estate built for Alexander Hamilton in uptown Manhattan, and Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of New York City.
In the summer of seventeen ninety nine, Levi fell in love with a woman named Elma Sands born Gulielma Elmore Sands, Elma, as she was known, moved to New York City from the Connecticut Valley at age twenty two to work at a millinery shop owned and operated by her cousin Katherine Ring and Catherine's husband Elias. Elma lived in the Rings boarding house at to oweight Greenwich Street, above their commercial space. Elma and Levi met coincidentally, they were living under the
same roof. At first, they tried to keep their love affair hidden, but the relationship intensified quickly. Other tenants soon found them out. On a few occasions, the pair were caught scantily clad, caught having sex, or sometimes were overheard having sex, and this was a big deal. And that's in all caps. This was very scandalous because they weren't a married couple. Levi promised Elma theyde marry, and just before Christmas, the two decided to Elope.
On December twenty second, a Sunday night, other boarders heard Elma in her room, presumably dressing for her elopement. She had told her cousin, Hope Sans, who was also a border in the same house, that she was going to marry Levi and that the two planned to Elope that night. Levi had wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, but Elma was so excited and she just had to tell someone. Hope, though, did not keep it a secret, and she told Catherine, and after that words spread quickly
among the tenants. Levi and Elias were in the sitting room that evening, assumed by the other boarders to be waiting for Elma. Catherine later testified that while Elma was readying in her room, Levi quote went out into the entry that moment the door opened, and directly I heard a whispering near the door at the bottom of the stairs. For nearly a minute, but so near the door, I thought I might understand what was said, and I listened
for that purpose. Soon I heard them step along. Elma was seen leaving the boarding house a bit later around eight o'clock, while fellow boarders saw Levi return later that night at about ten o'clock, Elma did not return. The next morning, Elma still wasn't home. Levi expressed surprise to Catherine that Elma had been out so late alone, and when questioned if they'd been together, he denied to Catherine that Elma had even been with him that evening. The
rings reported Elma missing. She had simply vanished.
Without a body or much information at all about the events of that night. Authorities opened an investigation, and they started by dragging the Hudson River for her body, but came up with nothing.
A friend of Elma's stated to investigators that she had bumped into her by chance the night that she went missing, in a crowd on snow covered Greenwich Street near the boarding house. She observed that Elma was wearing a fur muff on that cold winter night, and she also noted that Elma's companion, whom the friend could not identify, kept her from chit chatting, saying to her quote let's go while moving her along toward Lis Bernard's Meadows, then Marshland
and now the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. This was the last account of Elma seen alive.
When authorities questioned Levi about his engagement and impending elopement, he denied it. He also denied seeing Alma the night she disappeared, and claimed he had spent most of that night at his brother's house with friends. Despite the alibi, the rings didn't believe Levi's claims of ignorance or innocence, and they took Elma's story to the media looking for answers.
They offered reporters details of Elma, details of the night of her disappearance, and how they believed she had been murdered. Reporters and New Yorkers gobbled the story up.
But before we talk about where and when Elma was found, We're going to take a break for a word from our sponsors. When we're back, will unfold the details leading up to the trial of the people versus Levi weeks.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how little evidence there was in this case and where Alma's body was eventually discovered.
A few days after Elma vanished, a young boy found the muff that she had been wearing the night she disappeared. He had found it near the Manhattan Well. His father, Andrew Blank, would later testify to his son's discovery that
was the first solid piece of evidence. Articles of Elma's clothing were also found near the Manhattan Well, and that well was part of a newly constructed water supply system to the north of the city, located in today's Soho neighborhood, about a twenty minute carriage ride from the boarding house where Elma lived. The well was not fully searched until January tewond, eleven days after her disappearance. Elma's body was
discovered there accidentally by fore men and a child. The body was removed and her identity was confirmed.
A coroner's inquest was held and an autopsy performed. It was concluded that Elma had been quote deliberately killed by some person or persons yet unknown. Her body was placed on public display, as was customary in the Rings Home for three days, during which hundreds of New Yorkers came to view her.
The press continued their coverage and began publishing unverified and lurid accounts of what might have happened to Elma, and they nicknamed the crime and the case the Manhattan well Murdered. They printed anything and everything to drum up a public
outcry against Levi. The New York Gazette and General Advertiser reported Elma was to have wed, but quote alas little did she suspect that the arrangements she had been making with so much care, instead of conveying her to the Temple of Hymen, would direct her to that born from which no traveler returns. Although Levi hadn't been arrested, he had already been convicted in the court of public opinion. Many New Yorkers flat out believed he was guilty.
Four days after the coroner's report was released, Levi was
indicted for the murder of Elma Sans. The indictment charged that Levi quote not having fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the twenty second day of December, with force and arms, feloniously wilfully did make an assault strike, beat and kick with his hands and feet in and upon the head, breast, back, belly's sides and other parts of the body before casting Mulielma Sands into a certain well.
This trial was sensational, but it was also special. It was the first murder trial in the United States for which there is a formal record. It was all so the appearance of the first Defense Council dream team. Through his brother's influence, Levi was represented by a team of highly skilled and renowned lawyers and their names Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. At the time, these rivals were considered
the best lawyers in the city. Hamilton was former Secretary of the Treasury and leader of New York's Federalist Party. Burr was a former United States Senator and future Vice President. Their fateful duel in Weehawk and New Jersey would take place just four years later.
Burr and Hamilton each had personal motivations for agreeing to defend Ezra Weeks's brother. The well in which Elma's body was found was owned by and located on the property of the Manhattan Company, a business founded by Aaron Burr. A newly established bank that was backed by Burr provided the funding for several of Ezra's projects in the city. Projects that included the Manhattan Well. Hamilton joined Levi's defense team because Ezra Weeks was his friend and had been
involved in the construction of the Hamilton Grange. Hamilton was also convinced of Levi's innocence. Hamilton and Burr had worked together on cases before, but neither had worked a murder trial. To cover all their bases, Ezra brought in a third defense attorney, future Supreme Court Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston joined the team.
In eighteen hundred, the United States was still really young, just a teenager, and there was no established case law yet, which is as important to criminal lawyers as legal statute. Briefly, case laws are established by court rulings, while legal statutes are enacted by legislative bodies. That meant there would be a lot of legal work to do and of it. Aaron Burr remarked, quote, the law is whatever is boldly
asserted and plausibly maintained. They didn't know it when they signed up to be Levi's defense, but this trial set legal precedent for cases that followed throughout the nineteenth century.
The trial The People Versus Levi Weeks began on March thirty first, eighteen hundred, with New York Supreme Court Chief Justice John Lansing, Junior Mayor Richard Harrison, and Recorder Richard Verick presiding. The courtroom in New York City's City Hall now at Federal Hall was packed with onlookers. Outside crowds also gathered, many calling for justice, which to them meant
Levi's death. At this time in American history, most trials took less than one day, but this trial continued for more than forty hours, as seventy five witnesses were called to the stand.
Before we talk testimony, though, we're going to take a break for a word from our sponsors, and when.
We're back, we'll go to court.
Welcome back to Criminalia. Most people in the courtroom assumed Levi Weeks was guilty. But was there evidence or was it all just speculation? We have questions, but not a lot of answers.
Let's go to court.
The lead prosecutor was Assistant Attorney General and future Mayor of New York, Cadwalader Colden. The prosecution's case largely rested on circumstantial evidence, and the team tried to use the growing scandal and publicity around the trial to their advantage. They had very little to go on, though the defense too, had a few hurdles to overcome. First, the public did
not like Levi and believed that he was guilty of murder. Second, Levi's alibi on the night Elma went missing, that he was at his brother's house, was weak at best, and other than his brother, he had very few character witnesses who would agree to testify on.
His Behalf of the seventy five witnesses called to testify, Let's hit the big bangs. More than one witness testified seeing Elma with two men in a one horse sleigh that appeared to be similar to a sleigh owned by Ezra, though no one had been close enough to accurately identify it one way or the other, stated witness youth Throng Anderson.
He saw the.
Sleigh quote about half past eight in the evening, on a full gallop, with two or three men or women in it. I can't say whether they were men or women. The horse seemed to be dark colored, but other than sleigh tracks seen near the well, there was no tie to either Levi or Elma, just speculation over a sleigh seen on a snowy.
Night Arnetta van Norden and Catherine Lyon were just two of a few witnesses to testify that they heard a woman screaming near the well that night. Said Arnetta, quote, we live about halfway from Broadway to the well. About eight or nine o'clock in the evening, my husband heard a noise and he stood up and observed it was from the well. I then looked through the window and we heard a woman cry out from towards the well. Lord have mercy on me, Lord help me.
Prosecutors claimed Levi had seduced Elma with phony promises to marry her, and they insisted he never intended to. Instead, they explained he'd only wanted a sexual relationship with her before casting her aside. They argued Elma had gotten pregnant and that Levi killed her because he didn't want that responsibility. Their ongoing talk of premarital sex and pregnancy outside of marriage was meant to shock the jury about the nature of the relationship and Levi's morals.
One of the men who would helped lift Elma's body from the well testified that he'd noticed her clothing had been torn and that he believed her neck was bruised and broken. Medical testimony was given by a dentist who examined the body after the coroner's inquest, and he stated he had seen scratches and bruises on her body, including
bruising around her neck, indicating she had been strangled. A medical expert called by the defense, also not part of the coroner's inquest, testified to refute evidence that Elma's neck had been broken and that her body showed evidence of trauma. The defense noted the facts of the coroner's report, which stated Elma was not pregnant when she died. That was critical because, as we said earlier, pregnancy had been considered by the prosecution as a possible motive for Levi to kill her.
Several witnesses for the defense, including members of Levi's family, testified that he had spent much of the night of December twenty second at his brother Ezra's house, although there wasn't an admission that he had gone out for about an hour before returning. The prosecution insisted this was more than enough time for him to have killed Elma and returned to Ezra's house, but again it was all speculation.
The defense took a different direction, altogether painting a scenario in which Elma wasn't murdered, but in fact had died by suicide. Acquaintances of Elma testified that she had a melancholy streak about her sometimes, and one witness stated that Elma had once casually remarked that she should overdose with laudanum. Physicians who examined the body for the coroner's jury testified that it was possible she had jumped into the well of her own will.
Elma's character was called into question, in particular her love life. Elias Ring testified that quote Levi and Elma were constantly together in private. Prosecutors also called a man named Richard Croucher, also known as Mad Croucher to the stand, a man they considered their star witness because they were convinced his testimony would show Levi was a man of dubious character. Richard was a short term lodger at the Rings boarding
head and a quote shady salesman of Ladies garments. He claimed he personally saw Elma and Levi having sex at the house. Richard also claimed he knew Levi wanted out of the relationship and that Levi was nothing more than a con man. Witnesses who claimed that Elma had also slept with others at the boarding house were brought to the stand to testify regarding her character as well.
What was then and now considered to be the most dramatic moment in the trial was the cross examination of Richard Croucher. The defense team, piece by piece, took apart his claims with witnesses who rebutted much of his testimony. Hamilton and Burr pointed the finger at Richard, stating he was the one who had the affair with Elma and
that he was the one of dubious character. They brought a witness to the stand who testified they personally saw Croucher near the Manhattan Well on the night of Elma's disappearance, cast a suspicion on him and not Levi. Additional witnesses testified that Croucher had argued recently with Levi and had been spreading rumors in the weeks before Elma's death that
he was a playboy and a scoundrel. According to a court record of the trial and of Croucher on the stand, quote one of the prisoner's council held a candle close to Croucher's face and asked the witness if it was he, and he said it was okay, So rivals to the bitter end. Which lawyer being referred to there is debated
by Burr's family and Hamilton's. An eighteen fifty eight biography of Aaron Burr claimed that Burr held two candelabra to Croucher's face and yelled out, quote, behold the murderer, gentlemen. Hamilton's family told the story differently, his son writing that Alexander held a candle to Croucher's face, and when the prosecution objected, he responded, quote, I have spas reasons that when the real culprit is detected and placed before the court, will be understood.
Around two thirty in the morning on April second, the defense rested, certain of the strength of their case, and aware that the jury at this point had to be exhausted, The defense declined to present a closing argument. Court reports note that a prosecutor fell asleep at his table in court during the final hours of the trial. It had
been a long forty four hours. Chief Justice Lancing instructed the jury before they deliberated that there was not sufficient evidence against Levi weeks to warrant a decision against him, but the decision was up to them. Quote the court were unanimously of the opinion that the proof was insufficient to warrant a verdict against him, and that with this general charge, they committed the prisoner's case to their consideration. The jury only needed five minutes to reach a verdict of not guilty.
The New York Daily Advertiser reported on the verdict, writing that everyone in the court had been quote more or less impressed with the idea that he was guilty, but were as soon as the verdict not guilty was given, just bursting into involuntary and exulting acclamations. There was enormous controversy surrounding Levi's acquittal, and Judge Lansing's charge to the jury was widely criticized ostracized, Levi fled New York City.
He moved south, relocating to Natchez, Mississippi, where he was free to follow his dream of becoming a successful architect. The Auburn Mansion, which he designed, is today a National Historic Landmark.
Richard Croucher, though, remains an intriguing character and not just to us. The defense had tried to paint him as the actual killer. He appears to be the best suspect they had at the time. He went on to live a life of crime. Just months after the trial, he was convicted for sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter, but was
later pardoned due to his unstable mental health. After a similar incident occurred in Virginia, he left the United States for his native England, where he continued his criminal activities and was in due time executed for it.
And for Elma. No other suspect was ever charged after Levi's acquittal. This is quite a case justice for Ilma. This is another one where it's hard to want to make a drink about it. But I think I have already figured out an ongoing theme that will happen for me this season, which is like trying to focus on the victim.
Well, and that's really it's an interesting thing for this particular story because this story always gets told with Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr as the stars of the story, and they're not. They're the defense team.
Right, And Elma gets care rised as like, you know, this sort of slutty mess who can't you know, use her more lady like reasoning to not get herself into trouble. It's very victim blamey, which I have feelings about. Right, So, I wanted to think about what should have been part of Elma's evening that night had she not been entwined with any of these people, which is that she should have had a very delicious, cozy drink by the fire in the boarding house and gone to.
Bed in the sitting room of Elias and.
Gone safely to bed. And this is a drink that I'm calling snowy Ground because I also like to think of it as like the the calm of a beautiful snowy evening without any of the violence. And this is a really easy one to put together. It's actually a little bit of a variation on a drink called a French Connection. I don't know if you've ever had that. It is a French Connection is equal parts cognac and omaretto. Oh okay, delicious, very up my alley.
I actually feel like maybe I have had that.
Note it's a drink that kind of popped up in the seventies and has had many variations on it. This one is a foamy one, so you're gonna start out with two ounces of heavy whipping cream and add to that an ounce of amaretto, and you're going to put that in a shaking tin or whatever container, and you're gonna get your frother out and foam that baby up. It's not gonna get stiff the way a whipping cream would on its own, because the omaretto thins it a
bit too much. But it does get very foamy, and the foam has a nice density and a nice body to it. Once you have that all whipped together, you are just going to put two ounces of cognac in a smallish glass. I used a small Nick and Nora. Now we are getting into a moment of potential debate, not really debate. This is your preference. A lot of people like cognac to be served room temperature. I am
one of them. It also gets put in mixed drinks and chilled, so I did this with no chilling on the cognac.
But if you.
Would prefer to have it as a colder drink, you can give your cognac a quick shake with ice and strain it into your Nick and Nora glass, and then you're just gonna spoon your foamy bit on top of it, it's not gonna sink in because the foam has so much air and texture to it, and you end up with one that like the bottom half is like the brown of the kgnak and the top is the whippy foamy cream with amaretto in it. And that's it. It's
super basic. You can sprinkle a little nutmeg or allspice on top however you want to do it, but or like pumpkin spice if you've got that in your thing. And when you sip it, because of the weight of the con even though the foam is on top, the cognac kind of slips through on the sip, so you're getting it and as you finish, it's really the foam that's left and you get a very sweet, rich finish. I love this drink. I'm gonna make it all winter long.
It's a nice snowy night drink.
It's cozy, cozy, cozy, it's the coziest. It is not a big drink, obviously, like you're only dealing with a couple of ounces of actual fluid before you get to the foam part, which is its own thing. You may not use all of your foam, and that's fine. You can save it for a second one, or you can put it on pie, or you can dip biscotti into it, and then you're really talking about the best night of your life. So delicious. So that is the snowy ground. If you want to make this non alcoholic, you are
gonna make whatever dark tea is your favorite. Ideally, if it has some flavor like a chie is great here. But if you don't like that, it's literally whatever you like best is the correct way to make the drink. And you can sweeten that to your taste. And then you are gonna do your heavy whipping cream and instead of amaretto, you will add a little bit of almond extract to it. The liquid measure is not the same at that point, so it is going to get a
bit stiffer and fluffier, and that's fine. It's still super delicious. The flavor is very similar, even though the texture is a little different, and your whipping cream will get more into a whipped cream consistency than a foam. Still delicious. That's the snowy ground. Made to contemplate and soothe, And remember Elma, who is really the most important person in this story. We are so thankful that you have spent
this time with us. We will be right back here again next week for another cold case and another trip to the cooler for some drinks. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.