Levi Weeks
Levi Weeks (1776–1819) was the accused in the infamous Manhattan Well Murder trial of 1800, the first murder trial in the United States for which there is a recorded transcript.[1][2] At the time of the murder, Weeks was a young carpenter in New York City. He was the brother of Ezra Weeks, one of New York's more successful builders of the time.
Early life
Levi Weeks was born in 1776 in Greenwich, Massachusetts. He moved to New York City in 1798 to work for his older brother Ezra.[3]
Murder trial
Weeks was accused of murdering Gulielma "Elma" Sands, a young woman whom he had been courting.[4] Elma disappeared on the evening of December 22, 1799. Some of her possessions were found two days later near the recently created Manhattan Well in Lispenard Meadows,[5] located in today's SoHo near the intersection of Greene and Spring Streets.[6] Her body was recovered from the well on January 2, 1800. Before leaving her boarding house on the 22nd, Elma told her cousin Catherine Sands that she and Levi were to be secretly married that night.[4]
The trial, which took place on March 31 and April 1, 1800, was sensational. Through his brother's connections and wealth, Weeks retained three of New York's most prominent attorneys, Henry Brockholst Livingston, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton.[7][8] Chief Justice John Lansing, Jr. presided on the bench, and future Mayor of New York Cadwallader David Colden was the prosecutor.
Although Elma was seen leaving with Weeks and a witness claimed to have seen Weeks making measurements at the well the Sunday before the murder,[9] Weeks was acquitted after only 5 minutes of jury deliberation.[10]
Post-trial life
The public strongly disagreed with the verdict, and Weeks was ostracized by the citizens of the city, forcing him to leave New York.[6] He eventually settled in Natchez, Mississippi, where he became a well-respected architect and builder. He married Ann Greenleaf in Natchez and they had four children.[3] Weeks died in Natchez in 1819, at the age of 43. His Natchez residence, Auburn Mansion, is a National Historic Landmark.
Notes
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ *Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. Refer to the first chapter, "The Trial of LEVI WEEKS for the Murder of GULIELMA SANDS, New York City, 1800", pages 1–40.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Court proceedings of the trial taken by the clerk of the court. The Evans Early American Imprint Collection of the University of Michigan also provides an online version of the full text.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. This article includes both a painting and sketch of Lispenard Meadows during the time period of the murder.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. This article includes a photo of the brickwork of the well, still extant in the basement of 129 Spring Street.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Refer to Chapter 35, "Gust of Passion". Several years later Burr killed Hamilton during the most famous duel in American history.
- ↑ *Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
See also
- Aaron Burr
- Alexander Hamilton
- Auburn Mansion, Natchez, Mississippi
- Cadwallader David Colden
- Ezra Weeks
- Henry Brockholst Livingston
- John Lansing, Jr.
External links
- People v Levi Weeks (1800). The Historical Society of the New York Courts.
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