The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-07-04
AN UNSOLvED MYSTERY.
Strange Case In Which Alexan.
der Hamilton and Aaron Burr
We're Associated.

We're Associated.
tRcprinted by permission from Harpers
Weekly. Copyright, 1867
Frederick Grevor Hill relates in the
June issue of Harper's Magazine how
the memory of Hamilton prejudiced
the public mind against Aaron Burr
when the latter came to trial for trea-
son at Richmond in 1907. The fatal
duel on Weehawken Heights had been
fought in July. three years before. 1t
is interesting to recall, in still further
association of Hamilton and Burr. that
the two men acted in one of New Works
earliest murder mysteries-a mystery
still unsolved.
With the more famous lawyers in
the case was associated Brockholst
Livingstone, a soldier and counsellor
distinguished in local history. The
prisoner was one Levi Weekes. He
was accused of the murder OF Guielna
Gilmore Sands, a girl whose body had
been found in one of the wells used by
the Manhattan Water Company.
Miss Sands disappeared on the night
Of December %. 1893. Two days later
a muff she had carried was found in
the we'll. Eleven days after the disap-
pearance the we'll gave up the body to
tardy searchers. January 4. 1900, two
daily papers. the Advertiser and the
Commercial Advertiser gave 81 words
each to a story of suspicion that MUIR
der had been done. Criminal law prac-
1ice stood high, but sensational journ-
alism was low, in those days.
The we'll of the tragedy was in the
old !ispenard Medows. at a point now
just off from Greene street, 80 or 100
feet north of Spring street. Miss
Sands lived with relatives, a Quaker
family named Ring, in Greenwich
street, near Franklin. Levi Weekes
also boarded with the Rings. He had
been very attentive to Elma, as the
girl was known. and it had been sup
posed on that night in December she
had gone out with him to get mar
ried.
Public suspicion settled on Weekes.
He was arrested, indicted by the grand
jury and, on the last day of March,
1900. brought to trial. BY this time
the eXci.ment over the case had become
something tremendous. 1t was not al
layed by the trial, which developed re-
markable features.
Chief Justice Lansing presided over
the court. With him sat Richard VAR
ick, Mayor OF the city, and Richard
Harrison, Recorder. The scene OF ac-
ton was the old City Hall at Wall and
Nasseu streets. Where the prosecution
fell weak in the beginning was in the
endeavor to show that Weekes and Miss
Sands left the Ring house together on
the night of the disappearance, or that
the girl went to meet her lover. Mrs.
Ring knew when Elma went out, but
no more. not even whether or not she
went alone. Weekes had witnesses for
an alibi. He had spent most OF the ev-
ening, it was testified. at the house of
his brother, Ezra Weekes. builder and
chief owner of the old City Hotel.
The trial had a remarkable ending.
At half-past two O'Clock on the morn
ing of the third day. the prosecution
having asked for an adjournment and
the defense having objected, a conf
promise was arranged. The testimony
being all in, it was agreed to submit
the case to the court without argument
on either side.
Chief Justice Lansing then, in charg-
ing the jury, clearly expressed his
doubts Of everything the prosecution
had tried to prove. There had been
found marks on the throat of the dead
girl. The States medical witnesses
testified to probable violence; doctors
for the defense disputed them. The
court doubted whether there had been
other violence than that of drowning.
Lack of motive for murded on the part
of Weekes was also indicated. Finally
the chief justice gave it as the unani-
nous opinion of the court that the ev-
idence was insufficient to convict the
prisoner. Five minutes later the jury
acquitted the accused man.
Among many sensational stories
which have been told about the trial
OF Weekes is one regarding theatre
cal use OF candles to direct accusing
attention to one Richard Croucher.
witness, concerning whom the counsel
for the defense seem to have had sus-
picions. Parton, in his biography, at
tributes this action to Burr. Henry Ca
bot Lodge, writing for the American
Statesman series, gives the alleged in
cident as an illustration OF Hamilton's
sharpness in practice at the bar. The
truth has been declared to be, accord
ing to HamiltOn's own notes, that
candle was held to Croucher's face
merely to assist in his Identification by
another witness.
1t is said that after the verdict had
been rendered Mrs. Ring exclaimed to
Hamilton: IF thee dies natural
death | shall think there is no justice
in heaven" There is nobody's oath to
support this allegation. Comfort for
the superstitious abounds, however, in
the record Of the fate which overlook
several OF its principal participants in
the trial.
Hamilton fell before the pistol of
Burr. Burr died in dishonor. Chief
Justice Lansing, who charged the jury
to acquit Weeks, left his hotel in New
York bound for the Albany boat one
night in 1882, and was never heard of
again. Weeks himself, feeling still the
weight of popular suspicion, disap-
peared soon after his acquittal.
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