Duel with the Devil

by Paul Collins

  34 Two nights passed in this manner might make some of them sick: Longworth, Brief Narrative of the Trial, 13.

  35 “The examinations of the paintings must doubtless be very edifying”: Ibid.

  36 we relinquish our closing argument: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 94. In one newspaper account (NYDA, 3 April 1800), Hamilton is specifically noted as the counsel making this statement.

  37 The question involves considerations of great moment: Ibid., 95.

  38 You must find the prisoner guilty: Ibid., 97.

  39 “beyond a reasonable doubt” had started to gain currency as a legal concept: Langbein, Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial, 33.

  40 ten minutes: NYMA, 3 April 1800.

  41 four: Hardie, Impartial Account of the Trial, 34.

  42 or five: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 98.

  43 “less than two”: Longworth, Brief Narrative of the Trial, 14.

  44 called a final roll: Ibid.

  45 Simon Schermerhorn … foreman: Hardie, Impartial Account of the Trial, 34.

  46 He raised his right hand: Longworth, Brief Narrative of the Trial, 14.

  47 Look upon the prisoner: Jacob and Tomlins, “Trial,” Law-Dictionary. This wording by the clerk is alluded to as “universally” used in courts in a discussion during, ironically enough, Aaron Burr’s trial for treason in 1807 (Robertson, Trial of Aaron Burr for Treason, 550).

  48 “Not guilty”: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 98.

  49 shouts and applause as the judge gaveled loudly for order: NYDA, 3 April 1800.

  17. THE CATCHPENNY CONTRIVANCE

  1 “many hundreds, perhaps thousands”: NYMA, 14 April 1800. Specifically, this was a letter sent to the paper by Monteath McFarlane, the printer of James Hardie’s account of the trial.

  2 four years of hard labor for stealing a black mourning cloth: NYAC, 10 April 1800.

  3 “Although some circumstances point to him”: Letter by Abraham Bancker, 12 January 1800, Bancker Papers.

  4 “Mr. Burr opened the defense with perspicuity”: NYDA, 3 April 1800.

  5 Within hours of the acquittal: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, ii.

  6 David Longworth was known for publishing plays: Remer, Printers and Men of Capital, 91.

  7 sentimental prints of the late General Washington: NYCA, 25 January 1800.

  8 now this hastily assembled account: NYDA, 16 April 1800. Although the pamphlet itself lists no publisher, Longworth takes credit for it in this public response to William Coleman.

  9 set the type even as his “Gentleman” wrote it: Longworth, Brief Narrative of the Trial, 16.

  10 “The narrative I published was too hastily written”: NYDA, 16 April 1800.

  11 “The careless and inelegant style”: Longworth, Brief Narrative of the Trial, 15.

  12 “he had procured the clerk of the circuit court”: NYDA, 5 April 1800.

  13 “The miserable shift of trying to put off this catch-penny”: NYCA, 4 April 1800. Though the ad is not initially identified as Coleman’s, when it ran again the following day in the New-York Mercantile Advertiser, it included his byline.

  14 “gratify the public curiosity”: NYCA, 4 April 1800.

  15 “By what privilege does this man insult me”: NYDA, 16 April 1800. Coleman should have known better, as New York printers could be ruthless. In just the previous few months, one printer had accused another of stealing a set of translations right off its press (NYCA, 14 December 1799); another claimed an imposter had strolled into its office to steal copy (NYDA, 18 March 1800); and still another press saw its proprietor grab up an iron rod to chase a rival out of his shop (NYS, 12 March 1800). The assailant, as it happens, was the radical journalist and gadfly William Cobbett; he turns up as a character in my book The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine (New York: Bloomsbury, 2005).

  16 As a brilliant young Scottish scholar, Hardie came to New York: Ross, Scot in America, 285–86.

  17 “Greek, Latin and English languages grammatically”: NYDA, 8 May 1798.

  18 running a Literary and Intelligence Office: NYG, 22 July 1799.

  19 “Not being acquainted with the art”: Hardie, Impartial Account of the Trial, vii.

  20 thirty-seven and a half cents: Impartial Register (Salem, Mass.), 14 July 1800.

  21 “When it was promised at an earlier day”: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, i.

  22 before the adversarial system … confessions and dying words on the scaffold: Halttunen, Murder Most Foul, 94.

  23 stenographic systems had been around for two centuries: Diary of Samuel Pepys, lxxxvii. Samuel Pepys and Isaac Newton, among others, were enthusiastic early users.

  24 Coleman favored—known as Byrom’s New Universal Shorthand: Gillogly, “Breaking an Eighteenth Century Shorthand System,” 93. Specifically, this article identifies Byrom shorthand in a 1796 letter of Coleman’s.

  25 developed by a brilliantly deceitful courtier: King-Hele and Hancox, “Man of Many Mysteries,” 250.

  26 Full transcripts were published of Henry Bedlow’s rape trial: Report of the Trial of Henry Bedlow.

  27 Pennsylvania trial of four murderous conspirators against one Francis Shitz: A Correct Account of the Trials of Charles M’Manus.

  28 “Let me ask”: NYAC, 26 April 1800.

  29 builder had quietly tried to bribe the author … Coleman rebuffed him: Willard, Willard’s History of Greenfield, 163. As Coleman was a former resident of Greenfield, this account goes into substantial detail about both the man and his subsequent friendship with Ezra Weeks, particularly their patronage of the arts.

  30 in a response to his critics, Coleman revealed: NYAC, 30 April 1800. Coleman quickly published (NYCA, 29 April 1800) official filings of copyright in New York newspapers, a formality so unusual in that piratical era that most readers could have been forgiven for not even knowing what the newspaper notice meant. It was an unmistakable shot across the bow of any competitor, and a necessary one—for another printer in town, William Davis, was about to bring a fourth trial account to press (NYMA, 14 April 1800). Curiously, this newest trial manuscript vanished from the historical record, never to be heard of again. It’s unclear whether Davis was put off by the number of competitors or by Coleman’s saber rattling over copyright, or whether Ezra Weeks found Davis more open to being bribed.

  31 the launch of a new frigate: NYAC, 11 April 1800.

  32 “Huzza for the President”: Ibid., 10 April 1800.

  33 Ground & Lofty Tumbling: Ibid., 11 April 1800.

  34 Livingston and Hamilton were on one side of an insurance suit: Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton, 591.

  35 Livingston and Burr: NYSC Case 0452, Arnold & Ramsey v. United Insurance Company, 1800, Aaron Burr Papers, 1774–1836.

  36 Burr took out another $1,500 loan: Promissory note to William and James Constable, 29 April 1800, Aaron Burr Papers, 1774–1836.

  37 “account, by the former ones”: Charles Wilkes (Bank of New York cashier) to Alexander Hamilton, 22 April 1800, Papers of Alexander Hamilton, 24:420.

  38 “It is universally acknowledged”: NYS, 23 April 1800.

  39 pen name of … John Quincy Adams: Nagel, John Quincy Adams, 75.

  40 caucused in the Tontine City Hotel on April 15, 1800: NYDA, 17 April 1800.

  41 they were weakened by the party’s: Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, 607.

  42 “two grocers, a ship chandler”: Matthew Davis, quoted in Wills, “Negro President,” 70.

  43 “Now I have him all hollow”: John Adams to James Lloyd, 17 February 1815, Works of John Adams, 10:125.

  44 “What means these gigantic figures?”: NYDA, 28 April 1800.

  45 “Committees were in session day and night”: Isenberg, Fallen Founder, 199.

  46 Burr had virtually invented modern electioneering: Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, 607.

  47 “Many people wonder that the e
x-Senator”: NYDA, 28 April 1800.

  48 “The leaders of the aristocratic faction bewailed”: NYAC, 28 April 1800.

  18. EVERY MARK OF A VILLAIN

  1 precipitating a neighbor’s baby into a well: NYS, 8 March 1800.

  2 “We swept near Rhinelander’s Battery”: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 89.

  3 “in a little time the cries stopped”: Ibid., 51.

  4 within the Proceedings of the Old Bailey: Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 20 September 1797, case reference t17970920-59. No previous account of the Elma Sands murder has noted this previous criminal record of Croucher’s; it may the first new lead in the case since 1800.

  5 a woman sentenced to whipping: Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 20 September 1797, case reference t17970920-58.

  6 a young mute caught stealing silver buttons: Ibid., case reference t17970920-57.

  7 a shoemaker’s shop by St. Paul’s: Ibid., case reference t17970920-59.

  8 birthday party at the house of Ann Ashmore: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 93.

  9 a brandy-making firm in her house: Longworth’s American Almanack (1800), 125.

  10 “I have seen him very often in liquor”: Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 20 September 1797, case reference t17970920-59.

  11 Burr claimed that Elma was known to sneak out at night: William Coleman, Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks, 65.

  12 “those who have been instrumental and active”: NYDA, 3 April 1800.

  13 Come help me scrub my old room clean: Report of the Trial of Richard D. Croucher, 4.

  14 A forty-year-old man such as Croucher: Philadelphia Gazette, 10 July 1800.

  15 a slight, slender girl like Margaret: Report of the Trial of Richard D. Croucher, 10. Witness Abiel Brown notes that the victim was not substantial in “shape or age”; on page 25, the prosecutor similarly notes that “her age—her size—her sufferings” warranted particular protection.

  16 Her mother had already been upbraiding her: Report of the Trial of Richard D. Croucher, 13.

  17 others hardly discerned much impertinence: Ibid., 10.

  18 FALSE SHAME!: NYAC, 23 April 1800.

  19 Peter Schermerhorn … announced his withdrawal: NYDA, 23 April 1800.

  20 I was there—at the trial: Report of the Trial of Richard D. Croucher, 23.

  21 Margaret had been learning her lessons at school: Ibid., 8.

  22 We shall pack and clean in the morning: Ibid., 5.

  23 the same witness stand … the very man … another familiar face: Ibid., 3.

  24 “Thirteen”: Ibid., 5. Unusually for trial transcripts, this one makes a particular and repeated note of the witness’s distress and crying on the stand. Newspaper accounts of the trial show other observers were also particularly struck by the girl’s suffering.

  25 “every mark on his face”: Philadelphia Gazette, 10 July 1800.

  26 “He used force”: Report of the Trial of Richard D. Croucher, 5.

  27 “He whipped me, and turned me out of doors”: Ibid., 7.

  28 just like the Henry Bedlow rape trial: Ibid., 18.

  29 “If any thing of an improper nature has passed”: Ibid., 15.

  30 “It is said, her youth renders it impossible”: Ibid., 18.

  31 “our ill-judged mode of educating”: Ibid., 19.

  32 “She knew that a young woman had been cruelly murdered”: Ibid., 23.

  33 five minutes to find Croucher guilty: Ibid., 27.

  34 A MONSTER: Impartial Register (Salem, Mass.), 14 July 1800.

  35 “Every one must rejoice”: Philadelphia Gazette, 10 July 1800.

  19. DUEL AT DAWN

  1 “AARON BURR … is using every wicked art”: NYAC, 23 April 1804.

  2 “upwards of twenty women of ill-fame”: Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, 675.

  3 spurned by President Jefferson: Fleming, Duel, 145.

  4 He’d run to the middle: Ibid., 163.

  5 “I had rather seen Lansing governor”: Alexander Hamilton to Robert G. Harper, 19 February 1804, Papers of Alexander Hamilton, 26:192. Lansing almost instantly dropped out of the race, and the Republicans instead ran a weaker candidate, Morgan Lewis. Thanks in part to Hamilton’s efforts, they still managed to vanquish Burr in the election.

  6 Burr lost the resulting election by a crushing margin: Isenberg, Fallen Founder, 255.

  7 “I send for your perusal a letter”: William Coleman, Collection of the Facts and Documents, 1.

  8 “Tis evident that the phrase”: Ibid., 2.

  9 “The question is not … grammatical accuracy”: Ibid., 5.

  10 “I should not think it right in the midst of a Circuit Court”: Ibid., 15.

  11 expression of apology flickering momentarily: Ibid., 17.

  12 “This is a mortal wound, Doctor”: Ibid., 19.

  13 “The streets were lined with people”: Ibid., 42.

  14 a city funeral procession: Ibid., 36.

  15 “their Indignation amounts almost to a frenzy already”: Fleming, Duel, 337.

  16 “The last hours of Genl H”: Ibid., 344.

  17 “throw away my first fire”: William Coleman, Collection of the Facts and Documents, 26.

  18 Hamilton had been in far more duels: Fleming, Duel, 287.

  19 “the shocking catastrophe which deprived America”: William Coleman, Collection of the Facts and Documents, 1.

  20 “got the paper out in good style”: Allan McLane Hamilton, Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton, 72.

  21 “Dueling” … “is now looked upon”: William Coleman, Collection of the Facts and Documents, 181.

  22 the vice president fled the state: Fleming, Duel, 347.

  23 “If thee dies a natural death”: “The Manhattan Well Murder,” 929. The myth originated from an 1870 fact-based novel, Keturah Connah’s anonymously authored Guilty, or Not Guilty: The True Story of the Manhattan Well. (See my notes for chapter 20.) Though the myth has often been repeated since then, this unsigned article in Harper’s appears to be the first instance of its being repeated as alleged fact.

  24 left nearly destitute by his chaotic personal finances: Fleming, Duel, 360.

  25 a stateless and bankrupt shadow of a man: Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, 719.

  26 the strange fate reserved for the trial judge: Barnes, Life of Thurlow Weed, 33.

  27 lost his home within a year … and work as a mechanic: Longworth’s American Almanack (1801), 161. In this edition Elias Ring is listed as a mechanic living on Lower Catherine Street.

  28 debtor and bankrupt notices: NYDA, 20 June 1803; and American (New York, N.Y.), 9 September 1820.

  29 “for the continued intemperate use of intoxicating spirits”: Kleiger, Trial of Levi Weeks, 199.

  30 mown down by yellow fever: Ibid., 198.

  31 Croucher was granted a pardon: NYCA, 18 February 1803.

  32 mingling among Richmond merchants: NYAC, 12 June 1803.

  33 promptly robbed them: Ibid., 4 July 1803.

  34 Virginia bounty notices … “R. D. CROUCHER, about six feet high”: Alexandria (Va.) Expositor, 22 July 1803.

  35 “he was executed for a heinous crime”: Lodge, Alexander Hamilton, 243. Croucher’s dark deeds outlived the man. His rape victim, Margaret Miller, never even made it to the age of twenty. Neighbors recalled a girl who simply cried and drank; then she married a brutal German sailor, who declared she was a whore and slit her throat. Asked afterward if he’d done it, he replied: “Yes, and I would kill a dozen like her, for she was a damn’d bitch.” See Only Correct Account of the Life, Character, and Conduct of John Banks, 8.

  36 “the generalissimo of Federal editors”: NYAC, 23 November 1801.

  37 sworn enemy of pigs: Muller, William Cullen Bryant, 62.

  38 “The stranger that walks through this street”: Ibid., 66.

  39 He became one of the city’s great hoteliers: NYS, 21 November 1801.

  40 he served without incident on an 1806 jury: Connecticut Journal, 31 Jul
y 1806.

  41 defense counsel to a man charged with aiding Alexander Hamilton: NYG, 12 January 1805.

  42 mayor of New York in 1818: Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress, http://​bioguide.​congress.​gov/​scripts/​biodisplay.​pl?​index=​C000604.

  43 Colden helped found the state’s first formally chartered scientific society: Harris, “New York’s First Scientific Body,” 329.

  44 founding officers of the Literary and Philosophical Society: Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, 1:17.

  45 rose to the state supreme court and … to the U.S. Supreme Court: Hall, Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, 587.

  46 helping to found Bellevue Hospital: Sherk, “David Hosack, M.D., and Rutgers,” 23.

  47 leading vaccination drives across the city: Hosack, Memoir of the Late David Hosack, M.D., 319.

  48 Their first meeting was in the Portrait Room: Lamb, History of the City of New York, 3:505.

  49 moved back to Deerfield: Willard, Willard’s History of Greenfield, 164. The area he moved to is now known as South Deerfield, Massachusetts.

  50 work in selling liquor and dry goods: Kleiger, Trial of Levi Weeks, 202.

  51 “Son” … “I wish I knew”: Ibid.

  52 In 1805, he ended his dry goods partnership: Republican Spy (Springfield, Mass.), 3 September 1805.

  53 “they were brought up among slaves”: Levi Weeks to Epaphras Hoyt, 27 September 1812, Kleiger, Trial of Levi Weeks, 221.

  54 recording his travels in a diary: Kleiger, Trial of Levi Weeks, 215.

  55 Levi and his belongings went toppling into the water: Ibid.

  56 “Ultimately” … “he became a vagabond”: Willard, Willard’s History of Greenfield, 164.

  20. A COMPLICATED EVIL

  1 a decade since the last Spanish garrison: McLeMore, History of Mississippi, 1:171.

  2 “Its vicinity is very uneven”: Kleiger, Trial of Levi Weeks, 210.

  3 fashionable Georgian and Federalist neoclassical design: Black, Art in Mississippi, 1720–1980, 36.