THE TRIAL OF LEVI WEEKS Or The Manhattan Well Mystery

Paperback. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr for the defence in the first recorded murder trial in US history, New York, 1800. Elma's body, badly beaten, shoes gone, was grappled from the depths...On December 22, 1799, Gulielma (Elma) Sands, a young woman residing in a Greenwich Street boardinghouse, borrowed a muff from a neighbour, left the house, and disappeared. On Christmas Eve, 3 young boys found Elma's borrowed muff floating in the Manhattan Well. Nine days later, Elma's body, violently battered, her gown "torn open with great violence," was grappled from the depths. Levi Weeks, her lover and a fellow boarder, was arrested for her murder. Did he do it? Would he be convicted? With brilliant suspense and historical accuracy, the author recreates the sensational trial of Levi Weeks and lets us witness his defence attorneys - Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Bury - in action...in a real life murder mystery that is also a unique portrait of America's past. Illus., Appendix, Notes, Bibliog. and Index. 240pp. p/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. with no creasing to covers.