1830: The Salem Murder

You are listening to one nation under crime, a chronological historical true crime podcast. Each week we go through our nation's history and discuss one case from each year, starting in 1800. I'm Kayla and I'm Leah. And next I just put bro hope y'all are traveling this week or have plenty of times outside because y'all got, y'all got some doozies of episodes this week. I can tell you that Daisy, so hope that y'all are ready for it. Speaking of this is the week of Christmas, so I'm sure a lot of you are traveling at this moment. We're planning on it or you're wrapping presents or not sure what you're doing, but you're doing something or you're hiding in a closet from your family. 

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00:00:47

You just need some alone time. You know, that's always fun. It's always fun. Hiding, hiding away when you need to, I guess, or hiding somewhere hiding maybe in a bathroom closet basement that too. I w I would gladly do that. So I hope you all enjoy your Christmas festivities that are coming up. You'll still have a few days to get the last year shopping in wrapping up those presents, getting them under the tree. Last, how many presents I have wrapped none. Ziad roll. Look at you. At least I have more presence. I'm not done shopping, but I have, I have a majority of presence. 

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00:01:29

We have all, but one present done. And that's Michael's responsibility that the one present is I no, not done yet. We went, me and my boyfriend went shopping yesterday for a few things. So that was good. We did get a little bit of that done, but I still have some to do so use this as some encouragement to go ahead and get those gifts wraps. You could be like my boyfriend, who God love him. He goes to the dollar store and buys bags, and everyone gets a bag for Christmas. You don't get a wrap to, it goes in a bag, no tissue paper. Just, he, I, I have no excuse for him. 

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00:02:13

I told him earlier, cause he had to get back to his house and I was like, Hey, if you get there and you have like things you need wrapped, bring them back and I'll do it. He's like everybody has bags. And I was like, whatever. Okay. So use this as some encouragement to get those presents wrapped. Last minute notes to Santa. He's still taking requests as far as on it. So I hope that you all are ready for the holiday season. At least if nothing else, Christmas falls at a weird time this year. So it's, it's a, we got Christmas Eve on a Friday and Christmas on a Saturday, which is kind of odd. It's always weird, especially when you work because it doesn't feel like Christmas samurai. 

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00:02:59

It's very weird. So hope that you all are when you work a regular nine to five, nine to five. Yeah. Regular. Like when you have weekends off, it's it's always very weird. When a holiday then falls on a weekend because it kinda messes up your schedule and everything, but hope that Joel would like some murder on the side of rapping. I mean, let's be honest here, but we've got an interesting case this week and we're going to go ahead and get into it. Our sources this week, our Smithsonian magazine, the new England historical society, the historical crime detective. 

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00:03:40

I feel like that's what I should make. My, my actual nom de plume, the historical crime detective would be good. It would be good. I feel like that's me, but I think it's already taken. It seems as though it's already taken, I could do historical crime, detective.org.edu.au or detectorists detective. And then we have the ever formidable murder by Gaslight investigators instead of detective historical crime investigator. That that could work. I got you there. I found a sweat shirt the other day. First of all, I have a couple of sweatshirts that I want I'm in the green. 

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00:04:22

One of them is green. Yes, I am a I for those who don't know, all of green is like, I don't know why I gravitate towards that color, but I found sweatshirts that I want they're on Etsy. One of them is green and it cracks me up every time I see it, it says future ghost. And it has a little ghost in between it. And it's just so funny to me. And so it's like on where the pocket of a shirt would be. It says future at the top, like over the top. And then the bottom says ghost and in the center, there's like a little ghost is pretty funny. So it's pretty funny. And then, then I found a sweatshirt that just said unsub on it. 

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00:05:04

And for those who are criminal minds, fans y'all understand, but they always call like the person that they're looking for. They call them the aunt, like the unsolved. So hope that everybody is ready for our case this week. It's in interesting one full of trickery and deceit, you know, holiday, season trickery, deceit murder, wrong holiday. Oh, sorry. Maybe that's just my holiday. I'll create holiday. It's fun. 

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00:05:45

Halloween trickery now. So anyways, our events in 1830 for this week on January 7th, the first us railroad station opened in Baltimore, Maryland, January 11th, LaGrange college opened and was the first publicly chartered college in Alabama. Do you know what university it is today? 

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00:06:12

Tell me what it was called 

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00:06:13

Again. Look, range, college, look, 

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00:06:15

Range college. 

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00:06:17

No, tell me the university of north Alabama una. Very good college, 

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00:06:22

Which my nephew is really looking into DNA, 

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00:06:27

Cheer. Cause isn't una. That's where a lot of people go that end up working at NASA. Isn't that? Because isn't it isn't una Huntsville. It 

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00:06:35

Is. It is. It is. 

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00:06:37

Yeah. I think that might be una or I think that's it because it's, whatever's near Huntsville. So for those who don't know the Huntsville area in Alabama, it's north Alabama kind of right below the Tennessee wine. And it's very, well-known, that's where the space museum is space and 

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00:06:56

Rocket center. It's 

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00:06:57

So cool. And there's like a NASA waystation there. There's also like one of our relatives. 

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00:07:03

It has worked there and worked on one of the, one of the rockets 

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00:07:11

There. It's so cool to go. And we actually went earlier this year, me and my boyfriend took his son to the rocket center and it was really, really cool. You can see inside a bunch of spaceships and all kinds of fun stuff. They also, that's where they have space camp, where kids can go and you have space camp and it's so cool, but they are Redstone. Arsenal is also up there. That's there's like, I want to say, there's an FBI hub. There it's like a big, my boyfriend does a lot of work in Huntsville and he had to go out of town recently. And so he was staying up there and he said, he was like, yeah, I was sitting there at dinner and you know, cause he was by himself. 

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He's like, I'm listening in to people's conversations around me, you know, as you do. And he said, and I was sitting by two people who were legitimately rocket scientists. And it's just so funny because it's Alabama, but it's very, very well-known in Huntsville 

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00:08:08

Scientists 

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In Alabama, January 11th, 1830 LaGrange college was founded. Very cool. Still here today. 

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00:08:15

I have a lion that is their mascot that lifts their this. 

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00:08:20

Yes they do. Let's see January 13th, the great fire in new Orleans occurred March 16th, the New York stock exchange experienced its slowest day ever reported guessed how many trades were done that day. Think of how many trades are done on the stock exchange probably daily. This was the slowest day ever reported from the New York stock exchange. 131. Ooh. So very, very little number March 26th, the book of Mormon was published in Palmyra. I think that's it. 

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Or Paul Myra, New York, April 6th, the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints was officially organized in Fayette. New York May 20th. The first railroad timetable was published in the newspaper, Baltimore American. It was interesting May 24th. The nursery rhyme. Mary had a little lamb written by Sarah Josefina Hale was published in Boston, May 28th. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian removal act, a law that led to the forced removal of the charity Chickasaw Choctaw Creek and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states, which started the Cherokee trail of tears. 

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Unreadable. Good all us then July 15th, the Sue. So and Fox tribes signed the fourth treaty to Prairie du Chien, which gave the U S most of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri also removing them mostly from their land as well, because why not? August 4th, the official plans for the city of Chicago were laid out August 28th, the first American built locomotive, Tom thumb raced a horse drawn car from Stockton and stoke stage company from Baltimore to Ellicott mills due to mechanical problems. 

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The horse won no September 9th, Charles Duran, who was the first us Aeronaut flew a balloon from castle garden, New York city to Perth Amboy, New Jersey. That's cool. September 25th, the first national black convention began in Philadelphia. And then September 20th, the first convention of free men agreed to boycotts slave produced goods. Hey, it was interesting to me. Yes, pretty cool. September 27th of that year, the treaty of dancing rabbit Creek with the Choctaw nation was signed and it was the first treaty signed after the Indian removal act, our Barson 1830 on May 9th. 

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00:11:15

We don't really have too many for this year. Actually. We're kind of just kind of let people know kind of what time period timetable we're in. We're approaching civil war times at this point in our history. So a lot of the births that are coming up like right now are all like civil war generals. And so people that we'll recognize later, but not like there are so many names that unless it's a really well-known person, I'm not talking about them honestly. So because eventually we'll get to the civil war and that'll be fine. 

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00:11:55

And we'll discuss this award them. But May 9th, Harriet lane was born. She was the acting first lady of the U S during James Buchanan's presidency. She was his niece. And he was the only president who never married. Never. So we did have a single president. Yeah. Cause we had talked about before that we didn't think that we had one. He never married, which was very interesting. So she was the acting first lady, December 10th. We know someone born on that day and we do know someone on the 11th, Emily Dickinson was born she's American poet and a Sagittarius. Oh, Harriet lane was a tourist for anybody wondering I'm Emily Dickinson, Sagittarius roll Sagittarius is they're known to be a little bit hard-headed. 

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00:12:45

I can say that. Cause I, I have one half, one, I raised one hard debts in 1830, June 25th. We have Efram McDowell, an American physician and pioneer surgeon. Who's the first person to successfully remove an ovarian tumor. And he is called the father of Ovaria Tommy and the founding father of abdominal surgery. Cool. And can I tell you, I really liked the name F from I firms. It's a cool name. I really like it F from August 9th, James Armstead, Lafayette. 

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00:13:28

He was an enslaved man who served the continental army during the American revolutionary war under Marquis de Lafayette is going to say, I know that name, Lafayette, someday, this source, by the reason anyways, he served. Thank you. Thank you. James served as a double agent and was responsible for reporting the activities of Benedict Arnold. We know about him. We know about him too. He fed the British false information while giving the Americans accurate information accounts of British movements. So September 23rd, Elizabeth Munro, fifth, us president James Monroe's wife. 

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She passed away. Elizabeth was not in good health during her husband's presidency and her oldest daughter, Eliza, him and RO hae actually took over official white house hostess duties. So he had a first lady, but she was not well enough to do first lady duties. So onto our case, April 6th, 1830 in Salem, Massachusetts, John Francis nap and Joseph Jenkins nap had Richard crown and shield murder, captain Joseph White in an attempt to obtain inheritances. Wow. And next, I just finally, we are in Salem, Massachusetts this week and I apologize in advance cause we're in Salem. 

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00:15:01

And I don't know when we're coming back. <em></em> for this. Salem is a historic coast city located in north shore region in Essex county, Essex county, Massachusetts. The peninsula that would eventually be called Salem was originally known as the nom key ag by the native tribes in the area. This was a major settlement for the indigenous group, that controlled territory from the mirror territory, from the Merrimack to the mystic rivers colonists officially settled in the area in 1626, just a couple of years back. Just a bit when fishermen arrived from Cape Ann led by Roger comment, we'll say that that's it. 

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00:15:45

Comments leadership provided the stability to survive the first two years, but he was replaced by order of the Massachusetts bay company. The settlement changed its name from nom key ag to Salem, easier to pronounce very much so, which is an American speaking version of Sholom Sholom refers to the Royal city of, oh, I did not put how to say this mill can. Oh yeah, I know. Nevermind. Malkin's a deck. Not, not how it said and is traditionally identified as Jerusalem. 

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00:16:29

So later in 16, 28, the quote great house in Cape Ann was disassembled and moved to Salem to be the governor's house. This was the first house built of its kind in new England. One author describes it as quote of the model in England first called tutor and afterwards the Elizabethan, which is essentially Gothic. So it was the first Gothic home in new England. And I do love that stuff. Love it. So, so pretty grand, right? And this is the reason why in this area, it was such a big deal is because it was two stories with a sharp pitch roof. 

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00:17:11

And at this time two story houses were not yeah. Of major. They were coming into existence because keep in mind, this was 16, 28. And so there was the time period we're in now of 1831. Yes. There are plenty of houses that were, were bricks and structures because there are a lot of houses that are row houses that were built, same time period. But this was one of the first houses that was two stories. And also in that Gothic style, I mean just the resources and the people and you know, they're, they're just starting the settlement over here right then. And so, I mean, they're starting literally from scratch. Exactly. So yeah, that's a big deal. Yeah. So that's why it was actually disassembled and then moved right. 

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00:17:53

Talked about moving houses. In another episode, that's a totally different way of moving. Totally different that when you actually take it apart, John Winthrop, I can't speak John Winthrop was elected governor in 16, 29 in his arrival in the colonies began the Puritan great migration. Samuel Skelton was the first pastor of the first church of Salem, which was the original Puritan church in America. During this time was the highly controversial trial of Dorothy towel by so bit of a trigger here for just a second. 

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00:18:37

It's extremely important to discuss these things because one, it is part of the history too. This is something that was influential later on when it comes to sentencing laws and things of that nature, but a big of, a bit of a trigger warning because it does involve a child. So right off the bat, right, just jumping right into it for the holiday season, Merry Christmas. So this was a time when mental health was not taken into consideration. When a crime was committed, Dorothy was labeled as a quote, insane woman and was hanged for killing her three-year-old daughter because she claimed God told her to do it. 

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00:19:28

Governor John Winthrop said that Dorothy was possessed by Satan, but at the time when the colonies only governed based off of biblical principles, the penalty for murder were guard lists of the reason was a death in 1637. The foundation for the army national guard was actually late into effect. And the first time a regiment of militia drilled for the common defense of a multi community area, essentially the national guard was created. So there was that. But yeah, the story of Dorothy is there's a lot that it goes into, but after her case, it was actually mental health started to come in as a factor in punishment for crimes. 

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00:20:16

Sounds like possible schizophrenia. I want to set. Yeah. I want to say, yeah, probably schizophrenia. There's a lot of different things that it could be because I mean, her daughter is young, so there's really, or was young. There's really no telling kind of what that could have been. I would veer on the side of schizophrenia. Yeah. I mean, we're not professionals, but right now modern day, it sounds, it does sound yeah. Saying that the voice has told you to do it is it does sound along those lines. So later in 1641, the Massachusetts body of liberties was written as a first step to try and develop a body of law for the colony. This might not have helped Dorothy in her situation, but it was a step in the right direction. 

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00:21:02

It stated, and this is a direct quote for anyone says anything. It stated quote, children, idiots, distracted persons, and all that are strangers or newcomers to our plantation shall have such allowances. And disputations in any calls, whether criminal or other as religion and reason required. 

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00:21:29

And let's just be clear, right? Verbiage and terminology changes has changed the years. I 

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00:21:37

Mean, year to year, it changes. 

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00:21:39

Well, yeah. I was going to say my mother was a special ed teacher and from her, she had a very, she retired especial ed teacher. So I mean, she had many, many years, and I don't want to say labels because labels is not the right word. What was, scripters not even that diagnose diagnosis is that's the word, you know, a diagnosis. It would change, you know, the, oh, well we're not calling it that because you know, that's been deemed as not okay because when she started the, the word, well, the term mentally retarded was actually right now, 

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00:22:25

It was commonplace. And it was, I mean by doctors. 

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00:22:29

Yeah. And I will say M R is mentally retarded and, and it means slower in the mind. And that really is what it is now in front of my mother and really in front of me, because really it's not okay. You know, you don't call somebody retarded because 

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00:22:44

That's not okay. 

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00:22:45

That is not okay. And I mean, I'm sorry. I even said that out loud because that's, that's just not okay to say, but just like back then, that was the terminology that was used. And Mr is still, if I'm not mistaken, I've not been in education for a while. I do believe that it is still a diagnosis, but you know, it's not just, 

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00:23:10

Oh, that terminology and vocabulary has expanded vast. 

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00:23:14

Exactly. But it's not just, you wouldn't say, oh, well, that child is retarded. You know, they are Mr. Or mentally, 

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00:23:24

Mentally, or mentally, mentally 

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00:23:26

Challenged or mentally handicap is generally what you would see more so just 

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00:23:32

Usually now it's generally, instead of that, what people normally go off of now is the actual diagnosis rather than a generalization. So that's what the 

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00:23:46

Diagnosis would be. But now we've gotten even more 

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00:23:49

Pinpoint, right? Because you have like ASD, which is autism spectrum disorder, you have a lot, so a lot of tasks of different things. Correct. But a lot of times when people speak of mental, you know, challenges that people may have, I think now a lot of times people will use the specific diagnosis rather than the generalized terms. I guess that's might be where the change has come in, where we live. We actually have a, a school that is specifically for well, and that 

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00:24:24

Is for children for that. And that is for more severe. 

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00:24:27

I know it's when you're talking about, it's a very good school. It is. It's very helpful to a lot of people, which is that cannot otherwise afford like private, privatized, 

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00:24:41

More severely impacted students who cannot really cannot be in 

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00:24:47

And they need to be in a specific environment to thrive. Right. And so, you know, I, yeah, 

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00:24:54

Just to say yet, we would never call someone in. 

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00:24:57

Yeah. But not in that. I mean, well, I'm not threatened. Not, not, Yeah, correct. Not at, not in speaking of someone who has mental challenges. Yes. 

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00:25:09

Not at all, but the terminology 

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00:25:11

That's, that's definitely the terminology. So, but yes, it would not have helped Dorothy at that time. But basically they were just showing that they really had, they were saying that they realize that maybe going off of biblical principles was not the way to approach certain issues, that it needed a little bit more consideration instead of a black and white answer. I think that was more of what it was moving into because like they said, based on their laws, you know, you kill someone, you die. That's that was like, if this, then this taking a 

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00:25:51

More individual approach 

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00:25:53

To different cases. So after this point, we are going to get into arguably, one of the most infamous events in Salem history done this day. That was, that was a good one. The Salem witch trials started in 1692 and 14 women. And five men were executed by hanging because of false accusations. Giles, Corey was pressed to death because he would not submit a plea. Oh, ma that is an interesting story. 

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00:26:35

Yes. So he was accused of being a witch, even out of called him a warlock. They called him a witch at this time. So, which was, which was BS. It was weird, but they accused him and I believe they had already accused his wife and she had already been hanged, but they wanted him to confess as well. And he would not confess for those who do not know what pressing is. I will say this. It is when it's not at all. It's actually terrifying. Honestly, for someone who has a bit of claustrophobia, it is essentially when they place like a large wooden plank on top of someone's body and then add stones progressively until you are physically pressed into the ground. 

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00:27:30

So you can't breathe, but he died an innocent man. And with his dying breath, he cursed the town. Oh. And that curse has proven true since the Salem witch trials. Oh, ma which is very scary. But he Curt because the person who was trying to it was the sheriff of the town was trying to get him to confess. And so he cursed the sheriff of the town and basically said like, I don't remember the exact words, but he said, you know, I hope that you die of, you know, basically like heart element or blood poisoning or something like that. 

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00:28:16

Well, that sheriff did die of a heart attack. And like every sheriff since then has had major heart issues or has died while being the sheriff. Oh, mom, it is crazy. I want to say only in the past few years, something occurred to where it didn't happen. I don't remember exactly what it was, but I do know that they talk about it on the podcast, morbid. They go into it as to what happened because they actually live really close to Salem. And so they go there and see it a good bit. But yeah. 

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00:28:56

So who runs for sheriff right on me. So I wanna, I wanna say, and I might not be right, but I want to say they got a female sheriff just growl. Yeah, I did. I want to say they got like a female sheriff or something and that's what broke the loop. Cause it was maybe I'm not sure. I don't remember. Don't email me. So I may be speaking out of turn anyways. So Giles, Cory was one who died an innocent man. There is a, I want to say there's a placard of him. That's in town and at least five other people died while waiting in prison. Judge John Hawthorne was the presiding judge over most of the witchcraft trials and Salem. 

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00:29:42

He sentenced so many people to death due to accusations of being a witch that he became known as the hanging judge. 

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00:29:50

Awesome. What a thing to be known better than piglet? 

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00:29:55

I guess. I don't know. Now I'll take peg. I'll, I'll take that. I'd rather be judged peg leg than the hanging judge. And I did 

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00:30:05

Very good case for awhile. I would want the peg leg while I was in the shower, shower faults continue. 

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00:30:12

Salem was a major port for smaller ships to transport goods and how large part in trading for the colonies. The great Salem fire of 1914 destroyed over 400 homes and left 3,500 families homeless. Wow. Thankfully the historic district on Chestnut street remained untouched. Salem has also been host to movies and shows a like over the years, episode 2 0 5, which is funny because that is the area code for where we live of Bewitched was filmed there in June of 1970 

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00:30:49

That show, oh my gosh. The 

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00:30:51

Ever Disney classic Hocus Pocus filmed most of the daytime scenes in the movie there in Salem system. Such a good and also, sorry guys. Tangent E week. I get it. Just stay with us on this ride here. You're here already. Might as well. Just stick around and see where this goes because it's usually fun. Usually Hocus Pocus, very problematic watching it as an adult. It's a lot of talk of like Virgin lighting candles and Sarah being overly obsessed with boys. 

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00:31:34

And she's clearly over the, well, she's a witch, so she's like over a hundred at this point, but it's very, as I was watching it. So I introduced my daughter to Hocus Pocus last year. And so we watched it a lot this year during the, during Halloween and my child is much like me and that she will watch Halloween movies anytime of the year. It's always Halloween. And as I'm watching it one time I'm sitting there watching it with her and I'm like, this is probably like, this is okay. Well maybe there are 

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00:32:05

Some, I mean, 

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00:32:06

There's, there's a few things that, that, that are said in the movie that I oh, 

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00:32:11

W with the best driver we required chill. I, it might take me a couple of trials. I 

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00:32:16

Know. I'm like, oh wait, Wait a minute. It's very weird. So that a 

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00:32:24

Name 

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00:32:27

That just, Ugh, just such a good one. So anyways, most of the daytime scenes were filmed in the area of the house is in that area. So it's very cool Sabrina. The witch filmed an episode in Salem. And I did like that show too. Her cat slash familiar was named Salem. And 

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00:32:48

We know that that same cat, it was actually when they had to use a, like an, an, a Metronic that was the same cat as Binks that they used. Did you know that Salem and banks were the, 

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00:33:00

Yes. I'm one say I did, but now, you know, for sure. Yes. Cause I mean, they're the same exact cat if you let them. So I'm full of useless. I Sabrina the teenage witch was such a good show. I really enjoyed it. I loved the aunt. Did you see the 

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00:33:19

Booth? Like the, somebody was really cruel around Halloween time. They were like, oh 

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00:33:24

Yeah. 

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00:33:27

And I got kind of excited because it was her on it. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. And then 

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00:33:31

Melissa, Joan Hart was like, I don't know who said this, but this isn't true, but I would do it like, yeah, like she came out and said, like, I'll do it. So maybe sad anyways, also for those who don't know what a familiar is, a familiar in which he terms is essentially like, someone's, it's a, witch's a companion in a way, Ritter that anyways, that's more, it's not just a pet. It's a little bit different. So just in case, anybody's wondering what that is. That's what the term was called. And when they talk about Salem in Sabrina, the teenage witch, if you like, look at anything about Salem, they'll refer to Salem as her familiar more than her cat. 

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00:34:14

So in case you ever see that, that's what that means. The 2012, Rob zombie film, the Lords of Salem had some scenes films, their scenes from the 2013 film American hustle scenes for the 2008 film bride wars, always a classic love. And the television series motherland Fort Salem was based in Salem in an alternate history timeline. I never knew about this show. And I'm very curious because they said that it was an alternate historical timeline as if certain Salem events never happened. 

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00:34:55

That's interesting. Very interesting. I, I think that they are so let's see Salem state university is located in the city and is the largest of the nine schools comprising the state university system in Massachusetts. This, I just love, I feel a kinship with Salem. If y'all cannot tell, and these things just sealed it even more for me, Salem high school's mascot is a witch and their newspaper is called witches brew. I'm obsessed. There is also an elementary school in the area named witchcraft Heights. 

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00:35:36

I mean, come on. It's amazing. Samuel McEntire was one of the first architects in the United States and his work is a prime example of early federal style architecture. The Samuel McEntire historic district is one of the largest concentrations of 17th and 18th century domestic structures in America. It includes MacIntyre commissions, such as the Pierce Nichols house and Hamilton hall. Hamilton hall is located on Chestnut street where many grand mansions can be traced back to roots of old China trade. Hamilton hall was built in 1805 by Samuel MacIntyre and is considered one of his best pieces. 

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00:36:20

It was declared a historic landmark by the national park service in 1970. His house and workshop were located at 31 summer street in what is now the Samuel McEntire historic district. One of the most popular houses in Salem is the witch house. The only structure in Salem with direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692, the which house is owned and operated by the city of Salem as a historic house museum. The Pickman house was built circus 1664, and it has the witch Morial and burying point cemetery, which is the second oldest bearing ground in the United States. 

0  

00:37:03

Interesting. So what is the oldest? I dunno. Okay. The Gidney house is a historic house museum built circus 1665. And as the second oldest house in Salem, then you have the house of seven Gables, which a lot of people will know. It's a 1668 colonial mansion named for its Gables. It was made famous by in the Daniel Hawthorne's 1851 novel the house of seven Gables. I was going to say that it's kind of sounds familiar. It's a very popular tourist location. Hawthorne described it in his book as quote, the aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human countenance. It was itself like a great human heart with a life of its own and full of rich and somber remnants is the deep projection of the section story gave the house a meditated meta meditative look that you could not pass it without the idea that it had a secret to keep. 

0  

00:38:03

So question. Yes. Is he a descendant of the hanging judge? No Hawthorne and hall thorn. Okay. Well, I didn't see how they were. Yeah, there's said similarly, but the judge was Hawthorne. H a at some people say hath orange, but it doesn't sound right to me. So Hawthorne is in Nathaniel Hawthorne. The writer is haw and the other is just ha okay. So I didn't say the spelling. So there was another judge at the time that was not the judge that was referred to as the hanging judge that I believe Nathaniel Hawthorne is a descendant, but not the same one. All right. So 

1  

00:38:43

It, would've been kind of interesting kind of another claim to fame other than being a famous author, her records, 

0  

00:38:48

Okay. Notable people from Salem, this is just it's Salem. That's all I'm going to say. Notable people from Salem include Laurie Cabot. She is the founder of the Wiccan Cabot tradition of the science of witchcraft and the witches league for public awareness. The witch's league for public awareness is a club kind of that advocates for the rights of others. This is very interesting. Elias Haskett Derby is coined as America's first millionaire. And he was from Salem, Joseph Dixon, founder of the Dixon Ticonderoga company. 

0  

00:39:32

And if you have a child of pencil buying age, then you know what the Ticonderoga company is because they make pre sharpened pencils the best 

1  

00:39:42

And souls. If you are a teacher and you know, they are the best pencils 

0  

00:39:46

That you want, your children it's required at my daughter's school. It says it has to be Ticonderoga 

1  

00:39:52

Because this is a little cute, see pencils that you can get. They are cases of junk because the led is broken on the inside of them. Sharpen them. The land just falls out. It's a whole thing, headaches. Well, and then they have like the wrap on the outside of them. And it just gums up your pencil sharpener, messes them up. Look, former teacher. 

0  

00:40:11

Yeah. Her school requires you to have those. I buy him a Nikki you're welcome. And Nathaniel Hawthorne, as I said before, he's the author of the house of seven Gables and the Scarlet letter. Yep. Yep, yep. And George Swinnerton 

1  

00:40:27

Parker bless his heart. What a name? 

0  

00:40:30

I do not bless his heart whatsoever because this man is rich beyond our wildest imaginations. Because if you know the last name Parker in any sense, then you would know he is the co-founder of Parker brothers, that induce monopoly 

1  

00:40:46

Game. 

0  

00:40:47

I like clue. And the Weegee board Parker brothers actually sells that, which I find very funny and interesting. So I do not like 

1  

00:40:55

Big monopoly, 

0  

00:40:57

Monopolies, not great. And they've got so many different versions of monopoly now, like there's one that's specifically called like monopolies cheater edition and you ha it's, the rules are insane. I looked at getting it one time and it was just too much for me 

1  

00:41:13

Once upon a time, I did like McDonald's monopoly because you know, that was always a college student. I liked getting free food. 

0  

00:41:20

Well, and any people who listen to true crime obsessed might, you know, have their little ears perked up hearing about that because there is a documentary on the McDonald's scandal because the people who were winning the big prizes were related to people that worked for the company that did the McDonald's monopoly program, how shocked. And they started figuring it out anyways, it's a crazy documentary. And it's actually kind of fun because they go through and they find it. And some of them don't didn't know that they were like intentionally given this winning monopoly thing, it was like this relative gave it to them and they won. 

0  

00:42:06

It's very interesting. So that's why that type of McDonald's monopoly is not done anymore. Interesting. So, because McDonald's monopoly was a lot of fun. It was interesting. Look, I just like getting free food when I was in college. I mean, you know, y'all, didn't have a taco bell down there then at that point, you'll just have McDonald's. But I had one in my hometown. Yeah. But I didn't not in college. Yeah. But I wouldn't really talk or Bell's facing, of course there's some on your counter now that I brought with me, you know, so finally, on to our case for this week of the murder of captain Joseph White, captain white was a wealthy, retired merchant living in Salem, Massachusetts captain White's house stood at 1 28 <em></em> street and was noted as one of the grandest houses in the town. 

0  

00:42:59

It was built in 1804 with three floors, a red brick facade, and a porch with white Corinthian columns. And it had a beautiful wood carved balcony on the home. Wow. You can look up photos of this house. It is gorgeous. It sounds like it is so pretty. And especially for the time that it was built, it's like kind of amazing that it's so like, it looks the way that it does cause 18 and four. So in here, by the time of our story, captain white is 82. So a couple of years, pretty, pretty, pretty long life, a little bit experienced in life. 

0  

00:43:41

Right. I couldn't find anything on his early life, but what we do know is that he either had never married according to the historical crime detective, or he was a widower, according to Smithsonian magazine, little bit of a contradiction there a little bit. He had a maid servant named Lydia Kimble and a handyman named Benjamin White, no relation. He employed his niece, Mary Bedford, as his housekeeper, who was described as quote, a fine looking woman of 40 or 45, her daughter who was also named Mary, can we just normalize, naming our kids after us as women? 

0  

00:44:24

I just want to say that. I always think that it's so funny when I see that now. So she had a daughter named Mary who worked for captain white until she married a man named Joseph Knapp Jr. The couple moved to Wenham, which is around seven miles away from Salem. The naps were a highly respected family consisting of the father, Joseph Knapp, senior, and his two sons, Joseph Knapp, Jr. And John Francis nap on April 5th, 1830 mom, Mary went to visit her daughter and Winham leaving captain white alone for the weekend. On the morning of April 7th at 6:00 AM, captain White's handyman walked into the kitchen and opened the shutters. 

0  

00:45:10

He noticed that the back window of the parlor was open and that a wood plank was leaning against it. He quickly informed the made. And the two started to check around the house to see if anything else was a mess. Once they reached captain White's room, they noticed the door was opened. And this was a bit of a surprise since typically the door would be shut unless captain white was up for the day and neither of them heard him stirring in his room. This is foreshadowing. It is, it is. So they slowly pushed open the door and were in shock as they took in the scene before them, the bed was turned down as if captain white had not laid in the bed that night. 

0  

00:45:53

But then they looked over and saw captain white dressed in his night clothes. He was covered in blood stiff and dead line diagonally across the bed. They touched nothing else in the room. They took, they took a note from our other guys in our other story, they were smart. They touched to nothing else in the room. And immediately once the authorities, his body was examined and it was revealed that he had a blow to the head that fractured his skull, but it did not break the skin, which is interesting. Then there were also 13 deep wounds found on the body. Oh, curiously deep wounds, binning like puncture wounds. It didn't go into it. I think, I think more of like a cutting wound, kind of like a deep, deep cut. 

0  

00:46:38

We'll talk more about it. So let's just curious. Yeah. It's yeah. I don't know why I was curious. Well, what I was curious about is that he had a blow to the head that fractured his skull, but it didn't break his skin. Yeah. That is interesting. Which is weird. So that made me think that it was like, like it, sorry guys. But this is what it makes me think of is like, if somebody hits someone across the head with like the spindles on staircases, you know how like the staircases will have spinach in there, like thick, like the thick wooden ones, like something like that, that it is heavy enough. It was it being on your head. 

0  

00:47:20

<em></em> I mean, at 82, your skin is kind of thin it's yeah. So your collagen is gone. Yeah. 

1  

00:47:29

Look at me. So I had intention to this skincare commercials, 

0  

00:47:33

So it was very interesting, but they just said that he had 13 deep ones, curiously, the house hadn't been bribed and everything of value still remained in the room, both the maid and the handyman knew that captain white kept an iron chest in his bedroom that contained gold doubloons and it was untouched as well, which is weird. Why would somebody come in the house and then not literally steal the chest of gold sitting in the corner? That doesn't make sense. I mean, weird. It wasn't an in conspicuous chest either. So like you wouldn't notice it. Yeah. 

0  

00:48:12

It seemed as though it was like what you literally think of as a treasure chest, like, like a big iron trunk, right. As a chest. Like, it was very, so it didn't seem like it was something that you would just see and go, oh, okay. And just thinking it's something else. Screams, pirate ship. Like an, I don't know if this is the thing kind of everywhere, but in the south, a lot of people will have hope chests that they'll put, like, I don't know. Do you have hope chests or does your mom? 

1  

00:48:47

My mom is not from the south. Well, I didn't know 

0  

00:48:49

Because for some people it's, it's like I 

1  

00:48:53

Have, I have a Cedar chest 

0  

00:48:55

Said that it's like an older generation kind of thing. And your hope chest is kind of a lot of times it's almost like a large, almost looks like a bench that you would put it the, 

1  

00:49:05

Yeah. And, and actually mom and dad do have a CHS and I have one Michael , 

0  

00:49:11

It's kind of what you put, like the important things like heirlooms kind of like people would put stuff in a hope chest 

1  

00:49:20

And, and re it was more like used for like, I think if Anna Green Gables, for some reason and a little house on the Prairie, but like the last, what you put your Trousseau in, you know, your you're when you're preparing for getting married, you put in your, your linens that you've prepared. And yet 

0  

00:49:42

It's like your it's like your important things to you 

1  

00:49:45

Yet because you're your treasure chest. I mean, basically you're your good linens, your that's where you would keep your baptismal dress for that you would hand down and that, right. 

0  

00:49:57

So it's kind of like, I guess like an inheritance chest is a good way to barely. Yeah. It's like heirlooms. It's things that you want. Like, if you, if your house were on fire, he would grab that. Right. It's kind of one of those wedding album and 

1  

00:50:10

You're well known in that time, 

0  

00:50:12

But right. But you know, those important things, so, and likely you said most of the time, these are like Cedar chest, like they're substantial, but they're small. Right? Well, this was an iron chest sitting in the corner, you know, not to be overlooked, like very odd. So it seemed, it was accidentally overlooked by the murderer. However, the more the scene was searched, it became apparent by almost everyone that the intent of this crime was only to murder captain white. Yeah. I mean, if you're gonna like, do this, do it wrong, make it look. 

0  

00:50:53

Not saying you need to kill people. Because as I've said, I've said it a billion times. I mean, but they say all the time, like if you watch crime shows like on ID network, oh, she's investigation discovery or oxygen or anything. And they'll talk about like people who do murder their spouses and then they try to make it look like a robbery. The Menendez brothers did that and we'll get to them eventually. That is a, that's a bear of a case because I've studied more into the Menendez brothers. And I will not say that. I feel sorry for them, for killing their parents. I feel sorry for their childhood and themselves, they went through a lot doesn't justify murder. 

0  

00:51:35

No, but it's, it's crazy. But when that happened at the Menendez house, they tried to make it look like a robbery, but what they didn't do was take anything of value. They just kind of threw things around. And then the police were like, why are things thrown around? But nothing's taken. So then they kind of knew like, okay, this was staged. Like, and a lot of times when there is kind of like a snapped episode or anything like that, and they try to cover it up by making it look like the house was robbed. That's what they always miss is like taking the valuables. Right. Instead of just opening drawers, don't just pretend, I mean, if you're, this is not a God to murder, but you know, just, and that's kind of why it's interesting. 

0  

00:52:21

Let's not give tips. I mean, you know, and enough people who listened to this probably do watch ID network and stuff. So I'm, I'm sure we have enough budding, true crime enthusiasts, listening that already know these things. So there is that. So the murder came as a shock to everyone in the town and the same sentiments were echoed amongst the citizens. Captain white didn't have any enemies. And he was only spoken of in the highest regards. So who would have done this and why would they have done this? Of course, the first place most people looked were at the maid and the handyman the window that the murder came through was unlocked. 

0  

00:53:02

And that was very unusual. Some people thought that it could have been an inside conspiracy and the employees of captain white were in on it. But these rumors were quickly squelched because of the two had been long time trusted employees who were more like a part of the family than anything else. Also nothing was stolen from the home. And if they were to have done something, the assumption would be that they did it for some kind of monetary gain. Yeah. And why would they have stuck around, there were footprints found in the garden, outside the window as well. And they didn't match either of the employee's footprints. It couldn't have been his niece. Mary Blackford either because she was often when I'm visiting her daughter, Mary for the weekend, the town was distraught over the death, the beloved captain white and terrified that something, this heinous could happen in their town, larger wars were offered for the capture and conviction of the assassin. 

0  

00:53:58

Whoever that may be a committee of vigilance, which just sounds it was called the committee of vigilance, which I just think is funny, which just makes me think of like vigilante justice anyways. Yes, it was formed. And they were to launch a full scale investigation into the murder. Almost all of the towns shut down the day of captain White's funeral. Oh, the Knapp brothers were questioned by the committee and said that the night before the murder, they were traveling from Salem to Winham when they were attacked by three robbers. Then my Irish and I'm sorry, the men were in a horse drawn. 

0  

00:54:38

It was a horse-drawn chaise is what it was called. Not what you would think. It was like, there was one horse on the front and then it was not quite a buggy, but kind of one. And there was a place on the back for you to put like large pieces of luggage, but they called it a chaise. Okay. So that's what they were in. One man grabbed the horses bridal and the other two men grabbed a small trunk on the back of the chaise, according to the brothers, they held off the robbers and eventually the robbers magically left them alone and massive cleared into the night. 

0  

00:55:19

It's a miracle. So if anybody's been on tech talk, you might have heard the audio of Cardi B where it's like death suspicious. That's weird. That's what it made me think of the story through the city, into a tailspin and had everyone convinced that a gang of assassins were operating in their MIS and they were responsible for the murder time, continued to pass, and the city grew more suspicious of those around them. And it seemed the mystery would never be solved. That is until someone who was being held in a jail in new Bedford, Massachusetts, 70 miles away spoke up and claimed to have useful information. 

0  

00:56:01

A member of the committee of vigilance traveled to the jail to gather a statement from the prisoner referred to as hatch hat. She had been arrested for shoplifting right before the murder. And even though he had been telling people that he knew of the murder plot, he was ignored the member of the committee, interrogated hatch, and stated that a few months before the murder, he was friends with Richard crown and shield Richard's reputation was less than desirable. And he had told hatch on several occasions that he intended to kill captain white Hatch's statement proved helpful. And he was brought in front of a grand jury. His testimony secured an indictment against Richard crown and shield. 

0  

00:56:45

Now I told you all, this is a bit of a long episode because there's a few things here that I don't think we've ever gotten into. And so I think this is kind of a good place as any to go through what those are. So first, what is an indictment? Okay. If someone is indicted, what does that actually mean? Simply put, this is just a formal charge or accusation of a serious crime. So it's basically saying we have enough to say that this person probably did this crime. So it's, it's an actual formal charge of the crime. Do you really think you did it? And we say, we have enough proof to make it stick. 

0  

00:57:27

So what is a grand jury? A grand jury is very different from a trial jury, but they do have similar duties. The explanation of this can vary in different countries and some might not even have the same process, but in the United States, a grand jury typically consists of 16 to 23 people. 12 votes are required to return an indictment. If the charges are thought to be unfounded, then the accusation is dismissed as unfounded. However, all grand jury proceedings are conducted behind closed doors without a presiding judge. 

0  

00:58:11

And only with the prosecution. This is where things get tricky because neither the defense or the person accused and up for indictment are allowed to be present during grand jury proceedings, unless they are invited. And the chances are slim to none. This means that the defense does not have the right to present evidence that the accused is innocent. So to break that down, simply the grand jury process, I'll say, this is my personal opinion. I'm just going to go ahead and put that out. There might be something that I'm passionate about, but here we go to break it down. 

0  

00:58:56

Simply the grand jury process is prosecutor friendly because the grand jurors only see and hear what the prosecutor puts in front of them. While this is a right under the fifth amendment to the constitution of the United States. The debate for quite a while has been if grand jury proceedings are a just part of the justice system, in fact, in 85. And this might be a term that some people have heard. So now you'll know where it's from in 1985, former chief judge of New York state Sol Wachtler interesting name. That is, that is quite the name right there. 

0  

00:59:38

He spoke with the New York daily news and the article stated quote in a bid to make prosecutors more accountable for their actions. Chief judge Sol Wachtler has proposed that the state scrap the grand jury system of bringing criminal indictments Waxler who became the judge became the state's top judge earlier this month said, district attorneys now have so much influence on grand juries that quote by enlarge, they could get them to indict a ham sandwich. Interesting. And that was a judge that came forward and said that. So finally, the Washington post reported that in a year time period where 193,993,000 cases were looked at 162,350 were prosecuted as for the over 30,000 that were not only E Levin 11 of 193,000 only 11 were because a grand jury did not return an indictment. 

0  

01:00:53

Ooh, if that number wasn't shocking enough, here's another, that means that only 0.00, zero 6% of the cases pursued by prosecutors were not indicted because of a grand jury. So way less than even 1%. So now, as you can see, this is something I'm a bit passionate about. Well, there's absolutely no way that 11 of the cases that went before the grand jury didn't have enough evidence. There's no way like, I'm, I'm sorry. There's not, I don't see that personally. I believe it would be more accurate. 

0  

01:01:35

Cause I know people are gonna say, well, Kayla, if you don't have, like, if you don't think that that's what we should do, then what should we do? I'm glad you asked, who asked dear listener, you did in your head clear asked, she's sitting here. She, she asked, she wanted to know. So personally I believe that it would be much more accurate if you had a randomized pool of legal professionals to review all the evidence and hear from the prosecution, if you still want it to be a prosecutorial based system, most Americans are not at all familiar with the court system terminology or the actual law. 

0  

01:02:16

So it would make more sense. And I'm not saying people who like, oh, we know these people, they're, you know, they're in the courthouse. I'm saying like a randomized group of legal professionals kind of like jury jury selection, but for right, for just a grand jury that has legal professionals that have no bearing on. I mean, just like when you would choose a jury, like, do you have any connection to this case? Or, you know, so on and so forth that way, at least people who have a legal knowledge, if this is how we choose to continue this process, at least someone who knows the law is looking at this case, not someone who is going to be easily influenced by a prosecutor because all you're getting is the prosecutor's side. 

0  

01:03:07

So anyways, interesting system, I'm not a lawyer and nothing I say is law advice. I just put steps off soap box. Okay. Thanks. Bye. Just your thoughts, just my thoughts. It's it's just an aggravating system, especially when you look down at the numbers, it's frustrating and, and you thought about it. I have, and knowing the number of people who are unjustly not only arrested, but the number of people who were unjustly prosecuted for a crime that they didn't commit. And it's based off of, you know, not solely based off of a grand jury indictment, but like your main chance of it being dismissed is, you know, you, it goes to a grand jury and then it's pushed through when you don't have the right to defend yourself. 

0  

01:04:02

That just doesn't seem right to me like that. Doesn't, you're getting one side of a story. I can convince you all day long. That last night I had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, which I did. It was amazing, but I can't convince you all day long. That that's exactly what it was. And that's a hundred percent what it was. And I could say, you know, I could tell you that's exactly what we had and you would go, okay, so that's what you did. That's what you had. Right. You're telling me this, you're showing me that I show you here's the leftovers in the refrigerator. Right. But if I didn't have that last night, I actually had something else. And my boyfriend comes in and says, no, we didn't have that. 

0  

01:04:44

We had stir fry last night. You would go, well, I've already seen the, I've already seen the evidence for the spaghetti. Like clearly you had spaghetti. Like, you know, it's just not, it doesn't seem like a good process to me. And it has been up for debate in many states as to whether the grand jury process should continue. There are a lot of countries who have outlawed it altogether. So it's very, it's very interesting, but just in case, no one knows kind of what that process is like. That that is what we're dealing with. So back to Hatch's testimony, it was what helps the grand jury successfully indict Richard crown and shield hatch was immensely important, but there were also other witnesses that testified about the night of the murder. 

0  

01:05:38

George crown in shield, the brother of Richard and two other men referred to as Sellman and chase testified that they were with Richard at a gambling house in Salem, weirdly enough, this testimony got all three of these men indicted as well. And all including Richard were arrested on May 2nd, just shy of a month after the murder, Selman and chase were not taken to trial and the charges against them were quickly dismissed on May 15th. I put Papa Knapp, who's the dad received a letter in the mail. So that's the doubt of the two brothers, dear, sir, I have taken the pen at this time to address you and utter stranger and strange as it may seem to you. 

0  

01:06:29

It is for the purpose of requesting the loan of $350 for which I can give you no security, but my word, and in this case, consider this to be sufficient. My call for money at this time is pressing, or I would not trouble you. But with that, some I have the prospect of turning it to so much advantage as to be able to refund it with interest in the course of six months at all events, I think it would be for your interest to comply with my request. And that immediately, that is not to put off any longer that you receive this, then set down and enclose me the money with as much dispatch as possible for your own interests. 

0  

01:07:09

This sir is my advice. And if you do not comply with it, the short period between now and November will convince you that you have denied such a request, the grant of which will never injure you. The refusal at which will ruin you. Are you surprised at this assertion rest assured that I make it reserving to myself, the reasons and a series of facts, which are founded on such a bottom as will bid a defiance to property or quality. It is useful for me to enter into a discussion of facts, which must inevitably Harrow up your soul. No, I will merely tell you that I am acquainted with your brother, Frank, and also the business that he was transacting for you on the 2nd of April last. 

0  

01:07:58

And then I think you were very extravagant in giving $1,000 to the person that would execute the business for you, but you know, best about that. You see that such thing will leak out to conclude. Sir, I will inform you that there is a gentleman, my acquaintance in Salem that will observe that you do not leave town before the 1st of June giving you sufficient time between now and then to comply with my request. And if I do not receive a line from you together with the above sum before the 22nd of this month, I shall wait upon you with an assistant. I have said enough to convince you of my knowledge and merely inform you that you can, when you answer, be as brief as possible, direct yours Charles Grant Jr. 

0  

01:08:45

Of prospect, Maine. That sounds like a Mr. James Reynolds letter. Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. Basically you were given somebody a thousand dollars for doing something for you. And I know about this and I'm going to up the price. I want 350 names. That'd be great. Thanks. Since you've given out money for favors, I'm going to do you a favor if you pay me. Well, remember that I said this was sent to pop a nap, not the sons I put understandably popping app is like WTF. 

0  

01:09:26

Is this WTF? I don't know what Charles, and certainly not anyone in this area. So given all of the unrest in the community, pop a nap, went to, went on to talk to his sons. Joseph and Francis Francis is who the man in the letter was calling Frank . Joseph told his father that the letter contained a devilish lot of trash. Ooh, devilishly a lot. That's interesting and said that it needed to be given to the vigilance committee, Papa, Napa greed, and gave it to them. Well, this was not the best idea on Joseph's part. And this was just the start of his remarkable ideas to come. 

0  

01:10:06

Remember how Papa Knapp is Joseph Knapp senior. And then his son is Joseph Knapp Jr. Oh, the letter was supposed to go to junior, not senior. Joseph Jr. Took off to Salem to mail two letters. The next day, instead of Joseph mailing them himself, he asked his friend to mail them and said that his father received an anonymous letter, that he was going to quote nip the silly affair in the bud. Stupid mistake. Number two, the letters were as follows. First up one addressed to the chairman of the vigilance committee, the honor roll Gideon Barstow. 

0  

01:10:46

It said gentlemen of the committee of vigilance hearing that you have taken up four young men on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of Mr. White. I think it is time to inform you that. And white came to me one night and told me if I ever would remove the old gentleman, he would give me $5,000. He said that he was afraid he would alter his will. If he lived any longer, I told him I would do it, but I was a feared to go into the house. So he said he would go with me that he would try to get into the house in the evening and open the window and then go home and go to bed. And me again at about 11, I found him and we both went to the chamber. 

0  

01:11:28

I struck him in the head with a heavy piece of led and then stabbed him with a dirt. He made the finishing strokes with another. He promised to send me the money the next evening and has not yet Senate, which is the reason that I mentioned this yours, et cetera, grant. So he gave us okay. The next letter to the honorable Steven White, a nephew of murdered captain white and the principal air to captain White's fortune it read Mr. White, we'll send the $5,000 a report or a part of it before tomorrow night or suffer the painful consequences grant. 

0  

01:12:17

This was about $150,000 today. Nice guys. This was not smart at all. After receiving the letters, the committee sent a messenger to Maine to wait at the post office for grant to pick up his mail. Just for good measure. The committee sent grant $50 in the mail to lure him to the post office, come to find out grant wasn't grant at all. His name was actually John Palmer and he was an associate of Richard crown and shield. And he knew the whole plot. 

0  

01:12:59

You can probably assume now that Palmer sang like a Canary to avoid being prosecuted. The shot could be felt through Salem. And once the letters were compared to Joseph Junior's handwriting and proven to be from him, Joseph Jr and Francis were taken into custody good times after just three days in jail. Joseph made a full confession from the planning of the murder to lying about the robbers and forging letters. Yeah. Richard quickly heard about the confession and a bit of a trigger warning here. Skip forward. If you don't want to hear about talks of suicide and he realized that he was going to be sentenced to death, Richard crown and shield completed suicide by hanging himself, using a handkerchief tied to the bars of the cell and an odd turn of events. 

0  

01:13:49

Joseph and Francis couldn't be tried for murder itself. Huh? Why you may ask the law at the time stated that accessories to a crime could not be convicted unless the actual Myra was convicted first, huh? With Richard now gone, the brothers could very well get away with murder. Oh wow. There was a key aspect to the entire plot that we haven't explored yet. Why captain white wrote his niece? Mary out of his will. As soon as Joseph married into the family, captain white was weary of Joseph and saw him as a gold Digger and too sneaky for his liking. 

0  

01:14:35

He ain't nothing but a gold Digger, even though the Nat family was respected. Something, didn't sit right with captain white. Joseph found out about the change in the will and was furious. Francis was quite irritated as well because he didn't see the point in the change and thought his brother was upstanding. The thought was to steal the new will and kill captain white so that the estate would go to his niece. Mary, who was the mother-in-law of Joseph. And eventually it would be Joseph's after she died. Right? I'm wonder if they were going to make that happen sooner rather than later, but neither brother could stomach the thought of murdering captain white themselves, inter Richard and George crown and shield. 

0  

01:15:24

Joseph promised Richard a thousand dollars when he obtained the estate. If he would murder captain white, Joseph stole the will a few days before the murder and Richard followed through with his end of the deal. But when Joseph confessed in jail, it came out that he stole the wrong will. Everyone was terrified that the Knapp brothers were going to walk away from the murder charges and never pay for their part in the crime. So captain White's nephew, Steven, you know the one, they were extorting for money. 

0  

01:16:08

And then also told the committee of vigilance that Steven was the one who planned the murder. She know him, Stephen and a group, prominent Salem residents raised enough to persuade Senator and lawyer, Daniel Webster, not that Webster to come and help the prosecution, even though he was more known for being a defense attorney, fun fact, Webster had a son named Fletcher. No. During the trial Webster described the murder as quote, a most extraordinary case. In some respects, it is hardly a precedent anywhere. Certainly not in our new England history. 

0  

01:16:48

This bloody drama exhibited no suddenly excited ungovernable rage. The actors in it were not surprised by any lion like temptation springing up their virtue and overcoming it before resistance could begin, nor did they do the deed to glut Savage, vengeance or satiate long settled in deadly hate. It was a cool calculating moneymaking murder. It was all higher and salary, not revenge. It was the weighing of money against life. The counting out of so many pieces of silver against so many ounces of blood. 

0  

01:17:31

Interesting. I liked that term when he said it's counting out silver instead of the ounces of blood. That's pretty sad though. What a disregard for life. The brothers were tried separately and John Francis Knapp was up first. The defense in the first trial stated that Francis couldn't be considered an accessory based on legal requirements. According to the law and accessory must be present during the murder and Francis wasn't present at the murder. He was 300 feet away from the room on the other side of the street, across the street. Oh my gosh. Webster stated for the prosecution that quote to constitute a presence is sufficient. 

0  

01:18:14

If the accomplice is in a place either where he may render aid to the perpetrator of the felony or where the perpetrator supposes, he may render aid. If they selected the place to afford assistance, whether it was well or ill chosen for that purpose is in material. The perpetrator would derive courage and confidence from the knowledge that his associate was in the appointed place. By the law. The defense had a very convincing argument for Francis's innocence. The jury deliberated and found John Francis nap, guilty of murder. Webster's closing arguments were so powerful that they were published in the newspaper after the trials. 

0  

01:18:59

Wow. Four months after Joseph Knapp junior was found four months after Joseph now junior was found guilty of murder as well. Since Joseph made a full confession. The top, the trial was pretty cut and dry. Both brothers were sentenced to death. John Francis Knapp and Joseph Jenkins nap junior were hanged together on the same scaffold. The judge for the cases said, quote, if such events had been set forth in a work of fiction, they would have been considered to absurd an unnatural for public endurance. The story would have been treated as a liable upon man, who would have imagined that young well-educated men having respectable connections and means of living could have been found in our cultivated society, ready to join such a fearful conspiracy, who they consider. 

0  

01:19:52

These things will fail to discover an overruling, Providence, which baffles all human device in contract contrivances contrivances to seal great and deadly crimes. The judge was wrong about the story's suitability for fiction though, as it turns out, Edgar Allen Poe's 

1  

01:20:22

Telltale, heart and Nathaniel Hawthorne's house of seven Gables were both inspired by the case. And that is the St. Louis murder. Very sad. It is, 

0  

01:20:37

Especially considering like the only reason they were murdered, he was murdered was for money. Like the only reason. And for you to have to think, because like you said, okay, captain white stead. Now it goes to Mary Bedford, then what's going to happen to Mary. Yeah. I mean, you already hired someone to kill captain. Why? Yeah. You're just going 

1  

01:21:00

To get tired of her hanging around. Is she going to live too long for, and 

0  

01:21:03

She was in her forties. 

1  

01:21:04

Yeah. I mean, he's going to be inpatient. 

0  

01:21:07

I mean, 

1  

01:21:08

She not going to let you move in. You're not going to like what she's doing. You just go knock her off too. And how about this? If you were able to seal the will, what does it matter? But you stole the wrong one, you know, D but I mean, if you were able to seal the will, I mean, he was 80, some odd years old. Do you think he was going to be looking at the will anytime saying, you know, why not to steal the will and just take your chances, dude? 

0  

01:21:34

I mean, I don't know, but I mean, what's funny to me is that captain white upfront was like something sketchy about him. And I don't like it so enables right. I'm going to write my niece out of the will. 

1  

01:21:53

He should have just written his great niece out of the will. 

0  

01:21:58

Yeah, I agree. So, so that is our case. For this week, we have a website where you can find any and all Owen, UC information you were looking for. It is one nation under crime.com. We are one nation under crime on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube. And at Owen, you see pod on Twitter. If you love our podcast, as much as we do, please follow us and recommend us to your friends, family, coworkers, strangers on the street, doctors, maybe 

1  

01:22:26

Not your on your leg room, 

0  

01:22:29

Doctor, anyone, please go leave us a five-star review on apple podcasts and leave a comment. If you do that, you could still get a sticker. Yes, we do have a Patrion. If you would like to help with the cost of hosting and making the show, you can find us on Patrion. If you search for one nation under crime. Thank you guys for joining us this week. Merry 

1  

01:22:49

Christmas. 

0  

01:22:51

You guys have a wonderful Christmas. Yes. Wonderful. 

1  

01:22:54

And enjoy wrapping your presence. We hope this helped you get through it. 

0  

01:22:58

Well, and we have a bonus episode still coming out this week that just in case and our bonus episode this week, pretty fun. So I don't know what it is. So I'm ready. We will get to that. And just another couple of days. Yep. We will see you here. Same time, different crime next week. And remember there isn't always Liberty and justice for all. Goodbye.