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Crimes of the Centuries

S1 Ep3: Elma Sands: The Manhattan Well Murder

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

History, Documentary, Society & Culture, True Crime

4.74K Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2020

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When a 22-year-old woman living with relatives in a boarding house disappeared on Dec. 22, 1799, her loved ones didn't immediately worry. But when she still hadn't returned days later, all eyes turned to her lover -- whom she'd supposedly been set to marry the last time she was seen alive. Levi Weeks came from a family with money, so his rich brother did something that was unheard of at this point in American history: He hired fancy lawyers. And that's how Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr ended up on the same side defending a man against murder charges in 1800. 

The case, referenced in Lin Manuel Miranda's award-winning musical "Hamilton," marks two firsts: The defense panel was America's first legal Dream Team, and the Weeks' case was the first recorded murder trial in the country's history.

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @centuriespod

Transcript

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0:00.0

There it is, sat round doing nothing, that old lump sum.

0:03.6

But what if you could get it moving with a Shawbrook savings account?

0:07.1

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0:11.6

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0:16.0

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0:18.2

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0:20.9

Spark your interest today at Shawbrook.co.uk.

0:24.3

Shawbrook bank is authorized by the Prudential Regulation Authority

0:27.4

and regulated by the FCA and PLA.

0:36.4

Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking

0:40.5

that they earn the label crime of the century.

0:44.5

But the stories that made headlines in decades past

0:47.5

aren't necessarily remembered today.

0:52.4

I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author,

0:56.2

and in each episode of this show, I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today,

1:01.8

but was huge when it happened.

1:05.2

This is crimes of the centuries.

1:14.8

There's never a good time for murder, of course,

1:25.2

but there certainly are times that seem worse than others.

1:28.5

During youth, for example, or at Christmas time,

1:32.0

or on the eve of one's wedding.

1:34.6

In the case of Juliel Massand's, all three of those boxes were ticked,

...

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