Catherine's Curse and the Murder of Elma Sands

6/18/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
In 1799, a young woman named Gulielma "Elma" Sands was killed. Her reputation was shredded during her murder trial, however no one was ever punished for the deed. Most of those surrounding the incident, who perhaps cheated her of justice, suffered a series of misfortunes in the years that followed.

Wall Street c.1790

THE MANHATTAN COMPANY WELL MURDER

The Manhattan Company supplied New York City with water. The company was owned by Aaron Burr. Among the wells sunk by the company was one on Laurens Street (later renamed to South Fifth Avenue). It stood in an open field.

A resident who lived closed by was Elias Ring, a Quaker and well-to-do merchant who lived with his family in a mansion at 372 Pearl Street. The place was known as the Ring Boarding House. He resided there with his wife Catherine, two orphaned nieces, one of them named Hope, the other Gulielma "Elma" Sands (AKA Julianna Gilmore Sands, Juliana Elmore Sands).

Elma fell in love with Levi Hinckley Weeks (Weekes) who was a boarder at her uncle's home.

Portrait of a Young Woman in White, c. 1798 (anonymous painter)

On December 22, 1799 she told her aunt Catherine and sister, Hope, that she was leaving with Levi Weeks in order to get married. Her relatives were not surprised since they suspected a romance between the two young people. They approved of the match since Levi was a carpenter, and his brother was a well-to-do builder.

Later that night, Levi Weeks returned to the home asking where Elma was. Mrs. Ring was surprised because she understood that her niece had left with him. He swore he left Elma standing in the hallway, and had gone out to pick up the sleigh at his brother's house.

By morning search parties went out to find Elma. A few days later by a well, they found a muff she had borrowed from a neighbor. On January 2, 1800 eleven days after her disappearance, her uncle dragged the well and brought up the girl's body. Her dress was torn above the waist, and her shawl and shoes were missing.

On January 6, the coroner's jury was assembled and gave a verdict of murder by some person or persons unknown. Public opinion was that Weeks was the killer. By January 10, he was arrested on suspicion and he was arraigned. He pled not guilty. His brother Ezra Weeks, a prominent contractor, who helped to construct the new waterworks stretching from Lispenard’s Meadow into the city, was determined to get him acquitted.

Aaron Burr and his wife Theodosia Prevost c.1780s

The trial took place on March 31, 1800 in Federal Hall. The lawyers defending Levi Weeks were Aaron Burr (1756-1836), Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) and Brockholst Livingston (1757-1823). The reason Weeks got some of the most prominent attorneys to represent his brother, is that Burr and Hamilton were indebted to Ezra Weeks, and worked on the case for free. Brockholst who had plans in politics was motivated to join this "dream team" since he feared he would lose a chance for recognition. By then he had already lived a turbulent life. He survived an assassination attempt in 1785, and killed a man named James Jones in a duel in 1798.

Livingston would go on to become a New York Supreme Court judge. Burr and Hamilton had darker destinies.

Ironically while collaborating on this case, Hamilton in private correspondence was writing bitter things against Burr. He was convinced that Burr was a dangerous man to society and to the country.

Aaron Burr came from a well connected family. His father co-founded Princeton. During the Revolutionary War he achieved the rank of major. He met his future wife Theodosia Prevost when she opened the doors to her home in New Jersey to officers from the Continental Army. She was married then, and had five children. She was ten years older than Burr, however they fell in love. When her husband, a British officer, died of yellow fever they married in 1783. She gave birth to four children with Aaron Burr, however only one survived, this was a daughter named Theodosia. Burr's wife died in 1794, at the age of 48.

Aaron Burr

THE PEOPLE V. LEVI WEEKS

The case was spoken about constantly in the papers. It was the major point of gossip throughout New York City. Handbills appeared about a ghost being seen at Lispenard's Meadow where the well was located. The spirit being the shade of Elma Sands, wet and pale asking for her death to be avenged.

Another rumor that swirled during the drama of the trial and afterward, was that one of the associate counsel for the defense, known as a "flagrant libertine" had been intimate with Elma Sands, and had his own personal reason for securing Weeks' release. Who this libertine was remained unnamed, but chances are it was Aaron Burr who had a reputation as a womanizer.

The prosecutor, Cadwallader D. Colden who would go on to become Mayor of New York, took the floor to establish a motive for the alleged crime. He called on witness after witness to testify that Levi and Elma were not only courting but, as was generally believed, headed toward marriage. Testimony was taken from those who lived in the household to confirm the girl was in good spirits, thus ending speculation that she took her life. Others testified that Weeks used his brother's sleigh on the evening when the murder was committed. Others said they heard screams of "murder, help!' near the area of the well around 9 o'clock that evening.

Elma's corpse was found to have bruises and wounds about her head. A doctor found her collar bone was dislocated. She also had marks on her neck "as if they had been produced by violent pressure". The doctor commented he didn't think it was possible she could have inflicted this on herself.

Aaron Burr during the opening spoke badly of the dead girl and praised the defendant. The defense attorneys also called in several witnesses that established the poor character of Elma Sands, and that she was often melancholy and had more than once talked of ending her life. They had doctors testify that the girl had drowned, and the bruising might have arisen after being in the water many days. They also confirmed she was not pregnant.

The defense team also cast doubt on Elias Ring's testimony that he had heard passionate noises coming from Elma's room, which adjoined his bedchamber. The attorneys brought in a blacksmith that shared a wall with the boardinghouse, and this man said he overheard carnal encounters taking place in Elma's room, and he swore it was Elias Ring's voice himself. He assumed Ring was having a tryst with Elma while his wife was away during a Yellow Fever outbreak in the summer of 1799. The blacksmith said that he commented to his wife that Ring had ruined the girl.

Joseph Watkins, a boarder in the room adjacent to Sands testified that her uncle, Elias Ring entered and exited her bedroom at all hours of the night, again during those days his wife Catherine was away from the house. There was contradictory testimony as to whether Elma was ever seen in the sleigh with Ezra Weeks. Different rumors swirled as to Elma's condition; whether she was happy or melancholy; was she pregnant or not.

Aaron Burr tried to cast doubt against Richard Croucher a boarder on the Ring house

The tactic was to cast doubt on the motive Ezra Weeks would have to kill his own sweetheart, and whether Elma Sands jumped into the well, thus murdering herself.

Another incident during the trial was when Burr or Hamilton (the story differs as to who did it), was said to have suddenly moved two candelabras close to the face of a boarder at the house so as to give him from where the jury sat, a ghastly and livid look. He was a salesman named Richard D. Croucher who had a devilish aspect to his countenance, and had smeared Levi’s character in no uncertain terms, insinuating that he had even happened upon Elma and him in flagrante delicto.

During the trial several witnesses declared they saw Levi spend the evening from 8 to 10 p.m. at his brother's house. The evidence that he borrowed the sleigh was weak, and on the third day the counsel suddenly closed the case without any address to the jury from either side.

Judge John Ten Eyck Lansing somewhat annoyed at not having time to review the testimony, instructed the jury that there was not sufficient evidence to justify them bringing in a verdict of guilty. The jury retired and brought in a verdict of not guilty in less than 10 minutes.

It was reported in the newspapers that Catherine Ring who was Elma's aunt said to Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr at the rendering of the verdict, "if thee dies a natural death, I shall think there is no justice in God."

There was no other investigation into who killed Elma Sands and threw her into a well. The defense team kept insisting that Elma had committed suicide, so the search for her killer would be moot if she died by her own hand. However she wouldn't be the first victim who was relegated to being a suicide, when in truth she was the victim of a murderer. It wouldn't be long before those who left her unavenged were visited by misfortune.

Philip Hamilton I, Alexander Hamilton's son was killed in a duel a week after Ezra Weeks' acquittal in the Sands trial

On November 23, 1801 a year after Week's acquittal, Philip Hamilton, 19, met a young lawyer named George I. Eacker who he challenged to a duel. A single bullet entered his body, and he never got a shot off. He was carried to his parent's home where he died the following day. He was said to have been Hamilton's favorite child.

In 1802, Hamilton and his wife Betsey welcomed an eighth child, which they named Philip in memory of his dead brother. It was said that Hamilton never overcame the sorrow of losing his son.

George Eacker though was not long for this world either. He died in 1804 from consumption at the age of 29.

For Aaron Burr life was quite the opposite of Hamilton, at least initially. A few months earlier, Burr's daughter Theodosia married Joseph Alston, who would go on to become Governor of South Carolina. Burr was sworn in as Vice-President under Thomas Jefferson. In 1802, Burr's first grandson named Aaron Burr Alston was born. In the coming years, Theodosia claimed she had a hard time adjusting to the isolated life of a plantation mistress at The Oaks, the Alston family estate on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina, and was soon spending half the year in New York with her father.

Aaron Burr's reputation was ruined after he killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel c.1804

The problems between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, both Revolutionary War heroes, developed through their bids to different political offices. The last incident was when Burr ran for the governorship of New York and lost. He blamed Hamilton and challenged him to a duel.

Unofficially rumors swirled as to the real cause of the duel. Aaron had been incensed by a comment Hamilton had made about “still more despicable” acts. Some thought Hamilton may have been referring to Aaron and his daughter Theodosia’s "morbid affection" for each other, which had led to whispers of incest.

Burr and Hamilton agreed to meet in New Jersey on the morning of July 11, 1804 in a spot frequented to settle arguments with a duel. Hamilton's own son had been killed at this very spot three years before.

When the duel took place, Burr was widowed and his daughter was married. Hamilton on the other hand was the head of a large family, which depended solely on his earnings. Both men, though owning a large of amount of land, were deeply in debt.

Even though they had met to fight a duel, when Burr killed Hamilton, the public was outraged. An indictment was issued against Burr but the case never reached trial. He finished serving his term as vice president, however his political aspirations were quashed.

Blennerhassett's Island where Burr met with some of the conspirators

Then he headed west to establish a new country comprised of the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico. Conspiring with James Wilkinson, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army and Governor of the Northern Louisiana Territory, Burr hatched a plot to conquer some of Louisiana and maybe even Mexico and crown himself emperor. He also dragged in others who had funded the expedition. One was Harman Blennerhassett who was arrested and disgraced.

In 1807, Burr was accused of treason. He snuck out of Natchez, but was found and arrested in Alabama. The trial took place in Richmond, Virginia and he was found not guilty. With the help of Theodosia he smuggled himself out of the country and headed for Europe. His political career and his reputation were ruined.

Auburn Mansion designed and constructed by Levi Weeks in 1812 (c.1936)

LEVI WEEKS

Levi Weeks was 24 when he was accused of the murder of Elma Sands. Even though he was acquitted he was ostracized by the citizens of the city, and their hostility forced him to leave New York. By 1805, he made stops in Ohio and Kentucky before settling in Natchez. He married Anne Greenleaf on January 17, 1813. He was a successful architect and builder, but he was not destined for old age since he died in 1819 when he was only 43 years old.

John Ten Eyck Lansing Jr. disappeared mysteriously in 1829

JUDGE JOHN LANSING (1754-1829)

On the evening of December 12, 1829 Chief Justice John Lansing who presided over the Weeks trial, left the City Hotel bound for Albany to post an important letter. A steamboat which lay at the foot of Cedar Street would transport the mail packets. Judge Lansing never returned from his errand and vanished without a trace.

His disappearance was never explained. Some insisted he hanged himself in the garret of the City Hall and that his friends buried him secretly; others said he fell into the slip and was drowned. Many years later, a memoir of the newspaper publisher Thurlow Weed suggested that Lansing was murdered by political opponents.

Another theory suggests that Lansing was murdered by a group of people who were opposed to his views on the Erie Canal, which connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

Theodosia Burr Alston

THEODOSIA BURR ALSTON (1783-1813)

With her father fleeing to Europe in a self-imposed exile, Theodosia's health which was never good, deteriorated. It's believed she was suffering from uterine cancer. The trauma of the birth of her first and only child made it difficult to have intercourse, and there were no other children.

In June, 1812, Burr's beloved grandson, nicknamed Gampy died of malaria. Amid the sorrow of losing their one child, Joseph Alston was elected as governor of South Carolina in December, 1812.

America was on the brink of war with Britain, and Burr made inquiries to verify he would not be arrested if he returned to New York. His health was bad, he was penniless, and his only grandson had died. The murder charges against him were dropped and he resumed practicing law. He wrote his daughter asking her to join him in New York.

A ship similar to the Patriot

With his new responsibilities and the War of 1812 under way Joseph could not accompany Theodosia to see her father. To make sure his grieving wife traveled safely, Alston asked his friend Dr. Timothy Green to accompany her. They left on December 31, 1812 on the Patriot a small schooner, accompanied by a French maid and a skeleton crew from Georgetown County.

By February 24, 1813 no word had reached either her husband or her father, and Theodosia's whereabouts could not be determined. Despite his political success, Joseph Alston died a broken man in 1816, age 37. He never learned the fate of his wife.

Joseph Alston

Rumors as to what happened to the Patriot and Theodosia abounded. Some believed the ship had been captured by pirates who hunted prey in the waters of the Outer Banks. Through the years, several men once pirates, made deathbed confessions about the fate of Theodosia Burr Alston. In one, the ship was scuttled with all on board, in another version Theodosia was made to walk the plank, and ultimately that she committed suicide instead of submitting to a pirate captain named Octave Chauvet. Other stories were more farfetched. One placed Theodosia in Texas the wife of an Indian, in another she was taken to Bermuda and became a pirate's mistress. Considering the state of her health, these scenarios were improbable.

In 1813, Theodosia was lost at sea. Burr was never able to recapture his success as a lawyer or politician and by 1830, only by the kindness of his friends was he able to support himself.

Portrait of Eliza Jumel and her two grandchildren Eliza and William Chase, painted in Rome, Italy c. 1854.

ELIZA JUMEL BURR

Burr's salvation arrived in the form of a wealthy widow, 20 years his junior, named Eliza Jumel. They married in 1833. He was 77 years old. Burr's reason for the marriage was obvious, he needed her wealth. He in turn gave her what she lacked, which was a connection to New York's upper crust.

She was born, Elizabeth "Betsy" Bowen in Rhode Island on April 2, 1775 (disputed as being 1769). Her mother Phebe, in her youth was an indentured servant and her father John Bowen was a sailor. When she was seven years old, Eliza was living in a brothel with her mother. Then in 1784, she and her sister Polly were sent to a workhouse. Soon the sisters were living with their mother and Patience Ingraham, a widow cited for "keeping a house of bad fame". Her father drowned in 1786.

In 1790, her mother married Jonathan Clarke, an itinerant cobbler. They ended up in North Carolina, and both died in 1798 from a yellow fever outbreak.

Eliza went on to be indentured to a sea captain and his family. It's believed this man was Jacques de la Croix, who fathered her illegitimate child born in 1794. She became his mistress, and it's believed she even traveled to France with him. She named the boy George Washington Bowen, and gave him to foster parents. She moved to New York City a few weeks later. Eliza now 19, changed her name to Eliza Brown. She worked in the theater, and possibly as a domestic servant to keep food on the table.

Etienne Jumel, who came from a wealthy French-Haitian merchant family came to America in 1795, due to a slave insurrection in Haiti that drove him from the coffee plantation the family owned.

Morris-Jumel Mansion c.1890

During those years that Elma Sands was murdered and Burr shot Hamilton in a duel, Etienne and Eliza met and he set her up as his mistress. Jumel amassed a fortune in the wine business. Not a year went by that a ship from Bordeaux arrived laden with brandy, wine and dried goods for Monsieur Jumel. He lived with Eliza at a mansion at Whitehall and Pearl Streets. Adjoining the house were stables and a shop. This was not far from the Ring Boarding House.

New York socialites opened their doors to Stephen Jumel (who had anglicized his first name), but not to Eliza, even after they married in 1804. In 1813, they moved to a 19-room mansion in Harlem Heights, built in 1765 by a Tory named Colonel Roger Morris. He had built the Palladian style home and named it Mount Morris. The land originally belonged to Jacob Dyckman, an early Dutch colonizer.

Eliza Jumel told her husband that it was haunted, but this did not drive them from their home.

Left: Roger Morris, c.1776, Right: Miss Mary Philipse, c.1780,

HISTORY OF THE JUMEL MANSION

As the Revolutionary War raged, Roger Morris who was a Royalist took his family to his in-laws estate and left Mount Morris unoccupied.

On September 15, 1776, General George Washington occupied the abandoned house with his officers and domestic staff, after the Continental Army’s retreat from Brooklyn. It served as his headquarter. It was then taken over by the British who quartered Hessian mercenaries there.

"During the battle of Fort Washington, Continental prisoners were quartered in the barn. General Sir Henry Clinton kept his summer headquarters in the mansion in 1778, as did General Knyphausen in the following years." Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen was the Hessian commander.

In 1779, the estate was confiscated since Morris and his American wife were British loyalists. Mary Morris was one of only three women accused of treason in New York. It was sold by auction along with Morris's plate and furniture to help offset the large war debt incurred by the Americans. In 1789, it became a tavern and stagecoach stop named Calumet Hall on the old Albany Post Road.

In July 1790, President Washington visited the house with some members of his future cabinet and noted the house as being “in possession of a common farmer” at that time.

Then it was abandoned and the surrounding acreage was used by tenant farmers.

In 1809, John Jacob Astor bought out the interests of the Morris descendants, and sued to get back rents from everyone who had farmed the land. He was successful in winning over $500,000.

When the Jumels purchased the mansion from Astor they renovated and redecorated it after many years of neglect. They planted vineyards of Bordeaux grapes that still run wild today in neighboring Highridge Park.

Portrait of Eliza Jumel. Brass plaque on frame reads, “Eliza Jumel 2nd wife of Aaron Burr Vice President of the United States.” c.1835

The Jumels traveled to Paris in 1815. With them traveled Mary Jones, Eliza's illegitimate niece that they called Mary Eliza. They gave her the surname of Jumel and she lived with them like a daughter. They were accepted by the French aristocracy, and became known as sympathizers for Napoleon Bonaparte.

Rumors were that someone whispered in Stephen's ear about Madame Eliza's scandalous past that he was not privy to. Whether this was accurate or not, she returned to New York in 1816 with Mary Eliza, but without her husband.

Five years passed before she returned to France and Stephen, however by then the Paris branch of the business was faltering. In 1826, he sent her back to New York, with a power-of-attorney and instructions to sell the property there and send him the money. She executed the sale but kept the money.

Two years later, Stephen came to New York after the business collapsed in France. He fell from a haycart, and died on May 22, 1832. By the time of her husband's death, Eliza due to her sharp business acumen had become one of the wealthiest women in New York City. During those years she traveled to Europe she amassed a large art collection. She also traveled to Saratoga Springs and bought over 200 acres of land. She built a house there named the Tuileries. However despite her success in becoming a rich woman, the one thing that escaped her, and which she wanted desperately, was to be accepted by New York's elite families.

Fourteen months after she became a widow, Eliza married Aaron Burr. It did not take her long to realize she was the only one with business acumen, and if she left her finances in Burr's hands he would squander it away in short order.

Hallway of the Morris-Jumel Mansion c.1887

She named Alexander Hamilton Jr. as her attorney to handle the divorce. By then, Burr had been stricken with a series of strokes which left him paralyzed, and a cousin cared for him. Divorce was not easy to acquire in those years, especially when the husband is set against it. But like in all other things, Eliza got what she wanted. The divorce was granted on September 14, 1836, the day Aaron Burr died at the age of 80, however she chose to be identified as Aaron Burr's widow, which she technically was... in a way.

Some historians believe that Burr sired other illegitimate children, but for all intents and purposes his desire to leave a legacy through his daughter and heirs came to nothing. In those times, legitimacy of your offspring was very important.

Eliza Jumel died at age ninety in 1865, outliving her niece Eliza Jumel Chase. She left much of her large estate that was estimated to be about $1 million to a local church and other charities, to the surprise of her relatives, who had expected a more generous inheritance. They spent 17 years fighting Eliza’s will. Among them was George Washington Bowen (1794-1885) her illegitimate son, who sued Nelson Chase, Mary Eliza's widower who sought to claim the inheritance. Nelson Chase had acted as Eliza Jumel's attorney for many of her business transactions.

An interesting piece of testimony came from Anne Van Dervoort, 65, born in Providence, Rhode Island who said she received from her mother, who was Eliza Jumel's sister, an old book with an inscription on the fly leaf that read: "George Washington Bowen born of Eliza Bowen at my house in Town Providence, R.I. October 9, 1794. Ruben Ballou."

Ruben Ballou was a young major in the Revolutionary Army and use to carry dispatches. His wife was a midwife, who seems assisted at the birth of Eliza's child.

During this time Ballou was thrown from his horse, and was visited several times by General George Washington. It was then that the rumor circulated that George Washington Bowen's father was General Washington.

Later Anne Van Dervoort admitted that naming George Washington as Bowen's father started out only as a joke. This admission killed Bowen's lawsuit for his mother's inheritance.

The winners of this long court battle was Nelson Chase, even though the drawn out court proceedings ate up much of the settlement. They sold the property in 1887.

French photographer Louis Le Prince (1841-1890) and his family took up residence in 1889. Le Prince mysteriously disappeared in 1890, and what happened to him has never come to light.

From 1894 to 1903, General Ferdinand Earle and his wife Lillie with their children lived at the Jumel Mansion, however they called the estate Earle Cliff. He was related to the original Morris family through his mother Elizabeth Earle nee Pinney.

Lillie Earle headed the Washington Heights Society of the Children of the American Revolution. She hosted several events at the mansion, including meetings of the Sons of the American Revolution, which General Earle belonged to.

After General Earle's death, Lillie sold the house and two surrounding acres to the The Daughters of the American Revolution, who in turn asked the City of New York to step in and assist in the restoration of the only Pre-Revolutionary house still left, and where the Battle of Harlem Heights took place. The structure faced demolition. They took it over, more than likely because Washington had headquartered there for about three weeks. It became The Morris-Jumel Mansion Museum in 1904. The first public celebration of Washington’s birthday by the City of New York was held here in 1905.

Portrait of Eliza Bowen when she assumed the name of Mde. de la Croix. c.1797

THE HAUNTING OF THE JUMEL MANSION

Occasionally visitors to the museum would report meeting a lady that fit the description of Eliza Jumel. Another phantom was a Hessian solider said to have died on the stairs. A third restless spirit was a maid who had jumped out a window. The curators were not happy with this, and ignored all the stories, instead they focused on the few weeks General Washington had stayed there.

In 1964, Hans Holzer visited the mansion twice with psychic Ethel Myers. Supposedly they contacted Stephen Jumel who said he was murdered by Eliza, which contradicts a review of the letters sent between the couple when he lived in France and she was in New York, in which they appeared to be fond of each other.

The story of the children's encounters was the following:

Jan. 19, 1964: A small group of school-aged kids had arrived early to see the tour of the mansion. As they waited to be let in, they became restless. Then, they saw on the balcony above them, a lady in a flimsy, purple gown , who told them, “Shush!,” in an effort to quiet and calm them down. Then she went right through the closed doors of the room behind the balcony. When the curator, Mrs. C, arrived to let them in, they asked her why the lady on the balcony didn’t open up the building? There wasn’t any lady on the balcony, and all then realized it was a ghost that had been seen. Mrs. C. realized then that the mansion was haunted. The lady that was seen on the balcony, was believed to be Madam Jumel herself, as she fit the description.

Portrait found in the home of Polly Mann by Dr. Pool and believed to be Theodosia Burr

THEODOSIA'S FATE

In 1866, Dr. William Gaskins Pool (1829-1887) bought 50 acres bordering on the ocean "at or near Nags Head." He lived in Elizabeth City, but vacationed at Nags Head, and perhaps it was Theodosia's spirit that in 1869, steered him to the cottage of an ailing woman named Polly Mann. His daughter Anna accompanied him to the home on Bald Head Island, North Carolina.

Amid the murkiness of the interior, both of them were surprised by the portrait of "a beautiful young woman about twenty-five years of age." Polly told them her father Joseph Toler (Tallen) had been a "wrecker" who scavenged ships that washed up on the Outer Banks. He along with some other men came upon a scuttled, empty schooner near Kitty Hawk during the War of 1812. In one of the cabins they found luxurious items and dresses. One of the items was the portrait.

Perhaps Polly's father was one of those that were known to walk a donkey with a lantern on it's neck, on the shore of the island during stormy weather. The bobbing light would lure vessels into the sandbars where it would become stuck. The men on shore would swarm the ship, plunder the goods and leave no witnesses behind.

Supposedly Dr. Poole took the portrait as payment for his services. He already suspected who the subject in the painting was. The 18 x 12 inch painting was unsigned, but is believed to be the work of John Vanderlyn.

Dr Pool contacted Theodosia's family members who believed it might be her, but none of them had met her. Only her sister-in-law, Mary Alston Pringle had met Theodosia and she could not confirm it was her. The portrait is now at Yale University's Lewis Walpole Library. In later years, there have been reports of a semi-transparent woman walking along the shoreline on Bald Head Island. She's wearing a long, white dress, and has never spoken to anyone. Some believe this is Theodosia's ghost, still stuck in 1813.

Richard Croucher was accused of rape only months after the murder of Elma Sands

RICHARD D. CROUCHER (BOARDER AT THE RING HOUSEHOLD) THE REAL CULPRIT?

Richard Croucher (Kroucher), 40, who maligned Levi Weeks far and wide as the murderer of Elma Sands, and many believed created prejudice against Weeks before the trial, was accused of rape in July 1800 of his stepdaughter. He had just married the girl's foster mother, Mrs. Stackhalvers, in April 1800. This was only 3 months after the murder of Elma Sands.

Margaret Miller, age 13, testified the following:

Mr. Croucher came to my mothers, Mrs. Stackhalvers, I don't know how long ago, to sell some stockings —he used to come every day. One night he asked my mamma, if she would let me go and scrub his room for him at Mr. Rings, where he lived, for he said there was a lady and gentleman coming to look at some linens he had. She said at first, she did not know whether I might or not, but at last she consented. He said he wanted me to go that night, so that I might be there very early in the morning, and that I might sleep with a servant girl in the house if I would go.

So I went with him to Mr. Ring's house in Greenwich street, almost by Rhinelanders brew house. He told me to go upstairs to a room in the third story, and he would follow; it was about 9 o'clock—I heard the clock strike 8 some time before. I went up and he followed and took me through' a dark entry into a room in the third story. He told me the servant girl would come and sleep with me, and then he locked the door, and took out the key and went down. After a little time he came back and locked the door inside; then he took me and undressed me and put me on the bed; and then he undressed himself, and came to bed to me.

(Here the witness burst into tears, and was unable to proceed; but being told it was absolutely necessary she should tell what followed) she said, He used force—he did what he would, and hurt me very much, so much that I could hardly get home the next morning. After he had done, he fell asleep, and I got up and sat upon some wood till I could see so as to find the door.

Croucher was found guilty of rape and sentenced to the state prison for life. Afterward he was pardoned by newly elected Governor Clinton to relieve him "of the embarrassment of too much regulation". The condition of his pardon was that he would leave the county, however by 1803, he'd made his way to Virginia and had according to a local newspaper, "become a man of considerable standing in society."

However that was short lived because in July, 1803, he stole a "a great number of cases and packages of dry goods, consigned to William Matthews, besides a considerable amount in money." According to the book, Duel with the Devil, the author found that Croucher while living in England tried to kill someone after having a psychotic break, thus earning him the moniker of "Mad" Croucher. The book describes that after his debacle in Virginia he returned to London. Supposedly Alexander Hamilton's son reported that he was executed for some "heinous crime." Was Richard Croucher the real murderer of Elma Sands, or did the Rings unknowingly harbor two monsters under their roof, each vying for the same victim?

Well where Elma Sands' body was recovered in 1800

THE MANHATTAN WELL

The well where Elma's body was discovered lay situated in a meadow. By the 1820s the fields were covered by row houses. It was inevitable that one of the structures would be built over the well. As the years passed, the murder of Elma Sands faded as all those who lived during those years, died themselves.

The area became known as SoHo. In 1840, a few doors down from where the well lay hidden, at 119 Spring Street Mrs. Mott "the celebrated female physician of New York", advertised she had just received a large quantity of herbs, roots and essential oils from Europe.

In 1850, a dry goods shop was doing business from 115 Spring Street. They specialized in shawls. On April 18, 1869, The New York Times reported that the Manhattan Well where Elma Sands' body was found in 1800 had been discovered. It was found inside a home at 115 Spring Street. The occupants had been digging a flower garden when they found it. It was covered with large, flat stones.

As time passed, the location of this horrific murder had been forgotten again. By the 1870s, the neighborhood was populated by whorehouses, and not even high-end ones. Half a block from the well Hattie Taylor ran a third-rate brothel, that allowed only the lowliest clients through the front door.

In 1877, a 3-year old boy named Thomas Phillips, who lived at the house was bitten by a dog. The wound healed, but eventually he went into convulsions, and it was determined the animal that bit him had been rabid.

During the Depression the area became known as "Hell's Hundred Acres." Perhaps it was then that the building was renumbered to 129 Spring Street.

In the 1950s, The Manhattan Bistro opened at 129 Spring Street. The owners had heard of the ghost stories, but they never connected it to cold spots in the building or silverware that disappeared. During the early 1900s, the cellar had been filed with sand and dirt, but in 1980 they decided to excavate the area. They found the well, and an increase in the paranormal occurrences to go with it. There were reports of voices and dishes moving by themselves, also a swirling mist around the well. A full body apparition of Elma Sands, weeping next to the well had been sighted.

The Manhattan Bistro closed in 2014. COS clothing store opened in the space, and there are still reports of missing items.