Emma Cunningham

Emma Cunningham (1816–1887) was a young woman in New York City when she married a widower, George Cunningham in 1835. When he died in 1852 his life insurance policy amounted to $10,000, a tidy sum. As an attractive widow, she met Dr. Harvey Burdell, a prosperousdentist and rented a suite of rooms in his mansion as did other tenants, such as John J. Eckel. It was intimated that Cunningham was sexually intimate with both of these men. Although Burdell was wealthy, his reputation was far from sterling as he was accused of embezzlement, reneging on debts and causing a scandal on his wedding day by demanding money from the bride's father who was enraged and canceled the wedding.cite book
first=Edward W.
last=Kappman (ed)
year=1994
title=Great American Trials
edition=
publisher=Visible Ink Press
location=Detroit, MI
pages= 120‐123
id= ISBN 0-8103-9134-1]

On the morning of January 30, 1857, Dr. Burdell's servants discovered his body in his office, located in his mansion, covered with blood, brutally stabbed multiple times and strangled.cite web
year=2007
month=September 19
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/nyregion/19headstones.html
title=A Lurid Tale From 1857 Is Revived in Granite
publisher=The New York Times
accessdate=2007-11-21 ] Upon police interrogation, some of the servants testified that they heard angry words between the victim and his assailant the night before. The police determined that Dr. Burdell had been stabbed at least 15 times by an assailant who was left-handed. Since Emma Cunningham was left-handed, she was an immediate suspect and was arrested for Cunningham's murder and imprisoned for trial.cite web
author=Henry Lauren Clinton
year=1897
month=
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gok8AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Celebrated+Trials&ei=7odER4XMLYKq6ALhm_jTDA#PPA22,M1
title=Celebrated Trials
publisher=Harper & Brothers
pages 1–22
accessdate=2007-11-21 ]

Trial

The trial, at its time, was as notorious as the O.J. Simpson trial was in the 1990s and was accompanied by a media circus akin to such trials today.cite web
year=2007
month=November 21
url=http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=15403
title=Green-Wood To Unveil Gravestones Connected With 1857 Murder Case
publisher=The Brooklyn Eagle
accessdate=2007-11-21 ] A reputed 8,000 people tried to cram into the church for the funeral and Cunningham reportedly threw herself dramatically on Burdell's casket.

Once in her prison cell, Cunningham produced a certificate of marriage revealing that she and Dr. Burdell had been married on October 28, 1856, and announced that she was pregnant with Burdell's baby. If these circumstances were true, then the prosecution would have a difficult time coming up with a believable motive for the murder. However, if Cunningham were acquitted she would be entitled to Burdell's $100,000 estate.

There was much testimony from all sides. Cunningham testified that her marriage to Burdell was happy and she denied murdering him. One of Burdell's maids testified to the contrary, that she had called him a bad man who was not fit to live. An old friend of Burdell's testified that shortly before his death Burdell had called Cunningham a horrible woman and said he suspected her of having an intimate relationship with the tenant Eckels. However, others testified that the relationship between Cunningham and Burdell had appeared peaceful and affectionate. As the trial continued, Cunningham arrived in the courtroom with an increasingly swollen abdomen as her pregnancy was advancing. However, the doctor who had been attending Cunningham during her pregnancy in jail told the prosecutor that he thought that Cunningham was sticking pillows in her clothing. During her incarceration, Cunningham had refused to be physically examined, so the doctor was limited to describing her physical symptoms. This was not an unusual refusal during those Victorian times as it was thought immoral for any man other than her husband to physically touch a woman and Victorian morality forbade any prosecutor's order that Cunningham submit to a physical examination.

Burdell's widely known unsavory reputation made accusation against Cunningham difficult for the prosecutor to make credible. On May 9, 1857, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty and Cunningham was free to go.

equalae

However, after the trial the prosecutor remained suspicious and had Cunningham's residence staked out. A nun was discovered bringing a basket with a baby inside to Cunningham's door. Cunningham had paid $1000 to adopt the baby.

Thus caught, Cunningham dropped her claims to having been married to Burdell and to his estate. However, since the prosecutor did not have any medical evidence proving that her pregnancy was faked and further, she had been acquitted of Burdell's murder, legally she could not be tried again. Reportedly the real mother of the baby in the basket rented her baby to the circus of P.T. Barnum for $25 a week for public viewing.

The murder was never solved.

ignificance

In contrast to the trial of Judith Catchpole in 1636 in which an all-female jury was empaneled to inspect her body and determine if she had been pregnant and given birth, Victorian morality prevented such a direct approach. Without proper medical evidence of her condition, there was not a way to prove during the trial that she was not pregnant.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://law.jrank.org/pages/2547/Emma-Cunningham-Trail-1857.html Emma Cunningham Trial: 1857]
* [http://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2007/November/feldman Benjamin Feldman '76 Writes Book on NY Murder Mystery ]
* [http://gothamist.com/2007/09/19/headstones_for.php 150 Year Old Murder Victim And His Suspect Properly Laid to Rest at Green-Wood]