Bag of Bones: The Sensational Grave Robbery of the Merchant Prince of Manhattan by J. North Conway

Author:J. North Conway
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: United States, True Crime, General, 19th Century, History
ISBN: 9780762785131
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2012-05-01T06:34:46+00:00

When the Jefferson Market Police Court convened at 2 p.m. on November 16, Vreeland and Burke sat in the prisoners’ dock. Seated in the first row of the courtroom were two women. One was a tall, gray-haired woman wearing a dark dress, a bonnet, and a shawl. Seated next to her was a younger woman: tall, slim with hazel eyes and dark hair, dressed in a black silk dress and black velvet bonnet. They were Burke’s mother and sister. Burke was described as being about thirty-eight years old, about five-foot-ten or five-foot-eleven in height, well shaped, and “decidedly handsome.” He was bald and had a flaxen-colored mustache.

Vreeland was described as being approximately ten years older. According to the New York Times, “His head was covered with a thick, strong growth of dark hair, plentifully sprinkled with gray. He wore full close-cropped whiskers and mustache of the same color. He looked like a well-to-do business man.”

The courtroom was filled with uniformed police officers and detectives. Police Captain Thomas Byrnes first met with Judge B. T. Morgan in his private chambers where he outlined the evidence against the two men. When the door to Judge Morgan’s chambers opened ten minutes later, Burke and Vreeland were escorted into the chambers under heavy police guard. Court-appointed attorney Joseph Stiner was allowed to accompany the two men into Morgan’s chambers, and again the door to the private chamber was closed. Nearly a half hour later, the door to the chamber opened and Captain Byrnes stepped into the courtroom and beckoned the two women, Burke’s mother and sister, into the judge’s chamber, once again closing the door behind them. Byrnes informed the court that he would be filing a formal complaint against the two men, charging them with being two of the robbers of Stewart’s grave. Byrnes asked the court to hold the two men without bail until then, to allow him to secure additional evidence. The judge granted his request. The two prisoners were escorted from the court, under heavy police guard, out the rear of the courthouse to the Mercer Street Police Station, where they were confined to cells to await a further hearing. Attorney Stiner accompanied Burke’s mother and sister to the station, where Stiner was allowed to meet privately with his two clients.

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