There has been some talk lately about Mr. Tilden’s buyin’ some fast horses, as a hint that he was still in the race for President, and this reminds me that probably the most interestin’ episode in Mr. Tilden’s career was entirely unconnected with politics, and has been of late entirely forgotten. I allude to his part in the once famous Cunningham-Burdell case.
After Mrs. C. had been tried for the murder of Dr. Burdell and had been proven not exactly innocent, but certainly not legally guilty, that enterprisin’ lady put in her claim for the widow’s third of the very considerable property left by the murdered man.
Of course a great many people said this was a very impudent thing for her to do, but she came mighty near carryin’ the thing through. Probably she would have succeeded had it not been for the peculiar tactics of Samuel J. Tilden, then a risin’ lawyer, to whom the legal heirs and relatives of Dr. Burdell entrusted the disputin’ of the adventuress’s claim.
While the general tone of public opinion was decidedly against her, there was still quite a percentage of people who thought her a persecuted and wronged, as well as bereaved, woman, and, as such, entitled to sympathy and to a share in the doctor’s property. Besides, she really contrived to make out a pretty strong case for herself, a case so strong as to convince many of its truth, a case so strong as to seriously puzzle at first Tilden himself, who was not easily puzzled.
Her own testimony, of course, went for a little, but then there was the testimony of her daughter, Augusta, a good girl, who evidently really believed that her mother was the lawfully wedded wife of Dr. Burdell. This Augusta Cunningham was a trump card, and many who didn’t take any stock at all in the mother placed implicit reliance in the daughter. The other side tried to shake her testimony about her mother’s marriage–tried to confuse her and get her to contradict herself; but to no avail. The girl remembered distinctly every point of detail, even the minutest, about the weddin’, and stuck to every point of her story all the time. She remembered the kind of gloves worn by the parties, the kind of ring used in the ceremony, the side whiskers of the groom, the conversation of the bride, the dress of each party, their behavior and various little incidents connected with the ceremony.
Then there was the minister who married Mrs. Cunningham, the Rev. Uriah Marvin, a man of high character. He remembered distinctly marryin’ the man whose body he afterwards saw in the coffin at Dr. Burdell’s house, to the lady who was shown him as Mrs. Cunningham.
To this fact and to the fact of havin’ married these parties in the parlor of his own residence, in Greenwich street, one evenin’ in the latter part of October, the reverend gentleman positively swore and reiterated his oath.
Besides, there were several parties, who did not know either the minister or the daughter, and who could have no possible interest in the affair, one way or the other, who swore positively that they had seen Mrs. Cunningham and Dr. Burdell together in Greenwich street on that October evenin’. These witnesses were of irreproachable character, and their testimony was all the stronger for bein’ indirect.
Then there were other parties who swore that Dr. Burdell had alluded before ‘em, at different times, to his bein’ married under promise of their keepin’ his secret. Some swore to the doctor and the lady havin’ occupied the same room as man and wife; others even went so far as to describe the doctor’s married life and behavior–how he was sometimes kind to his wife and sometimes the very reverse.
Altogether it was a strong case for the cunnin’ Mrs. Cunningham, and as such Tilden regarded it. He also regarded Mrs. C. as a very smart woman and dangerous antagonist. He never made the mistake of underratin’ his adversary; but he had all along regarded the woman as the real murderess of the man, and although she had escaped justice on this point, he made up his mind that there was “crooked” business in this marriage somewhere, and resolved that the guilty woman should not reap the benefit of her guilt.
He also made up his mind on mature investigation and deliberation that if there was anythin’ “queer” about the marriage, neither the daughter nor the minister, or the people who swore to seein’ the “happy pair” on Greenwich street had anythin’ to do with it.
Finally he formed a theory in his own mind and got the facts into shape to suit it. He found that this theory accounted for all the points sworn to by the daughter and the minister and by the other parties, while it also accounted for certain points which could not be satisfactorily explained on the supposition of a genuine marriage havin’ taken place as sworn to.
This theory of Tilden’s was decidedly sensational–almost dime novel-y–yet it was possible and plausible, and he set his wits to work to make it provable. This theory was that there had been a personation of Burdell, that a bogus Dr. Burdell had been gotten up by Mrs. Cunningham, without the knowledge of the minister or possibly of the daughter or the other parties, and had been palmed off upon ‘em, they believin’ in all good faith that the mock dentist was the real one.
This theory presented not a few difficulties, but if he could only convince the Surrogate that it was true, or more likely to be true than a genuine marriage, it would be a good enough theory for him.
He set to work to get the facts for his theory and found, to his own surprise, that the theory was likely to prove true. There really was a great deal of foundation for it, and unlike some philosophers, Tilden began to believe in his own theory.
Mrs. Cunningham had sworn, among other things, that Dr. Burdell was in her company in New York city the night before the weddin’ night; but, unexpectedly, while lookin’ for somethin’ else, Tilden came across a vital bit of testimony. He found witnesses who were willin’ to swear that they saw and talked with Dr. Burdell at Herkimer, N. Y., the very night before the alleged weddin’, when his alleged widow had sworn he was in New York.
Then by carefully tracin’ the doin’s of the dead man, Tilden tracked him to Brooklyn on the very evenin’ when he was married, accordin’ to Cunningham, and at the very time when Mrs. C. swore he was gettin’ married in Greenwich street.
Here were two alibis. Then Tilden, after a great deal of trouble, found out that, after the date of the alleged weddin’, Burdell had instituted proceedin’s against the woman Cunningham to get her out of the Bond street house as an indecent and unprincipled woman, and had made arrangements with another woman, a friend of Mrs. Jones, his former tenant, to take her place.
This was decidedly opposed to the idea of any marriage business–rather.
Tilden also ascertained flaws in the Cunningham’s party evidence–flaws which went far to upset it. Altogether he made it out a strong case for his theory.
As for the clergyman, as he had never seen the man he married till the day he married him, it was not at all to be wondered at that he should pronounce the dead man shown to him as Dr. Burdell in his coffin to be the man he had married.
But as for the daughter, how could this explanation serve? It didn’t serve with Tilden at all. He was obliged to imagine that the daughter herself, despite of all her seemin’ sincerity, was probably a party to her mother’s deceit, probably, though not necessarily.
At any rate, Tilden felt certain of fraud and personation. So he took eight hours to convince the Surrogate. Talked to the surrogate from six till ten one evenin’ and from ten till two the next mornin’. One would think such an extended talk as this would convince a Surrogate or anybody else of almost anythin’.
Tilden’s summin’ up of his argument in this case was really one of the finest, fairest, fullest arguments ever delivered, and resulted in the Surrogate’s seeing things as Tilden saw ‘em and as Mrs. Cunningham did not wish him to see ‘em. Burdell’s genuine relatives got his money, all but Sammy’s fee, and his bogus widow lost all–honor included.
A widow as a rule, next to a mother-in-law, is the most terrible object in creation to an average man. But in this case a bachelor got the best of a widow.
[Editor’s notes: The Cunningham-Burdell murder trial was one of the most sensational court cases of 19th century America, full of salacious circumstantial evidence, wild characters, conflicting testimony, and sometimes clever, sometimes inept legal maneuvers. Tilden’s role in asserting there was a sham marriage was only one of its fantastic aspects. The fake ceremony was never proven to be true, and in many ways does not make a lot of sense; but Mrs. Cunningham demonstrated on other occasions a talent for elaborate, if not advisable, deception.
The identity of the murderer remains a mystery, but it’s likely that Mrs. Cunningham was involved. She had motive: Dr. Burdell had a known history of bad behavior, manipulation, and (according to Cunningham) encouraged her to have multiple abortions (and may have performed them).
The Surrogate court’s decision was not wholly based on Tilden’s “sham marriage” theory. Mrs. Cunningham, in an effort to get the entire inheritance, faked a pregnancy and tried to pass off a newborn infant as her own. A doctor she recruited for this effort informed on her, and she was caught in this deception. However, because she never had time to use the baby to assert a legal claim, this was not a crime. It was, though, a deciding factor in denying her any share of Burdell’s estate.]
