Shouts of a Different Chicken Thief's Wife
Through all of 1879, there were no further revelations concerning the death of Rhodes, even though people now and then wrote to the local newspapers and demanded action. Then one day, about a month into 1880, something unexpected occurred. Mary Jane Wood, wife of James Seaman, shouted angry words on the street where everyone could hear. When someone blurted out a reply, the wheels of justice for Bill Rhodes finally creaked and began to turn. The New York Times printed this:
New York Times, January 28, 1880
"Guinea Town," an allusion to the region in the southern part of Africa's bulge, was a name
sometimes given to free black settlements in the years preceding and following the Civil War.
In this case, it referred to an area near Rosyln. I believe it was used much as the phrase
"China Town" is still applied to Southeast Asian enclaves, and was not intended as a slur.
As had happened earlier with the chicken theft ring, through no investigative skills of their own, the local authorities had been given a lead. In fact, the James Seaman in question was one of the thieves "still being sought" as part of the chicken-theft ring (but apparently not being sought very effectively, as he had remained at large nearby). At the end of 1878, when the news of Rhodes' death broke, the Seaman family had suddenly left New Cassel. At the time, James told the neighbors he was moving because Mary Jane had "run off with a long-haired Indian." Although that story may have sounded plausible to him, it did not convince the neighbors. Now they understood; James had feared being arrested for the murder of the fisherman.
Seaman was questioned on and off over the next few weeks. In his second interview, he offered a near-confession. He went on to almost-confess repeatedly, and the facts which he admitted kept changing. He had been home the entire night of December 16-17, 1878 (his grown daughter and his wife denied this assertion). No, he had not stayed home, he had gone out for a walk with William Weeks (an Irish-American who since had been imprisoned, having confessed to a number of burglaries). Neither man had gone to Hicksville. Well, actually, Weeks had, but he had gone to Hicksville alone, while Seaman waited in the cold, sitting on a certain fence (the investigation showed that the fence he identified was in fact too pointed to sit on). No, Seaman made a mistake; he had sat on a different fence. Seaman had not seen the peddler's wagon that night. Well, Seaman had seen the wagon, but he had not seen Rhodes. Actually, Seaman had been with Weeks after all. Weeks had threatened Seaman and his family, so he was with Weeks. And he had seen Rhodes, too, whom Weeks hit with a club, but without killing him. Etc.,etc.
Sing Sing Prison Admission Register for William P. Weeks, September 1869
A man of many convictions, Weeks served time in several prisons in New York State; this entry,
dating from almost a decade before the killing of Rhodes, records his second arrival at Sing Sing.
When Bill Weeks was interrogated in prison, he denied having seen Seaman for some time before the incident, or having seen him at all on the night in question.
Mary Jane Wood stood her ground. She said that Weeks had been in her home that night, and he had told her that he needed money. Weeks and James had left for a while, and they had returned later with both money and liquor. Weeks then remained in the Seaman home for five days, during which he hid whenever someone came to the door.
Evaluating all that had been said, constables questioned a number of possible witnesses and informants, some of whom shed more light on the crime. Particularly damning was the recovery of the missing overcoat. After killing Rhodes, Weeks hid the victim's coat on a farm near the murder site. He retrieved it several days afterwards. When he later volunteered a confession to burglaries, and was jailed in Riverhead, he gave the coat to a prisoner who was about to be released. The true purpose of his generosity was to deflect suspicion from himself, should the garment ever be recognized as having once belonged to Rhodes. Weeks' confessing to those burglaries had been a senseless attempt to deceive. For some reason, he had concluded that his going to prison for the earlier burglaries would remove him from suspicion in the Rhodes murder.
New York Herald, February 12, 1880
The Kelsey tar and feathering case?????
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