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 prosperous dentist 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. Dr. Burdell resided and practiced dentistry at his townhouse on 31 Bond Street in New York City, one of the most affluent blocks in pre-Civil War New York. This area declined rapidly in the mid-century and only a few traces of the thirty-five Greek Revival homes remain. Burdell, like his neighbors, was very wealthy, although 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.

On the morning of January 31, 1857, Dr. Burdell's servants discovered his body in his office, at 31 Bond Street, covered with blood, brutally stabbed multiple times and strangled. 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 Burdell's murder and imprisoned for trial.