Lewis Suicide Trial Essay

Merriweather Lewis supposedly committed suicide at Grinder Inn when he was going to Washington carrying secret documents. But over the years, much more evidence has surfaced proving that in fact he did not kill himself and was murdered. Everything from the conflicting stories by Pricilla Grinder to the ballistics tests performed, it is clear that this was not in fact suicide and was murder by conspiracy.

In a ballistics test conducted, it was proven that when Lewis was shot he would have died instantly and if he didn’t, he certainly would not have enough strength to cock the second gun and shoot himself a second time. The pistol that he used was nicknamed a “horse pistol” because it was strong enough to put down a horse with one shot through

Pricilla Grinder, wife of the owner of the inn he was staying at, Robert Grinder. Mrs. Grinder was question three times about this incident and each time she had a different story. Perhaps she was covering something up because after he died, Robert Grinder had gotten a great deal of money and Lewis’s corpse had all of his money gone. Plus it was not uncommon for inn keepers in that era to kill their customers and rob them. And Robert Grinder was put on trial for Lewis’s murder but it was dismissed due to lack of evidence. But since then all records of the trial have disappeared.

The messages that Lewis was carrying to Washington were in a code. Since the event the code has been deciphered and it seems there was a code for James Wilkinson but it was eradicated. Wilkinson was interviewed on his involvement with Lewis’s death but he was proven innocent. But Wilkinson was very jealous of Lewis after he was appointed governor.

Other theories regarding Lewis’s death claim that it was a suicide. While there is a few bits of compelling evidence there is copious amounts of evidence proving it was murder by conspiracy. To disprove the suicide theory, in the only examination of Lewis’s body claimed that he was killed by an assassin. And if it was suicide, why did all of his money disappear and Mr. Grinder just happened upon a great deal of money. Because he killed him, that’s