Death Of Merriweather Lewis Essay

THE DEATH OF MERRIWEATHER LEWIS Merriweather Lewis was a national hero. He was governor of the Louisiana Territory, and was renowned by many for exploring the Louisiana Territory with Clark. Lewis was on his way to Washington to deliver possibly classified information, when he stopped at an inn. There were two gunshots heard, and Lewis was found dead, supposedly having committed suicide. But, this was only through the word of Priscilla Grinder, the only known witness of the event. However, there are new clues. A ballistics test and an autopsy report show that it would have been impossible for Merriweather Lewis’ death to have been a suicide, but rather, murder by conspiracy. A ballistics test was conducted, using the same type of “horse pistol” that was used to kill Lewis (Exhibit A: Ballistics Test (video)). This test showed that the “horse pistol” was usually held with two hands, as it was quite heavy. This meant it would have been very difficult to hold the pistol behind the head and then shoot. Then, when the pistol was shot at a dummy, the bullet

But, all of that evidence has been debunked, as the letter from Major Russell claiming Lewis had attempted suicide twice, was later proven to not have been written by Russell himself. However, Lewis was murdered, and by more than one person. The two gunshots indicated by the autopsy report, came from two different directions. This reveals that Lewis was killed by two people. It would have been too heavy for Lewis to hold one horse pistol in each hand, pointing in two different directions, according to Exhibit A: Ballistics Test (video). The possibility of Lewis’ death being suicide was also diminished by the autopsy report (Exhibit B: Autopsy Report). This report showed that Lewis’ two wounds: one on the back of his head and one on his chest, were both fatal. He could not have inflicted both wounds