Loading summary
Transcript229 lines
- [00:00]
A
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states.
- [00:23]
B
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about how much I loved the IT movies, the most recent ones, and.
- [00:29]
C
How genuinely terrified I was, especially of the first one. And that's not easy with me anymore. I don't get scared of horror movies easily, but I loved every single goosebump.
- [00:40]
B
I got from those films.
- [00:41]
C
And so I am so, so excited.
- [00:44]
B
To announce HBO Max's original series welcome to Derry, a whole series that explores the origins of Pennywise, set in the 60s, 27 years before the Losers Club was formed. I love no nothing more than a chilling backstory to my favorite horror characters. So I've been waiting on bated breath.
- [01:04]
C
For this series to come out and.
- [01:06]
B
They have a companion podcast with hosts Mark Bernardin and Princess Weeks. Mark is a TV and comic book.
- [01:12]
C
Writer, podcaster, professional nerd, his words, not mine, and journalist. Princess is a pop culture critic and horror movie lover.
- [01:20]
B
Like me, I'm over the moon.
- [01:21]
C
I get to watch the series, then.
- [01:23]
B
Listen to cool spooky people unpack every single detail on every episode. You will hear from the creators themselves, Andy and Barbara Muschietti, as well as cast members.
- [01:33]
C
This is exactly what I want for Halloween.
- [01:36]
B
New episodes drop every week. After every episode airs on HBO. Max, stream new episodes of HBO's It. Welcome to Derry Sundays on HBO Max and listen to the it. Welcome to Derry Official podcast. Wherever you get your spooky podcasts. Hello and welcome. Welcome to My Victorian Nightmare. I'm your host, Genevieve Manion, and I'm here to talk about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events.
- [02:12]
C
From the Victorian era.
- [02:14]
B
Because to me, there's just something especially.
- [02:17]
C
Intriguing, creepy, and oddly comforting about horror.
- [02:22]
B
And mayhem from the 19th century. So listener discretion is advised. Hello friends and welcome to this, my 67th episode. I hope that you had a perfectly lovely Halloween. I had all of my witches and a few Muggles over for a Samhain cocktail party. I was gonna do a dinner, but I ended up inviting too many people for that. So I made tiny pumpkin pies. I made a four foot long Fanc cheese board. I'm putting all this on Instagram, by the way. We had a few wine glasses set up for our ancestors tied with flowers. We had a few tears and so.
- [03:05]
C
Much laughter that my stomach still hurts. Can you get a hernia from laughing too hard? Oh my God, I just googled that.
- [03:15]
B
And apparently you can be safe out there people.
- [03:18]
C
I'll try to keep my jokes extra lame.
- [03:20]
B
I don't want to hurt anyone.
- [03:21]
C
Let us have a little Haunted Housekeeping.
- [03:24]
B
Which we shall race through because it's going to be a great show.
- [03:28]
C
It's a mess. Yes, and packed with fun creepy little.
- [03:31]
B
Facts to share at Thanksgiving dinner this year. Thank you for rating the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Thank you for your comments. Thank you to those of you who have joined the fan coven, who receive the show ad free a day early, who also receive witchy content and cold blooded Victorian true crime extras every single week. You too can join by going to myvictorianightmare.com oh, quick question. Firstly, thank you for all of your spooky podcast suggestions that you've left me on previous episodes. But I have a new request. Can you name for me some people in history and they don't have to be from the Victorian era who were fantastic weirdos, eccentrics, creeps, people who lived.
- [04:20]
C
Fascinating lives and extra points if there.
- [04:22]
B
Was a darkness to them. I'll let you interpret that however you wish.
- [04:27]
C
I'm cooking up something else and these names will be very helpful.
- [04:33]
B
Thank you in advance. Okay, for you today, dear listener, I.
- [04:39]
C
Have ghosts throwing potato chips.
- [04:41]
B
I have female poison, serial killers, the.
- [04:45]
C
Body of a murderer on display for.
- [04:47]
B
The general public, a horrible uxoricide, a.
- [04:50]
C
Naked woman in a prison attempting to quote unquote, dash her brains out, a.
- [04:56]
B
Life of romance and suffering and fancy ladies only gambling parlors. No boys allowed. All this and much, much more courtesy of the Illustrated Police News, Law Courts.
- [05:09]
C
And Record, our favorite inexcusably inaccurate, bloody fabulously illustrated publication from the 1800s.
- [05:19]
B
But first, before we get to our With Their Own Eyes segment where I share with you the personal haunting accounts of petrified Victorians, I need to share with you an email that I got.
- [05:31]
C
From a listener because it sent sh up and down my shrimp shaped spine.
- [05:39]
B
I have terrible posture.
- [05:40]
C
This is from Diane, all the way.
- [05:43]
B
From the great nation of Australia.
- [05:45]
C
She writes, in episode 51 you made an offhanded quip wondering if future ghosts of now living people will be looking at mobile phones instead of at the living as you quite often describe in your program. Well, I can tell you, according to my husband, that is exactly what he saw. My husband Ross was at the time.
- [06:09]
B
Working as A cleaner at a secondary.
- [06:11]
C
College in Brackett's high school. Thank you very much for that clarification.
- [06:15]
B
In a small county town, the school had about 350 students. He started work early at 5am and would arrive around 4:45am and wait for his crew, all ladies, to ensure they arrived safely to start their shifts. While he was waiting, one morning he he saw a person, which he thought was a teenage girl, walking through the car park and towards his car. She had on a coat with a hood with fur around the brim. The girl was looking down at the mobile phone. Ross clearly saw the glow of the phone, but not her face. He thought it was all a bit strange and wondered if the girl was okay or needed help. So he alighted from his car. When the girl drew near and asked her if she was okay, she did not look up or speak and just glided seamlessly around him, his words in brackets, without breaking stride or stepping around him, and passed within an arm's length of him. He said he felt eerie. He then realized that even though she was walking on loose gravel of the car park, there were no footfalls. It was silent, too silent. No sound at all. He watched as she went down towards the entrance of the car park and at the same time one of his workers pulled up and would have passed the girl and he asked if he had seen her. She swore she saw no one and that no one had passed her because there was only one way in and out. When Ross said what he saw, she relayed the story of how a friend a few years before, a student of the school, was struck by a vehicle and killed while walking through the school, using it as a shortcut home. She was on her phone texting her mother to say where she was, but never made it home. The funeral was held at the school. Oh, Ross was so freaked out by this. He rang me.
- [08:13]
C
He's a big bloke who doesn't scare easily, but this time he was. So I guess that's the answer to my question. Phone ghosts are already here. Oh, what a sad story that is. Goodness and terrifying. Thank you for that, Diane.
- [08:32]
B
Asking for help is never easy, but it's especially difficult when your mental health isn't in a good place.
- [08:39]
C
I've been there myself a number of.
- [08:41]
B
Times and I still shudder to think of my therapist hunting days before rula.com existed, working up all that courage, literally shaking, making the call, just to be told they're not taking new patients. Just to be told I can't possibly afford them, that they don't take health insurance at all. But those days are behind us thanks to Rula. Rula is a provider group that pairs you with a therapist or psychiatrist. And not just any therapist or psychiatrist, but one that matches your specific needs. They pair you based on your goals, your preferences and background to ensure that you receive a curated list of licensed in network mental health care providers aligned with what you actually need. They partner with over 100 insurance plans so you won't be left with any more fully out of pocket options. Rula has no wait lists, no back.
- [09:31]
C
And forths, no receptionists placing you on.
- [09:34]
B
Hold for 30 minutes to cry and sweat, waiting to hear if the doctor will see you at all. Many appointments Appointments can be made as soon as tomorrow and once you find the therapist of your dreams, Rula is gonna stick with you. They're gonna check in to make sure that your care is helping you to move forward at your pace. Go to rula.com Victorian to get started today. That's R U-L-.com Victorian for quality therapy that is covered by insurance and now we shall have our first segment with.
- [10:07]
C
Their own.
- [10:11]
B
Share with you a Victorian Haunting Story before we get to a.
- [10:15]
C
Charming seance room segment, then the mayhem, guts and dead bodies on display. This article is called Virginian Ghosts and.
- [10:26]
B
It reads an account was published about three years ago of mysterious disturbances at the house of Reverend C.G. thrasher at Buchanan, Virginia. The commander commencement of these was the extraction from Mr. Thrasher's corn crib, while the door was securely fastened, a sack of corn which was found poured on the ground. Then, night after night the goblin came, performed its fantastic tricks, open windows barred on the inside and doors locked and guarded, scattered furniture in the utensils of the culinary department hither and thither, and went away unperceived, despite the fact that each night the house was guarded inside and around by vigilant neighbors armed to the teeth and eager to capture or detect the bold hobgoblin who has time and again passed through their ranks unseen. It would turn the beds inside out the house topsy turvy, throw trash and chips about the house, up, set barrels of apples in the garret, etc. One morning, while the family and guests were sitting in the parlor, chips flew.
- [11:37]
C
About in a mysterious manner and no.
- [11:40]
B
One could be detected in throwing them.
- [11:43]
C
Notwithstanding the most vigilant investigation, the cause of these disturbances were never discovered and Mr. Thrasher finally had to move away. End quote. Not the chips. I was wondering if in 1874 we may have been calling like French fries chips like the Brits do. So I looked this up, and I'm about to take us on a wild tangent.
- [12:09]
B
Brace yourself.
- [12:10]
C
When did Americans start calling potato chips potato chips?
- [12:14]
B
1853. The term gained popularity after the invention of saratoga chips in 1853. Served in Saratoga Springs, New York. They originated at a restaurant called Moon's Lake House by chef George Crumb, or possibly his sister, Catherine Wicks. That is unclear.
- [12:33]
C
As the legend goes, Cornelius Vanderbilt was visiting the restaurant and was so upset.
- [12:39]
B
With the fried potatoes that he kept.
- [12:41]
C
Sending them back to the kitchen to make them crispier. The chef or his sister sliced them ridiculously thin, deep fried them and salted them. And Cornelius was simply delighted. He returned nothing but a chef's kiss. And so the potato chip was born. I checked to see if that restaurant is still there, and goodness, it isn't, and here's why. First, it burned down in 1893, but.
- [13:07]
B
It was rebuilt in 1907.
- [13:09]
C
It burned down again, but was rebuilt again in 1926. It burned down again in the 30s. It was rebuilt, bought, and turned into another restaurant. And everything seemed fine well into 1983. When it burned down again. A house was built on the site. And such is the history of the birthplace of the American potato chip. I did, of course, try to find where that haunted corn crib would have.
- [13:37]
B
Been located, but the full first name.
- [13:39]
C
Of the owner wasn't given, and I.
- [13:41]
B
Couldn'T find a reverend of that last name in the area at that time. I checked the census.
- [13:46]
C
I try so hard to find these haunted corn cribs for you guys, but sometimes I come up with nothing but.
- [13:51]
B
Crumbs, and my heart breaks. I'm as upset as you are. Okay, now, won't you follow me into the seance room where we discuss the goings on in the spiritualist society of the 1800s? We have another deposition of a Mr.
- [14:08]
C
J. Davis becoming a believer in the workings of spiritualism. And I love this one. It's got a bit of a cartoonish element to.
- [14:19]
B
Comes to us from the Spiritualist newspaper. December 17, 1869. And it reads, Mr. J. Davis said that he was an unlettered man, that he once thoroughly disliked spiritualism, though his prejudices were overruled by a friend who induced him to go and see the.
- [14:38]
C
Jugglery at the house of Mr. Blackwell in Bunhill Row.
- [14:43]
B
Many of the persons present on that occasion, he saw among the listeners before him. He saw the table moving about and said with a laugh, why, anybody can do that. He said to his friend, let's put our hands on this table and see.
- [14:58]
C
Whether it will move for us.
- [15:00]
B
It was a heavy four legged table with coffee cups upon it, and directly their four hands touched it and it began to move. He turned red and said to his friend, you did that. No, I didn't, said the friend, you did it.
- [15:16]
C
And they began to quarrel.
- [15:18]
B
He said, well, let's try again and you be honest this time.
- [15:22]
C
I was before, said the friend. No, you wasn't, was the answer, and.
- [15:28]
B
The quarrel was resumed. However, they tried again and not only did the table move, but another small table with nobody near it quietly walked by itself in three strides several feet along the floor up to Mr. Davis. He jumped up and laid hold of the table which he examined for strings and wires, but could find nothing. He did not follow up the subject.
- [15:55]
C
For some months afterwards, but he was very much, much perplexed. I see that little table in my mind in like an old black and white cartoon, tiptoeing up to the guys. Man, that's equally silly as creepy to me. Incidentally, a common trick that fraudulent mediums.
- [16:19]
B
Would use to make tables move apart.
- [16:21]
C
From hooks and wires like these guys were looking for, was to slip two knives into their shirt at the wrist. And when they would place their hands on the table, the medium would slip the knives under the tabletop and use them to lift it with their hands still firmly laid upon it. How a little table moseyed over to these guys all by itself I couldn't tell you, though perhaps a spirit was feeling particularly sneaky. Okay, our first article is cold blooded and considerably lacking in some important details, but I will still dive in regardless.
- [16:59]
B
This article is called A Woman Poisons Her Husband's Food in Stark County, Indiana. And it reads, one day last summer a farmer's wife in Stark County, Indiana sent out her husband in the field, his dinner in a basket. Soon after eating, he fell sick and came to the house bringing the basket with him. As soon as he arrived, he was seized with a convulsion which terminated in death. His wife paid no attention to him until after she had secured the basket and its contents. The man who took the basket out into the field was afterward found to be the guilty wife's paramour. The pair were arrested for the murder of the husband and their trial is now in progress at Knox, the county seat of Stark County.
- [17:48]
C
Okay, this is horrifying, but did you sense some important information lacking there? No names. I searched up and down 1872 for.
- [18:00]
B
A husband poisoning, death arrest Trial and consent.
- [18:04]
C
Considering how many husband poisonings there were in this time, I found it ironic that there were no poisoning deaths in that county at that time of any.
- [18:13]
B
Kind, actually, all year.
- [18:15]
C
So this is a made up story. I noticed the February 15th edition was a little light on shocking stories. So I'm sure a reporter was told to find something so he did in his brain. But I think I know exactly why this story came to that reporter's mind. I want to talk a little about wives poisoning their husbands, specifically in 1872 for a bit.
- [18:42]
B
I have a feeling this article was likely inspired by the very extensively reported cases of two murderesses found guilty of poisoning their husbands and others in 1872.
- [18:56]
C
Mary Ann Cotton and Lydia Sherman, two poisoning serial killers.
- [19:03]
B
Mary Ann Cotton killed at least three of her husbands for their life insurance money. She was convicted and executed for the murder of only her stepson in 1873. But it is believed that she poisoned up to 21 other people, including more husbands and children. In the same year, 1872, Lydia Sherman.
- [19:26]
C
Was convicted of poisoning three of her.
- [19:29]
B
Husbands and eight children, six of whom were her own children. I covered her in a fan coven extra. She was convicted in 1872, escaped prison.
- [19:42]
C
In 1877, but was recaptured and died in prison.
- [19:46]
B
The most popular poisons used in the 1800s were arsenic, cyanide and strychnine.
- [19:52]
C
Arsenic, otherwise known in the 1800s as.
- [19:56]
B
The King of poisons, was the most common of these. Especially in the early 1800s, it was virtually undetectable. At that time, it was readily available as rat poison in household products and.
- [20:09]
C
Even in cosmetics, medicinal tonics. There was one called Fowler's Solution, full of arsenic. When given in small doses over time.
- [20:18]
B
The symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pain, could be, and often were mistaken for cholera, dysentery or other common diseases of the era. Arsenic's status as an undetectable poison ended with the development of the Marsh test in 1836. This forensic procedure made it possible to accurately detect minute amounts of arsenic in human remains, leading to convictions and causing its popularity among murderers to decline. However, these tests were expensive and only.
- [20:54]
C
Administered if there was a presumption of murder.
- [20:57]
B
But again, the symptoms presented with arsenic poisoning looked like symptoms of common illnesses of the day.
- [21:04]
C
So you'd have to be pretty sloppy or have folks in your family or community willing to credibly accuse you of.
- [21:10]
B
Murder to have this test done at all.
- [21:12]
C
I may do a whole episode on female poisoners.
- [21:16]
B
I'm gonna jot that down. Okay.
- [21:19]
C
This next one is something and it is not fabricated.
- [21:23]
B
It is called a murderer's body on exhibition. And it reads the body of the murderer Wilson says the Hartford Times was taken to Providence after he was hung and deposited in the tomb of an undertaker of that place. The coffin was made air tight and the face covered by a head heavy glass plate.
- [21:44]
C
Strange to say, many people have asked.
- [21:47]
B
For or obtained permission to look at the remains, which are yet perfectly natural. This spring the body will be buried in the lot owned by Mrs. Egerton.
- [21:58]
C
Whose husband, Jim Egerton was a pal of Wilson's. End quote.
- [22:03]
B
Okay.
- [22:04]
C
No thanks to the Illustrated Police News yet again not providing important details like for first names, they name the killer only as Wilson. I was able to track down a.
- [22:13]
B
Man whose name was Wilson Taylor, but who was also perhaps mistakenly named Taylor Wilson in a few other sources.
- [22:21]
C
It's actually murky which was the real name. But this man was hanged for murder.
- [22:27]
B
And the detail I found about his execution is chilling. One source says Taylor Wilson, executed in Charleston on April 5, 18, 1872, was slowly strangled for approximately five minutes until he managed to free one of his.
- [22:45]
C
Hands and raise himself up by the rope.
- [22:47]
B
The sheriff then stepped forward and held Wilson down until he was too weak to raise himself again and was compelled to endure a slow death. God almighty. Now, this was in North Carolina, where.
- [23:05]
C
There is a providence. The article mentioned the body being taken.
- [23:08]
B
To Providence after the execution, but it is not close.
- [23:12]
C
It's about five hours by car to Charleston. So I imagine that would be a.
- [23:16]
B
Few days trip by horse.
- [23:18]
C
Maybe the body was transported by train.
- [23:20]
B
So it's a little tough to say.
- [23:21]
C
If this was definitely the man in that article that folks wanted to take a good look at.
- [23:27]
B
Heavens.
- [23:28]
C
Okay, let's have an article where the prisoner actually escapes. This one is called A prisoner leaps from a courtroom window in Kansas City and escapes. And it reads, the other afternoon in.
- [23:41]
B
Kansas City, Deputy Marshall Agnew brought John Weaver, charged with grand larceny into the grand jury room adjoining the rooms of the criminal court in Kansas City. While standing there, the prisoner suddenly broke from the officer's grasp, rushed toward the open window on the north side of.
- [23:59]
C
The building and leapt to the ground a distance of about 20ft. He then ran rapidly levyward.
- [24:06]
B
Wow.
- [24:07]
C
He then ran rapidly levy word. And made his escape. End quote. I don't think they got him, guys. If they did, it didn't make the papers. However, five months later, I see a John Weaver getting arrested for destroying private.
- [24:23]
B
Property in that very city.
- [24:25]
C
So maybe they did get him eventually on another charge. Or Kansas City just had an influx of ungovernable John weaver Beavers in 1872. Okay, let's have a horrible uxoricide. I had never heard that term before. That is the specific term for killing a wife.
- [24:44]
B
This article is called Horrible Uxorcide. A Kentuckian cuts his wife's throat from ear to ear. And it reads, one of the most horrible, brutal and inhuman murders ever recorded was perpetrated upon the person of Mrs. Mary McCracken Stow on yesterday morning by her husband, Leonard Stow. Sitting in her room at her work. At 11 o' clock, her husband came into the room and demanded of her a small amount of money, which she refused to give. This incensed him, and some words followed between the two. When he walked up to her and said, are you ready to die? If not, you had better get ready, for you have a darn short time to live. With this he drew out his pocket knife and made at her with the fury of a demon. No one was in the room at the time except Mrs. Stow's small children and a servant woman. Becoming frightened, the servant rushed to the door and shouted at the top of her voice, murder.
- [25:48]
C
Murder.
- [25:49]
B
This brought some of the neighbors to the scene. Approaching, they saw Stow walking deliberately away as if nothing had occurred inside the house. The woman was lying upon the floor, weltering in blood. Her throat had been cut from ear to ear, her windpipe severed, A fearful gash in the face. And a terrible wound in the breast and bowels. Thirteen other wounds in different parts of the body. And one of her fingers completely, completely off. Oh. A physician came directly and undertook to stop the flow of blood, but in vain. The blow in the bowels went to the hollow, the entrails dropping out. And in 20 minutes after the deed, her life blood had ebbed away. And the spirit of the poor, unfortunate victim of this terrible tragedy had passed forever from the scene of all earthly sorrow. Immediately after it became known that the murder had been committed, Stow was arrested by the sheriff and placed in jail. He took the matter of arrest coolly, said that he knew he had done wrong. But no man knew what had been his domestic afflictions and his late troubles. And added to the officer, look in my trunk and you will find there.
- [27:11]
C
The reason for all of this.
- [27:13]
B
Arrived at the jail, he requested the jailer to make a fire in his cell and put in the room for.
- [27:19]
C
Him a good bed and make him comfortable.
- [27:22]
B
He manifested no Regret. And when questioned about the murder, was quiet and seemed little inclined to converse. Upon the streets which much excitement prevailed. The knots of men were seen here and there talking vehemently and now and then loud suggestions that the murderer be taken from the jail and forthwith hung. But up to the time of writing.
- [27:45]
C
This, we are glad to state no.
- [27:47]
B
Such proceedings have been enacted, and the law will doubtless be allowed to take its course. It is a fearful, awful crime, and swift punishment under the law will follow its perpetration.
- [28:00]
A
Ugh.
- [28:00]
C
This kind of story just makes me sick. I did a lot of digging into.
- [28:05]
B
The papers to find out the aftermath of all this.
- [28:08]
C
Unfortunately, this monster was not able to stand trial because he was able to kill himself. He failed twice trying to kill himself, but then he succeeded on the third.
- [28:19]
B
His first attempt was done by hanging.
- [28:22]
C
Himself with a rope that he made out of strips of his shirt in his cell.
- [28:26]
B
The second attempt was by whittling his glasses into a sharp end. He stabbed himself in the thigh, but he missed the artery and screamed out.
- [28:35]
C
He was in a lot of pain, but they got to him fast enough.
- [28:38]
B
To stop the bleeding. His third attempt was another hanging. He used a towel and two pocket handkerchiefs. He was placed in irons to prevent him from moving around his cell. But he had slipped out of them. He had left a suicide note addressed to his children, saying that he had brought enough shame and sorrow upon them and didn't want to public execution to bring more onto them. He offered no remorse for what he did to his wife. Those poor, poor children. His poor wife. Oh, what a tragedy.
- [29:14]
C
Okay, let's have a bit of an oh my God article to make us feel better. It starts tame, no problems here, then slowly falls off a cliff into bone chilling despair and horror. It is called an inconsiderate parent, and it reads.
- [29:34]
B
A few days ago, a person who farms for a living some distance from Memphis rode into town in a spring wagon, bringing with him a little son. After figuring around for an hour or two doing worldly business, he pulled up in front of a grocery in the suburbs and went into in to refresh and comfort himself. Leaving the boy to take care of the horses. The man met some companions indoors with whom he set about becoming conveal. Conviv.
- [30:01]
C
Convivial. Convivial.
- [30:03]
B
As is the custom of those who congregate in the suburban groceries. Time sped on and the boy in the wagon became numbed with the cold and fell into a sort of stupor. The lines dropped from his fingers and the horses walked off when it was time to disperse from the grocery, the excellent farmer and feeling parent could find neither wagon nor boy. He spent the whole evening looking for them in the city and was going home in a half crazed state when he met his friend riding in for a doctor saying, the boy Tommy was froze to death, the horses had walked home and the stiff child was found still sitting in his seat.
- [30:46]
C
End quote. Oh God. That is chilling imagery. Literally. Oh God.
- [30:53]
B
Simply horrifying. I didn't find any more details here.
- [30:58]
C
It is likely that the father would not have been found guilty of any crime at that time, unlike now.
- [31:04]
B
Interestingly, laws regarding leaving children in vehicles vary greatly from state to state. And in New York, where I live, it is only illegal to leave a child in a car in a dangerous situation for a prolonged period of time.
- [31:19]
C
In other words, if it's hot or cold. The law is very general and they.
- [31:23]
B
Are specifically regarded as child endangerment. But other states have specific hot car laws and you could be found guilty for leaving your child in a hot car. Not just like general child endangered endangerment.
- [31:36]
C
Let's get away from that one. To another one where people are wrangling over the remains of a murderer. This one is called a wrangle over the remains of Botts the murderer. And it reads, new Jersey is a wonderful land. And the latest sensation there is the.
- [31:56]
B
One growing out of the refusal of the residents of Whitehall to allow the remaining remains of Botts the murderer to be interred in the village cemetery, which was one of Botts's last requests. The villagers refused to allow the burial to take place, and the minister of the church declared that no service could be held over the body of the murderer. After a long and excited parley, a compromise was made by which the body was allowed to be interred in a grave that had been opened temporarily. While the regular service on Sunday would partially be conducted as a funeral sermon. This arrangement was agreed to as being the best Bat's friends could do, and the body was carried to the grave and interred without any ceremonies whatsoever.
- [32:39]
C
The church members threatened to remove the.
- [32:41]
B
Body and the friends of Batz are equally determined. The body shall rest where it is now, and it is expected that any attempts to remove it will result in serious trouble as yet. Yet the grave has not been disturbed.
- [32:54]
C
Notwithstanding the threats that have been made. End quote. Goodness. This Botts, which again the Illustrated Police News just can't name folks with their full names, was George Charcoal Botts. He murdered Oliver Pet Halstead.
- [33:10]
B
Pet Halstead was a prominent Civil War profiteer. He was a lobbyist for the arms industry. He was a friend of Mary Tom Todd Lincoln.
- [33:18]
C
George Botts was known as George Charcoal.
- [33:21]
B
Botts because he was a charcoal peddler. Pet Halstead helped a female client of.
- [33:26]
C
His get a divorce so that she could become his mistress. He was a married man with a number of children, but Botts was already in love with this woman. So he shot and killed Pet Halstead after becoming enraged when she moved into.
- [33:40]
B
The bungalow that he purchased for her. So's scandalous.
- [33:44]
C
I love how that article begins. New Jersey is a wonderful land. If I was an old timey News reporter in 1872 writing an article about people having nothing better to do than make a hubbub about not wanting a criminal to be buried in their state, that is literally how I would start the article. Okay, this next one is bonkers. It also has an incredible illustration. This one made the COVID of that week's edition.
- [34:14]
B
It is called Ms. Eva G. Valli. The pretty female prisoner simulates a fit and attempts suicide in the Central police Station, New York City. She is held by six men while the ambulance doctor straps and binds her.
- [34:30]
C
And that is just the headline. Now I'm gonna skip a little bit past the first paragraph because it's a little unclear. Basically this gal and others were in some kind of of swindling racket and she got caught along with one of.
- [34:42]
B
Her fellow swindlers, a gal named Libby.
- [34:45]
C
So after explaining that it picks up with.
- [34:48]
B
The next evening, officers succeeded in arresting Eva G. Valli. She is 28 years old, of genteel.
- [34:56]
C
Appearance and a good conversationalist.
- [34:58]
B
The police say she has been in trouble before. Eva was locked up with Libby while the detectives went to look for the male clothes confederate. Next morning, Eva had or simulated a fit. She began to rave violently and attempted.
- [35:14]
C
To dash her brains out against the.
- [35:16]
B
Walls of the prison. This did not satisfy her and she climbed up the window grating and tried to cut the arteries of both arms by breaking the window and rubbing her.
- [35:27]
C
Wrists against the broken glass.
- [35:30]
B
Libby, meanwhile, screamed lustily Lester. And when help arrived, Eva was bleeding freely. She was entirely nude and it required six men to hold her while the ambulance doctor strapped and bound her. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital. An officer of the detective force visited the late residents of Libby and Eva and on overhauling the trunks, pillowcases and wardrobes recovered over a thousand dollars worth of silks together with a quantity of pawn tickets and empty immense outfit of personal clothing, including several cunning disguises. Over 40 complaints are now registered against the Swindlers. It is estimated that they have swindled tradesmen out of $30,000 in less than six months.
- [36:18]
C
Okay, guys. I took my sleuthing skills to the.
- [36:21]
B
Next level to find out what happened to Ms. Eva G. Valli. Did she survive? Did she end up in prison? I started searching and came up with nothing after this article. How could that be?
- [36:35]
C
Like this was a cover story. This couldn't have been the end of.
- [36:38]
B
The public interest in this story.
- [36:40]
C
Not to mention court records, trial coverage.
- [36:42]
B
Then it occurred to me. Ah yes.
- [36:44]
C
The Illustrated Police News didn't just make things up. From time to time, they often got names entirely incorrect when they did include them.
- [36:52]
B
With my old old newspaper scalpel and stethoscope, I was able to determine that.
- [36:57]
C
That wasn't in fact her name.
- [36:59]
B
It was Eva S. Valli. That name was in a whole bunch of other articles about the same situation. But then I was getting a dead end on that name too.
- [37:08]
C
So I figured out her accomplice's last name, which was not named in many of those articles.
- [37:14]
B
In a New York Times article, I found Libby Davis mentioned.
- [37:18]
C
So by searching and searching through articles wherein men. Ms. Eva's name changed three more times to Madame St. Valerie Anastasia Valerie.
- [37:27]
B
Then finally Eustace Stellario.
- [37:30]
C
I found that she did survive. They were both sentenced to four years.
- [37:35]
B
In prison in Sing Sing.
- [37:37]
C
I wonder if any of those names were actually her real name. They were obviously aliases.
- [37:43]
B
I really impressed myself when I got to that final article with the outcome.
- [37:46]
C
It felt like I was fighting the final final boss in a video game.
- [37:49]
B
I got her.
- [37:50]
C
Okay, this next one is rather heartbreaking.
- [37:54]
B
It is a beautifully written tragedy of.
- [37:57]
C
A Victorian woman and her most Victorian era hardships.
- [38:02]
B
The language is so vivid and black. It is called simply a sad story. A life of romance and suffering. And it reads. Many years ago, a picturesque spot on the Ridge road about six miles northwest of Lockport, New York was the location of a handsome and comfortable homestead. The farm in rich acres sloped away to the northward and the buildings were shaded by stately trees of oak and maple. The family which resided there was respected alike for its wealth and worth. And from from that parental roof went forth to homes of their own, a goodly number of lovely daughters and noble sons. One of these, more ambitious than the rest, though, to better his already prosperous fortune by accepting the golden promises California at that time so temptingly held forth. While there he met and loved a young girl who was filling the honorable position of nursemaid in a rich man's family. She was uneducated and of humble birth, but amiable and remarkably beautiful. He placed her in a boarding school, where she remained for several years until her education was completed and he married her. He was then a very wealthy man and he decided to return with his young wife to his native state. At San Francisco they took passage in a sailing vessel for New York, which, when 200 hundred miles off the latter port, sprung a leak and rapidly filled with water. When the captain saw that his vessel was sinking, he let down the boats and into them lowered the female passengers. When this poor young wife learned that her husband was not going, she implored them to allow her to stay and die with him. But the captain was inexorable and she was torn from his arms and lowered. Lowered into the boat which hurriedly made for land. What an agonizing farewell. That wife looked back and saw that loved husband for the last time, clinging to the mast of the vessel as it sunk into the pitiless sea. Oh. The girl reached the home of her husband's parents in safety, and a few months after her arrival became the mother of a bright little boy. Boy. A few years later she visited a southern state, taking her child with her from that fatal tour. She returned childless, and the remains of her darling boy lay in a southern grave. By her child's death, the last tie which bound her to her husband's kindred was broken, and she came back to Lockport, grieving over the manifold sorrows which had befallen her in a state stranger state. Weary of her lonely life, she at last listened to the protestations of an ardent suitor and married him. And to him she entrusted her property, which was considerable, although 80,000 in gold went down with that ill fated vessel. The second husband proved to be a gambler and worse, and after squandering the larger portion of her wealth, he fled with the remainder, leaving leaving her with two children, penniless and homeless. And now in an obscure dwelling a few miles outside of the city, this sad wreck of a once lovely and beloved woman subsists by the charity of a single friend. Oh, so terrible. But there are no names. We've learned with how that means hopefully this was not a true story. I just thought it was such a beautifully tragic one sometimes.
- [41:44]
C
I don't care if the stories are true or not. Despite a lot of the garbage in these papers, some are just black gems.
- [41:52]
B
That make my weepy Goth heart flutter. Lines like the wife looked back and saw that loved husband for the last time, clinging to the mass of the vessel as it sunk into the pitiless sea. This is a precious art to me. I do hope it wasn't true though.
- [42:13]
C
Okay, our final article is another deliciously written one and I think it will make you smile. It is called the she Gamblers of San Francisco and it reads, according to.
- [42:26]
B
The California papers, there's a woman's gambling house in San Francisco, the splendor of which is equal to that of the palaces of Arabian stories. Turkish carpets, in which the foot sinks to the ankle at every step, cover the floors. The ceilings are frescoed after the old masters and huge mirrors line the entire length of the walls. The sofas and chairs are of rosewood, satin covered, and the gambling tables are of mother of pearl. Here many married women of the city congregate and stake their husband's money with a free hand. Sounds like a lovely environment.
- [43:08]
C
Just a few details about female only.
- [43:11]
B
Gambling houses in the 1800s. These spaces appeared most visibly in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and London in the 1800s. 1860s to 1890s, so that San Francisco one was potentially the only one there, certainly the only fancy one there. They were often shielded from visibility, either literally like in upper floors, back rooms, or socially framed as parlors, reading rooms.
- [43:38]
C
Tea rooms or private club rooms to deter police scrutiny. They began emerging because urban women were gaining a little more ability to live without the constant oversight of men.
- [43:50]
B
Governesses, widows, actresses, shop girls, dancers, sex workers would often frequent these locations.
- [43:58]
C
Not necessarily only married women looking to spend their husband's money.
- [44:02]
B
As the article suggested.
- [44:05]
C
These were women wanting to make their own money.
- [44:07]
B
But some middle and upper class ladies would go to the ladies only clubs that offered gambling and no men were.
- [44:14]
C
Allowed in New York City.
- [44:16]
B
They were especially discreet places with velvet curtains full of society gossip. But they all kept their behavior hush hush.
- [44:25]
C
This was not like a Wild west vibe.
- [44:28]
B
Just like men kept their secret gentlemen's clubs and all agreed among themselves not to spread the news about who was there. Ladies did the same in regard to their gambling clubs. Male gambling establishments mostly included roulette dens and faro tables. But the ladies played different games. Primarily they played eckart, blackjack, Boston whist.
- [44:49]
C
Napoleon, occasionally faro, and a game called loo, which is funny to me because that's what they call bathrooms in England. I don't think I would have been allowed at the gambling tables made of.
- [45:03]
B
Mother of pearl with chairs of rosewood and and satin.
- [45:07]
C
You'd find me with the backroom girls in a seedy corner of Brooklyn laughing at potty jokes. You still can.
- [45:19]
B
If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to hear more, please rate the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Leave me comments because I love them so much and join the fan coven to direct the support my show. Listen ad free and for even more creepy and witchy content. Until next time, be kind to yourselves and I will see you in your nightmares.