736 - Silas Soule - Part One

Summary

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The Dollop Episode 736: Silas Soule - Part One

Release Date: June 2, 2026
Hosts: Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds
Podcast: The Dollop (All Things Comedy)

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Episode Overview

In this episode of The Dollop, comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds dive into the early life of Silas Soule (1838–1865), a little-known but significant abolitionist figure from American history. The story unfolds against the backdrop of pre–Civil War America and “Bleeding Kansas," where Silas and his family become deeply entwined in the abolitionist movement. Full of trademark banter, digressions, and sharp wit, the hosts chronicle Silas's transformation from precocious youth to daring activist, exploring communal utopian experiments, the Underground Railroad, and the escalating tensions that led to the Civil War.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Silas Soule and the Soule Family ([03:25])

• Family Origins: Silas was born to Sophia and Amasa Soule in Bath, Massachusetts, tracing their ancestry to Mayflower passenger George Soule—a point of “fancy” prestige (05:01).
• Utopian Commune: The family tried communal living in Maine, aiming "to institute an attractive, efficient and productive system of industry." They shared living space, chores, and property, but, as with many utopian movements, it fizzled (09:25).
  • Gareth: “That’s how every cult starts… it’s always like, ‘we’ll grow our own food and be off grid… also, all your wives are going to get ass by me.’” (09:34)

2. Early Abolitionist Zeal ([12:03])

• Amasa Soule the Abolitionist: After the failed commune, Amasa immersed himself in anti-slavery activism, making the abolitionist paper The Liberator the family's “second Bible.” His uncompromising views made Silas the target of ridicule and bullying (12:24).
  • Dave: “When you're the guy who’s right and you’re loud about it, people can’t take it.” (12:30)
• Impact on Young Silas: Silas leaned on wit and mimicry (often imitating Irish brogues) to escape fights and disarm antagonists. Even as he was marked as an outsider, he learned to adapt and perform. (13:53)

3. Childhood & Daily Life ([15:07])

• Idyllic & Industrious Upbringing: Unlike many contemporaries, the Soule children spent time swimming, playing marbles, and raiding orchards—a contrast drawn with today’s screen-heavy society.
  • Gareth: “At some point, we’re gonna need to get together and throw the phones into the ocean. We cannot—it has to happen.” (15:40)
• Communal Activities: Chores were strictly divided, with women cooking and men working the fields, highlighted in a contemporary quote about their routine (09:56).

4. Abolitionism Intensifies – Bleeding Kansas & Uprisings ([19:54])

• Post–Missouri Compromise Chaos: The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to bloody violence as both pro- and anti-slavery settlers rushed in to sway the future of Kansas. Dave and Gareth reflect on the futility of those compromises:
  • Dave: “They never work...”
  • Gareth: “After the Civil War, those traitors should have just been jailed and killed. That was how it should have been.” (20:55–21:09)
• Move to Kansas: The family, now “zealous evangelists,” head west to help organize anti-slavery resistance (23:14). Silas, at age 15, soon follows, surviving a harrowing river journey (23:51).

5. Underground Railroad Involvement ([30:28])

• Direct Action: The Soule family runs a major “station” for the Underground Railroad, hiding fugitive slaves sometimes for a month at a time despite risk from “border ruffians”—violent pro-slavery Missourians (41:26).
  • Dave explains: "Like normal railroads… a loose confederation of houses, barns, shops… each station owner would direct the escapee to the next safest place northward…” (40:29)
• Abolitionist Commotion: Border ruffians burn houses, kill abolitionists, and destroy newspapers—including one employing Silas’s brother (28:03).

6. Silas Emerges as an Operative ([45:05])

• The Dr. Doy Mission: At age 20, Silas joins a group to liberate Dr. Doy, an imprisoned abolitionist. Chosen for his charisma, Silas charms the jailer in disguise, slips Doy a note, and the group executes an elaborate, theatrical rescue involving fake vigilantes and big hats (45:05–55:22).
  • Gareth (in character) on the plan: “Paging Dr. Doy. Dr. Doy, there’s an obvious point to be made!” (45:28)
  • Dave: “They even moved the plan up an hour, hoping that an 11 pm rescue would allow them to mix in with theater crowds…” (50:19)
• Celebration: The group becomes known as the “Immortal 10”—national folk heroes within abolitionist circles (55:22).

7. John Brown and Failed Jailbreak ([58:58])

• John Brown’s Martyrdom: The group attempts to free John Brown after his failed Harpers Ferry raid, but Brown refuses, believing martyrdom will serve the abolitionist cause more. Silas, ever the performer, impersonates a drunken Irishman, lands himself in jail, and gains free access to the prisoners, but the escape plan is ultimately abandoned at Brown’s own wishes (58:58–61:14).
  • Gareth (channeling Silas): “If I could use this skill to actually do something… Free people just by walking from town to town?!” (64:01)

8. Brief Brush with Walt Whitman ([61:24])

• Silas meets poet Walt Whitman in New England, and they exchange letters. This literary interlude is short but significant, marking Silas’s integration with the cultural leaders of the abolitionist movement (61:24).

9. Westward Expansion—Colorado Gold Rush ([64:49])

• Family Moves Again: Silas reunites with his family in Colorado, just missing the gold rush. The region is a “true frontier… with violence, claim-jumping, and vice.” Their accommodations are squalid and crowded (65:20).
• War Breaks Out: Abraham Lincoln is elected, the southern states secede, and conflict spills across the plains, with Silas seeking a commission in the “Home Guard.” He tries vices (smoking and chewing tobacco) and adapts to rough frontier living (67:41).
  • Dave, dryly: “That's the nightmare teeth scenario. What else could you do that's worse than that?” (68:23)

10. Notable Local Characters ([68:27])

• John Chivington: A Methodist preacher turned saber-rattling abolitionist is introduced—he becomes a major Colorado Union leader after famously brandishing guns on the pulpit (69:14).
  • Dave quotes legend: "'By the grace of God and these two revolvers, I'm going to preach here today.'" (69:14)

11. Ending—Tensions Set for Part Two ([69:53])

• Silas is commissioned as a Union lieutenant, heading to Camp Weld for training among rowdy, trouble-prone troops. As the classic Dollop summation, the hosts reflect on the tragedy of a country split by slavery—a wound never truly closed.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Silicon Valley:
  • Gareth: “Dude, it is absolutely just like the devil’s egg... it just keeps popping out wet gremlins.” (04:07)
• On Social Progress:
  • Dave: “90% of the people in our society right now will be looked upon as the slave owners.” (12:48)
• On Slavery and Compromise:
  • Gareth: “After the Civil War, those traitors should have just been jailed and killed.” (21:09)
• Comic Digression about Leg-Lengthening Surgery:
  • Gareth: “He’s like treating his leg lengthening journey like he’s beating cancer…” (06:42)
• On Life Before Phones:
  • Gareth: “We’re gonna need to get together and throw the phones into the ocean. It has to happen.” (15:40)
• On the Reality of Hat Utility:
  • Dave: “They used their hats to scoop up all the water… hats were magic in Kansas.” (55:06)
• On Pro-Slavery Violence:
  • Dave: “Border ruffians were pro slavery Missourians who would cross into Kansas, intimidating people, committing murders, lynchings, and burning down the homes of anti-slavery families.” (27:49)
• On Martyrdom:
  • Dave recites John Brown’s last words: “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” (28:32)

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Important Timestamps

• [03:25] – Reveal of subject as Silas Soule; the Soule family origins
• [12:03] – Amasa’s shift to full-time abolitionism
• [20:37] – Missouri Compromise explained; Kansas-Nebraska Act and chaos
• [28:03] – Pro-slavery violence in Kansas; John Brown arrives
• [30:28] – The Soules join the Underground Railroad
• [45:05] – The daring Dr. Doy jailbreak mission
• [55:22] – Aftermath: “The Immortal 10”
• [58:58] – John Brown’s refusal to escape; Silas’s jail exploits
• [64:49] – Family departs for Colorado gold fields
• [68:27] – Intro of John Chivington and Civil War looming
• [69:53] – Silas joins the Union Army; end of Part One

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Summary Tone

The episode flows with the Dollop’s trademark style—a blend of detailed research, irreverent humor, present-day social commentary, and frequent character improvisation. The narrative seamlessly connects historical facts with modern sarcasm, making the 19th-century abolitionist struggle resonate with today’s listeners and keeping the mood alternately thoughtful, satirical, and absurd.

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End of Part One — Silas Soule’s story continues in the next episode.

Transcript

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[Dave Anthony]

You killed him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They think that I'm shiny. I am a pie man. I'm Pete Rose and I only go to Gold's Gym. This one specifically.

[Dave Anthony]

Rumor is that his penis is broken

[Gareth Reynolds]

and show up where the taco bar was.

[Dave Anthony]

His brain just fucking exploded.

[Gareth Reynolds]

River of cheese. You been drinking any gnome juice? No officer.

[Dave Anthony]

My dad had a fart chair.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He.

[Dave Anthony]

You're listening to the Dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. This is an American history podcast where each week I Dave Anthony read a story from American history to guy Gareth

[Gareth Reynolds]

Reynolds Hi everybody who has no idea what the topic is going to be about.

[Dave Anthony]

July 26, 1838 the year of our Lord J Toown. Did you know they just found his skateboard in Jerusalem?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No they didn't.

[Dave Anthony]

They didn't. They. They. They were doing an excavation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So very stupid.

[Dave Anthony]

Sounds like I'm right about J Town. Show me the pictures cuz his his they. They haven't released it yet. They're still dusting it off.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So then what do you. How do you feel vindicated about anything

[Dave Anthony]

because history has proved me correct once again because their jtown has was.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just extremely stupidly blas ratting back

[Dave Anthony]

in the day is what they is what it says in Psalm Peter.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's none of the psalms work. I thought this is a three parter.

[Dave Anthony]

I have as much quiet knowledge about the psalms as Russell Brand.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That was the best easy Iowa that's how you pronounce Isaiah. Isaiah. He ruined how to pronounce Isaiah. I was reading in H. That was the best thing ever.

[Dave Anthony]

That's a great noise from.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good that your straw's doing that for our audio show. Well, thank you, Pierce. As a matter of fact, when I walked into court the other day, I did want to read a verse, and it's from a. I can't find it.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, Stuart Lee can probably do an hour on him now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just phenomenal. Yeah. Absolute phenomenal stuff. I. This is a three parter. I thought I knew who it was going to be, and then now I don't think I do.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas Soul.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, man.

[Dave Anthony]

Was born to mother Sophia and father Amasa in Bath, Massachusetts. Now, why did. Who did you think it was?

[Gareth Reynolds]

You want me to say? Yeah, Sam Altman.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, interesting. Yeah, yeah, he's on the list. He's a good one. God, how do you. How do you make Elon Musk seem good?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm trying to shield myself from as much information as him as possible, but man, well, he keeps bleeding out.

[Dave Anthony]

He is a virus.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Who would have thought that a man who can't blink would be problematic?

[Dave Anthony]

I know. I just usually think everyone that comes out of Silicon Valley is awesome.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dude, it is absolutely just like the devil's egg.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a. I mean, they just. It just keeps popping out wet gremlins. It's.

[Dave Anthony]

It's literally a hell mouth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. And then they. And they just. It's.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. They're just the worst people alive.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It is. It. It is incomprehensible.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What is coming out of there, happening at the rate that it's happening.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The way that we've just had no time to say. Well, we as a society discuss the data centers and we're opposed to it. Instead, they're just like, hey, guess what? There's a new McDonald's.

[Dave Anthony]

Do you love that? They. They. They were like, you can't build out green energy. It just take too long and it's too hard. And then. And then you. You blink and there's 7,000.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dude, it is the exact same as. There's no money for health care. Yeah, it is, by the way. We're gonna go into a trillion dollar war.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay, okay. So, Silas, ancestors came to America on the Mayflower. Oh, it's pretty fancy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's the big one.

[Dave Anthony]

Like the big boat. Yeah, the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What's the bathroom situation.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, you just did. Patriarch George Soul sailed to the new world as a teacher. SL Servant, God.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He must had a head full of.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, yeah, he settled.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good thing we avoided Poseidon on our journey.

[Dave Anthony]

He's. He settled in southern Maine, which still part of Massachusetts at that point.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And that is where Silas's father, Amasa was born. Amasa was an intense man whose main physical attribute seemed to be that he was not too tall.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Tall. So small.

[Dave Anthony]

So most people. That's what people say about him. Well, back then they'd be nice and say he's not too tall. But for back then, if you're not too tall, you're really short.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Tiny.

[Dave Anthony]

You're tiny. Like under five.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, yeah. No Tinder profiles back then. Didn't even say they wanted tall guys.

[Dave Anthony]

There's none of them just. Yeah, I'll take it. It's what they said in 1831, he married. Is that a. That's a thing on dating sites, isn't they? Also, that's got to be great for every guy in the world who's not tall to just realize that they've already been eliminated.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, it's.

[Dave Anthony]

That's what the personality. Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I. Listen, who be it for men to be like, excuse me, you're turning this into a physical thing. But it is. I remember when I was on there, I was like, you be like, no one under six foot. It'd be like, all right, look, you get. You meet me at a bar, you're going to like the experience.

[Dave Anthony]

But that's where I would just come in and roller skates.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's. Well, that dude there is a ser. There's this guy I see every now and then on Instagram who had. He's like treating his leg lengthening journey. Like he's being a cancer.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, God.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And it's just sort of like he's just like finally learning to walk again, like with inspirational music. Like day 42. It's like you just got rods put in your calves.

[Dave Anthony]

How old is he?

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's. He's probably mid-20s. And everyone in the comments is like, you are a weird loser.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, my God.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's like jogging again. This journey's been quite difficult.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, how old is it? I mean, how tall is he now?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, now he's like six something.

[Dave Anthony]

And he was.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Before that he was a tinier.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, that's what. I wonder like if he was like 5, 8 or 5 9, which is

[Gareth Reynolds]

really humbled into being like, all right, I gotta go to a doctor and have rods put in my legs.

[Dave Anthony]

I too, I see little tiny people together. Like, I'll see a guy that's five' five and his girlfriend's five five foot. I'm like, perfect. You guys are made for each other. There's a lot of tiny ladies out there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I love a short guy with a tall woman.

[Dave Anthony]

That's the best.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I like that a lot. I just like. I just. It's just. God, put you right there for a reason.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pull them to the side. Let's party. You know what I'm saying?

[Dave Anthony]

What are you doing right now?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm just saying. You know what I mean? You're right there. It's perfect.

[Dave Anthony]

How short is the guy?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Tiny. Push level.

[Dave Anthony]

It'd be so funny if a woman put up a dinner profile and just

[Gareth Reynolds]

leverage only short kings. Push level only.

[Dave Anthony]

That's more for hinge.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm six, four. Hinge minch.

[Dave Anthony]

In 1831, he married Silas's mom, Sophia. And for the next decade, she was basically a baby factory, giving birth to seven kids, only four of whom survived past imancy. All right, that's a pretty good.

[Gareth Reynolds]

There's also got to be something to the idea that you're not giving the woman's body any time to recover in between, like, you know what I mean?

[Dave Anthony]

Should be like.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's probably. It's probably not. That's why a lot of them probably die. Because one pops out, out, and you're just planning again. I mean, the wombs are not perennials.

[Dave Anthony]

I disagree. I might. In my science class, we were taught that wombs are print. I went to Marin Catholic High School, but we were taught wombs are perennials.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Perennials.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, this year I was in a high school where one of the teacher's sister was in my class because there were 15 kids.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just. Nope.

[Dave Anthony]

The firstborn was William Lloyd Soul, named after the famous abolitionist. Silas was the second born. So they would have two daughters. After a short jaunt in Chelsea, the family moved back to southern Maine and lived in what would today be called a hippie commune.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, nice. Hell, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

The goal group was to institute an attractive, efficient and productive system of industry. Great.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Love it.

[Dave Anthony]

That's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, that's how every cult starts. I mean, we've said it before. I think we've been saying it before other people, but it is true. It's always like, we're going to grow our own food and be off grid.

[Dave Anthony]

Also, I need to fuck that one.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Also, all your wives are going to get ass by me.

[Dave Anthony]

It's good for the planting.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Trust me. You want rain or not?

[Dave Anthony]

Quote, the day would begin with the woman. Women making breakfast. The Boys feeding the animals and the men milking the cows. Right after breakfast, the men and boys would take care of the crops and reap the hay and straw for the cattle while the women cleaned, attended the gardens. In the evening after the nightly meal.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They were vampires.

[Dave Anthony]

There would be readings and discussion as well as charades and dramatic tabloo. It's kind of a freeze tag theater kid game.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You can't argue that. Oh, I can argue, but the way that it is now, I mean, no wonder society is what it is. I mean, they were reading and, like, debating.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, I think there's a huge difference. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm watching this guy get his legs lengthened.

[Dave Anthony]

It's very terrifying to watch. Like how people used to talk in the 60s to now, like, we're. We're bumbling idiots.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Getting worse.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, totally.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Watching. Watching idiots speak is. I mean. And again, I'm sure there's someone in the comments who's like, that's what it did.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But it is really remarkable to watch an idiot on a tear.

[Dave Anthony]

It's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And that's basically social media is just watching morons.

[Dave Anthony]

No, I mean, Tim Pool is incredible.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, Tim Pool's great big head of hair under there.

[Dave Anthony]

Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Why doesn't he have a neutral sponsorship?

[Dave Anthony]

He.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Let's see what happens. I mean, that guy's head is flat. As you could do a line off a Tim Pool.

[Dave Anthony]

Is it really flat? Does he have a flat head?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, there's a. By the way, normalize. Ripping Tim Pool's beanie off in public.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you see him yank it.

[Dave Anthony]

Has anybody done that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I think someone has, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. That's got to happen.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's really. More and more.

[Dave Anthony]

He probably has a security guard that walks around behind him, so that doesn't happen. But you could attack from both sides. You got to deal with the beanie weenie. Okay. The community did everything together. Sharing the same home, eating at a big communal table, splitting all property equally. Like basically every anarcho utopian thing at the time. It fizzled out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

They all do. And they headed back to Chelsea. So after the experiment failed, Amasser drove headfirst into ending slavery.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Dave Anthony]

Didn't expect that, did you?

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, it's a twist.

[Dave Anthony]

The abolitionist newspaper the Liberator became the family's second Bible. People, even in the north, were put off by Amass's passion for freeing his fellow human beings from bondage. What's up? Got a good guy? Yeah, it's got a good guy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It is amazing the level of pushback. We are always Going to have over. Radical change that must happen.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. The. The. When you're. When you're the guy. When you're the guy who's right and you're loud about it, people can't take it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. And you got it. We have to just keep remembering that that is always the way y.

[Dave Anthony]

Literally.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So stop sitting there and just going like, we're getting to it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. 90% of the people in our society right now will be looked upon as the slave owners.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

For so many things.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Well, we won't be around much longer.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, we'll see now. Slavery was bad or whatever, but why did he have to be so fanatical is what these people thought.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. The growing resentment filter down to his kids.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Let's vote our way out of this.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Just give it time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good Lord.

[Dave Anthony]

First, you'll be half free.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Right.

[Dave Anthony]

Children were constantly trying. His children were constantly trying to fight Silas because of his dad's beliefs. So not his kids. Kids were always fighting because he's. He's being raised in that. So he's. He's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Empathetic.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. But he's also like, you know, he's the loudmouth kid. He's like, no, slavery is bad. And they're like, I'll kick your ass.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Which is what happened to me. I was. Because I'm older, so we had slavery when I was a kid.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Are you. We are recording.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Yeah, I know. It's time to come clean.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pretty bad. Pretty bad stuff.

[Dave Anthony]

And I was against slavery.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I would go back to the iPad.

[Dave Anthony]

So, you know his dad's beliefs. He's assuming them. And he. He usually is able to get out of it on account of his wits, communicability, and an uncanny knack to mimic and adapt. So he's. He's a kind of a performer, but, like, he knows how to get out of a fight by.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

Lightening the situation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's got a rapier's wit.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, I don't know about a rape. I don't know why we're talking about rapists now. That's a very weird thing to say about him.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Dave Anthony]

First of all, no.

[Gareth Reynolds]

He's got. No, but he's good. He's got the wit, so he's able to get out of it.

[Dave Anthony]

He will use his skills to impersonate their Irish brogue. So obviously these people attacking him are Irish.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

In fact, he became such a fan of it that he would accidentally fall into randomly for the rest of his life. So he'd Accidentally do an iceberg. This is you now. Now we're talking about you 100%. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just happens. Just walk around all day and I'll be like, what have I been doing?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, but sometimes been a bit strange. Sometimes you turn into Trump, so that's weirder.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Only during full moons.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. See, sure, he might have to do an Irish accent to disarm a neighborhood kid who wanted to knock his block off, but other than that, Silas and his siblings had a pretty ideal adolescence.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Unlike other kids, they didn't have to in the fields or toil away in the factories. Each summer. They would swim, shoot marbles, fly kites, raid local orchards, and apparently after got sick from the unripe fruit, which it seems didn't stop them from constantly returning.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now read. Read back that list of activities again and tell me that that's just not a better way to live.

[Dave Anthony]

It is. I mean, it is.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just one more time.

[Dave Anthony]

Sure. Swim, shoot marbles, fly kites, raid local orchards. Better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Even if you're getting sick from raw apples or whatever's happening out there, that's still. That's just. We. We. At some point, we're gonna need to get together and throw the phones into the ocean. We cannot. It has to happen.

[Dave Anthony]

But there's also. There's also a thing that. There's too many people. There's. There's like population has exploded. So. So, like I used to. I used to. I'd be sitting at home and. And I'd be like, I want blackberries. And I would get on my bike and ride like not that far away and bring a bowl and pick blackber home and eat them.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

That. Even without phones, you're not doing that anywhere anymore.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What do you mean? Why?

[Dave Anthony]

Because. Because there's so many people everywhere that the BlackBerry, they're all stripped. They don't exist. Cuz they built a house there. Like it's all like.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know what I mean? I agree. It's over. But we could start. If we started there, things might start to go back a little bit.

[Dave Anthony]

They're never getting rid of the phone, so you need to just accept it and move on. Get over your phone.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm gonna get rid of mine. I am. I'm gonna go back to flip phone once I. Once things are good, I'm gonna go

[Dave Anthony]

back to flip phone once things are

[Gareth Reynolds]

good for me, personally.

[Dave Anthony]

What is that? When does that happen?

[Gareth Reynolds]

When I'm living like this in the middle of nowhere? I'm playing marbles with my best friends.

[Dave Anthony]

Who are your best friend?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I gotta find them a squirrel. I would love to live like snow.

[Dave Anthony]

I know.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh man, I know. Just me and seven short kings.

[Dave Anthony]

Look at my finger. It's. It's getting redder, which is weird. I should probably. Probably go to a doctor. Really hurts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What did you do again?

[Dave Anthony]

That's building a shed in the backyard.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right, keep going. You're telling me you don't want to be a part of what I'm talking about, you little shed building weirdo.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay, so two days a week, the ships down at the dock with unknown molasses which led to the siblings leads into one of their favorite activities. Quote, licking lasses. History did not record what they licked the lasses off of. Possibly their fingers or even the ground during.

[Gareth Reynolds]

My nipples are getting hard.

[Dave Anthony]

During the winter, they would quietly hitch their sleds to local farmer sleighs, bumming rides off them until they were found out. This is a good time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Can we just. All right, I'll stop. This is a good time, but let's go back to a time when we were hitching rides on sleighs and I was licking lasses off a lasso. Glasses.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Every Sunday, the family would gather and read the National Era, a weekly D.C. app.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So excited. Tonight's the night when pop's gonna read.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, you say that, but then like I remember me and my cousins going down to the gas station near my grandparents house and we would take the used tires they'd taken off cars, you know, and. And. And then we would roll them into the street to try to hit cars.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm okay with that. Funny. So it's not beats Wordle.

[Dave Anthony]

Like most papers at the time, the ERA would run serialized stories, providing a new chapter or two every week. One of these stories changed the soul family's lives. That was Uncle Tom's cabin.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh boy.

[Dave Anthony]

Mom Sophia reach. Mom Sophia read each installment to her spellbound kin. And Silas's sister remembered it vividly. Quote, we children used to roll on the floor and laugh at Topsy. And we would ball at the sorrowful places. And I can see father yet striding up and down the room, his hands clenched in fury as he seemed to hear the very whine of the slave lash and the groans of Uncle Tom.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Fuck. That's crazy. That is so. To be sitting there hearing it read and be like those bastards.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dad, sit down.

[Dave Anthony]

Dad, come on. How? This is the 20th time we've heard it. Dad. It gets me every time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, and they used to do stories like two chapters A week. But then books brought about binging, and all of a sudden you're binging chapters. You don't have to wait each week. It just kind of ruined it.

[Dave Anthony]

I agree. And then everyone's carrying around books and they're not really.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, yeah, nobody cares anymore. And everyone's read everything. They're not even paying attention.

[Dave Anthony]

The paper was passed around the family for repeat readings until it was worn out and torn to shreds. So Massa began touring the state, giving abolitionist lectures and further integrating himself into the temperance movement. Then Kansas happened. In 1820, Congress had prohibited slave states above latitude 3630, with the exception of Missouri, which is why it is known as the Missouri Compromise. Every new free state admitted to the union was then matched with a new slave state and vice versa, because shoving a massive inferno into a tiny box will definitely hold it and would never lead to it exploding into a devastating war or anything. Right, yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep. Feels like the author has put a little bit of his own thoughts into that one. No, but that is. Yeah, obviously are. I mean, again, we were. This. These versions of compromise are.

[Dave Anthony]

They never work.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They never work.

[Dave Anthony]

They never work.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, and you said to me, I thought about this all the time, how after the Civil War, those traitors should have just been jailed and killed. I mean, that was how it should have been.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, honestly, I would have turned them into slaves for 20 years and gone. Okay. I mean, did you like it? Yeah, but like. But like, yeah, they should have had all of their land stripped them from them, everything.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Punishment should have been power taken. Yes. You are not. You're no longer a part of regular society.

[Dave Anthony]

Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We're not re. Acclimating you. And you can have your little private meetings with your flags.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Instead of doing, you know, a big compromise and allowing them back into power. Anywho, but you got to be president now. So there was a problem, and that problem was Nebraska was being organized into a state, and there's no counterbalance for that one. Right. So we've had counterbalances up until now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And what is Nebraska? Nebraska is abolitionist or non abolitionist.

[Dave Anthony]

It is abolitionist. Okay, well, they. Well, they. They need one of each if they're. If they're going to bring in Nebraska,

[Gareth Reynolds]

they need to find our next. So it needs. It needs a racist sister.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, that's correct. Congress put another territory, Kansas, into the mix, but Kansas is also above the Missouri compromise line. And the Southerners ran through a bill that would grant popular sovereignty the ability for the citizens of the state to vote on whether they wanted to keep human beings as property. Tough choice.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. There's a lot of. There's pros and cons.

[Dave Anthony]

The first elections had the pro slavery set flood the ballot boxes illegally, voting multiple times per person. Quote. Of 2905 registered voters in the territory, 5000 voted for the pro slavery candidates.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right.

[Dave Anthony]

So that's more for those who are not good at high results. That's. That is a great turnout.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great turnout. Say what you will about the.

[Dave Anthony]

That is democracy.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That is a. That's a huge turnout. Yeah. Yeah. And get used to this idea of how are these incalculable numbers happening.

[Dave Anthony]

The abolitionist set in New England had one move. They shipped their most zealous evangelists to Kansas to try and organize the anti slavery citizenry. And this included Silas Soul and his family.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Amasa left with his eldest son William, promising to call for the rest of them once they had set up a homestead. Meanwhile, 15 year old Silas was getting even more enmeshed in the Boston Irish community he loved so dearly. Which you did. That you've done.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know, you have a Guinness. Do an Irish car bong. Listen to Drop kick Murphy's.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. To play the harp.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Punch a stranger in the head.

[Dave Anthony]

Right. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know what I mean? Just go, dude. Seriously.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. A lot of that. Yeah. He's working in a local factory. He was learning what life is like for industrial working class immigrants. A few months later, Silas, mom, Sophia, plus sisters Emily and Annie headed to Kansas. Their steamer struggled up the Mississippi, getting stuck on a sandbar for 36 hours due to the river's low level. It took them weeks to arrive. So long that one woman on board, Ms. Wentworth, gave birth. That's up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's wild.

[Dave Anthony]

And not pregnant. Which is the crazy thing. Yes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That seems crazy.

[Dave Anthony]

It's really weird how.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Whoops.

[Dave Anthony]

Which one are you?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Her. I'm the one who's just given the birth.

[Dave Anthony]

I wasn't sure.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, look at it.

[Dave Anthony]

I thought you might be the baby.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I had no idea.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I've never even had sex.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, we're not really buying that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I haven't.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes, but. Okay, we know. You keep saying that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A virgin giving birth. Well, what is this, the Bible again?

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, we think.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I can't believe it.

[Dave Anthony]

Have you heard the term sailor's delight?

[Gareth Reynolds]

I have not.

[Dave Anthony]

We've been saying that might be you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't even understand.

[Dave Anthony]

Well.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, I guess it doesn't have a dad because I would have needed to have a fornication, which I've never done.

[Dave Anthony]

No, you did. Many times. Everybody's talking about it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I never have everybody. Not in the front one.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. No, that's. No, that was the whole thing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, they all pulled out.

[Dave Anthony]

No, that's not what. We're here.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I never even let them in.

[Dave Anthony]

You called it cream pie sundaes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. Well. But I didn't understand.

[Dave Anthony]

You certainly did.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, maybe that popped out of someone else.

[Dave Anthony]

They were lined up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, then I just throw chats. We just talked.

[Dave Anthony]

Absolutely not. Yeah, we can hear it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I was emphatic.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I was going, oh, my God. That's offense. Oh, my God. I don't agree. I'm coming up with a new point. I'm coming up with a new point. Oh, me. That's tough to fathom.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas, ever the precocious one.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Finish inside where I said about your pudding. Don't take it out to the deck.

[Dave Anthony]

Should I start reading again? Because I think you'll pick up a couple more.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, I'll stop. You're right. That's a good way to say it.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas, the precocious one, straight up told the family that their baby was going to be named David Tatum wentw Worth. He even recorded it in a bible. Luckily for everyone, the Wentworth were pretty lowkey. And they went along with it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wait, what? He was like, this is what it's going to be called.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And everyone was like, okay.

[Dave Anthony]

And they went with it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Once in Kansas, the souls moved in with another family in a cabin. So 11 of them sleeping in a cabin. Like. Like awful. Like insects. Like you're. Like you're.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. And I mean, what are we. We're probably talking about like a two bedroom cabin or something.

[Dave Anthony]

This is prairie dogging at this point. This is with only. Only a blanket hung like a curtain to separate the two families. They had two holes for stove pipes on each side of the house and had to move from side to side depending on the wind so they wouldn't asphyxiate on the smoke. So it's a good situation.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Terrible.

[Dave Anthony]

It's a good situation. When it would snow at night, the kids would often wake up covered in frost.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, it's a.

[Dave Anthony]

That's not a house. What is it? That's not a house.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No, it's. I mean, barely, but time to check the insulation.

[Dave Anthony]

The family didn't just have elements to fear. There were also the border ruffians. Border ruffians were pro slavery Missourians who would cross into Kansas, intimidating people, committing mers lynchings and Burning down the homes of anti slavery families. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Pricks. J6ers. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Jason.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Proud boys. Oath keepers.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They're. They're going to get a huge payout.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They've been wronged.

[Dave Anthony]

They certainly have. Eventually the Free Stater families would fire back. Literally burning down the other guys houses. In retaliation the Freesteaders had a new leader. The recently arrived man with the face carved out of granite. John Brown.

[Gareth Reynolds]

My man.

[Dave Anthony]

One of. One of America's, maybe America's greatest white. Greatest white.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Greatest white.

[Dave Anthony]

Greatest white. There's a three parter on him. Episodes 4, 3, 8 through 4, 440. If you want to hear about the greatest white ever in America. Suffice to say he's a real action hero. He fought bloody battles to stop the violent spread of slavery. And his daring raid on Harpers Ferry. An attempted slave rebellion cost him his life. But he kicked it all off. That's what led to the Civil War because the southerners freaked the fuck out. His last words predicted the Civil War. Quote, I, John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. So border ruffians invaded Lawrence, burned down houses, destroyed the Free State Hotel and demolished two abolitionist newspapers. One of which was where Silas's brother William worked.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

The two brothers packed up some gear and joined the militia in their march to town. Silas likely may have met John Brown that night. But what we know for sure is that seeing the violence and damage done by the pro slavery Missourians caused Silas to harden his abolitionist views.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Good.

[Dave Anthony]

That summer each of the women in the family became very ill. So much that the family chose to move them back to Maine. So now it's just the. It's just the boys.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They're blaming Kansas on this one.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Wouldn't you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

And the boys are getting deeper and deeper into the fight for a free Kansas. Great dad Massa even became a Republican delegate to the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. And Silas joined Captain Samuel Walker's militia where he likely was a part of a successful campaign to capture a pro slavery fort and the pro slavery army colonel who ran the place. This was also in the soul. Family began participating in the extremely risky and very illegal underground railroad. Wow.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Gross.

[Dave Anthony]

Wait, what?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. Well I think. I think it's important for the algorithm when we clip these that one of us. That we argue. So I'm gonna bite the bullet and I'll be. I'll.

[Dave Anthony]

You'll be the Rogan I'll be

[Gareth Reynolds]

doing. We call going Rogan.

[Dave Anthony]

We did a. We did. How many parts have we done that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, man.

[Dave Anthony]

We're watching a Rogan episode.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We're watching Rogan. Theo von. For our Patreon.

[Dave Anthony]

It's gotta be. It's gotta be four. It's. The episode is like two and a half up. Oh.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And we are going through it like

[Dave Anthony]

game, piece by piece. But we are.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We are. Jon. Grudening the Rogan episode.

[Dave Anthony]

But our oppression. Our editor was just like. You guys want me to put any of this up on, like the Socials? Because. And we were thinking about it. It's like. There isn't really a point where I don't yell.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're an idiot, Dave. Really. And we're not done with it. We. We still. I think we're halfway through. Is. It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot to jump in and really absorb all of it. Because you're so used to just seeing the clips of it. It. And those that frustrate you. But the. The clips don't do it justice. I mean, this is a prolonged, difficult watch with. It's. It. You just. It's like when you watch a horror film and you just want to say, he's behind you. It's that level of stupidity where you are sitting there. And. And also because it's not even. It's. It's ignorance combined with affluence, which is this new potpourri of.

[Dave Anthony]

But it's. It's a. There's also. Because we live in different realities, there is a extreme confidence in being wrong.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

That they. But they just are. Truly believe they're right. You just listen to it. You're like, everything you're saying is not real.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And then add in the attempts at comedy. I mean, we are. This is a full on.

[Dave Anthony]

Comedy is so bad.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It is. It is. It really is like watching a White House UFC fight. From ignorance to facts.

[Dave Anthony]

It's all farts and buttholes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just wild to watch. It's. It truly is.

[Dave Anthony]

By the way.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's like watching two wizards with no power fight.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. And you can check out my new podcast, which Gareth has not agreed to be on yet, but it is called Farts and Buttholes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yep. I'll do it.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, Theo's gonna do the first 10, man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'll tell you. We had a kid in my town who had three buttholes and he was black.

[Dave Anthony]

Wait, Theo. What? It's important you see the clip of him talking about the. When he was with Mike Tyson. You've seen that clip, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, we. I think we. Oh, we did.

[Dave Anthony]

We did show. Yes. Really something. Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, I'll. I'll go on record. You're not gonna get me to riff the N word. How's that?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, you're also not gonna get me when I'm 18 to hang out with David Duke, who's one of my best friends.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, yeah, not hang out with, but I would gladly lift weights with the guy. He's always had an incredible body underneath that. If you're. Hey, if you're not on Patreon, you're missing fantastic stuff.

[Dave Anthony]

Like, Luke did a bunch of rearranging of stuff. So he took stuff where I knew where it was, and then he put it where he thought it should be.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The van is chaos, and Luke, he was just wrestling around there like a goddamn good hour and a half.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I would argue even longer. You're just hearing bags get folded, things are clinking, and then you look back and you go, oh, that actually looks pretty good.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, there's a cost.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah. We're like, where is everything? He knows where it is, but you have to go through him. You'd be like, where's that bag that I had stuff in?

[Dave Anthony]

He'll go, I'm like a librarian. In many ways, it's a Dewey decimal system. Okay, where's the blue bag? There's a blue bag right here. Oh, that's my. That's not the blue bag I. I had. Okay. There's a different blue bag.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hey, Dewey, where the. Is it, like, what you Hear? Go to patreon.com the dollop and sign up today.

[Dave Anthony]

The Dollop is brought to you by Cash App. Have you ever noticed that on. Let's just say there's a certain social media site that has, like, ads from, like, scammers? Oh, yeah, I usually. I notice it. I'm like, yeah, yeah, of course I had to scam. But one night I was like, look at all these hats I can get for 10 bucks or something.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That is.

[Dave Anthony]

It was, like, quite endearing. A bunch of hats for, like, no money, $2 a hat. And I was like, these are great hats. And I bought, like. I bought, like, like six. And then. And then I sent the money off, and I was just like, well, that wasn't real. What was I.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What did I just do? You know? Well, that's the thing. We live in a world now where you get sc. Like, the scam fishing attempts are so volumous.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So when you get the Cash App card, not only do you get access to a ton of perks and benefits like exclusive early access to nationwide concert pre sales or discounts on popular brands. But you also have extra security with the power to instantly lock or unlock your card right right from your phone in just one tap. If a suspicious transaction pops up on your card, Cash App has your back by automatically declining the purchase and sending you a heads up to confirm if it's you or not.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And behind you need that?

[Dave Anthony]

I do need that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You need the you need a Dikembe Mutombo before you get on your little

[Dave Anthony]

kicks and behind the scenes you can rest assured knowing your account balance is protected 24. 7 fraud monitoring sped with peace of mind today and order a Cash App card in the app or at Cash App Slash Card. New Cash App Customers can earn $10 if they use code Secure10 in their profile at signup and send $5 to a friend within 14 days. Terms apply. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's Bank Partners Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton bank member FDIC Cash App Visa Debit Flex cards issued by Sutton bank member FDIC and the Bank Corp. NA Pursu license from Visa USA Incorporated. See terms and conditions for the Sutton Prepaid Card, the Sutton Debit Flex Card and the Bancorp Debit Flex Card. Discounts and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block Incorporated brand. Visit Cash App Legal podcast for full disclosures.

[Gareth Reynolds]

When are you going to read the disclaimer?

[Dave Anthony]

This podcast is also brought to you by Squarespace. Sweet sweet baby. The all the website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. And boy have we and I would say 110% of of the dollop success is because of Squarespace.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, if you want any information on the dollop in any way, it is all Squarespace related. Yeah, that's all we do.

[Dave Anthony]

It's all we do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Squarespace is the best. Makes you look professional, easy to use, your business looks more legitimate. There's ways if you want to do merch, you can do that. You shouldn't do merch every two days. You got to keep it up there for a while. SEO tools however you want to handle it. Squarespace gives you the opportunity for all of those things and we love Squarespace. I actually toured the headquarters the other day and I was walking around the factory floor there and I've got the hard hat on and everything.

[Dave Anthony]

I tell you watching them crank out

[Gareth Reynolds]

websites, you got to see these, these, these people on the assembly line. I mean they are really Working hard and I'm there for the photo op, you know, I've got the shovel, I'm cutting the ribbons, you know, all that stuff. But I mean, it's a hell of an organization. Yeah, it is a hell of an organization.

[Dave Anthony]

When you see how big that warehouse is and how many are on spa.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They are in space.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes. That factory, it's a space factory.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a big box in space. So it is literally a square space.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, it's. So it's pretty great. We highly recommend it. Make smarter business decisions with Squarespace. Intuitive built in analytics tools. Review website traffic. Learn where to focus focus engagement and track revenue from bookings, invoices and product sales all in one place. Head to squarespace.com dolop for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code dollop to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or DOM domain. That's squarespace.com dollar for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code dollop to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain. Gareth the doll is also brought to you by Neutrophil. We're both nutriful users. We put it in our. In our mouths. In the hole. You put it in the hole.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's a weird direction.

[Dave Anthony]

In the front of your. Swallow it.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

It goes into your body.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's an oral.

[Dave Anthony]

It's. This is the science. And then it. It goes to your hair. Right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

I don't know. My, my. I've been using it for a couple years. Three years now. A while.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A couple years.

[Dave Anthony]

My hair looks fanty tastic is the word.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. I have. I probably got to be creeping on a year. There are a lot of people who anecdotally will ask my opinion on Neutrophil.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Because I. Yeah, go. It's not.

[Dave Anthony]

It's noticeable. Yes, it is noticeable.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes. Actually there's finally a thing.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. When we, when we started using had been out for women for a while

[Gareth Reynolds]

and when they wanted to work with us, we laughed them out of the room. We said, this is. What are you going to give us some witch hazel? What are you up to over here? But then we start. Dave started taking it.

[Dave Anthony]

I did.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I didn't. And he noticed a difference and I thought, well, look, what am I against hair? Let's go.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. And people. And I think you would see people in the audience be like, well, what's going on with your hair?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Got a little distracting. So it shows. We asked you when we were on tour. We ask you to not take it because people can't look away at what you got going on. Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

So if you got any thinning or shedding or whatever, hair issues, neutral. It's the way to go. It doesn't compromise sexual performance.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Definitely doesn't compromise it.

[Dave Anthony]

Neutrophil is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand and is used by over 1.5 million people. Start Nutrival today and make that hat optional. Visit nutrival.com and enter promo code the dollop for $10 off your first month subscription and free shipp. Why NAL is the best selling hair growth supplement brand at NAL.com spelled N U T R A F O L.com promo code the dollop. That's NAL.com promo code the Dollop. Okay. Fugitive slave laws prohibited anyone from helping an escaped slave and in fact demanded that they return them to their masters. But the Soul family wasn't afraid of the punishment in which in fact, they welcomed anyone trying to stop them. Like normal railroads, there were stations which consisted of a loose confederation of houses, barn shops and other buildings where the escaped slave could find a warm meal and a safe bed. There was no fixed pathway. Instead, each station owner would direct the escapee to the next safest place in a gradual northward trajectory until the person would get to Canada, where slavery was eradicated decades earlier. Earlier. Decades earlier. Decades earlier. Decades.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You know, there are, I think that really, at the end of the day, if you are talking about what you know, equality does mean, it does mean the elimination of living in fear of being who you are. Yeah. And this, you cannot ever have empathy deep enough to imagine what it's like to have to scurry underground, to try to bounce around for meals, to try to just be able to be out in public.

[Dave Anthony]

And a modern day version of that is Tom Steyer doing a video with a trans athlete teenage student. Which. When's the last time you saw an actual democrat politician do that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I. I'm actually talking about how the democrats live in fear of actually expressing their true beliefs because they are bought so much so they can't.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay, so they're all right. Canada. So depending on how hard the slave owner was searching, the slaves would hide out at the Souls, sometimes for up to a month.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wow.

[Dave Anthony]

And neighboring comrades would use lanterns to signal when it was safe to come out. And while Silas and his family weren't the most.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Y' all were flashing your lanterns a lot. Y' all trying to tell each other

[Dave Anthony]

we was Just walking across the land.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, but your lanterns kept a flashing.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, but that's how we do it out here. That. That's a. That's a Kansas thing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But I'm from here. Y' all are main folk.

[Dave Anthony]

Is that your accent?

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's what we talk. I'm a crotchety old. Okay, now, you better not be signaling any to each other.

[Dave Anthony]

Nope. Just.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just because your lantern went on. Off, on off. On off. Own. Off, Off.

[Dave Anthony]

On.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Off.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

On, Off. On off. On off. On off.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And then on.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, it's a flicker.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I can't believe that y' all having that much difficult lot in your leg.

[Dave Anthony]

It's hard. It goes on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off

[Gareth Reynolds]

and on and off and off and on.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, and off and on.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I'll tell you, I'm doing lantern scoping. And if I see any more weird stuff, I'm gonna come in that cabin here.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Again. I have to say this again, Jimmy, you're pro slavery or you're. You're.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm pro.

[Dave Anthony]

You are pro.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Listen, I'm over here accusing y' all of having a secret lantern language.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay?

[Gareth Reynolds]

And I don't care for it because in my Kansas now, you don't own slaves.

[Dave Anthony]

Right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

At least to buy.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay. Okay, man.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I got bank credit. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay. How's that going, by the way? Some repossessions. And so you don't actually have any right now.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No. But I do believe it's. We're the. Look at me.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. It's not.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're telling me we're not the most superior race gods ever put on Earth?

[Dave Anthony]

I am absolutely.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, look at me.

[Dave Anthony]

I am absolutely saying that I look

[Gareth Reynolds]

like I was born in Nevada. Tobacco and ale.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, that's. Yeah. See that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

We are the chosen people.

[Dave Anthony]

No, you're not.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

You can't even stay on the sun for an hour.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, because that's what, the wrong time of day for me. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I forgot why I came over here.

[Dave Anthony]

We all did.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right.

[Dave Anthony]

See ya.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Bye. Bye.

[Dave Anthony]

So their. Their home is a well used stop on the underground. Now 20 years old. Silas first recorded mission with the abolitionists was as part of a posse of 50 men who traveled to Missouri to liberate a famed stater named Dr. Doy, who was being, by the way, big.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I use his name a lot when someone says something obvious.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Like if you were to just be like, oh, it's gonna rain this week, and be like, all those clouds. Paging Dr. Doy. Dr. Doy, there's an obvious point to be made. Go ahead.

[Dave Anthony]

I got it. He was being held at a prison for helping slaves escape their masters. And once they crossed the river.

[Gareth Reynolds]

River.

[Dave Anthony]

They ran into a newspaperman who fought for the cause. And he arranged boats for them to escape back across the river that night. And the leader of the group needed some personable and charismatic. Someone personal and charismatic to enter the jail, scout the joint for a week. But that was a really. That was a.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is that a plane?

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. It's got to be a jet. I mean, we are kind of near Vandenberg Air Force Base space. But that is weird.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The feeling I get. Enormous military vehicles going past me on the freeway.

[Dave Anthony]

Always upsetting.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Or just like a four propellered future District 13 chopper.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And you're just like, cool. Good. Glad that's close.

[Dave Anthony]

That'll go fine.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's. Sure. That's. I'm sure that's for Iran.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, the sound just keeps happening, so I don't know what's going on with that plane, but. So they want someone personal and charismatic to go in the jail, scout. Scout it for weak points and let Dr. Doy know they're coming in. They're going to come to come to get him. So Silas is the most charismatic and likable dude.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

So he pretends to have a message from Dr. Doy's wife and enters the jail with the type of swagger that young men too young to know what kind of danger and have you know, it worked. The guard was immediately won over by the dashing young man and began a warm back and forth. And the guard allowed Silas to. To visit Dr. Doy. And in a moment, when Silas got the guard to turn his back.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now, take as much time as you like. Silas, you are have beautiful eyes.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And an even more beautiful internal personality.

[Dave Anthony]

As do you, sir.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I just really am quite taken with you. So you take as much time as you need to talk to Dr. Do deserves to be in jail.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But you. You are just so perfect.

[Dave Anthony]

Thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

If you were a flower, I would press you in one of my books.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay. It's okay. That's awkward.

[Gareth Reynolds]

After you talk with him, I would love to go for a friend walk. Okay. Okay. Well, maybe that maybe accommodate your schedule.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, it seems like you have to stay here and the.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Maybe you wait for me to get off and then we could go on a walk and maybe toss stones at a tree.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Something of that nature.

[Dave Anthony]

That giggle.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Have a giggle. A Chuckle of some kind.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But maybe. Maybe gently perfect in every way.

[Dave Anthony]

Maybe gently touch your face. Just rub.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You are a perfect person.

[Dave Anthony]

Do. Thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And I would love to just.

[Dave Anthony]

Couple of fellas walking.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Have a walk.

[Dave Anthony]

Giggling.

[Gareth Reynolds]

A giggle.

[Dave Anthony]

Laughing.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And if we find a pond, we can go swim in it for a little bit. Sure. But enjoy a chat.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And to be continued. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

You staring at me? Something where I did your gr.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just a lot of looking your time. Go have fun.

[Dave Anthony]

Thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I just met the greatest guy.

[Dave Anthony]

So when the guard turns his back, Silas slipped Dr. Do a note quot he then excused himself and thanked the jailer for his hospitality and kindness.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Thank you.

[Dave Anthony]

And headed out the door.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come back.

[Dave Anthony]

Thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Thank you. I mean, you have. This place has been a lot better since you came here.

[Dave Anthony]

It was so nice of you. So nice of you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Gosh. Have a good day.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay. Hang in there. We.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm going to miss.

[Dave Anthony]

I will see you again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I'm going to miss you.

[Dave Anthony]

I will see you again.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I like you a lot.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

You're great.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And I won't miss you. Go now.

[Dave Anthony]

All right. We going?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Who needs you?

[Dave Anthony]

All right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Whoa.

[Dave Anthony]

When Dr. Doy opened the note, it said, be ready at midnight. Now, Silas was successful.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Why would your wife say that? Eyes over your shoulder.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm going get some.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh. Okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas was successful in his part of the mission, but he had bad news. The jail was too fortified for the men to just storm it. So they cracked a new plan. They would disguise themselves as civilians who had captured a horse thief and enter the jail as conquering heroes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is so great. They're like Trojan horse.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes. The guards would have no clue what their actual intentions were. They even moved the plan up an hour, hoping that an 11pm Rescue escape. Sorry. Would allow them to mix in with the theater crowds that were letting out at that hour.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great. Can you imagine those shows? Ah, I just always the. We've heard of some of them. Just the dumbest plays ever.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Just like Achilles and the heel.

[Dave Anthony]

And there's a guy who just lectured about teeth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

I tell you, they're magical.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That was a hell of a show.

[Dave Anthony]

At 10:45, Silas was sent ahead to scout for the night watchman. A massive thunderstorm rolled in a couple hours earlier, and according to Dr. Doy, it felt like, quote, it shook the earth. The weather was, you know, a boon to the men. The heavy cloud cover and fog made for bad visibility, so. So, you know, makes it easier.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas crouched in a hiding spot and Witnessed the night watchman leave the jail and sit under the porch of the courthouse to protect himself in the rain. This was their moment. Silas was sent to cover the watchman and detain him if necessary. The rest of the men snuck to the jail. Two of them approached, pretending to be a horse thief and a captor. A fake vigilante spun a yarn about a dispute between neighbors that led to his thievery, and the jailer left them in. Once inside, the jailer led them directly to the cell where Dr. Doy was staying. The faux thief refused to go into a cell with any blacks, which convinced the jailer he was a legit Missouri racist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, I was for a moment worried about your authenticity, but then you had a divided line that is inherited our DNA.

[Dave Anthony]

There's no way you could fake that.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, look, if you're an actor, you done your homework.

[Dave Anthony]

The jailer actually walked into the cell first to show the would be criminal that there were no black people in there.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They were all never look around. Look.

[Dave Anthony]

No.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Take the keys and have a look. Say poo.

[Dave Anthony]

You couldn't see that from outside.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dr. Doy, why don't you exit so I can fully show the men that there is not a black inside of here?

[Dave Anthony]

He said the blacks were all downstairs. The men pulled out revolvers and told the jailer dollars he'd been had.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Wait a minute.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, but you're racist.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But what about that horse thief?

[Dave Anthony]

The two men gathered a weary and damaged Dr. Doyle and rushed him out of the jail. And before they left, they told the jailer that A posse of 50 Jayhawks were outside. It would tear him to pieces if he didn't stay put for half an hour. Also clearly not true. You mean the actual birds? No, you idiot. Kansas Jayhawks.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right, the birds, the basketball team.

[Dave Anthony]

They're outside.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Rock and chalk. Jay Hopkin.

[Dave Anthony]

The jailer pleaded with the man he didn't want to be hanged for aiding and abetting the escape. The men took pity on him and made sure to tell everyone on the way back about how much of a fight the jailer put up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Also, who gives a. I don't know.

[Dave Anthony]

It's just a guy with a job. Guy trying to make a buck. Sure, by jailing, by.

[Gareth Reynolds]

By good people. By bragging about the first four for the Blacks.

[Dave Anthony]

Dr. Doy's muscles had atrophied in his long detention, and he repeatedly fell in the mud on the the point where he basically had to be carried to where Silas and the others waited. Wow. Once they rendezv, they blended in Perfectly. With the exiting theater gutters because the troop was, quote, spouting Shakespeare and singing songs probably led by Silas, the noted ham.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay, so fake.

[Dave Anthony]

So it sounds like you a little bit.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. I identify a lot with this guy making up fake Shakespeare songs.

[Dave Anthony]

Just as they approached their boat back boats back to the other side of the river, two CO cops spotted them. Luckily, they were completely unaware that Dr. Doyle was an escaped fugitive. So the cops just used their lanterns to help the men find their boats.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now, wait a minute. Y' all are having some trouble getting to the boat?

[Dave Anthony]

Yes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Let me help you.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, thank you, sir.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Now you're just singing some Shakespeare songs. That is a lovely tune.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, thank you.

[Gareth Reynolds]

All right. Everything seems fine. Wait a minute.

[Dave Anthony]

What?

[Gareth Reynolds]

You dropped your handkerchief.

[Dave Anthony]

Oh, thank you, sir. Yeah, I'll go ahead. That's me blowing my nose.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Go away.

[Dave Anthony]

Unfortunately, one of the boats had a leak and was filling with water. But this was nothing that a group of men with big hats couldn't fix. They used their hats to scoop up all the water and soon the party. So hats were magic in Kansas. Yes, because hat could do anything.

[Gareth Reynolds]

The level of hat. There's a lot of help going on. So they just were. Hats were enough to scoop out a leaky boat.

[Dave Anthony]

Yes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. I mean, they were big hats.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah, it's a. Hat's a tool.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure.

[Dave Anthony]

Though they were followed the next morning by some border ruffians. Silas's party was 11 deep and well armed. And the smaller group of ruffians didn't attempt to stop them. Once they arrived back to the safety of Lawrence, the men were shocked and delighted to see the stripes leaned with well wishers cheering them on because they heard of the daring rescue in the paper. The 10 Jayhawks began to be known as the Immortal 10 in honor of their service to the free state faction of Kansas. Now across the country this time, John Brown was busy murdering slave owners after his botched raid on Harper's Ferry.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's hard to. I mean, that's a great story. But then you cut to the goat

[Dave Anthony]

and you're like, I mean, doing a little bit better.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Way to go.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. He and two of his surviving men were languishing in prison, and it was time for the immortal 10 to ride again. But just four of them, including Silas. One problem. John Brown did not want to be rescued.

[Gareth Reynolds]

They were. The four of the 10 were going to rescue John Brown. Oh, wow. Oh, sweet baby Dave, listen. You know how news is. We're basically a news show and it's overwhelming, okay? But this Is is different. News is non stop. It's. It's coming at you all the time. You know, it's like living in this day and age.

[Dave Anthony]

I do. I live here.

[Gareth Reynolds]

One hour you're talking about one thing, the next hour you've completely forgotten about that thing because your brain cannot catch up.

[Dave Anthony]

You know, we need Gareth say it. A podcast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yes.

[Dave Anthony]

That is not panic inducing. It slows things down. Yes, I'm talking about Stateside with Kai and Carter.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's exactly what I was going to say.

[Dave Anthony]

It's a Guardian podcast.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Stateside with Kai and Carter airs three times per week because there's always something to discuss. Kai and Carter get access to the Guardian's resources in the US and reporters around the world. And David, they deliver the most relevant information right to you.

[Dave Anthony]

We should say it's journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman, but we're talking global

[Gareth Reynolds]

content across news, international coverage, climate, culture, sports, lifestyle, fashion, wellness. And they're not billionaire owned over there at the Guardian, Dave, which is something you and I can get by behind.

[Dave Anthony]

I like that. So Kai and Carter wrestle with all the questions we have. What's going on in the world. So listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube. Stateside with Kai and Carter.

[Commercial Announcer]

From Geico Subconscious News, I'm Tammy. Racing thoughts broadcasting from your brain. You think you live in a pretty safe place, but you just heard about a break in four miles away, which isn't close, but it isn't far either. You know Artpelt Palpitations is on the scene.

[Dave Anthony]

I sure am, Tammy. And I don't even know why I drove out here because as you know, you got customized renters insurance through Geico, so your stuff is covered.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, well that's great. Any sign of crime there, Art?

[Dave Anthony]

Just some light littering, Tammy. But like they say, a little litter can lead to a lot.

[Commercial Announcer]

Wise words. It feels good to worry less. It feels good to Geico.

[Dave Anthony]

But he doesn't want to be rescued. He believed that being a martyr would help the cause more than escaping. He's right.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Kind of feel like he put up enough numbers to be.

[Dave Anthony]

He could have freaked the country the out. If he had escaped though, like people, the, the they would lost their minds because at the end of the day they are cowards like they are.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, if we. And again, it's like it's weird to deify the white guy in the slavery story, but it is like if we had John Brown Day. I mean, Jesus Christ, you know what I mean? Some acknowledgement of the sacrifice of Someone in a time where it was extremely unpopular to do something like that, but instead, where, like, Christopher Columbus day makes sense. That's a hero.

[Dave Anthony]

So two of John Brown's men didn't share sentiment and they wanted to live. John Brown was hung, and afterwards, many additional security personnel left, which meant an escape plot would be easier to achieve. So Silas entered Harper's Ferry immediately went into disguise, quote, pulling out his finest Irish brogue, He gallivanted around town, carrying on, probably singing loudly. This is literally.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I. I'm just like. I would murder this part. I would just. I need to be him. Just the idea that I'm just like. I show up to just, like, try to, like, use my accents for good and sing. Yeah. What is it? What's your plan? Stick with me. How's everyone doing?

[Dave Anthony]

And he's also appearing quite drunk.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Well, something like that. We. This is the part I've been r to play my entire life.

[Dave Anthony]

This is literally all the things you do on this show. Every time, every episode.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Trump, I am going to walk out.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas purposefully Irished himself up so much that he got arrested and thrown in jail to sober up.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Is that what he was going for?

[Dave Anthony]

Know he, of course, effortless, effortlessly charmed the jailer with his wit and singing ability. So much so that silence got to run free of the place and was even allowed to secretly visit John Brown's men without guards present. Wow. When he told them of the plan, they begged him not to go through.

[Gareth Reynolds]

What is the plan exactly?

[Dave Anthony]

I don't know. I don't know. We don't break them out. We don't know exactly what. But to break him out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Right. And they're like, we don't want to get broken up.

[Dave Anthony]

Jesus.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Broke. No, they leaving.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, John Brown doesn't, but the other guys do.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Okay. They are okay.

[Dave Anthony]

Sure. A bunch of soldiers had left when John Brown was hanged, but there were still militia and a bunch of other troops around, and the jailer was being nice to him. So they were like, wow, this guy's right. The next morning, Silas put on another great performance in front of the judge and was let go with a slap on the wrist. Silas and his partners hurried back to HQ where they delivered the news there would be no rescue. You. John Brown's men were killed shortly thereafter. It probably would have failed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Sure. Waited, but it would have.

[Dave Anthony]

But it would have scared the Southers even more because they were freaked the out by John Brown.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Already on the east coast, Silas took a jaunt back up to New England and surrounded Himself with friends, loved ones, and old school abolitionists, he was finally away from violence for even a short moment, and enjoyed his time back back home. Here, Silas met the pride and joy of the local community where he was staying. Poet Walt Whitman. Quote, it is not known how chummy the two men got, but it was enough that Silas later felt comfortable sending Whitman several letters and got, at minimum, one response from the poet.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Doesn't sound like they were super tight.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, what Walt is. Is Walt. Is there a question of. Of his. Was he gay? I can't remember.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't know.

[Dave Anthony]

I can't remember. I feel like. I feel like he might have been. Anyway, after a nice hiatus, Silas returned to Kansas, taking a boat to New York and then to Philly. While on the ship, he befriended a group of immigrants who spoke beautiful Dutch, giving him the ability to practice a new accent for a new audience. What?

[Gareth Reynolds]

Come on. This is you, my guy.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, you're. You're basically actually like a. Careful. A mockingbird.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Thank you.

[Dave Anthony]

That is nice, by the way. I hate mockingbirds.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Most do the worst bird alive. I'll tell you what, though.

[Dave Anthony]

But you get.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Yeah, those are in my comments.

[Dave Anthony]

The. The mockingbird is like having a. A improv guy live outside your bedroom.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Look, I'll admit it's not great. It's not easy. I'll admit it.

[Dave Anthony]

Because, you know, people. People who don't live near mockingbirds don't know. No. They scream all night to either either scare off other mockingbird or to attract mockingbird lady, but they scream through the night and they mock all the other birds.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And it is horrible, but.

[Dave Anthony]

Horrible.

[Gareth Reynolds]

But admit, when it comes to entertainment, it's good. You're right off mic. It might be a nightmare for you, but in these little sessions, it's a good thing to have. Even though that one gets. Guy said in the comments that he would just rather hear the show without me.

[Dave Anthony]

Well, when I wrote that, I was in just a dark place.

[Gareth Reynolds]

When I wrote that, I was in a dark place.

[Dave Anthony]

You're an idiot. So he slogged across all of Pennsylvania exhausted, but had his spirits lifted by some women who had some get up to them. Once in Pittsburgh, he used his accent powers to pose as a wealthy coal merchant and got the royal troops treatment.

[Gareth Reynolds]

God damn it. I want this so bad. Yeah. If I could use this skill to try to actually do so. Remove slavery. Yeah. Can you imagine trying to like free people just by walking from town to town just like, how are you? My name is Phineas o'. Gallaghan. You know, I'm here on an important business. That's not who I am at all. I'm here on a pro abolitionist engagement. Hello there, jailer. I've had a few pops myself, but I thought I'd come in today to have a bit of a chat. Do you mind if I talk to these jailed men over here in private? Or you think I could impart a lesson or two? Fellas, we move at midnight. At midnight we move.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean, we should probably start a gofundme to make this happen where you get transported back in time.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, my God.

[Dave Anthony]

He made it back to Kansas just in time to catch his family leaving. Gold have been discovered up in the Rocky Mountains and the soul family was throwing their hat in the mining ring and heading to car Colorado. Silas caught up with them and entertained them with stories and gossip from back east. Colorado was wild and unsettled. Quote, it was a true frontier with the violence, claim jumping and vice that came with western boom towns. They settled in what one member of the family party described as, quote, one of the dirtiest and most cluttered up cabins in the mountains.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Great. That's a great, beautiful.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm out.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's like verbo.

[Dave Anthony]

I'm out. Out. What if I don't have a nice place to sleep and hang out if I don't have a decent home without other people?

[Gareth Reynolds]

You can't fight your cause unless you have a comfy little bed.

[Dave Anthony]

100%. Yeah, I need a comfy bed.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Dave one time was on the road and he smelled. He didn't sleep well, and he smelled his pillow and he said it smelled like cigarettes. Just one of the worst things I've ever heard about.

[Dave Anthony]

I never, never slept again that night. Then the family received an emotional wallop. Amasa had died only months before Kansas was to become a free state. The Lawrence Republican. The Lawrence Republican, which is a paper, called him an apostle of liberty, an enthusiast for what seemed right, for what he deemed the right. They further added, he dealt justly, love, mercy, and walked humbly. The gold rush had already come and gone by the time the soul party got there, so the group had to get other jobs. This, like, this is, yeah, crypto. It's just. Yeah. One worked buying and hauling hay. Another tried his hand at blacksmithing. But many headed back to Lawrence. As for Silas, he stayed. He liked the little community. He ended up on a jury where they found a man guilty for murder and sentenced him to, quote, have half of his head shaved, receive 50 lashes on his bare back, pay the court costs, and leave the mountains or be hung.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a super weird part of that. Just like severe corporal punishment. And then this is, this is shave half his head. Like hey guys, I'll figure that part out pretty quick. After the lashings.

[Dave Anthony]

I know the, the lashing like that, that like you could die from 50 lashes.

[Gareth Reynolds]

50 lashes and they're like. And you're going to have a bad haircut. Plus the court deems you shall have a strange hairdo.

[Dave Anthony]

And you're paying for the court.

[Gareth Reynolds]

We will drown you and give you a super bad tramp stamp.

[Dave Anthony]

I mentioned you're paying for this, right?

[Gareth Reynolds]

There we are. The electric chair and a mullet. How do you like that? More.

[Dave Anthony]

Silas also frequented the burgeoning theater scene up in the mountains but found that the entertainment was not as highbrow and clean as it was back in Lawrence.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Killed Tony.

[Dave Anthony]

Over in D.C. things were moving fast. Abraham Lincoln's election led to the southern state seceding. Skirmishes between unis, Unionists and confederates were starting up in northern strongholds like Denver. Silas rode home seeking the possibility of lieutenants commission in the home guard. He also mentioned that the stress or maybe the fun of frontier rough living may made him pick up both smoking cigars and chewing tobacco.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Both's a choice that is. People are going to think you're Irish with those teeth.

[Dave Anthony]

I mean that's. Those are some bad teeth.

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's a couple bad ones.

[Dave Anthony]

That's. That's the nightmare teeth scenario. What else could you do that's worse than that?

[Gareth Reynolds]

That's it.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. So the more war moved west as Confederate troops from Texas invaded New Mexico and took over two of their major forts and they turned northward towards Colorado and the Unionist scrambled to form an arm army. One of their leaders was a Methodist missionary named, named John Chivington. He preached throughout Kansas and became so anti slavery that the Missourians threatened to tar and feather him if he ever tried to preach there. Legend has it that freedom of preach. Freedom of preach. Legend has it that Chivington showed up that very Sunday, slapped two guns down on the pulpit and announced in his booming voice that quote by the grace of God and these two revolvers, I'm going to preach here today.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Hell yes.

[Dave Anthony]

From then on he was referred to as the fighting fighting person. Sorry, fighting parts.

[Gareth Reynolds]

Oh, okay. Better still.

[Dave Anthony]

Okay.

[Gareth Reynolds]

So Silas preacher.

[Dave Anthony]

Better, yeah. Silas got commissioned as a lieutenant in the infantry and headed to Camp Weld which quote had been built to provide training facilities and more importantly to isolate the new regiment from the populace. After several criminal bouts of theft, drunkenness and other offenses by still idle troops. Okay, so that's the end of part one. He has joined up with the Union army.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I don't understand the. The again. You can never really process this idea that this country, half of it, fought a war to have slaves.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. It's really insane.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, it. At some point, in order to actually become a civilization again, you're just. They won't even let you take down these statues of these people without a riot.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

I mean, it.

[Dave Anthony]

It's.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's a fundamental problem.

[Dave Anthony]

And yeah, they've never.

[Gareth Reynolds]

And instead, they're just like. It's a coded little thing now. Yeah. Like, we know you go on tour, you see these Confederate flags hanging, and you're like, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Anthony]

Off.

[Gareth Reynolds]

No.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah.

[Gareth Reynolds]

It's just like we. Even if you find it to be a symbol of something else, just recognize how we're all taking it. And it's a pass.

[Dave Anthony]

Yeah. Sorry. This was written by Josh and Drowski Sources S the Soul A short eventful life of moral courage by Tom Bessing Bensing Rocky Mountain ends the Commonwealth the Blackhawk Daily miner

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