1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 2: Book Club book Club book Club. Hello, and welcome to 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 2: cool Z Owned Media book Club, the only book club 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 2: where I do the reading for you. Maybe there's other 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 2: book clubs where other people do the reading for you, 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: but this is the only one where I'm going to 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 2: do it. The I in the aforementioned I is me 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 2: Marta Kiljoy. I am a fiction writer, and I also 9 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 2: read you fiction stories every Sunday. So we talk sometimes 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 2: on this show about how certain stories are of interest, 11 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 2: in particular because of how they shine a light on 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 2: the past by showing how at least one author perceived 13 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 2: the world around them and various social issues all while 14 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 2: telling a good tale. Plot is the engine that drives 15 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 2: the story forward and keeps the reader engaged. Another thing 16 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 2: we talk about even more often on both It Could 17 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 2: Happen Here and Cool People Did Cool Stuff is the 18 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 2: history of the labor movement, and in particular the history 19 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 2: of the anarchist labor movement. We do that because we're 20 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 2: drawn to do so, but also because well, anarchism is 21 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 2: one of the most maligned political ideologies in history, which 22 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 2: is impressive because pretty much all the other major political 23 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 2: ideologies around in the twentieth century managed some rather impressive 24 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 2: feats of mass death, oppression, and general fuckery. Usually though 25 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 2: those ideologies killed mostly but not exclusively, poor people on 26 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 2: colonized subjects. The anarchists they killed a few kings and 27 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 2: politicians and cops, and suddenly everyone was freaked out. I 28 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 2: am fascinated by the Anarchists Scare. The first Red scare 29 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 2: in the US around the end of World War One 30 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 2: targeted anarchists, primarily because anarchism, before the Bolshevik victory in 31 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 2: the Russian Civil War was pretty much the biggest name 32 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 2: in town for the revolutionary left in a lot of countries, 33 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 2: not everywhere, but a lot of places. I make it 34 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 2: a hobby of reading anti anarchist fiction because there's an 35 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 2: awful lot of it from around the turn of the century, 36 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 2: and I think it's fun, honestly. Sometimes it was written 37 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 2: by some of the best writers of the era. G. K. Chesterton, 38 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 2: Joseph Conrad, and H. G. Wells have all made boogeymen 39 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 2: of anarchists. We were pulp novel villains, wild eyed, crazy zealots, 40 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 2: and terrorists who sometimes had class politics and sometimes didn't. 41 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 2: Probably the best modern comparison is how the Western media 42 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 2: often presents Muslims today, or especially did during the height 43 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 2: of the global War on Terror. Today's story is one 44 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 2: of these stories about anarchist boogeyman. It's by an author 45 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 2: I generally think rather highly of. HG. Wells. He's got 46 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 2: a ton of famous books. You might have heard of 47 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 2: The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War 48 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 2: of the Worlds. He's known as the father of science fiction. 49 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 2: He was a scientist trained in biology. He was also 50 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 2: quite openly a socialist. He was part of the Fabian Society, 51 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 2: which one day I'll cover in more detail. Actually a 52 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 2: lot of the old science fiction writers were part of 53 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 2: the Fabian Society. It's kind of interesting to me. 54 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: H G. 55 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 2: Wells's book The Time Machine is a simple parable about 56 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: how have class divisions continue to deep and humanity will 57 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 2: become two separate species. It's also where the word time 58 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 2: machine comes from. Plus I think he coined the word 59 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 2: atomic bomb by prophesizing them in nineteen fourteen. He was 60 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 2: raised middle class in England and was apprenticed out as 61 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 2: a draper, which is a cloth merchant basically, and then 62 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 2: soon just became a wildly prolific writer. The story We're 63 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 2: going to Read is the title story of his first 64 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 2: book of short stories, and frankly it doesn't represent his 65 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 2: mature opinion on just about anything. This is very like 66 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 2: his first book, kind of energy, not just in terms 67 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 2: of fiction, but especially in terms of his political thought. 68 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 2: Which isn't to say that he becomes an anarchist, but 69 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 2: he later actually comes kind of close. While still working 70 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 2: with some of the major power players of the world. 71 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 2: He would go on to correspond with and influence both 72 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 2: Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. At one point he went 73 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 2: to the USSR to interview Stalin to try and convince him, 74 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 2: basically to stop being such a dick, which obviously didn't work. H. G. 75 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 2: Wells's nineteen forty The Rights of Man was the inspiration 76 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 2: for the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was 77 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 2: adopted in nineteen forty eight after Welles's death. Like all 78 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 2: actual socialists, H. G. Wells agreed with the anarchist vision 79 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 2: for the future, stateless and cooperative. He just disagreed with 80 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 2: the methods by which to reach it. In his book 81 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 2: New Worlds for Old, he wrote, the anarchist world, I 82 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 2: admit is our dream. Socialism is the preparation for that 83 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 2: higher anarchism. Painfully, laboriously, we mean to destroy false ideas 84 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 2: of property and self, eliminate unjust laws and poisonous and 85 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 2: hateful suggestions and prejudices, create a system of social right 86 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 2: dealing and a tradition of right feeling and action. Socialism 87 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 2: is the school room of true and noble anarchism, wherein 88 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 2: by training and restraint, we shall make free men. That was, 89 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 2: of course, fifteen or so years after he wrote this 90 00:04:53,200 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 2: anarchist terrorist boogeyman's story, which i'll read to you now, 91 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 2: The Stolen Bacillus by H. G. Wells. This again, said 92 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 2: the bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope is 93 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: a preparation of the celebrated bacillis of cholera, the cholera germ. 94 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,919 Speaker 2: The pale faced man peered down the microscope. He was 95 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 2: evidently not accustomed to that kind of thing, and held 96 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 2: a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. I see 97 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 2: very little, he said, Touch this screw, said the bacteriologist. 98 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 2: Perhaps the microscope is out of focus for you eyes 99 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 2: very so much. Just a fraction of a turn this 100 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 2: way or that. Ah, Now I see, said the visitor, 101 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 2: not so very much to see, after all, little streaks 102 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 2: and shreds of pink. Yet those little particles, those mere autonomies, 103 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 2: might multiply and devastate a city. Wonderful. He stood up, and, 104 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 2: releasing the glass slip from the microscope, held it in 105 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 2: his hands towards the window. Scarcely visible, he said, Scrutinizing 106 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:07,599 Speaker 2: the preparation, he hesitated, are these alive? Are they dangerous? Now? 107 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 2: Those have been stained and killed, said the bacteriologist. I wish, 108 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 2: for my own part, we could kill and stain every 109 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 2: one of them in the universe. I suppose. The pale 110 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 2: man said, with a slight smile, that you scarcely care 111 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 2: to have such things about you in the living, in 112 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 2: the active state. On the contrary, we are obliged to, 113 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 2: said the bacteriologist. Here, for instance, he walked across the 114 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 2: room and took up one of several sealed tubes. Here 115 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 2: is the living thing. This is the cultivation of the 116 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 2: actual living disease bacteria, he hesitated, bottled cholera, so to speak. 117 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 2: Also obliged is me? I am obliged to cut to 118 00:06:49,120 --> 00:07:08,039 Speaker 2: ads and we're back. A slight gleam of satisfaction appeared 119 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 2: momentarily in the face of the pale man. It's a 120 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 2: deadly thing to have in your possession, he said, devouring 121 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 2: the little tube with his eyes. The bacteriologist watched the 122 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 2: morbid pleasure in his visitor's expression. This man, who had 123 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 2: visited him that afternoon with a note of introduction from 124 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 2: an old friend, interested him from the very contrast of 125 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 2: their dispositions. The lank black hair and deep gray eyes, 126 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 2: the haggard expression and nervous manner, the fitful yet keen 127 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 2: interest of his visitor. Where a novel change from the 128 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 2: phlegmatic deliberations of the ordinary scientific worker with whom the 129 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 2: bacteriologists chiefly associated. It was perhaps natural with a hearer 130 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 2: evidently so impressionable to the lethal nature of his topic, 131 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 2: to take the most effective aspect of the matter. He 132 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 2: held the tube in his hand thoughtfully, Yes, here is 133 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 2: the pestilence imprisoned. Only break such a little tube as 134 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 2: this into a supply of drinking water. Say to these 135 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 2: minute particles of life that one must needs stain and 136 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 2: examine with the highest powers of the microscope even to see, 137 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 2: and that one can neither smell nor taste, Say to them. 138 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 2: Go forth, increase and multiply and replenish the cisterns, and death, mysterious, 139 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 2: untraceable death, death, swift and terrible death, full of pain 140 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 2: and indignity, would be released upon this city, and go 141 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 2: hither and thither seeking his victims. Here he would take 142 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 2: the husband from his wife, hear the child from its mother, 143 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 2: hear the statesman from his duty, and hear the toiler 144 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 2: from his trouble. He would follow the water mains, creeping 145 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 2: along streets, picking out and punishing a house here and 146 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,679 Speaker 2: a house there where they did not boil their drinking water, 147 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 2: Creeping into the wells of the mineral water makers, getting 148 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 2: washed into salad and line dormant in ices. He would wait, 149 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 2: ready to be drunk in horse troughs and by unwary 150 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:11,440 Speaker 2: children in the public fountains. He would soak into the 151 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 2: soil to reappear in springs and wells at a thousand 152 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 2: unexpected places. Once start him at the water supply, and 153 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 2: before we could ring him in and catch him again, 154 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 2: he would have decimated the metropolis. He stopped abruptly. He 155 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 2: had been told rhetoric was his weakness. But he is 156 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 2: quite safe here, you know. Quite safe. The pale faced 157 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 2: man nodded, his eyes shone. He cleared his throat. These 158 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:47,079 Speaker 2: anarchist rascals, said, he are fools, blind, fools to use 159 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 2: bombs when this kind of thing is attainable. I think 160 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 2: a gentle rap. A mere light of the touch of 161 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 2: fingernails was heard at the door. The bacteriologist opened it 162 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 2: just a minute, dear, whispered his wife. When he re 163 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 2: entered the laboratory, his visitor was looking at his watch. 164 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 2: I had no idea. I wasted an hour of your time, 165 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 2: he said, twelve minutes to four. I ought to have 166 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 2: left here at half past three, but your things were 167 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 2: really too interesting. No, positively, I cannot stop a moment longer. 168 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 2: I have an engagement. At four. He passed out of 169 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 2: the room, reiterating his thanks, and the bacteriologist accompanied him 170 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 2: to the door. Then returned thoughtfully along the passage to 171 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 2: his laboratory. He was musing on the ethnology of his visitor. 172 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 2: Certainly the man was not a Teutonic type, nor a 173 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 2: common Latin one. A morbid product. Anyhow, I'm afraid, said 174 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 2: the bacteriologist to himself. How he gloated on those cultivations 175 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 2: of diseased germs. A disturbing thought struck him. He turned 176 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 2: to the bench by the vapor bath, and then very 177 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 2: quickly to his writing table. Then he felt hastily in 178 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 2: his pockets. Then he rushed to the door. I may 179 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 2: have put it down on the hall table, he said, Minnie. 180 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 2: He shouted hoarsely in the hall. Yes, dear, came a 181 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 2: remote voice. Had I anything in my hand when I 182 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 2: spoke to you, dear? Just now pause? Nothing, dear, because 183 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:20,960 Speaker 2: I remember blue ruin, cried the bacteriologist, and incontinently ran 184 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 2: to the front door and down the steps of his 185 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 2: house to the street. Minnie, hearing the door slam, violently, 186 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 2: ran in alarm to the window. Down the street, a 187 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,199 Speaker 2: slender man was getting into a cab. The bacteriologist, hatless 188 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,200 Speaker 2: and in his carpet slippers, was running and gesticulating wildly 189 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 2: towards this group. One slipper came off, but he did 190 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,440 Speaker 2: not wait for it. He has gone mad, said Minnie. 191 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 2: It's that horrid science of his, and opening the window 192 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:54,520 Speaker 2: would have called after him. The slender man, suddenly glancing around, 193 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 2: seemed struck with the same idea of mental disorder. He 194 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,440 Speaker 2: pointed to the bacteriologist said something to the case cabman. 195 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 2: The apron of the cab slammed, the whip swished, the 196 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 2: horse's feet clattered, and in a moment the cab bacteriologist, 197 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 2: hotly in pursuit, had receded up the vista of the 198 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 2: roadway and disappeared round the corner. Minnie remained straining out 199 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 2: the window for a minute. Then she drew her head 200 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 2: back into the room again. She was dumbfounded. Of course, 201 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 2: he is eccentric, she meditated. But running about London in 202 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 2: the height of the season too in his socks. A 203 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 2: happy thought struck her. She hastily put her bonnet on, 204 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 2: seized her shoes, went into the hall, took down his 205 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,479 Speaker 2: hat and light overcoat from the pegs, emerged upon the doorstep, 206 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 2: and hailed a cab that opportunely crawled by. Drive me 207 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 2: up the road and round Havelock Crescent, and see if 208 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 2: we can find a gentleman running around in a velveteen 209 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 2: coat and no hat. Velveteen coat, ma'am. And no, at 210 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 2: very good, ma'am. And the cabman whipped up at once, 211 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,599 Speaker 2: in the most matter of fact way, as if he 212 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 2: drove to this address every day of his life, much 213 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 2: like you can every day of your life participate in 214 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 2: buying stuff from ads. Here they are, and we're back. 215 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 2: Some few minutes later, the little group of cabmen and 216 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 2: loafers that collects around the cabman's shelter at Haverstock Hill 217 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 2: were startled by the passing of a cab with a 218 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 2: ginger colored screw of a horse driven furiously. They were 219 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,679 Speaker 2: silent as it went by, then as it receded, that's 220 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 2: Airy X. What's he got? The writing is written out 221 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 2: like that, said the stout gentleman known as Old Toodles. 222 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 2: He's a using his whip. He is to rights, said 223 00:13:55,160 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 2: the ostler boy. Hello, said poor old Tommy Biles. There's 224 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 2: another blooming lunatic blowed. If there ain't it's Old George, 225 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 2: said Old Toodles. And he's driving a lunatic as you say, 226 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 2: Ain't he a clawing out the keb Wonder if he's 227 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 2: after Airy IX. The group round the cabman's shelter became 228 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 2: animated chorus, Go it, George, it's a race. You'll catch him. 229 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 2: Whip up. She's a goer, she is, said the ostler boy. 230 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 2: Strike me giddy, cry on Toodles. Sorry, I fucking can't. 231 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 2: It's written this way, and I can't do a British accent, 232 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 2: so I'm just trying to read it the way it's written. Here, 233 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 2: I'm a going to begin in a minute. Here's another coming. 234 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 2: If all the kebs in Hampston ain't gone mad this morning. 235 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 2: It's a field male this time, said the ostler boy. 236 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 2: She's a following him, said Old Toodles. Usually the other 237 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 2: way around. What she got in her hand looks like 238 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 2: I at fuck, what a bloomin lark. It is three 239 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 2: to one on Old George, said the ostler boy. Next 240 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 2: many went by in a perfect roar of applause. She 241 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 2: did not like it, but she felt that she was 242 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 2: doing her duty, and whirled on down Haverstock Hill and 243 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 2: Camden Town High Street, with her eyes ever intent on 244 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 2: the animated back of Old George, who was driving her 245 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 2: vagrant husband so incomprehensively away from her. The man in 246 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 2: the foremost cab sat crouched in the corner, his arms 247 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 2: tightly folded and the little tube that contained such vast 248 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 2: possibilities of destruction gripped in his hand. His mood was 249 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 2: a singular mixture of fear and exultation. Chiefly he was 250 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 2: afraid of being caught before he could accomplish his purpose. 251 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 2: But behind this was a vaguer but larger fear of 252 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 2: the awfulness of his crime. But his exultation far exceeded 253 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 2: his fear. No anarchist before him had ever approached this 254 00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 2: conception of his ravat show valiant. All those distinguished persons 255 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 2: whose fame he had envied dwindled into significance beside him. 256 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 2: He had only to make sure of the water supply 257 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 2: and break the little tube into a reservoir. How brilliantly 258 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 2: he had planned it, forged the letter of introduction, and 259 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 2: gotten into the laboratory. How brilliantly he had seized his opportunity. 260 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 2: The world should hear of him at last. All these 261 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 2: people had sneered at him, neglected him, preferred other people 262 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 2: to him, found his company undesirable, should consider him at 263 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 2: last death, death, death. They had always treated him as 264 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 2: a man of no importance. All the world had been 265 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 2: in a conspiracy to keep him under. He would teach them. Yet, 266 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 2: what it is to isolate a man? What was this 267 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 2: familiar street, Great Saint Andrew's Street? Of course, how fared 268 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 2: the chase, he craned out the cab. The bacteriologist was 269 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 2: scarcely fifty yards behind. That was bad, he would be 270 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,040 Speaker 2: caught and stopped. Yet he felt in his pocket for 271 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 2: money and found half a sovereign. This he thrust up 272 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 2: through the trap and the top of the cab into 273 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 2: the man's face. More, he shouted, if only we get away. 274 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 2: The money was snatched out of his hand. Right you are, 275 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 2: said the cabman, and the trap slammed, and the lash 276 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,440 Speaker 2: lay along the glistening side of the horse. The cab swayed, 277 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 2: and the anarchist, half standing under the trap, with the 278 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 2: hand containing the little glass tube upon the apron to 279 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 2: preserve his balance. He felt the brittle thing crack, and 280 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 2: the broken half of it rang upon the floor of 281 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 2: the cab. He fell back into the seat with a curse, 282 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 2: and stared dismally at the two or three drops of 283 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 2: moisture on the apron. He shuddered, Well, I suppose I 284 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 2: shall be the first phew. Anyhow, I shall be a martyr. 285 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 2: That's something. But it is a filthy death. Nevertheless, I 286 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:54,919 Speaker 2: wonder if it hurts as much as they say. Presently, 287 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 2: a thought occurred to him He groped between his feet. 288 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,160 Speaker 2: A little drop was still in the broken end the tube, 289 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 2: and he drank that to make sure. It was better 290 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 2: to make sure, at any rate he would not fail. 291 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 2: Then it dawned upon him that there was no further 292 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 2: need to escape the bacteriologist in Wellington Street. He told 293 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,879 Speaker 2: the cabman to stop and got out. He slipped on 294 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 2: the step. His head felt queer. It was rapid stuff, 295 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 2: this cholera poison. He waved his cabman out of existence, 296 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,199 Speaker 2: so to speak, and stood on the pavement with his 297 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 2: arm folded upon his breast, awaiting the arrival of the bacteriologist. 298 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 2: There was something tragic in his pose. The sense of 299 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:40,719 Speaker 2: imminent death gave him a certain dignity. He greeted his 300 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 2: pursuer with a defiant laugh. Vive la anarchy. You are 301 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 2: too late, my friend. I have drunk it. The cholera 302 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:54,679 Speaker 2: is abroad. The bacteriologist from his cab beamed curiously at 303 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 2: him through his spectacles. You have drunk it, an anarchist, 304 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 2: I see now. He was about to say something more, 305 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 2: and then checked himself. A smile hung in the corner 306 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 2: of his mouth. He opened the apron of his cab 307 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,919 Speaker 2: as if to descend, at which the anarchist waved him 308 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 2: a dramatic farewell and strode off towards Waterloo Bridge, carefully 309 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,160 Speaker 2: jostling his infected body against as many people as possible. 310 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,440 Speaker 2: The bacteriologist was so preoccupied with the vision of him 311 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 2: that he scarcely manifested the slightest surprise at the appearance 312 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 2: of many upon the pavement with his hat and shoes 313 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,359 Speaker 2: and overcoat. Very good of you to bring my things, 314 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 2: he said, and then remained lost in contemplation of the 315 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 2: receding figure of the anarchist. You had better get in, 316 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 2: he said, still staring. Minnie felt absolutely convinced now that 317 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 2: he was mad, and directed the cabman home on her 318 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 2: own responsibility. Put on my shoes, certainly, dear, said he, 319 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 2: as the cab began to turn and hid the strutting 320 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 2: black figure, now small in the distance, from his eyes. 321 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,440 Speaker 2: Then suddenly something grotesque struck him, and he laughed. Then 322 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:08,399 Speaker 2: he remarked, it is really very serious, though. You see 323 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 2: that man came to my house to see me, and 324 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,240 Speaker 2: he is an anarchist. No, don't faint, or I cannot 325 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 2: possibly tell you the rest. And I wanted to astonish him, 326 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,679 Speaker 2: not knowing he was an anarchist, and I took up 327 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 2: a cultivation of that new species of bacterium. I was 328 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 2: telling you of that infest and that I think cause 329 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 2: the blue patches upon various monkeys, And like a fool, 330 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 2: I said it was asiatic cholera. And he ran away 331 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 2: with it to poison the water of London. And he 332 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 2: certainly might have made things look blue for this civilized city. 333 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 2: And now he has swallowed it. Of course I cannot 334 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 2: say what will happen, but you know it turned that 335 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 2: kitten blue, and the three puppies and patches and the 336 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 2: sparrow bright blue. But the bother is I shall have 337 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 2: all the trouble and expense of preparing some more. Put 338 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,719 Speaker 2: on my coat on this hot day? Why because we 339 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,159 Speaker 2: might meet Missus Jabber. My dear Missus Jabber is not 340 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 2: a draft. But why should I wear a coat on 341 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 2: a hot day because of missus? Oh? Very well? The end? Okay, 342 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 2: I like this story because it's so trashy. It's like, 343 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 2: ahhe Wells is the father of science fiction, and this 344 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 2: is just like a vaguely racist, shitty, anti anarchist book. 345 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,199 Speaker 2: Like you know, He's like going on to try and 346 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,919 Speaker 2: be like that man who came in. He was like 347 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 2: the wrong kind of white. You know, he wasn't too tonic, 348 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 2: he wasn't you know, like he's like trying to play 349 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 2: what ethnicity is this man, because he's like weird and 350 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 2: can't be trusted, and he's like tall and lanky and evil, 351 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,640 Speaker 2: and he's also like a total insult right the anarchist 352 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 2: in this story, he's like everyone treated me wrong and 353 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,400 Speaker 2: I'm going to show them all. And that is not 354 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 2: that's not the anarchist vibe. I don't believe it was 355 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 2: the anarchist vibe back then either at all. But you know, 356 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 2: I mean, the story was written before HG. Wells's serious 357 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,480 Speaker 2: involvement in socialist politics. It was, like I've written, I think, 358 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 2: right before he joined the Fabian Society, and certainly you know, 359 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,679 Speaker 2: fifteen years before he was talking about how anarchism is 360 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 2: the goal of every socialist in very explicit terms. I 361 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 2: wasn't able to find him like reflecting on this story. 362 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 2: And I'd be really interested if anyone out there knows 363 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 2: what he thought about this story later, because it's so 364 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 2: bad it's entertaining. I hope you found it entertaining and 365 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 2: the little like trick ending at the end like oh, 366 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 2: just he's gonna turn blue. Well done, well done, HG Wells, 367 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:46,159 Speaker 2: You weird fucker. Men hate their wives. That is just 368 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,120 Speaker 2: like a thing throughout history. And that is why here 369 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 2: on this podcast we stand wife guys. And this is 370 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 2: not a wife guy story. This is all like I'm 371 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 2: thinking about saving all of London or whatever, and my 372 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 2: wife is only thinking about me looking weird in front 373 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 2: of the neighbors, because that's all women think about, even 374 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 2: though she's like on call for him at all times. 375 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,919 Speaker 2: Ith She Wells did not go on to treat women 376 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 2: with a He was not known for his fidelity in 377 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,800 Speaker 2: his marriages. Marriage I don't remember. He was with a 378 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 2: lot of people. I don't remember how many of them 379 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 2: married him. I reached the point where I'm out of 380 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,119 Speaker 2: things to say. I'll see you next week on another 381 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,359 Speaker 2: episode of Cool Zone Media book Club. And if you 382 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 2: want more from me about history, you can check out 383 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 2: cool People who Did Cool stuff. And if you want 384 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:43,640 Speaker 2: more from not me about dot history, you can check 385 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,320 Speaker 2: out it could happen here. Talk to you all soon. 386 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: It could happen here as a production of Cool Zone Media. 387 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 388 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,359 Speaker 1: cool zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 389 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts 390 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: you can find for it could happen here, Updated monthly 391 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 1: at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.