WEBVTT - New York Doctors' Riot 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:13.205 School of humans. Nowadays, if someone tells you you got 0:00:13.205 --> 0:00:19.365 a snatched bod, that means you're looking fit, you're looking swell. Me. 0:00:19.685 --> 0:00:22.885 I was pretty snatched in twenty twenty three, but now 0:00:22.885 --> 0:00:25.085 I'm looking a little bit more released, if you know 0:00:25.125 --> 0:00:30.525 what I'm saying. Yeah, I'm getting fayat. But back in 0:00:30.565 --> 0:00:34.045 the olden days, a snatched body was actually no good. 0:00:35.285 --> 0:00:38.685 What that meant was that your dead ass corpse got 0:00:38.725 --> 0:00:43.765 snatched out of the ground. Yeah, that meant somebody, a 0:00:43.885 --> 0:00:46.885 body snatcher had taken you out of the ground for 0:00:47.005 --> 0:00:50.125 their own fun and games. And by fun and games, 0:00:50.485 --> 0:01:03.245 I of course mean their medical education. Ooh, spooky music. Yes, 0:01:03.365 --> 0:01:07.765 body snatchers were huge in the eighteenth century, and even 0:01:07.805 --> 0:01:12.005 before that, medical students and teachers thought they didn't have 0:01:12.045 --> 0:01:16.805 any other options. People weren't donating their bodies to science 0:01:16.845 --> 0:01:20.885 when they died because you know, Christianity and stuff like that. 0:01:22.285 --> 0:01:25.525 And people were so afraid of their bodies getting snatched 0:01:26.045 --> 0:01:28.685 that those who could afford it would buy traps around 0:01:28.685 --> 0:01:33.845 their graves or have people on cemetery patrol. But the 0:01:33.925 --> 0:01:37.725 men of science believed they were entitled to these bodies, 0:01:38.725 --> 0:01:42.045 since they weren't just forwarding their own education, but also 0:01:42.085 --> 0:01:46.725 the education of mankind. They need to learn the secrets 0:01:46.765 --> 0:01:49.805 of the body, and one way to do that was 0:01:49.845 --> 0:01:52.045 to get up in the guts of a dead person. 0:01:53.845 --> 0:01:59.045 But the body snatchers, well, sometimes they snatched too close 0:01:59.085 --> 0:02:02.205 to the sun. And that's what happened in New York 0:02:02.245 --> 0:02:07.685 City in seventeen eighty eight. Bodies were getting snatched that 0:02:07.765 --> 0:02:10.325 the citizens of the city decided it was time for 0:02:10.405 --> 0:02:14.285 those doctors to get a little snatched themselves. 0:02:15.365 --> 0:02:16.645 Cue the theme song. 0:02:22.565 --> 0:02:25.685 This is American filth and I'm Gabby Watts. Every week 0:02:25.725 --> 0:02:30.005 I tell you a filthy story from American history. Today's 0:02:30.045 --> 0:02:39.965 episode the seventeen eighty eight doctors riot be de Beniti 0:02:40.405 --> 0:02:48.085 be be Beta, Betta beta beta, but a bettada. Really, guys, 0:02:48.125 --> 0:02:51.045 I always sing the theme song because again one guy 0:02:51.285 --> 0:02:53.365 emailed me one time and said, I like when you 0:02:53.445 --> 0:02:57.245 sing it, so now I sing it even more. Really, 0:02:57.285 --> 0:03:00.445 I'll do anything. Just give me a suggestion. I'll put 0:03:00.485 --> 0:03:06.885 it into the next show. In the seventeen eighties in 0:03:06.965 --> 0:03:10.325 New York City, a lot of his body snatching was 0:03:10.365 --> 0:03:16.925 going on. It was also called resurrecting spooky. Some of 0:03:16.965 --> 0:03:20.925 the snatchers were medical students at Columbia College, which was 0:03:20.965 --> 0:03:23.645 the only school of medicine in the city at the time. 0:03:25.365 --> 0:03:29.805 These young lads started their medical education around age fifteen, 0:03:30.645 --> 0:03:32.845 and they liked to walk around the city in their 0:03:32.885 --> 0:03:37.605 little suits, wreaking of entitlement and bragging about their body 0:03:37.645 --> 0:03:43.485 snatching ways. Many of them were encouraged to body snatch 0:03:43.565 --> 0:03:48.805 by their professor, Charles McKnight. McKnight was a big surgeon 0:03:48.845 --> 0:03:51.965 at the time, and in class he would complain about 0:03:51.965 --> 0:03:56.285 the lack of cadavers at their disposal. He's like, it's 0:03:56.325 --> 0:04:00.685 so hard to find a body these days, especially since 0:04:00.685 --> 0:04:04.445 it's illegal to just take dead bodies off the street. Ugh. 0:04:05.885 --> 0:04:07.845 Back in my day, you could just find a dead 0:04:07.885 --> 0:04:12.125 poor person and do whatever you wanted. And so McKnight 0:04:12.125 --> 0:04:15.205 would complain like this in his classes, being like, hint, hint, boys, 0:04:16.005 --> 0:04:18.205 go get your shovels and bring back a body for 0:04:18.325 --> 0:04:24.405 us to dissect and defile. Columbia College was by several 0:04:24.485 --> 0:04:28.605 cemeteries by the city border, and that's where these students 0:04:28.605 --> 0:04:32.485 did a lot of their looting, and city officials didn't 0:04:32.525 --> 0:04:39.045 stop them because these particular cemeteries entombed the bodies of 0:04:39.085 --> 0:04:43.325 black people, meaning when the living relatives of the deceased 0:04:43.405 --> 0:04:48.245 complained to city officials, their complaints weren't taken seriously or 0:04:48.285 --> 0:04:52.805 even hurt. A group of freedmen even addressed the Common 0:04:52.885 --> 0:04:56.445 Council in early seventeen eighty eight, being like, can you 0:04:56.485 --> 0:04:59.925 please stop these dumbass medical students from taking the bodies 0:04:59.925 --> 0:05:03.885 of our loved ones in such a horrible way like 0:05:03.965 --> 0:05:07.085 in this petition. They weren't even asking for bodies snatching 0:05:07.125 --> 0:05:11.165 to stop, just to stop it being conducted so terribly. 0:05:12.205 --> 0:05:16.165 The petition said, under the cover of night, they dig 0:05:16.285 --> 0:05:19.565 up bodies of our deceased friends and relatives, carrying them 0:05:19.605 --> 0:05:23.925 away without respect for age or sex. Your petitioners are 0:05:23.965 --> 0:05:27.085 well aware of the necessity of physicians and surgeons consulting 0:05:27.165 --> 0:05:28.485 dead subjects. 0:05:28.085 --> 0:05:29.445 For the benefit of mankind. 0:05:30.125 --> 0:05:32.765 Your petitioners do not presuppose it as an injury to 0:05:32.805 --> 0:05:35.525 the deceased, and will not be adverse to di section 0:05:35.845 --> 0:05:40.245 in particular circumstances, that is, if it is conducted with 0:05:40.285 --> 0:05:43.525 the decency and propriety which the solemnity of such an 0:05:43.565 --> 0:05:53.445 occasion requires. Unfortunately, this petition was ignored, so instead they 0:05:53.525 --> 0:05:56.405 organized patrols to make sure these medical students wouldn't dig 0:05:56.485 --> 0:05:59.925 up any more of their loved ones, and when medical 0:05:59.965 --> 0:06:02.965 students couldn't do their body snatching there, they moved on 0:06:03.005 --> 0:06:12.405 to the cemeteries of poor white people. Another doctor in 0:06:12.445 --> 0:06:17.285 the city was Richard Bailey. He wasn't associated with Columbia College, 0:06:17.805 --> 0:06:20.125 and he was known around the town as a real 0:06:20.365 --> 0:06:24.165 sick oh. There were rumors that he had hacked up 0:06:24.245 --> 0:06:27.085 people who were still alive, the poor and the sick, 0:06:27.605 --> 0:06:32.045 and would do experiments on them. But Bailey was talented, 0:06:32.485 --> 0:06:35.485 so he and his apprentices were allowed to do their work. 0:06:35.325 --> 0:06:39.205 At New York Hospital. Isn't that great? How if you're 0:06:39.205 --> 0:06:40.285 good at something. 0:06:40.005 --> 0:06:44.845 People will just let you do whatever you want. Well. 0:06:44.965 --> 0:06:47.805 New York Hospital was also close to these cemeteries that 0:06:47.885 --> 0:06:52.165 buried black and poor people, so Bailey's apprentices would snatch 0:06:52.245 --> 0:06:56.645 bodies from there as well. In the winter of seventeen 0:06:56.725 --> 0:07:01.645 eighty eight, body statching had reached a climax. Stealing bodies 0:07:01.645 --> 0:07:04.365 in the winter was most common because the cold meant 0:07:04.445 --> 0:07:08.525 that the bodies didn't composes quickly, and these medical students 0:07:08.565 --> 0:07:12.565 were being careless, just taking bodies willy nilly, not even 0:07:12.605 --> 0:07:14.925 covering their tracks or closing the graves. 0:07:14.925 --> 0:07:16.805 When they were done. 0:07:16.885 --> 0:07:18.765 I mean, that doesn't make it any better, but at 0:07:18.805 --> 0:07:21.005 least they could have tried to be better thieves. 0:07:21.205 --> 0:07:22.965 That just shows how entitled they were. 0:07:24.565 --> 0:07:28.005 And then it started affecting well to do white people. 0:07:29.165 --> 0:07:31.965 On February twenty first, seventeen eighty eight, a story ran 0:07:32.005 --> 0:07:35.365 about a white lady's body getting snatched from Trinity's cemetery, 0:07:36.405 --> 0:07:39.125 and with that, more and more people started getting on 0:07:39.165 --> 0:07:41.765 board with the costs of stopping these. 0:07:41.605 --> 0:07:43.045 Good for nothing doctors. 0:07:45.605 --> 0:07:49.005 There are some discrepancies in the sources about what exactly 0:07:49.125 --> 0:07:52.645 happened next, but what we do know is that in 0:07:52.765 --> 0:07:54.165 April seventeen. 0:07:53.725 --> 0:07:56.525 Eighty eight, there was a riot. 0:07:59.165 --> 0:08:02.205 So let's take a look at one source again. Are 0:08:02.205 --> 0:08:07.005 you guys enjoying this creepy music? This letter was from 0:08:07.005 --> 0:08:10.045 a retired colonel who had been sent from Virginia to 0:08:10.125 --> 0:08:12.805 New York on business, and he wrote a letter to 0:08:12.845 --> 0:08:16.925 the governor of Virginia about what was going on. So 0:08:17.045 --> 0:08:19.205 this is what he said about it, and I condensed 0:08:19.245 --> 0:08:21.645 it a bit because his sentences. 0:08:21.085 --> 0:08:21.925 Were very long. 0:08:23.285 --> 0:08:26.405 People have been loudly complaining about the young students of 0:08:26.485 --> 0:08:31.285 medicine for their very frequent and wanton trespasses in the 0:08:31.325 --> 0:08:34.645 burial grounds of this city. The corpse of a young 0:08:34.685 --> 0:08:38.525 gentleman from the West Indies was recently taken, the grave 0:08:38.685 --> 0:08:43.205 left open and the funeral clothing scattered about. A very 0:08:43.245 --> 0:08:46.445 handsome and much esteemed young lady of good connections was 0:08:46.525 --> 0:08:50.565 also recently carried off. These, with various other acts of 0:08:50.565 --> 0:08:55.485 a similar kind, inflamed the minds of people exceedingly, and 0:08:55.525 --> 0:08:57.925 the young members of the faculty, as well as the 0:08:57.965 --> 0:09:03.565 cemeteries have been closely watched. Last Sunday, as some people 0:09:03.605 --> 0:09:07.165 were strolling by the hospital, he discovered something hanging up 0:09:07.205 --> 0:09:11.565 at one of the windows, which excited their curiosity, and 0:09:11.605 --> 0:09:15.405 making use of a stick to satisfy that curiosity, part 0:09:15.445 --> 0:09:18.885 of a man's arm or leg tumbled out upon them. 0:09:22.685 --> 0:09:26.405 That's right, some people were having a nice leisurely Sunday 0:09:27.445 --> 0:09:31.285 when a man's arm or leg fell on them. And 0:09:31.365 --> 0:09:33.925 I imagine it's pretty shocking, just in the middle of 0:09:33.965 --> 0:09:38.405 April to have an arm fall on you. It wasn't Halloween, 0:09:38.445 --> 0:09:41.325 it's not even seasonal to have something spooky like that happen. 0:09:42.445 --> 0:09:46.885 Another account makes this story even more grim. This came 0:09:46.925 --> 0:09:50.805 from an eighteen seventy three book by historian Thomas Hedley. 0:09:51.285 --> 0:09:53.605 The book is called The Great Riots of New York, 0:09:54.485 --> 0:09:57.285 And honestly, what he says makes sense that people were 0:09:57.405 --> 0:10:04.725 rioting because this is freaky deeky. He said that Richard Bailey, 0:10:04.925 --> 0:10:08.445 that doctor who was known for being particularly gruesome, was 0:10:08.525 --> 0:10:11.765 dissecting a body at the hospital with a team of 0:10:11.765 --> 0:10:15.085 his apprentices and students. One of the students was this 0:10:15.165 --> 0:10:20.165 little brat named John Hicks. Remember him, He sucks. Apparently 0:10:20.205 --> 0:10:23.925 some children were outside climbing a tree when they peered 0:10:23.965 --> 0:10:26.845 into the hospital room where they were doing a dissection. 0:10:28.165 --> 0:10:31.405 They were dissecting an arm, and when John Hicks, that 0:10:31.565 --> 0:10:35.085 stupilil idiot, saw the children, he probably thought he was 0:10:35.125 --> 0:10:38.685 being absolutely hilarious. He picked up the arm and waved 0:10:38.685 --> 0:10:43.485 it at the kids, haha. And then he said to 0:10:43.525 --> 0:10:46.125 one of the kids that this arm belonged to that 0:10:46.365 --> 0:10:48.645 kid's recently deceased mom. 0:10:51.165 --> 0:10:52.125 Isn't that messed up? 0:10:53.565 --> 0:10:55.765 Like? I don't know if John Hicks was a good 0:10:55.845 --> 0:10:59.005 medical student at this point, but he definitely wasn't gonna 0:10:59.005 --> 0:11:00.245 make it as a humorist. 0:11:00.485 --> 0:11:01.685 It's like read the room. 0:11:02.365 --> 0:11:05.165 A kid doesn't want to see their recently deceased mom's 0:11:05.205 --> 0:11:10.125 dism membered arm. Comedy equals tragedy plus time, and hardly 0:11:10.165 --> 0:11:11.765 anytime had elapsed. 0:11:12.645 --> 0:11:13.765 This guy's bad at math. 0:11:15.045 --> 0:11:17.845 And of course this account is unbelievable because how did 0:11:17.885 --> 0:11:19.765 John Hicks know that this was the arm of that 0:11:19.885 --> 0:11:23.165 kid's mom. It was New York in seventeen eighty eight, 0:11:23.165 --> 0:11:26.085 it's a bump in town. How would he know everybody 0:11:26.085 --> 0:11:28.285 who lives there? There was like twenty five thousand people. 0:11:29.845 --> 0:11:32.525 But if this was true, that kid obviously was very 0:11:32.645 --> 0:11:35.245 upset and ran home and told his dad what happened. 0:11:35.925 --> 0:11:38.725 Then his dad rushed the cemetery to find his late 0:11:38.805 --> 0:11:43.725 wife's coffin empty. And then this dad assembled a group 0:11:43.725 --> 0:11:49.125 of concerned citizens and they marched to the hospital. There 0:11:49.445 --> 0:11:52.205 a mob was forming, and they were ready to fuck 0:11:52.325 --> 0:11:56.725 some shit up. Be right back after these soothing advertisements. 0:12:02.525 --> 0:12:06.645 On Sunday, April thirteenth, seventeen eighty eight, a mob assembled 0:12:06.685 --> 0:12:10.725 outside of New York Hospital, and they were thirsty for vengeance. 0:12:12.205 --> 0:12:15.925 Too long had these entitled medical students and doctors ravaged 0:12:15.965 --> 0:12:19.365 their cemeteries. Now it was time to snatch the bodies 0:12:19.405 --> 0:12:24.485 of these body snatchers. According to the Virginia Colonel's Letter, 0:12:24.685 --> 0:12:28.405 the mob started ransacking the hospital, and as. 0:12:28.285 --> 0:12:31.445 They went they only got more and more enraged. He wrote. 0:12:32.165 --> 0:12:35.965 In the anatomy room they found three fresh bodies, one 0:12:36.085 --> 0:12:39.365 boiling in a kettle, and two others cut up, with 0:12:39.445 --> 0:12:42.165 certain parts of the two sexes hanging up in a 0:12:42.205 --> 0:12:47.125 most brutal position. These circumstances, together with the wanton and 0:12:47.205 --> 0:12:51.885 apparent inhuman complexion of the room, exasperated the mob beyond 0:12:51.925 --> 0:12:55.525 all bounds, to the total destruction of every anatomy in 0:12:55.565 --> 0:12:59.005 the hospital, one of which was of so much value 0:12:59.045 --> 0:13:03.645 and utility that it is justly esteemed a great public loss, 0:13:03.685 --> 0:13:06.365 having been prepared in a way which much time and 0:13:06.365 --> 0:13:11.645 attention and requires great skill to accomplish. 0:13:11.805 --> 0:13:13.405 That aside, is very funny to me. 0:13:13.805 --> 0:13:16.845 Uh the He's like, well, actually that was very valuable. 0:13:16.845 --> 0:13:21.565 Why are they destroying property property over people? Heath is 0:13:21.605 --> 0:13:24.645 just like, you know, even though these doctors aren't behaving morally, 0:13:25.085 --> 0:13:28.045 they are very good at pickling body parts. We shouldn't 0:13:28.045 --> 0:13:34.085 destroy everything. But the mob wasn't just there to destroy property. 0:13:34.485 --> 0:13:36.525 They were also after blood. 0:13:37.245 --> 0:13:38.245 Heath continued. 0:13:39.885 --> 0:13:43.925 Vengeance was denounced against the faculty in general, but more 0:13:43.965 --> 0:13:48.805 particularly against certain individuals. Not a man of the profession 0:13:48.845 --> 0:13:52.845 thought himself safe. An innocent person got beat and abused 0:13:52.845 --> 0:13:56.645 for being only dressed in black. Two of the young 0:13:56.765 --> 0:13:59.765 tribe were unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. 0:14:01.925 --> 0:14:03.845 Oh yes, this moment was dramatic. 0:14:04.765 --> 0:14:06.885 At this point, most of the doctors of the city 0:14:06.925 --> 0:14:10.725 had gone into hiding to escape the mob. No one's 0:14:10.805 --> 0:14:14.685 sure where exactly Richard Bailey went, but John Hicks had 0:14:14.685 --> 0:14:17.605 scadaddled into the care of a surgeon who had served 0:14:17.645 --> 0:14:21.805 in the Continental Army at this man's house. Hicks allegedly 0:14:21.925 --> 0:14:27.245 hid in the chimney, but Bailey's other assistants weren't so lucky. 0:14:27.805 --> 0:14:29.925 Some of them had stayed behind to try to guard 0:14:29.925 --> 0:14:34.005 the specimens. But unfortunately for these nerds, the mob got 0:14:34.005 --> 0:14:36.445 their hands on those specimens and took them outside and 0:14:36.485 --> 0:14:40.645 burned them. And then the mob dragged out the young doctors, 0:14:41.245 --> 0:14:46.685 ready to get their collective revenge. But before anything happened 0:14:46.685 --> 0:14:50.205 to them, the mayor, James Duane thrusted his way through 0:14:50.245 --> 0:14:52.885 the crowd and was like, hey, mob, I'm taking these 0:14:52.885 --> 0:14:54.005 boys down to jail. 0:14:54.045 --> 0:14:55.565 Okay there. 0:14:55.685 --> 0:14:59.525 They can't dissect anyone's loved ones, they can't snatch anybodies. 0:15:00.165 --> 0:15:03.445 They can't wave any dead corpse arms at children. Okay, 0:15:03.525 --> 0:15:06.525 I'm going to take them to jail. The mob was 0:15:06.565 --> 0:15:10.045 still enraged but permitted him to take them. And really, 0:15:10.125 --> 0:15:12.805 Dwayne wasn't taking them to jail for the mob's sake, 0:15:12.885 --> 0:15:15.605 but for the doctors. He was like, the mob can't 0:15:15.685 --> 0:15:24.605 kill them if they're protected by a jail cell. The 0:15:24.645 --> 0:15:28.325 next morning, officials thought the riot was over, but oh no, 0:15:29.285 --> 0:15:33.525 the citizens of New York City couldn't be stopped. Hundreds 0:15:33.525 --> 0:15:36.925 of rioters flooded into the streets searching for John Hicks, 0:15:37.325 --> 0:15:42.005 who started this whole mess by being bad at comedy. 0:15:43.005 --> 0:15:45.485 Some of the members of the mob marched to Columbia 0:15:45.565 --> 0:15:49.525 College and Alexander Hamilton arrived himself at the scene to 0:15:49.565 --> 0:15:52.565 try to calm them down, but the mob was like, 0:15:52.645 --> 0:15:54.605 fuck you, Alexander Hamilton, get out. 0:15:54.525 --> 0:15:56.365 Of the way. Who the heck do you think you are? 0:15:57.285 --> 0:15:59.765 And Alexander Hamilton was like, well, they're gonna make a 0:15:59.805 --> 0:16:02.925 musical about me one day, so I'm super important. But 0:16:03.045 --> 0:16:06.565 the mob marched past him looking for dice sected bodies. 0:16:07.845 --> 0:16:10.165 The students, though, had gotten rid of all of their 0:16:10.205 --> 0:16:14.205 cadavers the night before, and the mob was like shit, 0:16:14.325 --> 0:16:18.805 we can't find anything that justifies our crusade. But that 0:16:18.845 --> 0:16:21.965 didn't stop them. They had another place they could go. 0:16:24.885 --> 0:16:27.805 Some accounts say there are two thousand people, others say 0:16:27.885 --> 0:16:32.485 five thousand. But all these people assembled at the jail 0:16:32.925 --> 0:16:36.005 where the mayor had sent those doctors and medical students, 0:16:37.165 --> 0:16:43.005 and the mob began to attack. Heath described it rather condescendingly. 0:16:43.285 --> 0:16:47.485 He said, they commenced their attack with all that intemperance 0:16:47.525 --> 0:16:50.605 and folly, whichever marks the conduct of people assembled in 0:16:50.685 --> 0:16:54.485 that way, vainly endeavoring to break in when they could 0:16:54.525 --> 0:16:57.245 do nothing more than break windows, which they will be 0:16:57.405 --> 0:17:02.405 taxed to repair. Heath is like, why are you fighting? 0:17:02.445 --> 0:17:03.085 This is stupid. 0:17:03.165 --> 0:17:05.485 You're just destroying property and then you're gonna be tacked 0:17:05.645 --> 0:17:06.285 to repair that. 0:17:06.365 --> 0:17:14.765 You guys are dumb. Uh property, I love property. Uh. 0:17:15.045 --> 0:17:17.845 When it was clear that the mob wasn't going to disperse, 0:17:18.765 --> 0:17:25.005 the governor finally got involved. Governor George Clinton was like, ugh, 0:17:25.045 --> 0:17:28.525 I hope this gets resolved organically, but alas he had 0:17:28.525 --> 0:17:31.485 to do his job and call in the militia. At 0:17:31.525 --> 0:17:34.325 first he told the militiaman he was like, don't shoot, 0:17:35.085 --> 0:17:37.125 Let's just try to get them to disperse. 0:17:37.285 --> 0:17:39.205 Let's try to get them to chill the fuck. 0:17:38.965 --> 0:17:46.005 Out, Okay, But then the rioters started attacking the prominent 0:17:46.125 --> 0:17:49.485 people assembled who were there to try to quell the attack. 0:17:50.965 --> 0:17:53.965 Founding Father John Jay was there and he got hit 0:17:54.005 --> 0:17:57.325 with a rock in his head and collapsed. And then 0:17:57.565 --> 0:18:00.685 our gay ass General Baron von Steuben was also there 0:18:00.765 --> 0:18:04.885 and also got hit by a rock. Of course, that 0:18:04.965 --> 0:18:08.045 is according to the official record written by people who win, 0:18:08.205 --> 0:18:10.405 and the winners in this case or the government, and 0:18:10.485 --> 0:18:11.685 the government was there to quella. 0:18:11.805 --> 0:18:13.925 Right. Did the rioters really throw rocks. 0:18:13.685 --> 0:18:16.085 At them or did they incite something first? 0:18:16.405 --> 0:18:16.925 Who knows. 0:18:18.405 --> 0:18:20.965 But there's this guy, William Deer, who was seven years 0:18:21.005 --> 0:18:23.685 old when all this was going down. He later wrote 0:18:23.685 --> 0:18:25.325 a book about the whole event, and this is what 0:18:25.365 --> 0:18:29.045 he said. He said, the Baron Steuben was struck by 0:18:29.045 --> 0:18:31.845 a stone, which knocked him down, inflicted a flesh rune 0:18:31.885 --> 0:18:34.605 upon his forehead, and brought a sudden change in the 0:18:34.645 --> 0:18:37.085 compassionate feelings he had previously. 0:18:36.725 --> 0:18:37.925 Entertained towards the mop. 0:18:38.805 --> 0:18:41.885 At the moment of receiving it, he was earnestly talking 0:18:41.925 --> 0:18:44.845 to the governor about not ordering the militia to fire 0:18:44.925 --> 0:18:47.445 on the people, But as soon as he was struck, 0:18:47.845 --> 0:18:51.365 the baron's benevolence deserted him, and as he fell he 0:18:51.565 --> 0:18:59.965 lustily cried out, fire, governor, Fire, So indeed the militia 0:19:00.245 --> 0:19:12.005 started shooting the rioters. Twenty people ended up dying, mostly 0:19:12.085 --> 0:19:16.965 citizens and three members of the militia per time. Doctors 0:19:17.005 --> 0:19:18.725 didn't know if John Jay would survive. 0:19:20.045 --> 0:19:22.885 They were like, his brain is injured. His brain is injured. No, 0:19:24.125 --> 0:19:27.045 but don't worry. He was fine, and Steuben he was 0:19:27.085 --> 0:19:28.485 completely fine. 0:19:30.485 --> 0:19:36.565 After this, the riot simmered down, but the people weren't done. 0:19:36.605 --> 0:19:39.685 The city had become anti doctor. Over the course of 0:19:39.725 --> 0:19:44.885 the riot, newspapers stopped running ads for medical schools. More 0:19:44.925 --> 0:19:49.525 groups formed patrol cemeteries to defend against the body snatchers. 0:19:51.085 --> 0:19:53.685 Some of the students were brought to court, but nothing happened, 0:19:54.565 --> 0:19:58.685 and Richard Bailey he published a public notice being like, hey, 0:19:59.325 --> 0:20:02.765 I actually never stole bodies inside of New York City. 0:20:03.365 --> 0:20:04.765 You guys are crazy for real. 0:20:05.845 --> 0:20:08.605 But that was him being sneaky, because yeah, technically he 0:20:08.645 --> 0:20:11.525 didn't rob from cemeteries inside the city. Most of the 0:20:11.565 --> 0:20:15.765 cemeteries were technically outside of the city. Isn't he a 0:20:15.845 --> 0:20:21.845 clever little goose. One good thing that happened for the 0:20:21.885 --> 0:20:25.805 citizens of New York City is that the authorities were 0:20:25.885 --> 0:20:30.685 finally ready to make space for people whose relatives are 0:20:30.685 --> 0:20:34.645 being dug up. They were finally listening a little bit, 0:20:35.525 --> 0:20:39.445 and a year after the riot, they passed legislation specifically 0:20:39.525 --> 0:20:42.645 quote an Act to prevent the odious practice of digging 0:20:42.725 --> 0:20:45.525 up and removing for the purpose of dissection, dead bodies 0:20:45.525 --> 0:20:49.725 interred in cemeteries or burial places. But they all knew 0:20:49.725 --> 0:20:54.165 these little doctors wouldn't stop, so for them, they passed 0:20:54.165 --> 0:20:57.645 some other legislation. They're like, hey, maybe instead of digging 0:20:57.725 --> 0:21:01.205 up nice dead citizens, we'll just give you the bodies 0:21:01.205 --> 0:21:06.525 of executed criminals, Okay, Like if someone's executed for arson 0:21:06.845 --> 0:21:09.645 or for burglary or for murder, you can just have 0:21:09.805 --> 0:21:12.645 their body and do whatever you want with it, Okay, 0:21:13.485 --> 0:21:15.685 And that kind of works, But there still weren't enough 0:21:15.765 --> 0:21:19.285 criminals who are being executed. So the body snatchers they 0:21:19.325 --> 0:21:22.325 just had to be more discreet, you know, they covered 0:21:22.325 --> 0:21:26.805 their tracks, they were subtle, and body snatching continued well 0:21:26.845 --> 0:21:30.685 into the nineteenth century. 0:21:31.725 --> 0:21:32.405 And while I. 0:21:32.405 --> 0:21:36.125 Kind of want to hate Richard Bailey forever, I can't, 0:21:36.405 --> 0:21:39.365 because during his medical career he did a lot of 0:21:39.405 --> 0:21:40.645 good things for New York City. 0:21:40.685 --> 0:21:41.805 He improved sanitation. 0:21:42.765 --> 0:21:45.205 He also did a lot of research. 0:21:44.765 --> 0:21:45.725 On yellow fever. 0:21:46.485 --> 0:21:50.125 He figured out how to quarantine people effectively and how 0:21:50.165 --> 0:21:52.685 to stop the spread. And then he died of yellow 0:21:52.685 --> 0:21:57.285 fever in eighteen oh one. As for John Hicks, that 0:21:57.325 --> 0:22:00.565 little bitch who hid in this chimney, he eventually finished 0:22:00.565 --> 0:22:06.205 his medical training and became a doctor, but in seventeen 0:22:06.285 --> 0:22:10.565 ninety seven he was involved in another public scandal. He 0:22:10.645 --> 0:22:13.005 and his students had dissected a corpse of a man 0:22:13.005 --> 0:22:16.165 who had been hanged for murder, and in a public notice, 0:22:16.245 --> 0:22:18.525 Hicks was like, we did it in a discreet and 0:22:18.685 --> 0:22:22.925 secret manner, even though it was actually in an anatomical theater. 0:22:23.085 --> 0:22:25.645 So I guess a discreet theater. Who knows. 0:22:27.165 --> 0:22:30.565 The problem was that the students who were supposed to 0:22:30.565 --> 0:22:34.165 dispose of the body did so incorrectly. They were supposed 0:22:34.165 --> 0:22:36.685 to put all the body parts in a sack and 0:22:36.765 --> 0:22:39.205 throw it in the river with stones so it'd sink 0:22:39.245 --> 0:22:41.805 to the bottom, but they forgot to put the stones 0:22:41.805 --> 0:22:44.405 in there, so the sack just washed up, and some 0:22:44.445 --> 0:22:48.525 people found it a bit of a shock, just some 0:22:48.605 --> 0:22:55.285 dismembered body parts, and so Hicks had to publicly apologize, Hey, 0:22:55.325 --> 0:22:57.165 sorry about those body parts, just. 0:22:58.645 --> 0:22:59.285 Willy nilly. 0:23:00.765 --> 0:23:04.365 And in the next year, in seventeen ninety eight, John 0:23:04.445 --> 0:23:14.965 Hicks also died of yellow fever. Every episode of American 0:23:14.965 --> 0:23:17.045 Filth we learn a lesson, and I think the lesson 0:23:17.085 --> 0:23:22.885 here is sometimes it's inappropriate to joke around, right, you know, 0:23:23.045 --> 0:23:24.085 especially in front of. 0:23:24.005 --> 0:23:25.885 A child who just lost their mother. 0:23:26.045 --> 0:23:28.805 You know, perhaps don't take the mother's body part and 0:23:28.885 --> 0:23:30.125 wave it at the child. 0:23:30.685 --> 0:23:31.725 It's not a good joke. 0:23:33.285 --> 0:23:36.005 That being said, people probably would have found another reason 0:23:36.005 --> 0:23:39.965 to write anyway, because guys, if you're gonna take someone's body, ask, 0:23:40.885 --> 0:23:44.685 ask before you take. That's like a simple thing. Some 0:23:44.725 --> 0:23:46.325 of the people of New York were like, yeah, it's fine. 0:23:46.365 --> 0:23:48.565 If you want to dissect bodies, just ask before you 0:23:48.765 --> 0:23:52.925 do it. So if you want to dissect someone's body, 0:23:53.765 --> 0:23:54.885 all you gotta do is ask. 0:23:55.485 --> 0:23:56.565 I mean, I think you have to do a lot 0:23:56.605 --> 0:24:01.645 more at this point, but whatever. Queue the credits. 0:24:06.885 --> 0:24:09.125 American Filth is a production of School of Humans and 0:24:09.165 --> 0:24:12.365 iHeart Podcasts. This episode was produced, edited hosted. 0:24:12.005 --> 0:24:13.045 By me Gabby Watts. 0:24:13.085 --> 0:24:15.125 Our theme song is by Jesse Niswanger. 0:24:15.405 --> 0:24:17.445 Virginia Prescott, Brandon Baughr. 0:24:17.525 --> 0:24:20.605 Or Elisie Crowley are executive producers. You can follow along 0:24:20.605 --> 0:24:23.685 with the show on Instagram at American filth Pod, and 0:24:23.765 --> 0:24:26.685 make sure you give the show a review some stars, 0:24:26.805 --> 0:24:29.405 even the bad reviews. We love to see it, We 0:24:29.485 --> 0:24:31.725 love feedback. Do we follow the feedback? 0:24:31.805 --> 0:24:32.605 Sometimes? 0:24:32.645 --> 0:24:33.045 Do we not? 0:24:33.245 --> 0:24:33.965 Most of the time? 0:24:34.085 --> 0:24:34.325 Yes? 0:24:35.325 --> 0:24:35.845 Who knows? 0:24:36.205 --> 0:24:39.245 But please help us out and we'll be back next 0:24:39.285 --> 0:24:42.285 time with even more phil phil filthy phil filth. 0:24:42.365 --> 0:24:53.205 Bye talking next time. School of Humans