1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,239 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The Old West a 5 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: time of change and growth, of outlaws and renegades, gunfights 6 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: in the streets, and swift justice without all the red tape. 7 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: Disagreements were settled when they happened, and often the only 8 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: form of mediation required was a bullet. If the movies, 9 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: television shows, and video games we all experience are true, 10 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: the Old West was a time when laws meant less 11 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: than one's personal code of honor. If someone thought you 12 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: did them wrong, you made it right, or you died trying. 13 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: One man thought Robert had done them wrong during a 14 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: poker game in eighteen fifty eight. It had been in 15 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: San Francisco, just eight years after California joined the country 16 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: as a full fledged state. The city was growing out 17 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: from under the thumb of Mexico's rule and planting the 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: seeds of the San Francisco we know today. Originally nothing 19 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: more than a trading post for the West, San Francisco's 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: dirt roads had been paved over, and it's hills leveled 21 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: for new homes and businesses. One of those new businesses 22 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: happened to be a saloon. You'd recognize the scene immediately, 23 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: a dusty wooden floor, men in heavy jackets and tall hats, 24 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: all sitting around a table, drinking whiskey, and in one 25 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: dark corner, a game of cards with the stakes higher 26 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: than they'd ever been. Lose a hand, lose a shirt, 27 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: or maybe more. Robert Fallon had been playing for a 28 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: while with a group of men who nursed their beers 29 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: and down shots in between their hands. Some want a little, 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: some lost a little. But Robert had something about him, 31 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: a kind of aura that had skipped over the other players, 32 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: a kind of luck. But they didn't see it that way, 33 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: and they didn't take kindly to cheaters either. Actually, they 34 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 1: didn't take kindly to anyone winning who wasn't them. Robert 35 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,839 Speaker 1: had amassed a small fortune at his seat, about six 36 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: hundred dollars, and his companions thought something was amiss. Tired 37 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: of losing every hand, one man stood up and called 38 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: him out for cheating. Robert, surprised by the allegation, tried 39 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,919 Speaker 1: to explain he had done nothing wrong, but no one 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: wanted to hear it more excuses from a line cheat, 41 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: they figured, so they shot him before he'd had a 42 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: chance to prove his innocence. His opponents, not wanting to 43 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: stop a game for something as inconsequential as a dead cheater, 44 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: looked for someone else to take his place at the table. 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: The new player hunkered down in the dead man's seat, 46 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: and the table gifted him with the six hundred dollars 47 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: his predecessor had already won hand after hand, This new 48 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: young man seemed to display a similar break and of 49 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: luck as Roberts. He turned that six hundred dollars into 50 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: in no time, and just like before, his opponents weren't 51 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: very happy. But before anyone could pull a revolver from 52 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: their holster, the police burst into the saloon. Word had 53 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: traveled fast, and they were on the hunt for the 54 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: late Fallon's killer. They surveyed the scene and asked a 55 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,239 Speaker 1: few questions before telling the players that that six hundred 56 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: dollars that Robert had won should go to his next 57 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: of kin and not this new card player. The players 58 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: looked around, unsure of how to find Robert's family. They 59 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: didn't know anything about him, where he'd come from where 60 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: he was headed. All of it was a mystery. The 61 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: new player, however, this young man who had almost quadrupled 62 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: Robert's winnings that night, wanted to see whose money it 63 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: was that he'd taken. He looked down at the body 64 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: and got one good look at the face, and then 65 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: new the money had been his all along. Robert Fallon 66 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: had been killed that night, only to have his estranged 67 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: son take his place. The two hadn't spoken in seven years. 68 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: And that right there is what some might call the 69 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: luck of the draw. We're rarely in the right place 70 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: at the right time when it counts. On the eve 71 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: of a lottery drawing, we buy a ticket and hope 72 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: for the best, But it's always someone three states away 73 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: who bought their ticket before us, who wins the jackpots. 74 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: And there we are in the wrong place at the 75 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: wrong time. In the case of Michael Dick, carpenter and 76 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: father from Suffolk, England, he'd been right where he needed 77 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: to be at just the right time. He'd lost track 78 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: of his daughter. In the late nineties, he and his 79 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: wife had divorced, and after the papers had been signed, 80 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: she and their Lisa moved to Sudbury. They hadn't gone far, 81 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: maybe a handful of miles, but Michael somehow lost touch 82 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: with both of them. Ten years passed and Michael found 83 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: himself part of a new family with a new wife 84 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: and two daughters, but he never forgot about Lisa. She 85 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: crossed his mind every day. What was she learning in school? 86 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: What kind of food did she like? Was she happy? 87 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: Did she remember him? In the summer of two thousand seven, 88 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: Michael had had enough. He couldn't be content knowing his 89 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: daughter was out there somewhere without him. All he had 90 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: to go on was a general location and a father's 91 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: determination to make his family hole again. He and his 92 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: two daughters went door to door in search of Lisa, 93 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: but the effort proved too great for the three of them. 94 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: His next thought was to scour the local election records 95 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: for her name and information. Nothing. She was a ghost, 96 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,640 Speaker 1: and Michael was at the end of his rope. And 97 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,159 Speaker 1: then he got an idea, A long shot, really, but 98 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,239 Speaker 1: it was the only hard left for him to play. 99 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: He contacted a local reporter at the newspaper in Sudbury 100 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 1: and asked them to run a story about his efforts 101 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: in finding his daughter. Instead of them running all over 102 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: town looking for her. They'd let her come to them. 103 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: The reporter agreed and snapped a photo of Michael and 104 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: his two girls to run alongside the story. All he 105 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,920 Speaker 1: had to do now is wait. The article ran the 106 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,280 Speaker 1: next day, but neither Michael nor the reporter got a response. 107 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: Another day passed still nothing, and then days later the 108 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: phone rang. Lisa had found the story, well, her friends 109 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:40,359 Speaker 1: had found it, and they showed it to her. She 110 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: read through the piece and just knew she had to 111 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: get in touch. Lisa and her father met up that 112 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: evening to catch up on a decade's worth of lost time, 113 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: exchanging hugs and stories and share pictures of their lives 114 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: that had played out separately up to that point. But 115 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 1: amidst the tales of her upbringing and the photos of 116 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: her children, his instant grandchildren, as he'd like to call them, 117 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: was one other story, a story Michael wouldn't have believed 118 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: if he hadn't seen the proof for himself. When her 119 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: friends showed her the article in the Sudbury newspaper, something 120 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: immediately stood out to her about the photograph they printed 121 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: above it. There was her father, older and with less 122 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: hair than she remembered, with his arms around her half sisters. 123 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: Lisa didn't know them, but she did know one other 124 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: person in the photo. She hadn't expected to see herself. 125 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: When the reporter had snapped the picture, they had also 126 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: caught Lisa in the background, pushing one of her children 127 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: along in a stroller, yards away from her father and 128 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: half sisters. What's more, she had moved out of Sudbury 129 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: a long time ago and had only been there in 130 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: the city for a single day to visit her mother. 131 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: That picture of Lisa and her father was a one 132 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: in a million shot. Michael may not have won the 133 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: lottery that day, but both he and his daughter had 134 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: been in just the right place at just the right time, 135 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: and because of that, they want something a whole lot better. Family. 136 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 137 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 138 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 139 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 140 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 141 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 142 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 143 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: World of lore dot com, and until next time, stay curious.