1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: Paul Boyton was born in Dublin or Pittsburgh. Accounts differ, 7 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: but one thing everyone can agree on is that he 8 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: came into the world in eighteen forty eight. Boyton attended 9 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: college in Pennsylvania, but didn't have plans for a normal 10 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: job like a lawyer or a doctor. When he was 11 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: only fifteen, he enlisted with the Union Navy to fight 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: in the Civil War. Several years later, he even saw 13 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,280 Speaker 1: battle during the frame Go Prussian War. Perhaps it was 14 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: the sight of his wounded comrades, or maybe the navies 15 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: that he had served with just weren't keen on safety precautions. 16 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: Whatever the reason, Boyton came back home to the US, 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: where he started the United States Life Saving Surface. Their 18 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: mission was to help rescue shipwrecked sailors and their passengers, 19 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 1: with a branch in Atlantic City, New Jersey headed by 20 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: Boyton himself. He took his job very seriously too, and 21 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: quickly began coming up with new ideas on how to 22 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,039 Speaker 1: save more lives. He'd become fascinated with an invention by 23 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: a guy named Clark S. Merriman. It was called the 24 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: immersion suits, comprised of a rubber shirts and rubber pants 25 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:43,119 Speaker 1: that were cinched at the waist. Inside the suit were 26 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: tubes that could be blown into in order to inflate 27 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: a series of air pockets, making the wearer buoyant. But 28 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: the immersion suit inflated, a person could float on their 29 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: back and paddle themselves to safety. And Boyton knew that 30 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: if there were more of these suits in circulation, he 31 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: could protect more peace. He began promoting the immersion suit 32 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: wherever he could, and there was no better way to 33 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: do so than to demonstrate it to the public. He 34 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,519 Speaker 1: started paddling himself along a number of rivers in both 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: the United States and Europe, hitching himself to a small 36 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: boat that carried tools and items that he needed to 37 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: stay afloat, and the people loved him for it. They 38 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: would gather along the river banks to watch him go 39 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: by celebrating his floating feats of fancy. But to really 40 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: sell the utility of Merriman's invention, Boyton needed to go 41 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: beyond simple river based exhibitions. He decided that he would 42 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: board a ship in New York City headed for Europe. 43 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: When he was a few hundred miles off shore, he 44 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: was going to jump over the side, wearing the immersion 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: suit and paddle back to land. Unfortunately, his grand scheme 46 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: sounded way too dangerous to every captain he spoke to, 47 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: so he took a different route. Instead, he snuck aboard 48 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: a ship. It was a passenger ship to Ireland that 49 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: Boyton had boarded using a disguise. With his plan in motion, 50 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: he donned the immersion suit and waited until the ship 51 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: was far enough away from the coastline to make his jump, 52 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: and then he was caught. The crew stepped in, stopping 53 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: him from killing himself while they were still in US waters, 54 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: but they gave him the option of carrying on with 55 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: his stunt once they reached Ireland. Boyton agreed to wait. 56 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: He leapt overboard just as the ship was in sight 57 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: of the Irish coast, and despite nearly getting killed by 58 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: a passing storm, Paul Boyton successfully paddled his way back 59 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: to land. His miraculous journey made him a celebrity and 60 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: earned him a speaking opportunity in Cork. From there, he 61 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: started performing other impressive stunts using his special rubber suit. 62 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: For example, in May of eighteen seventy five, he crossed 63 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: the English Channel in only twenty four hours. That same year, 64 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: he traveled over four hundred miles along Europe's Rhine River. 65 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy six, he returned to the States to 66 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: go from Alton, Illinois to Saint Louis, Missouri, paddling his 67 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: body down the Mighty Mississippi. He sailed hundreds of miles 68 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: and spent dozens of hours in the water with only 69 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: his immersion suit and a paddle to help him, which 70 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: took him from a local hero to a full fledged 71 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: international celebrity, and he loved the spotlights. There's no doubt 72 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: about that. He even used his fame to bolster others 73 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: to superstardom, although not everyone fared well under his guidance. 74 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: Robert Odlam sadly died after jumping from the Brooklyn Bridge 75 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: in an effort to prove that people did not die 76 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: from falling, only from landing. And Boyton had been the 77 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: one to encourage him to perform the stunt in the 78 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,280 Speaker 1: first place. When Odlam's sister tried to bring Boyton to 79 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: justice for his role in her brother's death, he silenced 80 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: her by threatening a lawsuit of slander. After the tragic 81 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: loss of Robert Odlam, Boyton performed with P. T. Barnum's 82 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: circus for a while before moving to Chicago in the 83 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: late eighteen eighties, and in eighteen ninety four he opened 84 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: the country's first permanent amusement park. It was the first 85 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 1: of its kind and even established the idea of an 86 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: entry fee, where visitors would pay a set price to 87 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: access all the rides and attractions within them parks borders. 88 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: Paul Boyton was a complicated man, one who was never 89 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: comfortable sitting still. He accomplished quite a lot in his 90 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: seventy plus years on earth, and for his efforts he 91 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: was forever remembered by a nickname, the Fearless Frogman. Apple 92 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: founder Steve Jobs once said, innovation distinguishes between a leader 93 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: and a follower. To make a splash in a marketplace, 94 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: you need to come up with something new, something big 95 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: and bold, a statement that will not only wow potential buyers, 96 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: but also make them remember your name. In the realm 97 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: of communication, several inventions stand out. The computer, the internet, 98 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: and the cell phone probably come to most people's minds. 99 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,119 Speaker 1: But before those, we had the telephone, you know, the 100 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: thing with numbers on it that we used to have 101 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: to plug into our wall. Then before that was the telegraph. 102 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: It was two English inventors who first brought the telegraph 103 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: to the masses in eighteen thirty seven. Their names were 104 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: William Cook and Charles Wheatstone, and their patent led to 105 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: the proliferation of entire infrastructures based around telegraph communication. Their 106 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: machine used electrical currents to move a series of metallic 107 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: needles in specific directions. These needles were mounted on a 108 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: diamond shaped grid of letters. One needle was used to 109 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: convey one set of letters, while two more were used 110 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: to convey a second set. Their patent was based on 111 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,159 Speaker 1: a five needle array, but a four needle system was 112 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: soon installed along a London rail line between Euston and 113 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 1: Camden Town stations. Their invention was a success and led 114 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: to other types of telegraphs, even other methods of conveying 115 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: signals across transmission lines. For example, Samuel Morris's electromagnetic telegraph 116 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: set messages over a wire in much the same way 117 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: as Cook's in Wheatstone's machine, except Morris's corresponding code allowed 118 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,720 Speaker 1: operators to send those messages much more or quickly by 119 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: using dots and dashes to represent the letters of the 120 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: alphabet instead. Telegraph operators on maritime vessels like the Titanic 121 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: trained for years to learn the ins and outs of 122 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: Morse code. They would send the dits and das wirelessly 123 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: over a range of about three hundred miles. This technology 124 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: lasted until the end of World War One, but prior 125 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: to that. Around eighteen sixty five, one man came forward 126 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: with a new idea. He was raising money for an 127 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: invention of his own design, one that would bridge the 128 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: gap between long distances with more than just dots and dashes. 129 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: He wanted users of his groundbreaking device to hear each 130 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: other on the other end of the line. According to 131 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: a Boston newspaper article from that year, this entrepreneur's new 132 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: invention would convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires. 133 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: He called this miracle of modern engineering a telephone, a 134 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: name that capitalized on the success of its predecessor, the telegraph. 135 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: But the press was skeptical. After all, small electrical pulses 136 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: were one thing, but could the sound of a person's 137 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: voice really be carried over a wire the same way. Well, 138 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: reporters weren't the only ones who thought the whole thing 139 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: sounded fishy. So did the people this inventor was hitting 140 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 1: up for money. He needed to fund the development of 141 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: his device, but lacked the capital to do so, and 142 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: at the time, his dream sounded exactly like that, just 143 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 1: a dream. As a result, his fundraising efforts were cut 144 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: short by the police, who arrested him for trying to swindle, 145 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: as the papers put it back then, ignorant and superstitious 146 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: people out of their hard earned money. Oh and this 147 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: man's name was not Alexander Graham Bell. Bell's telephone wouldn't 148 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,200 Speaker 1: come out for another eleven years. The person who had 149 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: just gone to jail for scheming innocent people out of 150 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:47,599 Speaker 1: money for his telephone was named Joshua Coppersmith. But the 151 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: question remains. Was he really just a con man trying 152 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: to make a quick buck like Harold Hill selling the 153 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: Boys Marching Band and the music Man, or was he 154 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: an inventor ahead of his time seeking to bring the 155 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: world a way to communicate across oceans, a full decade 156 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: before Bell's own telephone would be unveiled. Almost nothing is 157 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: known about Joshua Coppersmith other than this one story, and 158 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: so we're left to speculate as to what really happened. 159 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,199 Speaker 1: But it does bring another Steve Jobs quote to mind, 160 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: one that's been attributed to Pablo Picasso. It goes good 161 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: artist copy great artists, Steele Well, Joshua Coppersmith wasn't much 162 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: of an artist, but he was an even lousier thief. 163 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 164 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 165 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 166 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 167 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,320 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 168 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 169 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 170 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: World of Loret. Come and until next time, stay curious. MHM.