Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Eduard de
Speaker 1: Laboulay had long been one of America's most impassioned supporters.
Speaker 1: Considered one of the most notable political thinkers of his time,
Speaker 1: he fully endorsed the idea that people were born with
Speaker 1: the right to freedom and spent his life working toward
Speaker 1: democratic rule instead of monarchy. After the American Civil War
Speaker 1: ended in eighteen sixty five, Edward wanted to show his
Speaker 1: appreciation for Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution. During a meeting
Speaker 1: with his fellow countrymen, he proposed that the people of
Speaker 1: France should send America a gift, a symbol of their
Speaker 1: newly cemented ideology of freedom and democracy. He hoped the
Speaker 1: gesture wouldn't be lost on the people of France and
Speaker 1: that they too might embrace democracy. It took some time
Speaker 1: before France approved his suggestion. In September of eighteen seventy five,
Speaker 1: Edward announced his idea had become a reality, with the
Speaker 1: French public financing the project. Sculptor Frederic August Bortoldi would
Speaker 1: create a magnificent bronze statue representing America Project Liberty Enlightening
Speaker 1: the World had commenced. In eighty three, Emma Lazarus wrote
Speaker 1: the poem The New Colossus to raise money from the
Speaker 1: American public for the statue of Liberty's pedestal. To this day,
Speaker 1: one line stands out perhaps the most. Give me. You're tired,
Speaker 1: your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The
Speaker 1: Roman goddess Libertas served as the model for the neo
Speaker 1: classical sculpture torch held high in one hand, the other
Speaker 1: would hold a tablet in Roman numerals for July four,
Speaker 1: seventeen seven d six. After another eleven years, the project
Speaker 1: was finished. On October eighteen eighty six. President Grover Cleveland
Speaker 1: watched as bands from all over America took part in
Speaker 1: a parade for the statues dedication. Later that evening, the
Speaker 1: torch was lit, shining over New York Harbor. While America
Speaker 1: had seemingly united, the rest of the world struggled with
Speaker 1: their own internal wars, revolutions, and upheavals. Seeing the New
Speaker 1: World as a safe haven, citizens across Europe began to
Speaker 1: flee their homelands. Many saw America as a place to
Speaker 1: rebuild their shattered lives. As letters returned home with tales
Speaker 1: of opportunities for a better life, more people left their
Speaker 1: homelands and made their way to New York's Ellis Island.
Speaker 1: The first immigrant to pass through the station was seventeen
Speaker 1: year old Annie Moore from Cork, Ireland. She and her
Speaker 1: two brothers were among the seven hundred people who arrived
Speaker 1: on the station's opening day, January first, eight nine two.
Speaker 1: By the year's end, the station had processed over four
Speaker 1: hundred thousand immigrants. From eighteen ninety two to nineteen twenty four,
Speaker 1: it's estimated that over twelve million immigrants arrived at Alis Island.
Speaker 1: In an attempt to keep up with the flow, the
Speaker 1: state built a medical facility to house the sick and
Speaker 1: the quarantine. Those who passed a physical were sent to
Speaker 1: stand in processing lines. While most were accepted, about one
Speaker 1: percent of all immigrants failed health exams or didn't have
Speaker 1: the appropriate paperwork and were deported. And there are countless
Speaker 1: success stories from those who have sailed past the Statue
Speaker 1: of Liberty and made it through Ellis Island. Bob Hope,
Speaker 1: Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, carry Grant Houdini, and my own
Speaker 1: great grandparents, among others. While Edward's original message had been
Speaker 1: for freedom and liberty, the statue became a symbol to
Speaker 1: all who sailed on immigrant ships. She became the official greeter,
Speaker 1: a welcoming mother image to all. Lazarus's famous poem quickly
Speaker 1: became synonymous with immigration. Though established immigrants sometimes met incoming family,
Speaker 1: others were on their own. Upon his arrival, one lone
Speaker 1: immigrants stared at Lady Liberty moved to tears as though
Speaker 1: he were talking to a person. He stood on the
Speaker 1: deck of his ship and pulled Liberty. How beautiful she
Speaker 1: was for welcoming so many foreigners with open arms. As
Speaker 1: the ship continued past, he asked for just one thing,
Speaker 1: the opportunity to prove himself worthy, to do good and
Speaker 1: be someone in America. To him and others who no
Speaker 1: longer felt welcome or safe in their homelands, Liberty became
Speaker 1: the mother of exiles. America gave them a fresh start
Speaker 1: a new life, and for many it was. For some,
Speaker 1: though the sight of Lady Liberty would be the last
Speaker 1: welcome they'd receive. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, Welcome to American shadows.
Speaker 1: He never talked about why had been sent to America
Speaker 1: when he turned thirteen. The practice wasn't uncommon, though, parents
Speaker 1: often sent their children to America in hopes for a
Speaker 1: better life. For Georgio so Do and his older brother,
Speaker 1: poverty in Sardinia, Italy was likely to blame. In eight
Speaker 1: he and his brother arrived at Alice Island. It was
Speaker 1: an error known as the Great Arrival, the term used
Speaker 1: to describe the influx of Italian immigrants. From eighteen seventy
Speaker 1: six to nineteen twenty three million left Italy due to war, poverty, violence, disease,
Speaker 1: and natural disasters. The new government in Sicily had no
Speaker 1: means to give aid to their people. Word traveled to
Speaker 1: the region of American prosperity, and labor recruiters promised work.
Speaker 1: Some left Italy only to return later. For them, the
Speaker 1: American dream had been anything but the cost of transatlantic
Speaker 1: travel had become more affordable, but for many families that
Speaker 1: only managed to save enough to buy one or two tickets,
Speaker 1: separating some families forever. The so Do brothers traveled in
Speaker 1: the steerage class, the poorest section of the ship. First
Speaker 1: class passengers weren't subjected to the inspection required of second
Speaker 1: and steerage class. As they could afford a first class ticket,
Speaker 1: they were seen as less of a financial and health risk,
Speaker 1: though any ill or sick passenger was sent for further
Speaker 1: inspection or quarantine. The conditions in the steerage class were
Speaker 1: crowded and unsanitary. These passengers were subjected to a more
Speaker 1: thorough inspection to prevent spreading contagious disease, though doctors sometimes
Speaker 1: spent as little as six seconds on any given individual. Afterward,
Speaker 1: the passenger's paperwork was inspected for one reason or another.
Speaker 1: Georgio was cleared, but his brother boarded a ship heading
Speaker 1: back to Italy, leaving his younger brother alone in a
Speaker 1: new country. Sadly, he never heard from his brother or
Speaker 1: his family again. At a young age, Georgio was on
Speaker 1: his own. He found work carrying supplies and water to
Speaker 1: railroad workers. When he was old enough to drive, he
Speaker 1: took a job as a driver in West Virginia. Sadly,
Speaker 1: many saw Italians as lazy, unethical, and as cheap labor.
Speaker 1: Georgio proved otherwise. He worked tirelessly, was exceptionally smart and
Speaker 1: highly ambitious. Eventually he changed his name to George Sodder
Speaker 1: to become more Americanized. His hard work paid off after
Speaker 1: a few years, and he started his own trucking company,
Speaker 1: hauling dirt, eight and cole. After one long day of driving,
Speaker 1: George happened to walk into a local store called the
Speaker 1: Music Box. A young woman caught his eye. Jenny Cipriani,
Speaker 1: the shopkeeper's daughter, was also an Italian immigrant, having come
Speaker 1: over with her parents when she was just three years old.
Speaker 1: The two dated and soon wed. They settled down Fayetteville,
Speaker 1: West Virginia, in a two story frame home in a
Speaker 1: middle class neighborhood. Although not widely accepted due to their
Speaker 1: race and status as immigrants, the family found a home
Speaker 1: among other Italian families in the area. The small Appalachian
Speaker 1: community was close knit, and the Solder family soon became
Speaker 1: one of the most respected in the area. George finally
Speaker 1: felt it achieved the American dream. A lovely partner, his
Speaker 1: own company, a nice home in a middle class neighborhood.
Speaker 1: To add to their joy, they had a son, Joseph
Speaker 1: in Marian came after that in ninety eight, followed by John,
Speaker 1: George Junior, Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jenny, Betty, and finally Sylvia
Speaker 1: in Joseph had left home by the time the youngest
Speaker 1: of the Satter children were born, choosing to serve in
Speaker 1: the military during World War Two. The Sauters were proud
Speaker 1: of their son's service to their new country. George had
Speaker 1: a strong dislike of Benito Mussolini, who not only had
Speaker 1: risen to power after a but had embraced Hitler's philosophies.
Speaker 1: Because of Mussolini and those who supported him, some Americans
Speaker 1: believed Italians in the U S were a threat to
Speaker 1: national security. The Italian American community had become accustomed to
Speaker 1: threats and derovatory slurs. President Roosevelt signed executive orders allowing
Speaker 1: that enemy aliens suspected of terrorists or treasonous acts could
Speaker 1: be imprisoned, their homes or businesses ceased. They were forced
Speaker 1: to abide by a curfew from eight pm to six am,
Speaker 1: like the Japanese. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thousands
Speaker 1: of Italian Americans lost their homes and were either detained
Speaker 1: or deported. Other families endured government raids. No one of
Speaker 1: Italian descent was safe. Even Joe DiMaggio's family experienced continual
Speaker 1: harassment and threats of arrest. George had witnessed discrimination soon
Speaker 1: after arriving at Ellis Island, but had hoped that over
Speaker 1: time things would get better. He had done everything possible
Speaker 1: to fit in and dispel stereotypes. To him, Mussolini was
Speaker 1: not only a monster, but had also set back any
Speaker 1: progress Italian Americans had made, and he remained quite vocally
Speaker 1: opinionated about that. Finally, the curfew ended in the next year.
Speaker 1: Mussolini was removed from power and imprisoned, but German forces
Speaker 1: freed him. Mussolini served under Hitler, creating the Italian Social Republic,
Speaker 1: which led to the extermination of countless Jewish people living
Speaker 1: in the region. George wasn't shy about his immense dislike
Speaker 1: of Mussolini, a sentiment most of his fellow Italian immigrants shared. Some, however,
Speaker 1: showed fierce loyalty to their homeland's former prime minister, dividing
Speaker 1: the once unified community. Even after Mussolini's execution in nineteen
Speaker 1: forty five, his staunch loyalists defended him, sometimes violently. In
Speaker 1: late October of nineteen forty five, a life insurance salesman
Speaker 1: solicited the Sodder household. George recognized the man as a
Speaker 1: Mussolini supporter and sent him on his way. As you
Speaker 1: might guess, the salesman didn't take the rejection well. In
Speaker 1: a fit of anger, the salesman told the Sodders that
Speaker 1: their house would catch fire. More ominously, though, he uttered
Speaker 1: another warning, your children are going to be destroyed. You'll
Speaker 1: pay for dirty remarks you've been making about Mussolini. George
Speaker 1: watched the man storm away. He dismissed the threats as
Speaker 1: nothing more than pettiness. Like his fellow citizens had also
Speaker 1: become accustomed to harsh words and threats. Later, George would
Speaker 1: wish had taken the threat more seriously. Soon after the
Speaker 1: insurance salesman's visit, George found a man wandering around the backyard.
Speaker 1: The man claimed he was only looking for work, that
Speaker 1: maybe he could haul coal. After learning there weren't any openings,
Speaker 1: the man pointed to the fuse boxes and said this
Speaker 1: is going to cause a fire someday. What a strange comment,
Speaker 1: George thought, as the man walked away. Just days before,
Speaker 1: he and Jenny had had a new stove installed and
Speaker 1: the power company checked all the wiring that assured them
Speaker 1: everything was in perf picked working order. Odd occurrences like
Speaker 1: these tapered off by the beginning of December, but just
Speaker 1: before Christmas, John and George Junior saw a man they
Speaker 1: didn't know sitting in a car they didn't recognize off
Speaker 1: of Highway twenty one near the school. They might not
Speaker 1: have paid him too much attention, except that he seemed
Speaker 1: intently focused on their younger siblings. But the men didn't
Speaker 1: get out of the car and he didn't follow them home,
Speaker 1: so the boys let the matter go. The family had
Speaker 1: forgotten about the threats. On Christmas Eve, they sat down
Speaker 1: to a special dinner later that evening. The younger children,
Speaker 1: excited by the tree lights and presents, begged to open
Speaker 1: just one gift. After each child opened a present, the
Speaker 1: younger children were sent to bed, while Marian helped with
Speaker 1: the dishes. Maurice and nine year old Lewis put the
Speaker 1: cows in and fed the chickens. Once all the children
Speaker 1: had gone to bed, George and Jenny set out the
Speaker 1: rest to the presence and called night. An hour or
Speaker 1: so later, a ringing phone woke Jenny from a sound
Speaker 1: sleep just after midnight. Worried it might be news about
Speaker 1: their eldest son, still away in the army, she hurried
Speaker 1: to the kitchen to answer. A woman on the other
Speaker 1: end asked for someone Jenny didn't know. In the background,
Speaker 1: china and glasses clinked and people laughed. Wrong number, Jenny said,
Speaker 1: and she hung up, relieved the caller had been a
Speaker 1: dinner guest somewhere and not the army calling with bad news.
Speaker 1: She was walking back to the bedroom when she noticed
Speaker 1: several lights were still on. Thinking one of them had
Speaker 1: forgotten to turn the lights out amid the celebration, she
Speaker 1: turned them off. As she reached the foot of the stairs,
Speaker 1: she noticed the curtains were open and the front door
Speaker 1: was unlocked. She breathed a sigh of relief that they
Speaker 1: lived in such a small, close knit community, locked the door,
Speaker 1: closed the curtains, and went back to bed. No sooner
Speaker 1: had she drifted to sleep than a loud bang woke her,
Speaker 1: followed by the sound of something rolling from the roof.
Speaker 1: She listened for a while in the dark, finally thinking
Speaker 1: should imagine the whole thing, She drifted back to sleep
Speaker 1: once more. An hour later, she awoke to a strong
Speaker 1: acrid smell and turned on the light. Ribbons of smoke
Speaker 1: swirled in from under the bedroom door, rising in dark
Speaker 1: gray wisps. She jumped out of bed, yelling fire. George
Speaker 1: scrambled out of bed. They had to warn the children.
Speaker 1: He threw the door open, only to find dense smoke
Speaker 1: had filled the hallway. Coughing, he shouted for the children
Speaker 1: to get out of the house. Doors flew open, shouts,
Speaker 1: and the echo of the children's footsteps filled the air.
Speaker 1: Jenny raced to little Sylvia's room, snatching the child from
Speaker 1: her bed, and hurried downstairs to get the baby out
Speaker 1: of the smoke. Marian and the two boys stood on
Speaker 1: the front lawn. George and Jenny changed panicked glances. Five
Speaker 1: children were still in the burning house. George tried to
Speaker 1: re enter through the front door. Flames had overtaken the stairwell.
Speaker 1: He shouted for the children, but none answered. Remembering the
Speaker 1: ladder at the side of the house, he raced around
Speaker 1: the corner to find it gone. A search of the
Speaker 1: back of the home on the other side turned up empty.
Speaker 1: The trucks he used to hull coal caught his eye.
Speaker 1: He had drive one of them around to the side
Speaker 1: of the house, stand on top, break the window and
Speaker 1: called to the children there. He raced back into the
Speaker 1: house through the kitchen, grabbed the keys, and jumped into
Speaker 1: one of the trucks. Though he tried several times, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't start. The frantic he tried the second truck, which
Speaker 1: also refused to start. Jenny went inside to try calling
Speaker 1: the fire department. The phone line was dead. Marion ran
Speaker 1: next door to call from there, but their phone line
Speaker 1: was also dead. The neighbor got in their car and
Speaker 1: sped to the nearest open tavern to call the fire chief.
Speaker 1: The two boys thought of the rain barrels, but the
Speaker 1: water had frozen. Horrified, the family clung together and cried.
Speaker 1: They were helpless to do anything to save Betty, Martha,
Speaker 1: Maurice Lewis, and little Jenny, who remained trapped somewhere inside.
Speaker 1: For forty five minutes. That early Christmas morning, the family
Speaker 1: stood outside, barefoot and coatless, watching their home burn, the
Speaker 1: fire department still nowhere in sight. Flames lapped at the house,
Speaker 1: burning through beams and posts, leaving nothing but charred timbers
Speaker 1: until the roof buckled and caved in. The house collapsed,
Speaker 1: and with it the sadders. That Christmas morning, five of
Speaker 1: their children were dead. At least that's what George and
Speaker 1: Jenny thought. By eight o'clock morning, the Solder home had
Speaker 1: been reduced to smoldering rubble and hot ash, and that's
Speaker 1: when the fire department showed up. We can't speak for
Speaker 1: George or Jenny, but we can only imagine the verbal
Speaker 1: exchange between them and the fire chief, One F. J. Morris.
Speaker 1: What we do know is that the chief claimed he
Speaker 1: had no idea how to drive the fire truck. He
Speaker 1: had been the chief for eight years and he wasn't
Speaker 1: the only firefighter on the force. Morris claimed he had
Speaker 1: called the other men and not one of them had
Speaker 1: responded until the morning. He told the grieving parents that
Speaker 1: it was a holiday Christmas after all. The fireman set
Speaker 1: to work posing down embers and began the search, if
Speaker 1: anyone could call it that for human remains. It was
Speaker 1: cursory at best. I suppose they didn't expect to find
Speaker 1: any survivors. Around ten am, Morris told the Sadders that
Speaker 1: they hadn't found any remain means, and he expected that
Speaker 1: the intensity of the fire had cremated their children. As
Speaker 1: the fireman packed up the trucks, he informed the Sawders
Speaker 1: to leave everything as it was. The fire Marshal would
Speaker 1: want to take a look. Five days later, when no
Speaker 1: one had showed up, George bulldozed the site. Neither he
Speaker 1: nor Jenny could look at it anymore. Jenny wanted a
Speaker 1: flower garden a memorial to her children, and he intended
Speaker 1: to give it to her. Investigators arrived days later, and,
Speaker 1: after briefly questioning the family and neighbors, determined faulty wiring
Speaker 1: was to blame. The local paper ran the story, first
Speaker 1: claiming the bodies had been found, then contradicting themselves and
Speaker 1: saying that no remains had been found. After all, the
Speaker 1: sawders were too grief stricken to notice the stories even
Speaker 1: without a trace of remains. The death certificates for the
Speaker 1: five children came in on decemb January second nine. A
Speaker 1: service was held for the children and life continued. People
Speaker 1: paid their respects. A bus driver told Jenny that had
Speaker 1: seen something resembling fireballs landing on the roof of their
Speaker 1: house that night. Jenny recalled the banging noise and the
Speaker 1: sound of something rolling off the roof. Another woman claimed
Speaker 1: to have seen five children ride past her in a
Speaker 1: car that night, and even stranger, a waitress and a
Speaker 1: diner fifty miles away said she'd served breakfast to five
Speaker 1: kids that morning, but couldn't recall if it was two
Speaker 1: adults or four with them. Jenny told George about the sounds,
Speaker 1: and their sons told them about the strange man in
Speaker 1: the car who had been watching the younger children that
Speaker 1: day before Christmas. The Sauders started asking questions, especially why
Speaker 1: no one had found a single bone. After that night,
Speaker 1: the paper reported another fire where ellatons were found. The
Speaker 1: Sawders went to a nearby prematorium to ask why remains
Speaker 1: hadn't been found when their house had burned. The owner
Speaker 1: assured them that for the children to have been cremated,
Speaker 1: the heat inside would have had to have been a
Speaker 1: lot hotter than any house fire. Curious, Jenny experimented with
Speaker 1: chicken bones, burning them in an oven to determine if
Speaker 1: they had become ash within the forty five minutes it
Speaker 1: had taken their house to burn. Even at the highest temperature,
Speaker 1: the bones remained. More people reported seeing the children. A
Speaker 1: woman spotted them at a hotel in South Carolina with
Speaker 1: four adults. The Sawders went back to the chief of
Speaker 1: police and the fire department, demanding answers and a reopening
Speaker 1: of the investigation. Both refused. It didn't make sense to them.
Speaker 1: If there had been faulty wiring, why had the man
Speaker 1: installing the oven claimed everything was working perfectly. Of course,
Speaker 1: there was that man in the backyard that day and
Speaker 1: the threat from the insurance sales men. A telephone repairman
Speaker 1: told George the phone lines had been cut before the
Speaker 1: fire started. Jenny recalled the odd wrong number, and there
Speaker 1: were too many coincidences, too many odd things that didn't
Speaker 1: add up. And that was before the latter showed up
Speaker 1: miles away in a ditch. One of their daughters found
Speaker 1: an odd green ball of sorts in the backyard. George
Speaker 1: thought it might be some sort of bomb. Getting no
Speaker 1: help from local authorities, George wrote to the FBI. J
Speaker 1: Edgar Hoover wrote them personally, stating that he had send
Speaker 1: agents to assist, but needed permission from the Fayetteville Police first. Oddly,
Speaker 1: the chief refused. The Sauders knew something was wrong. What
Speaker 1: had happened to their children if they hadn't died in
Speaker 1: the fire. George recalled shouting for them, and not one
Speaker 1: of them had answered. Since the police wouldn't help, they
Speaker 1: hired a private investigator, One C. C. Tinsley. The more
Speaker 1: digging the investigator did, the more oddities he uncovered. The
Speaker 1: insurance salesman who had threatened George, a man named Russer Long,
Speaker 1: had also served as a juryman on the fire inquest panel,
Speaker 1: and perhaps oddest of all, fire Chief Morris claimed to
Speaker 1: not only have found a heart among the ashes, but
Speaker 1: that had also put it in a metal box and
Speaker 1: buried it. Apparently, the chief confessed to the local minister,
Speaker 1: who confirmed the story. Confronted with the information and a
Speaker 1: very angry father, the fire chief agreed to show them
Speaker 1: where he had buried the box. After recovering the box
Speaker 1: and looking inside, a mortician inspected the contents. He determined
Speaker 1: it was a beef liver, not a heart, not human,
Speaker 1: and it certainly hadn't been in any fire. George began
Speaker 1: to rethink the night that the salesman Long had threatened him.
Speaker 1: Despite telling the lease no one had followed up on
Speaker 1: the lead, and then Long participated in the inquest. But
Speaker 1: the more the Sauters thought about it, the more they
Speaker 1: believed the Mussolini supporting salesman hadn't acted alone. Tinsley learned
Speaker 1: that fire Chief Morris had worked as a bookkeeper for
Speaker 1: Fiorenzo John U Tolo, who had co signed a loan
Speaker 1: for George's trucking company. Equally suspicious, John U Tolo received
Speaker 1: a small payout from an insurance company after the fire,
Speaker 1: and there was another man on the jury who had
Speaker 1: been a suspect. Johnny Tolo's cousin Tinsley, found one more
Speaker 1: thing that the men had ties to the mafia. He
Speaker 1: suggested that the fire could have been started for any
Speaker 1: number of reasons, revenge, insurance money, or George's blatant dislike
Speaker 1: of Mussolini, but none of it answered the biggest question
Speaker 1: of all, what had happened to their children. Reports of
Speaker 1: sightings states away continued to pour in. George and Jenny
Speaker 1: began to really think their children hadn't died that night
Speaker 1: in the fire. Instead, someone had taken them and the
Speaker 1: fire had been a cover up. To Jenny, too many
Speaker 1: things pointed to kidnapping. They had learned it took a
Speaker 1: fire hotter than two thousand degrees to cremate a body.
Speaker 1: The older boys had seen a man watching the younger children.
Speaker 1: A woman saw five kids in the back of a
Speaker 1: car the night of the fire. The waitress who had
Speaker 1: served them breakfast were called one more detail Florida tacks,
Speaker 1: and there were more red flags. The woman at the
Speaker 1: hotel reported that the two adult couples with the children
Speaker 1: were also of Italian descent. When she had tried to
Speaker 1: talk to the children, the men became angry and began
Speaker 1: speaking loudly in Italian. Despite the sightings and the information
Speaker 1: Tinsley collected, the local officials determined the case closed. George
Speaker 1: and Jenny hired pathologist Oscar Hunter in the summer of
Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine. Upon excavation of the area, he uncovered
Speaker 1: a charred dictionary, coins, and a few bones. Hunter sent
Speaker 1: the fragments to the Smithsonian for testing. The bones were human,
Speaker 1: belonging to just one individual. They determined the age of
Speaker 1: the deceased to be between sixteen and seventeen years. That
Speaker 1: ruled out any of the missing soldered children. The report
Speaker 1: also concluded that the fragments had never been in a fire.
Speaker 1: In the end, Hunter determined that when George bulldozed the site,
Speaker 1: the earth had pushed over the area already contained the fragments.
Speaker 1: No one knows where the other bones originated from, though
Speaker 1: he suspected the nearby cemetery years later, a letter arrived
Speaker 1: stating that Martha had been spotted in a convent in St. Louis.
Speaker 1: A woman in New York sent the cover of a
Speaker 1: ballet magazine showing a young girl who looked exactly like Betty.
Speaker 1: When George trapped down the parents, they refused to allow
Speaker 1: him to see the girl. The Sawders never gave up.
Speaker 1: Without anything more to go on, they paid for a
Speaker 1: billboard on Root sixteen in West Virginia, with the children's
Speaker 1: photos and the offer of a cash reward. The billboard read,
Speaker 1: after thirty years, it is not too late to investigate.
Speaker 1: George Solder died in nineteen sixty nine. Jenny continued to
Speaker 1: live in the home they rebuilt on the property. She
Speaker 1: tended to the memorial garden for the rest of her life.
Speaker 1: When she passed away in nine the family finally took
Speaker 1: down the billboard. Except for John, every one of the
Speaker 1: Sadder children believed that their siblings survived that night, possibly
Speaker 1: even taken to Italy. The truth of what happened, though,
Speaker 1: remains a mystery, and after all this time, it's clear
Speaker 1: that while the children disappeared, something else took their place.
Speaker 1: Questions there's more to this story stick around after this
Speaker 1: brief sponsor break to hear all about it. His last
Speaker 1: childhood memory of his homeland was watching the house he
Speaker 1: had shared with his parents and seven siblings burned to
Speaker 1: the ground. The fire hadn't been accidental, no, it had
Speaker 1: been deliberately set in the families specifically targeted. You see,
Speaker 1: Israel known simply as Izzy, and his family lived in
Speaker 1: Russia during a dangerous time, the persecution and slaughter of
Speaker 1: Jewish people living in the country. Like many other Jewish families,
Speaker 1: the Bailin's had been apt intensely poor, often without proper
Speaker 1: food or heating for their meager home with a dirt floor.
Speaker 1: Two children had died from pneumonia. Now homeless, Moses and
Speaker 1: Leah knew that if they stayed, they risked their lives
Speaker 1: and those of their remaining children. They had escaped a
Speaker 1: fire designed to kill them, after all, But for the family,
Speaker 1: there was only one place to go, America. With a
Speaker 1: family of seven, and given they had fled with the
Speaker 1: clothes on their backs, the Balin's likely could only afford
Speaker 1: steering class. While the conditions weren't great, it wasn't too
Speaker 1: different from the conditions they had been forced to live
Speaker 1: in back in Russia. With papers in hands, they boarded
Speaker 1: the Red Star Line from Antwerp and on September four
Speaker 1: passed Lady Liberty en route to Ellis Island. Izzy and
Speaker 1: his siblings caught a cold during the trip and were
Speaker 1: kept at Ellis until doctors determined that they weren't contagious
Speaker 1: with something more nefarious. After a few days, they joined
Speaker 1: their parents in New York City, a place Izzie would
Speaker 1: live for the rest of his life. Putting the horrors
Speaker 1: of Russia behind them. America became their homeland and they
Speaker 1: changed their surname to Balin. Moses found a job in
Speaker 1: a kosher meat market and supplemented the family income by
Speaker 1: giving Hebrew lessons. The family moved into a three room
Speaker 1: tenement on Cherry Street. The children went to school, and
Speaker 1: life was good for the next eight years. Sadly, when
Speaker 1: Izzie was just thirteen, his father died of a heart attack.
Speaker 1: With their income gone, Izzie's mother became a midwife. The
Speaker 1: children left school and went to work. His sisters wrapped
Speaker 1: cigars while his brother labored in a clothing sweatshop. Izzie
Speaker 1: earned money selling papers on street corners for five cents
Speaker 1: a day. Each night, the children deposited their day's pay
Speaker 1: into their mother's apron before sitting down to eat. No
Speaker 1: matter the whether, Izzie stood on the corner selling papers,
Speaker 1: he didn't entirely mind. He had fallen for the sounds
Speaker 1: of the street musicians. Seeing people toss coins into the
Speaker 1: hats at their feet, Izzie began to sing some of
Speaker 1: those songs, which sold more papers. One evening, he confided
Speaker 1: to his mother that one day he knew he'd be
Speaker 1: a singing waiter in a New York saloon. Despite the
Speaker 1: extra income from singing, Izzie made the least amount of
Speaker 1: money of the family. Feeling worthless, he ran away, joining
Speaker 1: other young emigrants living in the Bowery. The conditions were deplorable.
Speaker 1: Without formal education or meaningful skills, Izzie sang to passers
Speaker 1: by for money. He learned which types of songs people
Speaker 1: loved the most. Discovering lyrics with simple sentiments paid better.
Speaker 1: By eighteen, he achieved his goal. As a singing waiter
Speaker 1: at the Pelham Cafe. He improved famous song is, often
Speaker 1: changing the words in tune, earning him praise and applause
Speaker 1: from his customers. In the evenings, he taught himself to
Speaker 1: play the bar's piano by ear he had no idea
Speaker 1: how to read sheet music. Together with the saloon's pianist,
Speaker 1: he wrote a song for which he earned thirty seven
Speaker 1: cents in royalties, the publisher crediting him as the writer
Speaker 1: spelled his name wrong. The misspelling and low earnings didn't
Speaker 1: phase him. He continued to alter songs and write new ones.
Speaker 1: One night, he altered the rhythm of a popular tune,
Speaker 1: and the entire saloon applauded wildly. By the time he
Speaker 1: turned twenty, Izzie took a better paying job as a
Speaker 1: singing waiter at a saloon and Union Square. From there,
Speaker 1: he landed a job with a production company in nineteen eleven.
Speaker 1: He became an instant celebrity on Tin Pan Alley and Broadway.
Speaker 1: His performances often brought in hundreds of fans. The crowds
Speaker 1: humbled him, and Izzie's sometimes cried tears of joy as
Speaker 1: he sang. She went on to write the song Alexander's
Speaker 1: Ragtime Band, which became an international success. Even Izzy was
Speaker 1: taken aback by the dance craze. His song inspired over
Speaker 1: the years, musical greats like Bing Crosby, Johnny Mercer and
Speaker 1: Louis Armstrong also reached the top of the charts with
Speaker 1: the tune. By nineteen twelve, izz He became so successful
Speaker 1: that he wrote a musical and a new song. Variety
Speaker 1: magazine gave the show blowing reviews, and izz He found
Speaker 1: instant success of a different sort. Even back in Russia,
Speaker 1: people danced to his songs. He wrote his first ballad
Speaker 1: when his wife of just six months died after contracting
Speaker 1: typhoid during their honeymoon in Havana. The song sold over
Speaker 1: a million copies. When World War One started, is he
Speaker 1: wrote several patriotic songs to honor those in service. In
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen, he was drafted. While serving in the army,
Speaker 1: he wrote another musical and one more song, though he
Speaker 1: wouldn't release it for twenty more years. He remarried in
Speaker 1: nineteen five, and it would be a love affair that
Speaker 1: lasted a lifetime. The couple welcomed their first daughter in
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty six, and Izzie wrote a song about fatherhood.
Speaker 1: It became an instant hit, and fifty two years later,
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy eight, Willie Nelson's version made it to
Speaker 1: the top of the charts once more, never losing his
Speaker 1: love of America is He wrote songs for the Red
Speaker 1: Cross and the United States Treasury. During World War Two,
Speaker 1: he wrote another patriotic play that Hollywood adapted to film
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three, starring future President Ronald Reagan. He
Speaker 1: retired in the nineteen sixties, though he kept in the
Speaker 1: public eye. His beloved wife died in ninety eight, and
Speaker 1: Izz he never remarried. He lived to the wonderful age
Speaker 1: of a hundred and one. His songs and style remain
Speaker 1: iconic well after his death. Every Christmas, millions watch Bing
Speaker 1: Crosby and Companies saying White Christmas, a tune Izzy wrote.
Speaker 1: All told, he wrote fifteen movie scripts, twenty Broadway shows,
Speaker 1: and one thousand, five hundred songs. By now you might
Speaker 1: guess he wasn't only known as Izzy. That misspelling on
Speaker 1: his first published song ended up following him for the
Speaker 1: rest of his life. He was no other than Irving Berlin.
Speaker 1: On Irving's one birthday, Walter Cronkite said Berlin had helped
Speaker 1: write the story of this country, capturing the best of
Speaker 1: who we are and the dreams that shape our lives.
Speaker 1: One more thing the song Irving Berlin wrote during World
Speaker 1: War One that didn't surface for twenty years. His daughter
Speaker 1: said her father's love of a country that welcomed him
Speaker 1: had moved him to write it, and that song God
Speaker 1: Bless America. American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This
Speaker 1: episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed,
Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn
Speaker 1: more about the show, visit Grim and Mild dot com.
Speaker 1: From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts