Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Sometimes doing the right thing goes against common sense.
Speaker 1: It might involve personal sacrifice or missing out on an
Speaker 1: opportunity to earn a living. It might even put us
Speaker 1: in danger. The right thing is rarely the safest path forward,
Speaker 1: but it often represents the best odds. In September of
Speaker 1: the people of France found themselves in a desperate position.
Speaker 1: The soldiers and war machines of germ Many were marching
Speaker 1: closer and closer to Paris. It wasn't as if they
Speaker 1: hadn't tried to stop them, though that's what they've been
Speaker 1: doing for weeks. The war had sprung like a leak
Speaker 1: from a seemingly tiny hole with the assassination of Austrian
Speaker 1: Archduke France Ferdinand. That was June twenty, nineteen fourteen. By
Speaker 1: August onest Germany had declared war on Russia. Two days later,
Speaker 1: they set their sights on France as well. They had
Speaker 1: lost territory to France in the aftermath of the Franco
Speaker 1: Prussian War of eighteen seventy one, and they wanted it back.
Speaker 1: In late August, on their way to France's northern border,
Speaker 1: Germany pushed through Belgium. The small nation was quickly captured,
Speaker 1: and by August twenty if it was in full occupation.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, the enemy had possession of territory
Speaker 1: right on the border, and they showed no signs of stopping.
Speaker 1: Germany's forces were like a tidal wave of bullets and blood,
Speaker 1: and it seemed very likely that France would indeed be invaded.
Speaker 1: But again they tried to op it. British soldiers came
Speaker 1: to help, but the Battle of Months did not go
Speaker 1: as well as they had hoped for, sending France and
Speaker 1: her allies into a quick retreat. That was August. You
Speaker 1: have to stop and think about what it must have
Speaker 1: felt like for the people of France, and specifically those
Speaker 1: in the capital city of Paris. A foreign power had
Speaker 1: declared war on them and was now barreling towards them
Speaker 1: like a juggernaut. In fact, nothing had stopped Germany at all,
Speaker 1: and it would have been easy to feel hopeless in
Speaker 1: the face of that approaching danger. In fact, Britain's Foreign
Speaker 1: secretary at the time, Sir Edward Gray, expressed that hopelessness
Speaker 1: out loud to a friend when he said, the lamps
Speaker 1: are going out all over Europe. We shall not see
Speaker 1: them lit again in our lifetime. So that's where the
Speaker 1: people of France were at politically and emotionally. At the
Speaker 1: beginning of September of nineteen fourteen, Germany had broken through
Speaker 1: and despite their best efforts, was quickly marching towards Paris.
Speaker 1: So French forces were gathered in along the Marine River
Speaker 1: northeast of Paris to try and stop them. There was
Speaker 1: only one problem with the plan. They were vastly outnumbered,
Speaker 1: and while there were thousands of additional soldiers inside Paris itself,
Speaker 1: the front line was forty miles away and they had
Speaker 1: no way to get them there. If ever, there was
Speaker 1: a time when the difference between the right choice and
Speaker 1: the wrong choice could be measured in lives, this was it,
Speaker 1: and that's when one of the generals had an idea.
Speaker 1: What if all the taxis in Paris closed up for
Speaker 1: the day and instead agreed to drive the soldiers to battle.
Speaker 1: They would mean asking these drivers to put their lives
Speaker 1: in danger. It would mean asking them to give up
Speaker 1: the money they might have earned that day. But then again,
Speaker 1: if Germany broke through, how many customers would have been
Speaker 1: left for them anyway, So they all made the difficult
Speaker 1: decision they were going to help. On September seven, a
Speaker 1: fleet of over six hundred taxis lined up in Paris,
Speaker 1: took on heavy loads of soldiers and gear, and then
Speaker 1: set off for the Marne. When they arrived that night,
Speaker 1: the sight of thousands of fresh troops sent a jolt
Speaker 1: of electricity through the French forces, giving them a new
Speaker 1: drive to succeed. And succeed they did. Oh and the
Speaker 1: taxis most of them headed home the moment they dropped
Speaker 1: off their precious cargo. I can't blame them. Those cars
Speaker 1: were their livelihood and they probably wanted to get away
Speaker 1: from the battle as fast as they could. Many, though,
Speaker 1: stuck around and were used to transport wounded soldiers to safety,
Speaker 1: because well, it was the right thing to do. Tragedy
Speaker 1: usually takes things from us, our possessions, our homes, and
Speaker 1: sometimes even the lives of the people in our community.
Speaker 1: But if the story of the taxi drivers of Paris
Speaker 1: has anything to teach us, it's just how powerful the
Speaker 1: illogical can be. By putting their own lives at risk
Speaker 1: and jeopardizing their livelihood, they helped turn the tide in
Speaker 1: a war that seemed all but lost In might not
Speaker 1: make sense, but then again, that's what makes people curious.
Speaker 1: Eccentric people are nothing if not entertaining. Their behaviors can
Speaker 1: either be charmingly strange or borderline appalling, like those of
Speaker 1: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. He had a habit of judging
Speaker 1: people not either clothing or upbringing. To get a good
Speaker 1: sense of a person's character, he would um sniff their excrement.
Speaker 1: Author Charles Dickens, on the other hand, insisted on always
Speaker 1: sleeping while facing north. He believed that it helped his creativity.
Speaker 1: Dickens even carried a compass with him to ensure that
Speaker 1: whenever he wrote, he was doing so will pointing northward.
Speaker 1: And Waldo Pierce was another eccentric. He was a painter
Speaker 1: born in Maine in eighty four to a lumber baron father.
Speaker 1: His upbringing was nothing out of the ordinary. He grew
Speaker 1: up alongside two brothers and a sister, attended Harvard and
Speaker 1: even played on the university's football team. After he graduated, though,
Speaker 1: the budding artists decided he wanted to see the world,
Speaker 1: especially the areas where his field was experiencing an explosion
Speaker 1: of creativity with a focus on impressionism. Pierce left the
Speaker 1: US bound for England and Paris along with his friend
Speaker 1: John Reid. They had boarded a cattle ship called the
Speaker 1: SS Bostonian, which was set to reach Liverpool in just
Speaker 1: ten days. Reid made the trip. Pierced, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: had second thoughts about his accommodations. Having come from wealth,
Speaker 1: he couldn't bear to be stuck on a ship that
Speaker 1: wreaked of cow manure and eat food that was crawling
Speaker 1: with worms. He had just settled into his cabin when
Speaker 1: the notion struck him to get off the ship as
Speaker 1: quickly as possible as it was pulling out of Boston Harbor.
Speaker 1: He leapt from the deck into the water and swam
Speaker 1: back to shore. It was such a last minute decision
Speaker 1: that he left his wallet and watch behind. His friend
Speaker 1: John Reid was questioned about his friend's disappearance. He handed
Speaker 1: over Pierce's belongings, which had been left right there on
Speaker 1: his bed. The captain, however, didn't buy his story about
Speaker 1: Pierce jumping ship. Read was taken into custody and thrown
Speaker 1: into the brig for his friend's murder. Once the Bostonian
Speaker 1: reached England, Reid was actually led in chains by two
Speaker 1: British officers to the Board of Trade, where he was
Speaker 1: to be tried for Pierce's demise. Lucky for him, his
Speaker 1: buddy wasn't far behind. Pierce had bought himself a ticket
Speaker 1: on the luxury liner the Mauritania, which had gotten to
Speaker 1: Liverpool a few days early. The captain accused him of
Speaker 1: breaking his contract by abandoning his post on the Bostonian. Pierce, ever,
Speaker 1: the practical joker, had the perfect alibi. He told the
Speaker 1: court that he had gotten sea sick and fallen overboard.
Speaker 1: He had even tried to call for help, but the
Speaker 1: captain had been on the bridge and probably couldn't hear him.
Speaker 1: Much to Pierce's surprise and luck, the captain really had
Speaker 1: been on the bridge, so the matter was dropped. That
Speaker 1: wouldn't be the last time the artist had fun at
Speaker 1: someone's expense, though, as Pierce's popularity grew in the art world,
Speaker 1: he started making some interesting new friends. For example, he
Speaker 1: traveled extensively throughout Europe with Ernest Hemingway after World War One.
Speaker 1: He also married Broadway actress Ivy Troutman in nineteen after
Speaker 1: which the couple moved to Paris, where Troutman befriended author
Speaker 1: James Joyce. And it was during this time when Pierce
Speaker 1: carried out perhaps the most elaborate prank of his life.
Speaker 1: As he got to know the concierge of his building,
Speaker 1: he learned that the woman had a fondness for animals,
Speaker 1: so one day he gifted her with a turtle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a turtle. It wasn't the biggest of turtles, mind you,
Speaker 1: but it became a real source of joy for her.
Speaker 1: She came to love the animal as anyone might love
Speaker 1: a dog or a cat, and soon enough the turtle
Speaker 1: began to grow. Every few weeks the turtle size would
Speaker 1: visibly increase. She even showed her neighbors, proud of the
Speaker 1: incredible miracle of nature she had been gifted with. Except
Speaker 1: the turtle hadn't been growing at all. No Pierce had
Speaker 1: been sneaking into her apartment and swapping out her beloved
Speaker 1: pet with turtles that were just a little bit larger
Speaker 1: than the last. Eventually he gave it a rest, though,
Speaker 1: leaving the concierge with a massive turtle and no explanation
Speaker 1: as to why it had grown to be so large.
Speaker 1: Until that is, he started replacing it again with smaller
Speaker 1: and smaller ones, and that, my friends, is more than
Speaker 1: a little curious. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour
Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it
Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until
Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. Yeah h