WEBVTT - The Mysterious Disappearance of Ambrose Bierce 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.399 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:05.399 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:15.240 A year wrote Ambrose Bierce is quote a period of 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:20.599 three hundred and sixty five disappointments. Ambrose was an American 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.400 Civil War veteran, and he was also a writer. He 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.600 was one of the most famous journalists of the late 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.680 nineteenth century. He was a literary critic, a poet, and 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:33.640 a short story writer, primarily exploring themes of war, death, 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:39.000 and the general absurdity of life. He had a caustic 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.560 wit and was a sharp tongued, eviscerating cynic. It said 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:46.800 he kept both a human skull and a cigar box 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:52.479 of supposedly an enemy's ashes on his desk. His motto 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:58.000 in life was quote nothing matters. He's been called an editorialist, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:03.960 a journalist, and a fabulist, and a veteran and one 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.880 of the biggest disappearing acts of the twentieth century. Welcome 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.119 to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.640 And I'm Holly Frye. Ambrose Beers disappeared when he was 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.640 seventy one years old. He wrote Into Mexico, and that's 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:22.559 about the last anyone ever heard from him. But before 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.720 we talk about his many deaths that have been described 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:30.479 since his disappearance, let's talk about his very big life. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.080 Ambrose Gwinnet Beers was born on June twenty fourth, eighteen 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.600 forty two, the tenth of thirteen children to Marcus Aurelius 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.440 and Laura Beerce. The Beers family lived in Horse Cave Creek, Ohio, 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:47.160 a primarily fundamentalist community that was close to the West 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.960 Virginia border. His father was a farmer but held several jobs, 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:56.120 including shopkeeper, and he'd been elected to county Overseer of 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.200 the Poor. That was a position that was responsible for 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.280 administering reals leaf such as food and clothing, and supervising 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.520 care of those living in poverty. He was never a 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.120 successful man, at least not when it came to money 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:13.720 or influence. He and Laura were, though, avid readers, and 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.960 some argued that the family's book collection could be the 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.200 largest in the county. Though Ambrose never had much good 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.560 to say about his family, he did not see eye 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.800 to eye with their long standing puritanical ways, he did 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.840 concede that his father's book collection was what turned him 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.639 into a serious reader and influenced his writing career. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.320 The Beers family moved to Walnut Creek, Indiana, when Ambrose 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.800 was four years old, and for the next eleven years 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:45.320 he acted well as far as we can tell pretty 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.920 aloof from his siblings and his classmates. He wasn't interested 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:53.560 in making friends. We came across as one anecdote that 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.160 if you gave him a puppy, he'd prefer a snake. 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.680 At age fifteen, Ambrose left his family to work as 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.880 a printer's Devil for the Northern Indiana, an abolitionist newspaper. 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.960 A printer's devil is really just an apprentice with a 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.919 fancy name. His father had been an early anti slavery advocate, 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:15.119 and some biographers assume he may have influenced Ambrose's decision 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:20.200 to join that particular paper. But then it's also really 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.280 well documented that Ambrose wanted to get away from his family, 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:28.000 So here we are just speculating some more on his motivations. 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.600 When he left the paper after two years, he may 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.080 or may not have been accused of theft by his employer, 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.240 leading him to exit, but only after his name had 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.600 been cleared. Or maybe that's just a yarn and it 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.360 was just time to move on. And it did move 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.400 his personal story along. His next move landed him in 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.000 the home of his paternal uncle, Lucius Bears in Ohio. 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:56.280 Lucius was a strong, intelligent, and moral man, and Ambrose 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:00.560 admired him greatly. He wanted to be just like him 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:05.360 in both his personal and professional life. Ambrose's family was 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:10.760 strongly abolitionist. Lucius also was, but Ambrose liked that his 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.280 uncle was not just talk. He was a man of action. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.279 There are many examples of that action, but an important 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.600 one is that he helped supply John Brown with the 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.560 weapons for his bold fight in Kansas. We have seen 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.919 Lucius described as a quote man who liked to argue 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.440 and had an appealing swagger, a man who'd witnessed a 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:36.039 slave auction in Charleston, South Carolina, and became an even 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:41.599 more ardent abolitionist than Bierce's father. Lucius once organized a 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:46.360 company of infantry and two companies of marines for battlefield service, 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:50.520 but mostly he did not fight himself. Lucius was elected 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.440 to the Ohio Senate, where he supported the war effort 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:58.360 through legislation. In fact, in his bellowing opinion, the Union 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.920 should be hitting the Confederacy even harder. In eighteen sixty three, 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.880 Lucius was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the United States 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:11.640 Volunteers with the rank of major. Ambrose credited his uncle 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.640 for giving him a strong moral compass and the confidence 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.720 to speak out for his beliefs, even if they were 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.279 contrary to the popular opinion. We're going to take a 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.800 break here for a word from our sponsors, and when 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:41.640 we return we'll talk about Ambrosebier's first lieutenant. 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:48.559 Welcome back to Criminalia. Ambrose had a big military life 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:51.600 and he had a big life as a writer, so 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:53.440 let's talk about both of those things. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:58.479 Over the years, Ambrose emerged as a renowned writer, but 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.320 before that course of events could be set into motion, 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:05.880 Ambrose went to war. At age seventeen, he enrolled at 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:10.240 the Kentucky Military Institute and trained to become a topographical engineer. 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.880 That's someone who makes maps after collecting information and data 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.839 about the area to be mapped. He was one of 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.120 the first to enlist in the ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.719 Regiment for the Union at the start of the American 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:28.520 Civil War, which officially began shortly after he left the Institute. 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.280 He fought with the ninth Indiana Infantry Regiment and Buell's 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.919 Army of the Ohio in military engagements that included the 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.279 Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Stones River, the Battle 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.920 of Chickamauga, and the Battle of Missionary Ridge. Also the 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.320 Battle of Pickett's Mill, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:51.120 Sherman's March to the Sea. The list is really quite lengthy. 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.280 He served on and off for most of the duration 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.680 of the war, and during his service he received numerous 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.800 citations for bravery, and he rode to the rank of 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:01.800 first lieutenant. 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.320 Ambrose is considered to have been an admirable soldier who 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.600 was also quite brave. For example, on July eleventh, eighteen 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.760 sixty one, at the Battle of Rich Mountain, his first 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.840 heavy combat situation, he received recognition for carrying a seriously 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:22.080 wounded officer off the battlefield to safety while himself under 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:26.640 fire from the enemy. In general, Bierce looked down upon 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:31.360 those who behaved what he considered cowardly in battle. In 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.400 Indiana newspaper published an article stating that quote in open 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.200 view of the enemy, Bierce acted heroically as bullets were 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:44.119 quote again falling around him. Like Hale. He later wrote 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:48.040 fictionalized and semi fictionalized narratives of what he saw that 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.480 day and during the rest of his time at war 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:51.840 in his short stories. 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.160 During fierce combat in the Battle of Kenesam Mountain in 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:00.680 June of eighteen sixty four, Ambrose was wounded when Confederate 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:05.960 marksman shot him in the head. Yes, the bullet fractured 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.960 Bears's temporal bone and it got stuck in his skull, 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:14.000 lodged behind his left ear. This was not a fatal shot, 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.040 but there were complications from the injury, and he was 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:21.240 placed on medical leave for months. Ambrose became prone to 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.760 severe headaches, dizziness, and sudden fainting spells, and those would 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.480 last for the rest of his life. He later wrote 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.640 of his injury, quote at night, the bright, cold moonlight 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.640 gave him quote jarring headaches. Despite the injury, he returned 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.880 to duty during September of that same year, but he 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.600 was discharged on January twenty fifth, eighteen sixty five, at 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.960 the age of twenty two. He would often later recall 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.160 in his writing that his head had quote broken like 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:50.880 a walnut. 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.160 He resumed his military career for just one year in 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:59.120 eighteen sixty six, when he joined General William Hazen on 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.959 an expedition inspecting military outposts across the Great Plains while 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:08.760 mapping the topography from Nebraska to California. Later, Ambrose would 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:12.720 write of him quote the best hated man I ever knew. 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.920 When they arrived on the West Coast, Ambrose decided to 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.920 settle in San Francisco, where he left the army and 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.680 began a literary career. Though many critics have said of 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:25.920 him that he may have left the war, but the 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.880 war never left him, and that's true on many levels, 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.559 including in his writing. In eighteen sixty eight, he was 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.600 hired on with a newspaper called The Newsletter, for which 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.800 he penned a column titled town Crier. That column became 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.840 a place for him to stretch his acerbic satire and wit, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:48.400 and he went all in on exposing and attacking any 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:53.040 public figures and institutions that he considered guilty of hypocrisy. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.400 And he was a success, at least locally. 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.840 On Christmas Day of eighteen seventy one, amb Gross married 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.600 Mary Day known as Molly, the daughter of a wealthy miner. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.960 Her father gifted them a honeymoon trip overseas. This was 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.520 the first time Ambrose had been to London, and he 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.479 and Molly stayed in England for much longer than their honeymoon. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.560 The couple had two sons, Richard known as Day and 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.120 Lee while living in London. Their daughter, Helen, was born 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.680 in October of eighteen seventy five, but that was shortly 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.760 after their return to the United States. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.840 In London, Ambrose began writing under the pseudonym DoD Grile 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:37.239 for Tom Hood's Fun and for Figuaro, a popular Victorian 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:42.160 weekly humor magazine. He also published three collections of columns, sketches, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:46.400 and fiction under that alias while abroad. The level of 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.520 cynicism weaved into the pieces in these books, as well 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.840 as in articles that he wrote for London papers, landed 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.600 him the nickname Bitter beerce his motto nothing matters well 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.480 that probably contributed to. 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.760 In eighteen seventy seven, again living in the United States, 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:08.560 Ambrose became associate editor of the San Francisco Argonaut. He 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.960 left to become editor of the San Francisco Illustrated Wasp, 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.040 and then in eighteen eighty seven he joined the staff 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:19.120 of William Randolpherst's San Francisco Examiner, for which he wrote 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:23.880 the Prattler column, where he specialized in attacking all kinds 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:28.839 of things, from amateur poets, the clergy, politicians, money grabbers, 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:33.760 those he considered boring, and frauds of all shapes and sizes. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.360 He also put together a collection of what many have 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:42.200 called pessimistic and satirical themes, a now famous book of 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:47.600 social commentary that's really just loosely disguised as definitions, titled 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:52.520 The Devil's Dictionary. And here's an example quote litigation noun 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.760 a machine which you go into as a pig and 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.520 come out of as a sausage. He was known for 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.160 his sardonic wit and bad observations on the personalities and 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.520 events of his day, and it turned him into quote, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.240 the wickedest man in San Francisco. Despite that reputation, he 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.760 was also known as a generous mentor to younger writers, 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.360 including poet George Sterling and fiction author W. C. Morrow. 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:22.040 Between eighteen eighty eight and nineteen oh five, Ambrose couldn't 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.520 seem to escape tragedy in his personal life. Both of 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:30.520 his sons predeceased him. Day took his own life at 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.760 the age of seventeen after being rejected by a romantic 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:38.360 interest in eighteen eighty nine, and Lee, his younger son, 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:42.120 passed away from alcohol related pneumonia in nineteen oh one 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:45.560 at the age of twenty seven. The same year as 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.520 Lee's death, Bierce's daughter Helen, spent eight uncertain weeks in 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:54.079 a hospital recovering from typhoid fever, but she did recover. 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.600 In eighteen eighty eight, he and his wife separated after 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:02.000 he discovered compromising letters sent to Molly from an admirer. 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.240 Molly died on April twenty seventh, nineteen oh five, just 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.280 before their divorce was finalized. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.599 In eighteen ninety nine, Ambrose moved to Washington, d c. 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.920 Where he continued newspaper and magazine writing for more roughly 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.760 the next fourteen years. He also focused more on writing 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.840 short stories and poems. Originally published in nineteen oh six 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.960 under the title The Cynic's Word Book. The Devil's Dictionary, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.280 which we mentioned earlier, was one of his best known works, 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.520 has been called quote, a volume of ironic, even bitter 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.400 definitions that has often been reprinted. He's perhaps best known 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.800 for his anthologized short story titled An Occurrence at Owl 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.360 Creek Bridge, about a Southern plantation owner who attempts to 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:51.280 sabotage a railroad bridge and is condemned to be hanged 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.000 by Union soldiers. Elements and theme is drawn from his 0:13:55.080 --> 0:14:00.560 war experiences at Chickamauga, Shiloh, and Kennassau Mountain all together 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.440 in this work. Bierce's war experiences proved to be so 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.679 influential to him and his work that biographer Richard O'Connor 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.240 commented of it, quote, war was the making of Beers 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:13.199 as a man. 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:13.559 And a writer. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.800 Bierce himself wrote, quote, When I ask myself what has 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.320 become of Ambrose Bierce, the youth who fought at Chickamauga, 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.440 I am bound to answer that he is dead. 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:29.480 You can't argue Ambrose Bierce had a lasting legacy. But 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:34.000 that legacy isn't necessarily his writing or his military successes. 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.480 It's his disappearance. We're going to take a break for 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.920 a word from our sponsors, and when we're back, we'll 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.360 ask the question, what the heck happened to Ambrose Biers. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:03.880 Welcome back to Criminalia. Ambrosepierce disappeared while trying to allegedly 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.640 gain first hand experience in the Mexican Revolution. Was he 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.600 killed in action? Was he executed was it aliens? Let's 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.600 talk about how many theories there are surrounding his disappearance. 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.160 In October of nineteen thirteen, at age seventy one, Ambrose 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:26.680 organized his personal affairs. He visited the American Civil War 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:31.000 battlefields one last time. His plan was then to go 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:35.680 to Mexico, find Pancho Villa's forces, and document the Mexican 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.360 Revolution up close and personal as it was playing out. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.320 In a letter to his niece Laura, he wrote, quote, goodbye. 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.080 If you hear of my being stood up against a 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.280 Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.840 I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.400 It beats old age disease or falling down the cellar 0:15:55.480 --> 0:16:00.160 stairs to be a gringo in Mexico, Ah, that is euthanasia. 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:03.800 And then in El Paso, he crossed the border into 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.600 Mexico on horseback and disappeared. 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:12.360 According to alleged witnesses, Ambrose died over and over again 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.800 and all over Mexico. 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:19.720 For two decades. After his disappearance, search parties traveled to 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:23.480 Mexico to try to solve the mystery. The United States 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:28.200 Department of State and Pinkerton Private detectives questioned former officers 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.360 in Poncho Villa's army. Bierce had written in correspondence that 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.840 he wanted to join the revolutionary forces as an observer, 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:40.760 of course, but no one there recognized Bierce's description or picture. 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.960 There were alleged witnesses, and yes we have to air 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.360 quote that, who claimed to have seen his execution or 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.480 had heard about it happening. There were problems, though. These 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.560 witnesses all placed his execution in different states, at different 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:02.080 time periods, and conducted by different factions. The search for Ambrose, though, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.560 was ultimately curtailed when the United States joined the First 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.719 World War. There just weren't resources to continue, and that 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.719 left us with theories. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.400 And there are a lot of theories. Bierce's stated intentions 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.720 leave many to believe that he did actually travel to Mexico, 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:25.320 But then there are different narratives as to what happened 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.960 once he got there. So let's just begin. Maybe he 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:34.439 fell victim to bandits or local militias, suggests one theory. 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:38.600 An alleged witness, this one an American soldier of fortune 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.560 named tex O'Reilly, claimed that Ambrose was killed by government 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.200 security forces in the isolated mountain mining camp of Sierra 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:50.320 Mohatta because they suspected that the elderly man who didn't 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:55.000 speak Spanish was actually a spy. According to O'Reilly, a 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.760 local who claimed to have housed Beerce for a short 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:01.960 time was able to produce letters he'd left behind, each 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.399 one addressed to Ambrose Bierce. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.280 One newspaper published a story that Ambrose wasn't following Pancho 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.080 Villa's revolutionary fighters to write about them, and that he 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.359 wasn't even in Mexico. They reported that instead he was 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.960 seen in France fighting for the Allies in the World War. 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.280 There were a lot of odd theories, so we're just 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.679 gonna wrap these ones up together. There was a story 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:33.280 of beers and a magical crystal skull. Really Indiana bears no. 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.600 Another story suggested that he was seen in a South 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:43.160 American jungle dressed in animal skins. Yes, even the possibility 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.720 of alien abduction has been considered by some. Things have 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.600 gotten pretty far fetched in the Ambrose beers theory. 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.880 Pool because his body has never been found, you're bound 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.720 to run into the theory that maybe he's still alive. Yes, 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.040 there is one rather silly theory out there that Ambrose 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.600 is alive. While maybe that could have been possible for 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.960 a decade or two after his disappearance, today he would 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.760 be one hundred and eighty two years old. So was 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.960 there something to that magical crystal skull after all? A 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.520 few reports over the years have mentioned a middle aged 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:24.240 man who looked suspiciously like Beiers, except he was Mexican 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:29.520 American writer and journalist Francisco Goldman. Coincidence most certainly. 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:33.920 In his nineteen twenty nine biography Life of Ambrose Biers, 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.919 author Walter Neil stated quote, his last letters to me 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:42.760 were written in December nineteen thirteen. He first wrote from Galveston, 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:47.720 next from San Antonio, and a few days later from Laredo, Texas. 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.240 I know he greatly desired to visit both Eagle Pass 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:56.080 and El Paso, but there is also speculation that Beerce's 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:59.200 final letters to close friends and family were all a 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:04.320 ruse and that he never actually went to Mexico. Heads up. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.600 As we get into this next section, there is a 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:10.800 brief mention of suicide. So if you don't want to 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.119 listen to that, you can just jump forward about a minute. 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.800 You'll be good. In his nineteen twenty nine biography Life 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.600 of Ambrose Bierce, author Walter Neil stated quote his last 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:24.320 letters to me were written in December nineteen thirteen. He 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.639 first wrote from Galveston, next from San Antonio, and a 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:31.520 few days later from Laredo, Texas. I know he greatly 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.600 desired to visit both Eagle Pass and El Paso. But 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.000 there's also speculation that Bierce's final letters to close friends 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.240 and family were all a ruse, and that he never 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.840 actually went to Mexico. Some have considered that he secretly 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.720 took his own life by jumping off a cliff into 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.920 the Grand Canyon. Some thought that he went to Mexico 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.560 as a way of taking his own life, and by 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.399 that we mean that he went with the assumption that 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:02.720 he would be executed during revolutionary fighting. While there are 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.159 some stories of his execution by firing squad under the 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.080 orders of General Thomas Urbina, some scholars believe he may 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.399 have been killed while fighting with revolutionary forces in the 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.679 taking of Ohinaga in January of nineteen fourteen, a battle 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.639 that took place just across the border from the American 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.639 town of Presidio. We can't forget, after all, that it 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.520 was his own suggestion that he may be shot in 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:33.560 the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution. Ambrose Bierce clairvoyant, probably not. 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.840 Both Beer's biographer, Richard O'Connor and Don Swam, who runs 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:43.040 the Ambrose Bierce site, have over the years both concluded 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:47.320 that the most likely scenario now still remember that this 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.640 is not at all proven, is that Biers probably accompanied 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:55.200 Pancho Villa's forces to the taking of Okinaga, during which 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:59.639 he was killed and left in a mass grave. Or maybe, 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.960 if not that they have a backup theory that his 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:07.640 quote asthma strained heart gave out on him, or perhaps 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:11.840 that traumatic head injury had some new and unforeseen consequences 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:13.000 later in his life. 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:18.920 There is no concrete evidence to support any of these ideas. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:23.120 Whatever the real story is, one thing is sure. By 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:26.040 the fall of nineteen fourteen, no one had heard from 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:29.639 him in several months, and then no one would ever 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:33.159 hear from him again. His death is presumed to have 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:35.680 been in January of nineteen fourteen. 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:40.399 Whatever may have really happened, Perhaps the most fitting epitaph 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:44.720 was offered by Ambrose's fellow iconoclast H. L. Mencken, who wrote, 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:49.240 quote death to him was not something repulsive but sort 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:53.119 of low comedy, the last act of a squalid and 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:57.840 rib rocking buffoonery. When grown old and weary, he departed 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.040 from Mexico and there, if legend is to be believed, 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:05.280 marched into the revolution, then going on and had himself shot. 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:09.280 There was certainly nothing in the transaction to surprise his acquaintances. 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:14.120 The whole thing was typically Beiersian. He died happy when 0:23:14.119 --> 0:23:17.680 maybe sure if his executioners made a botch of dispatching him, 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:20.520 if there was a flash of the grotesque at the end. 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:23.600 When he announced he was going to Mexico to see 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:27.960 the revolution, he promised, quote nobody, we'll find my bones, 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:32.440 and nobody has. But perhaps the best theory in all 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:35.680 of this is Beer would have wanted it this way. 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:37.720 He would have wanted it this way, and he would 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.800 have written about it. Yeah. 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:44.320 I have strong feelings about amberse Beier. He's kind of 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:47.359 one of my history crushes. He was cute as a button. 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:52.119 He was real cute. But also I just for some 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:55.040 random I don't even know how I stumbled across it, 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:57.840 but I stumbled across the Devil's Dictionary when I was 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:03.040 pretty young. Did you I remember in school one of 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:07.240 my teachers saying something about Mark Twain being the great, 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:09.919 you know, the greatest humorist of the US, which is 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:13.120 often reported, and I remember asking, have you not read 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:14.400 Ambrose Biers like. 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:17.400 Your teacher's like, yes, I know who Ambrose Beeers is. 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.560 Like, because to me, he's way funnier. Like I just 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:23.720 no shade to Mark Twain, but I've never connected with 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:25.879 his work the way a lot of people do. And 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.200 Ambrose Beers really shaped my humor in a lot of ways. 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:30.919 I was I was gonna say, the wit that he 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:32.800 has is it's not the same as Mark Twain. Ever, 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:33.680 you can't. 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:38.800 Yeah, just that that cynecal really wry aspect to it. 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:44.280 I have always loved so I I really really adore 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:49.040 Ambrose Beiers in a big way. The Devil's Dictionary is 0:24:49.080 --> 0:24:51.000 a really fun read if it's one of those great 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:53.320 books because of the way that it's laid out as 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:56.920 a dictionary, you can just turn to any page any 0:24:57.000 --> 0:25:00.359 day you need a you need a humorous thing. And 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:03.960 it also contains a lot of references to alcohol, which 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:07.040 are many which are very very funny. Like he describes rum, 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:09.520 I'm going by memory and not not quoting but he 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:15.320 described rum is something that will that makes that drives 0:25:15.359 --> 0:25:19.560 people mad and crazes them, especially if they don't drink it. Essentially, 0:25:20.960 --> 0:25:21.800 he's very funny. 0:25:22.640 --> 0:25:25.640 He's very funny, and if you haven't had any introduction 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:27.240 to him, that is a good place to begin. 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:32.320 I love it. His favorite drink, by many accounts, was cognac, 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:35.720 which also endears me to him because. 0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:37.840 I love because it's serious too. I love it. 0:25:38.440 --> 0:25:41.000 There are like some wild stories about him and drinking, 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:44.719 so I knew I wanted to use cognac in his drink. 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:47.879 But I also got to thinking that I also wanted 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:51.520 to use tequila because of the whole Mexico connection. If 0:25:51.520 --> 0:25:54.240 that sounds crazy to you to combine these two things, 0:25:54.280 --> 0:25:58.040