1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: open book, all of these amazing tales are right there 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to 6 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. The attempted murder by poison case 7 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: grabbed the nation's attention in nine. In fact, even the 8 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 1: most seasoned investigators in Austin, Texas had never seen another 9 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: case like it. The victim, simply referred to as Treaty, 10 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,279 Speaker 1: had been one of Austin's oldest and most beloved residents, 11 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: the last living survivor of a legendary council. The intended 12 00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: victims spent their days in the city's historic district, where 13 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: they stood witnessed to a lot of history over the years, 14 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: from the rebuilding of the state capital in eight or 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: the Austin Damn failure, to the construction of several bridges 16 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: and an airport, and the first days of the Dell 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: Computer Corporation. And throughout it all this elderly citizens served 18 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: the community well. In the early years, negotiations and other 19 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: pivotal meetings had been Treatise thing, hence the nickname. Although 20 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: to be fair, councilman and other leaders weren't the only 21 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: ones to sit in the company of such an esteem citizen, 22 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: Rain or shine, heat or cold. Austin's oldest resident was 23 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: always there for the people of the city. Try as 24 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: they may, no one could figure out why someone would 25 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: want to poison such a truly outstanding member of society. 26 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: Investigators couldn't ask, either, because Treaty was dying and incapable 27 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: of talking. As the news spread, get well cards from 28 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: children poured in. Small gifts began to pile up. A 29 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: local spiritualist even tried her healing powers by transferring positive energy, 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: during which time she claimed that Treaty had once, in 31 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: another life, been in a Egyptian woman named Alexandria. Lacking 32 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: scientific or spiritual abilities of their own, most citizens just 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: wished Treaty a speedy recovery. Others sent in chicken soup. 34 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: Texas resident and industrialist Ross Perot wrote a blank check 35 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: for all care and treatment, as well as funding for 36 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: the investigation, telling officials that no matter how much it 37 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: cost or how long it would take, to just send 38 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: him the bill with a generous funding. Specialists were called 39 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: in and extensive round the clock work began. Nationwide News 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: reports sparked outrage across the country. An innocent victim was 41 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: barely clinging to life. The story even appeared in People magazine. 42 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: As words spread, so too did offers to help. The 43 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: manufacturer of the chemical used in the poisoning offered a 44 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: ten thousand dollar reward for the capture of the assailant. 45 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: On June twenty, police arrested Paul Cullen, who had been 46 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: bragging about the attempted murder. And while we might imagine 47 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: he'd poison treaty because of an outcome of one of 48 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: the many negotiations in the past, Cullen said it had 49 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: to do with a spell. He'd been in love, you see, 50 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: and no not with the elderly resident. It seems that 51 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: he'd been infatuated with a drug counselor who hadn't returned 52 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: his affection. Treaty was just available. After the poisoning, Cullen 53 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: returned to the scene of the crime. To him, watching 54 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: his victim fade represented the death of his love for 55 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: the counselor. While heroic efforts were underway to save treaties life. 56 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: Jurors in the case debated on life imprisonment for Cullen, 57 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: although they eventually agreed on just nine years. He'd go 58 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: on to serve three of those and paid a one 59 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: thousand dollar fine. And while it seems justice wasn't served, 60 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: Treaty not only survived, but also managed to outlive Cullen, 61 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: who died a few years later. Of course, healing took 62 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: a lot of time, as you might imagine, a powerful 63 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: poison had been used, an herbicide, in fact, enough to 64 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: kill one trees. Today, Treaty is thriving, in fact, for 65 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: the first time since the poisoning acorns have been gathered. 66 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: You see, Treaty is an oak tree, more inappropriate, a 67 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: species called a Texas live oak, and, according to the 68 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: National Forestry Association, the most perfect specimen of that type 69 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: of tree in North America. Austin's oldest living resident is 70 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: over six d years old. Treaty and another thirteen Texas 71 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: live oaks were once called the Council Oaks and were 72 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: the sacred meeting ground for Native Americans long before settlers 73 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: took over the region. There's no doubt that the attempted 74 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: murder case is certainly bizarre. In fact, I can't help 75 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: but agree with the people of Austin. Why would anyone 76 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: want to kill the treaty oak? And why couldn't they 77 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: just leave them alone? At Victoria found herself in a scandal, 78 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: there would be others, plenty of them. In fact, the 79 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: first involved her marriage, or more appropriately, her divorce. You see, 80 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty four women men who divorced their husbands 81 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: were not only blamed for the marriage failing, but they 82 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: were also socially shunned. It didn't matter that Victoria was 83 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: the sole financial supporter while her husband spent his days 84 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: either drunk or womanizing. So with two children in tow, 85 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: Victoria divorced him, leaving a trail of gossip behind her. 86 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: The talk didn't bother her, though she had grown up 87 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: with worse. Her father had been an abuse of con artist. 88 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: But instead of going along with the social norms that 89 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:32,119 Speaker 1: women didn't disclose such things, Victoria talked. Women's rights became 90 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: her passion, and she believed women shouldn't have to stay 91 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: in abuse of marriages, and that their role in society 92 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: was far more than wife or mother. She married again 93 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: a couple of years later. This time to a former 94 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: Union Army colonel James Harvey Blood, who was also a freethinker. 95 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: The two settled down in New York, where he introduced 96 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: Victoria to others also taking part in reform movements. So 97 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: in Victoria's sister, Tenny, also moved to New York. Women's 98 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: rights were the only objects near and dear to the 99 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: two sisters. Hearts, though they also believed in equality and 100 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: were staunchly antislavery. Victoria quickly became interested in politics and 101 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 1: attended rallies, where her own speeches of equality were considered radical. 102 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: By eighteen seventy, Victoria and Tenny were also well known 103 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: for spiritualism, soon becoming mediums for the wealthy. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 104 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: the railroad tycoon, was so taken with the two sisters 105 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: that he set them up in their own business, a 106 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: stock brokerage firm, making them the first women stockbrokers in America. 107 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: And here's the thing they were good at it. Vanderbilt 108 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: made millions from Victoria and Tenny's recommendations. It made them wealthy, 109 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: to prompting the New York Herald to call them the 110 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 1: Queens of Wall Street. The idea that women were holding 111 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: down such a position, much less outdoing their male counterparts 112 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,720 Speaker 1: didn't go over very well. Soon men's journals published articles 113 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: depicting the two as immoral, unschaperoned women. They underestimated Victoria, though, 114 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: and she decided to fight fire with fire. That's when 115 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: the sisters sold the stock brokerage firm and founded their 116 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: own newspaper. Aside from women's rights and suffrage, they printed 117 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: controversial articles on spiritualism, human rights, birth control, and even vegetarianism. 118 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: Mostly though, the paper set the stage for Victoria's run 119 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: for a higher office, the American presidency, and this was 120 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: well before women were even allowed to vote. Outrageous for 121 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: the Times, sure, but Victoria was just getting started. Victoria 122 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: chose a running partner that most of us would recognize today, 123 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: Frederick Douglas. But in a world where the public feared 124 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: the mixing of black and white citizens, a woman running 125 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: for president had to be one thing. Choosing a black 126 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: man for a vice president sent much of the public reeling. 127 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: Friends and supporters of incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant quickly 128 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: attacked her character. Victoria Woodhull was wicked, they said. One accuser, 129 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: prominent minister Henry Ward, Beecher claimed that aside from being 130 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: twice married and a promoter of free love, Victoria had 131 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: also engaged in numerous affairs with married men. When Victoria 132 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: learned that Beecher himself had been having an affair with 133 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: a married woman in his congregation, she exposed the minister 134 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: as a hypocrite, publishing the details of the affair in 135 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: her own newspaper. The story quickly became a national scandal, 136 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: and as a result, Victoria was arrested her crime publishing 137 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: obscene content. She was eventually cleared of all charges on 138 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: a technicality. By then, though the election was over and 139 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: all the controversies surrounding her had inspired Harper's Weekly cartoonist 140 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: Thomas Nast to publish a sketch of her. It showed 141 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 1: a woman carrying multiple children and strapped with an angry, 142 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: drunken husband on her back as she struggled to walk 143 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: up a treacherous mountain. In the sketch, Victoria holds a 144 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: sign up that reads save yourself with free love, and 145 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: the caption beneath it read I'd rather travel the hardest 146 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:55,640 Speaker 1: path of matrimony than follow in your footsteps. Nast had 147 00:08:55,679 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: depicted Victoria as the devil incarnate, spurring another nickname Mrs Satan, 148 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: although today we might call her something else, a trailblazer. 149 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 150 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 151 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 152 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership 153 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,199 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 154 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 155 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 156 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:37,439 Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.