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Speaker 1: Are you failming?

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Speaker 2: Yes right now, Hey, okay, tell me what we're doing.

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Speaker 3: We're going to try to catch a crab. If we

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Speaker 3: catch a crab, are we gonna keep it?

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Speaker 4: No?

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 2: My family is staying at a rental house on the

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Speaker 2: York River in Gloucester, Virginia, just across the water from Williamsburg.

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Speaker 2: It's our summer vacation. My twelve year old daughter and

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Speaker 2: I are trying to catch blue crabs and traps just

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Speaker 2: for fun.

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Speaker 3: I think lakes could have time.

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Speaker 2: Then why is it so big?

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Speaker 1: It's a very big river? Oh? God?

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Speaker 3: Did they they be headed the shrap?

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Speaker 2: No that I put chat in there?

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Speaker 1: Oh will they be I don't think they like Chad.

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Speaker 5: Who's chi Chad?

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Speaker 6: Baby?

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Speaker 4: It's baby fish?

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Speaker 3: Well are you getting all the good sounds, mama?

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Speaker 2: No, lug with the crabs. But we did spot some

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Speaker 2: pink dolphins right in front of our dock, and across

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Speaker 2: the river we could see some stately homes from the

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Speaker 2: eighteenth century Williamsburg Plantation homes. I asked historic site supervisor

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Speaker 2: and legal expert Cash Earharts about the history of those

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Speaker 2: waterfront estates and the members of the gentry that lived

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Speaker 2: in them.

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Speaker 7: Predominantly they live in these large river front plantation estates.

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Speaker 7: They've been invested in the cultivation of tobacco over a

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Speaker 7: century now, and with the enslaved Africans cultivating the land,

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Speaker 7: creating that profit for them, that's what sustains their place

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Speaker 7: in society. So in some sense, your accommodations are kind

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Speaker 7: of giving you an insight to what it would be

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Speaker 7: like to be on the front of the river. Have

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Speaker 7: to come into Williamsburg, take care of your business, yeah,

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Speaker 7: and then return home.

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Speaker 2: John Robinson's death in May of seventeen sixty six shine

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Speaker 2: a light on that society, the society that used enslaved

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Speaker 2: labor to build their homes, tend to their crops, and

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Speaker 2: raise their children. Robinson's descendant, Simon Robinson, says that his

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Speaker 2: family's history also reflects that history.

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Speaker 8: The sort of plantation aristocracy was all very cozy and

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Speaker 8: held onto power quite closely and saw themselves as this

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Speaker 8: sort of new aristocracy in Virginia. All of it built,

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Speaker 8: of course, on the back of enslaved Africans growing tobacco

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Speaker 8: and other crops. And it's interesting when you read the

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Speaker 8: history that that doesn't really get mentioned. It's very much

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Speaker 8: glossed over.

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Speaker 2: Janice Kennedy is determined to not let that history be

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Speaker 2: glossed over. She's a historic site supervisor and expert in

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Speaker 2: Black history with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. She's also a

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Speaker 2: performer for many of the events that are put on

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Speaker 2: for visitors.

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Speaker 1: My family has always been here in Williamsburg. I've traced

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Speaker 1: them back several generations.

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Speaker 5: What do you know about their lives.

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Speaker 1: I know that they were enslaved and that's all I know.

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Speaker 1: I've never seen a picture of them. I've never seen

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Speaker 1: anything that they've written. I've never read anything that they've said.

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Speaker 1: I just know that they were enslaved and that they

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Speaker 1: were freed.

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Speaker 2: Janice and historian Nicole Brown are giving me a tour

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Speaker 2: of the Randolph House in Williamsburg.

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Speaker 1: This take a look here. This is a room that

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Speaker 1: would have been used for Randolph's visiting nephews, Harrison Randolph

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Speaker 1: and Randolph Harrison.

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Speaker 2: Remember that John Chisel was married to Elizabeth Randolph. Her

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Speaker 2: uncle John Randolph was the speaker of the House of

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Speaker 2: Burgesses before John Robinson took over. John Randolph owned this large,

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Speaker 2: ornate house.

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Speaker 1: But pretty spacious for that time period. You know, top

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Speaker 1: of the line you like it? Could you be comfortable

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Speaker 1: with them?

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Speaker 2: I mean I would be comfortable with here.

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Speaker 6: Actually I have very little standings of her accommodations. Yeah,

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Speaker 6: this hot had issues.

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Speaker 2: M Randolph also owned enslaved people who lived here to

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Speaker 2: serve his family.

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Speaker 1: And this is a connecting bed chamber here that would

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Speaker 1: have been for Elizabeth Randolph's niece. She comes here a

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Speaker 1: young girl of about maybe twelve or thirteen, and she

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Speaker 1: brings with her own, uh piece of property, and that's

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Speaker 1: going to be violent. So we talk with Vallet being

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Speaker 1: out here at the end of the day on a

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Speaker 1: palette very close by that she can dress her needs.

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Speaker 1: And those two boys, Harrison Randolph and Randolph. Harrison would

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Speaker 1: have George and Caesar. I believe that he're here with

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Speaker 1: them as well to address their needs.

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Speaker 6: Where did the names come from?

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Speaker 2: Edmund and Caesar?

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Speaker 1: And they give these people these names, right, And so

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Speaker 1: you have names like Venus, Sussex, Essex, London. Some are biblical,

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Speaker 1: you know, Daniel, Adam, Joshua, Jeremiah, those names are there too.

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Speaker 1: So sometimes from the Classics you have a name or

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Speaker 1: something from the Bible. How ironic is that.

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Speaker 2: Twenty six of these enslaved men, women and children were

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Speaker 2: trapped here.

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Speaker 4: So look, you see Roger's value.

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Speaker 6: I don't see Rogers Sam.

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Speaker 4: What does it say says forty pounds?

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Speaker 1: Okay, we have John Harrison, Eva and Betty are one

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Speaker 1: hundred pounds.

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Speaker 9: Is that it's a lot of money. But you're looking

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Speaker 9: at it in terms of shillings and pens, right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, all life is priceless, so that's an economic value,

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Speaker 1: that's not a soule value.

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Speaker 2: Jannis Kennedy says that for the enslaved population in Williamsburg,

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Speaker 2: uncertainty and fear of death permeated their lives.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing that slavery brought about that wasn't intense or deadly.

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Speaker 1: Every part of it was complex and deadly, all of it.

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Speaker 1: And here, when you walk into this town even today,

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Speaker 1: slavery should holler at you from every angle because people

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Speaker 1: will come here and look at the beautiful craftsmanship and

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Speaker 1: will remark on it. And just as soon as you say,

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Speaker 1: do you think, mister Randolph blank those boards you can

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Speaker 1: see it, it just drains because they don't want to

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Speaker 1: give that credit. It's amazing because this is a monument

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Speaker 1: to them. The city was built by and slaved people

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Speaker 1: and maintained. Yeah, what are you thinking just looking at

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Speaker 1: the tronks and stuff.

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Speaker 5: You're just thinking about what you were saying, just about

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Speaker 5: the boards and everything.

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Speaker 9: It's a lot.

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Speaker 2: Jenna says that the wealth of the gentry was not

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Speaker 2: contained in the big houses, not the land, not the carriages,

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Speaker 2: the fancy dresses, the important rugs. That's not where their

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Speaker 2: real wealth was. Their real wealth was in the human

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Speaker 2: property that they owned, because they could do whatever they

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Speaker 2: wanted with that property. Enslaved people never had any rest,

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Speaker 2: not in life or death.

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Speaker 1: They could loan you, they could contract you out, mortgage you,

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Speaker 1: put you in a lottery, pay their taxes, give you

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Speaker 1: away as a wedding present, Christmas present, or use you

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Speaker 1: as an inheritance in their will. So there's nothing they

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Speaker 1: couldn't do with you. Nothing. So that's where their real

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Speaker 1: wealth came from. Because if your crop fails, I can

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Speaker 1: sell someone's child, I can sell your wife or your mother,

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Speaker 1: and I can recover. If I destroy you, I'm still

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Speaker 1: going to be reimbursed to half the value of you.

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Speaker 1: If I punish you for running off to your freedom,

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Speaker 1: or what you perceive as a possibility to be free,

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Speaker 1: then I can have you maimed, and the damage that's

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Speaker 1: done to you will never be given back to you,

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Speaker 1: but given to me as jo own.

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Speaker 2: My tour guide. Nicole Brown discovered this story in an

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Speaker 2: interesting way through the role she plays for visitors to Williamsburg.

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Speaker 9: The whole reason I came to this case was actually

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Speaker 9: because of two of the enslaved boys that Colonel Chisel owned.

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Speaker 9: So the person I portray and wager was the teacher

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Speaker 9: of the first official depending on who you talk to.

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Speaker 9: Official by official, I mean run by white individuals. A

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Speaker 9: school for African Americans in the Colony of Virginia ran

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Speaker 9: from seventeen sixty to seventeen seventy four.

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Speaker 2: In an urban environment like Williamsburg, an enslaved person who

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Speaker 2: knew how to read and write had more monetary value,

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Speaker 2: so members of the gentry like John Chisel would send

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Speaker 2: some of the enslaved children to be educated.

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Speaker 9: When you look at that list, you actually see that

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Speaker 9: Colonel Chisel is sending two of his what he would

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Speaker 9: perceive as property, enslaved boys to the school. One is

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Speaker 9: named Edmund, one is named Johnny. How Edmund and Johnny

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Speaker 9: we don't know definitively how old they are, but given

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Speaker 9: the average age of the students, we're talking seven, eight,

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Speaker 9: maybe nine.

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Speaker 2: I asked Nicole what Chisel's intentions were for the boys

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Speaker 2: when they got older.

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Speaker 9: Why are they being sent to the school, Because he's

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Speaker 9: going to be using them in urban environments where he

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Speaker 9: may be using them as a man servant, which would

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Speaker 9: still apply, of course, if he went out to his

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Speaker 9: properties down by the lead Minds, he's going to have

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Speaker 9: a man servant, an enslaved body servant with him at

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Speaker 9: all times. So it's likely that he was training one

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Speaker 9: or both of these boys for that type of role.

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Speaker 2: So when we talk about John Robinson's wealth, or John

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Speaker 2: Chisel's wealth, or Patrick Henry's wealth, we're also talking about

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Speaker 2: enslaved people. But it wasn't just the gentry and enslaved

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Speaker 2: people who lived in Williamsburg. Julie Richter says there was

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Speaker 2: also a growing middle class.

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Speaker 6: There is a large middling group of people in the city.

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Speaker 6: Many of them are traded people. They're a lot of

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Speaker 6: different trades being carried out every day, well six days

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Speaker 6: a week in Williamsburg, from blacksmithing to tailoring to shoemaking.

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Speaker 6: Taverns as well.

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Speaker 2: The trades people like blacksmiths or shoemakers or dressmakers could

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Speaker 2: become very wealthy depending on how valuable their service was.

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Speaker 2: But no matter what their income, they were never considered

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Speaker 2: upper class because it was difficult to reach gentry status

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Speaker 2: without family wealth.

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Speaker 6: They worked to support themselves. They would never really have

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Speaker 6: been considered gentry, but they were prosperous. They had comfortable

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Speaker 6: lives they could provide for their children.

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Speaker 2: There were already tensions between the middle and upper classes.

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Speaker 2: The middle class colonists demanded more power. After John Robinson's

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Speaker 2: death in May of seventeen sixty six, the scandal continued

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Speaker 2: to make headlines in the local papers. The lower classes

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Speaker 2: had always suspected that the gentry could be taking advantage

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Speaker 2: of them, but now it had been confirmed. Many colonists

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Speaker 2: were already furious at the King and at Parliament for

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Speaker 2: these higher taxes. Cash Earhart reminds us of where we

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Speaker 2: are in seventeen sixty six. The colonists are beginning to revolt.

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Speaker 7: When Parliament repeals the Stamp Act in seventeen sixty six,

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Speaker 7: they decide, you know what you said that we don't

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Speaker 7: have the right to tax you directly, so we're going

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Speaker 7: to give ourselves the right to tax you directly with

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Speaker 7: the Declatory Act, and then they enact the towns in

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Speaker 7: duties on commodities like lead, painters, colors, glass and tea

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Speaker 7: in addition to some paper.

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Speaker 2: The colonists complain and appeal to voters in England. These

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Speaker 2: were the people with the power to elect politicians who

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Speaker 2: would protect the colonists once again.

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Speaker 7: The colonists, they protest. They use every means of peaceful

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Speaker 7: and coercive protests to get the attention of the English electorate,

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Speaker 7: since they do have the ability to put pressure on

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Speaker 7: individuals in Parliament to get them to repeal the towns

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Speaker 7: and duties, and eventually the towns and duties are all repealed,

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Speaker 7: except for the one on tea.

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Speaker 2: Just a few years later, in seventeen seventy, there would

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Speaker 2: be a fight between British soldiers and rebel protesters in

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Speaker 2: Boston on a snowy March day. Two thousand Red Coats

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Speaker 2: had occupied the city for two years to calm the riots.

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Speaker 2: After the towns and Duties, nine soldiers would open fire

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Speaker 2: on hundreds of protesters, killing five of the rebels and

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Speaker 2: injuring three others. It became known as the Boston Massacre.

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Speaker 7: After that, Boston essentially becomes an armed military camp. The

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Speaker 7: city is put under martial law. And then after seventeen

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Speaker 7: seventy three, when the Boston Tea Party takes place, Parliament

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Speaker 7: retaliates with a series of legislative acts that they call

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Speaker 7: the Coercive Acts. We know them as the Intolerable Acts.

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Speaker 2: Then Parliament would pass what was provincially known as the

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Speaker 2: Murdering Act, which says that if a British soldier is

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Speaker 2: accused of murder in America, he will be sent back

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Speaker 2: to England to stand trial instead of standing trial in America.

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Speaker 2: And they had passed the Quartering Act, which says that

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Speaker 2: the British soldiers can stay in your empty stables or

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Speaker 2: your empty warehouse without compensating you for the use of

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Speaker 2: your property.

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Speaker 7: It's the violation by Parliament of all of these ancient

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Speaker 7: rights that you have as a British subject, the right

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Speaker 7: to a trial by a jury, the right to confront

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Speaker 7: your accusers, the right to your property. Parliament begins infringing

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Speaker 7: upon those rights, and that's what finally draws the colonies together.

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Speaker 2: But back in seventeen sixty six, after the death of

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Speaker 2: John Robinson. Details had been revealed about the depths of

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Speaker 2: his deceit and how it was connected to John Chisel,

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Speaker 2: Robinson's largest financial dependent.

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Speaker 8: John Robinson died in seventeen sixty six, and this big

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Speaker 8: scandal was uncovered. That's over. I think it was something

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Speaker 8: like one hundred and nine thousand pounds, which is an

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Speaker 8: astronomical some time had been instead of being burnt, had

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Speaker 8: been lent out to various key people in the colony

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Speaker 8: of Virginia.

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Speaker 2: That's a good summary of the Robinson scandal. And the

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Speaker 2: sum of the funds was incredible, more than thirty million dollars. Today,

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Speaker 2: in crowded candlelit taverns, tradesmen complained about John Robinson and

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Speaker 2: his incredible scam. Kelly Brennan says that Robinson's fraud was

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Speaker 2: the most high profile case of blatant theft from the

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Speaker 2: working class people in Virginia.

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Speaker 4: I think that's exactly a great way to put it.

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Speaker 4: There's a number of things that they're beginning to sort

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Speaker 4: of try to push through what you see, as they

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Speaker 4: call they were from them as the Upper Counties, and

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Speaker 4: they're sort of both north and west.

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Speaker 7: Of this area.

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Speaker 4: And these are the guys who established elite kind of

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Speaker 4: see as upstarts. Even if they do have gentry ties,

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Speaker 4: technically their upstarts. Their opinion doesn't matter, Their constituents don't matter.

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Speaker 2: My father was a law professor at the University of

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Speaker 2: Texas in Austin for thirty seven years. We talked a

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Speaker 2: lot about the government and freedom and rights. He used

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Speaker 2: to tell me what I said earlier. It's easy to

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Speaker 2: add on rights, it's much harder to take them away.

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Speaker 2: The British government and the King were tightening their control

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Speaker 2: on the colonies. Rights were being taken away. Beyond that,

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Speaker 2: John Robinson's deception proved that the gentry cared little for

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Speaker 2: the working class, the tradesmen and the merchants who helped

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Speaker 2: support the upper class. And now John Chisel was under

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Speaker 2: trum mendus prussure. On Tuesday, June third of seventeen sixty six,

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Speaker 2: it had been one month since John Chisel's son in

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Speaker 2: law died. He and his wife and his four children

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Speaker 2: were still mourning John Robinson and Chisel was concerned about money,

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Speaker 2: so he traveled to Augusta County to examine his mine.

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Speaker 2: The lead mining company. Historian and interpreter Nicole Brown says

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Speaker 2: that this is the lead or mine that was funded

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Speaker 2: by Virginia's governor and Chisel's now deceased son in law.

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Speaker 9: So Colonel Chisel is out at his led minds. He's

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Speaker 9: looking at his lead mind surveying his lead mines, not

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Speaker 9: surveying in the way we think of a surveyor, but

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Speaker 9: really looking at his domain. He lives out in the

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Speaker 9: western part of Virginia, but he does have a town

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Speaker 9: home in Williamsburg and is part of a very elite

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Speaker 9: upper echelon of Virginia gentry.

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Speaker 2: Chisel was depressed over his finalanial problems, which seemed to

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Speaker 2: be compounding by the day, but he likely tried to

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Speaker 2: hide it. He had brought along some friends, as well

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Speaker 2: as one enslaved person who hauled around Chisel's personal effects.

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Speaker 2: I say enslaved person because there's not enough information to

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Speaker 2: tell us if he had been a boy.

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Speaker 9: Or a man, but it would not be surprising if

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Speaker 9: it was an adolescent enslaved boy serving him, which is

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Speaker 9: not uncommon amongst the gentry elite. Not only to have

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Speaker 9: enslaved man servants is pretty much a social norm at

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Speaker 9: this point amongst white gentlemen. And certainly white men. But

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Speaker 9: for him to have been you know, I mean twelve

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Speaker 9: thirteen fourteen. Maybe he's on his way home from visiting

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Speaker 9: his lead mines, and he stops at a tavern known

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Speaker 9: as Moseby's Tavern, which is in the western part of Virginia.

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Speaker 9: While he is there, he encounters a gentleman who he's

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Speaker 9: actually I should say a man, not a gentleman, because

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Speaker 9: there's a distinction in the eighteenth century, but a man,

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Speaker 9: a merchant who knows by the name of Robert Rutledge.

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Speaker 3: Which puts us right at the scene of the murder.

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Speaker 9: Right from the depositions as well as from newspaper accounts.

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Speaker 9: He and Robert Rutledge certainly know each other well.

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Speaker 5: They had had dealings together, they were supposedly friends, and

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Speaker 5: I suppose you know this too, that they were even

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Speaker 5: supposed to share bed together in the tavern that night.

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Speaker 9: That's not uncommon for eighteenth century taverns. For two men,

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Speaker 9: or a gentleman and a man to be sharing a

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Speaker 9: room at a tavern is not really unusual. And there's

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Speaker 9: a separate house that's clearly part of the tavern complex.

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Speaker 9: That they're both supposed to be staying in where Colonel

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Speaker 9: Chisel also is keeping all of his items that he's

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Speaker 9: traveling with.

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Speaker 2: The two men were friendly, They were more than acquaintances,

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Speaker 2: but relationships between people from different classes could be complicated.

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Speaker 3: Rutlige and Chisel were really pretty close, about as close

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Speaker 3: as people outside of each other station could be thinking

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Speaker 3: of each other, even as friends, which is not too

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Speaker 3: terribly common for a gentleman and then a middling man. Yes,

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Speaker 3: he is a merchant.

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Speaker 2: Here's some background on Robert Rutledge. He was born in

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Speaker 2: Scotland into what one document described as prosperous yeoman stock.

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Speaker 2: Yeoman was the social class between the gentry and the servants,

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Speaker 2: sort of like the middle class who typically owned land.

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Speaker 2: Rutledge's grandfather on his mother's side was a gentleman. His

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Speaker 2: family owned land. But Robert Rutledge never married that we

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Speaker 2: know of, even though he had a son who was

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Speaker 2: born in seventeen forty five. The following year, Rutledge left

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Speaker 2: Scotland for the United Colonies. We don't know if he

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Speaker 2: left because he didn't want to marry the mother of

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Speaker 2: his child, or if he was just in search of

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Speaker 2: better opportunities. But later in seventeen forty six, Robert arrived

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Speaker 2: in the colonies. Rutledge became partners with another Scotsman and

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Speaker 2: they prospered. They eventually bought more than twelve hundred acres

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Speaker 2: of land in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Rutlige became a

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Speaker 2: merchant and he gained wealth quickly. Rutledge was incredibly popular

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Speaker 2: with people of all classes. He enjoyed drinking with friends

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Speaker 2: and local taverns. He was never considered a troublemaker, and

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Speaker 2: in fact, Rutledge was described as quote a worthy, blunt

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Speaker 2: man of strict honesty and sincerity, a man incapable of

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Speaker 2: fraud or hypocrisy. A newspaper wrote that he was one

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Speaker 2: of the most substantial merchants of the old Dominion. But

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Speaker 2: despite all of that, Robert Rutledge was not considered a

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Speaker 2: member of the gentry. I asked historians Robert Weathers and

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Speaker 2: Julie Richter to give me some context about Scottish people

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Speaker 2: in Virginia in the seventeen sixties.

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Speaker 3: These Scotch merchants hold a generalized reputation amongst many many

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Speaker 3: people for being cheats and for being very, very cheap

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Speaker 3: in their wares. And their sales. So there are even

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Speaker 3: jokes that float around in the period that verify this

363
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Speaker 3: general notion.

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Speaker 6: Most Scottish merchants names only are remembered because they are

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Speaker 6: in a few account books. Yeah, they're not going to

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Speaker 6: be prosperous. They'll support themselves because Virginians in the middle

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Speaker 6: of the eighteenth century, no matter your social level, needed to.

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Speaker 2: Buy goods, right, So they were a cog. They were necessary.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, they're necessary. Yeah, they're a necessary cog. It's it's

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Speaker 6: a different way of getting your goods than what English

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Speaker 6: merchants had set up. So it's maybe a little more

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Speaker 6: approachable if you're middling.

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Speaker 2: In this case, middling means middle class. A middle class

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Speaker 2: family could develop a connection with the Scottish merchant who

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Speaker 2: is in their neighborhood.

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Speaker 6: You write letters to your merchant each year. I am

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Speaker 6: sending you twenty barrels twenty hogsheads of tobacco upon consignment,

378
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Speaker 6: and here's the list of goods I would like you

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Speaker 6: to send me after you've sold my tobacco.

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Speaker 2: If you went in to see Rutledge, you would go

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Speaker 2: into his store and meet with him and shake his hand.

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Speaker 6: And they're the goods there so it's a personal connection,

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Speaker 6: but very different. It's a face to face personal connection

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Speaker 6: as opposed to one created in some cases when a

385
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Speaker 6: gentry boy went to England for schooling or perhaps just

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Speaker 6: maintain for generations through letter writing.

387
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Speaker 2: The contrast between John Chisel and Robert Rutledge was stark.

388
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Speaker 2: Chisel had been gifted much of his wealth from his father.

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Speaker 2: Later in our story, Rutledge would be called a Presbyterian fellow,

390
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Speaker 2: and that wasn't flattering.

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Speaker 4: No, one of the things that you probably noticed that

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Speaker 4: he's called a Presbyterian fellow a number of times. Did

393
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Speaker 4: anybody talk about that? Yeah, So it basically the idea

394
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Speaker 4: that it is an insult that that he is Scottish

395
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Speaker 4: because one of the things they hate, and I don't

396
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Speaker 4: if they went over this too, Scottish merchants. They hate

397
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Speaker 4: Scottish merchants because guess.

398
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Speaker 7: What they're good at it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, they're good at you know, they're good at at

400
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 4: at selling you stuff, They're good at bringing in their money.

401
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Speaker 7: They're good at it.

402
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 2: Scottish merchants hounded people like John Chisel for their money.

403
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,440
Speaker 2: Merchants like Robert Rutledge were problematic and customers with no

404
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,719
Speaker 2: money were problematic for merchants. No one was financially secure

405
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,480
Speaker 2: because the gentry class continued to gild the lily, despite

406
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 2: warning signs that too much opulence, too much greed, would

407
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:44,840
Speaker 2: threaten the colonies very fragile, unstable economy. Everyone in Virginia

408
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,919
Speaker 2: was in trouble. Chisel was a member of the gentry class,

409
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 2: someone desperate to keep up appearances, so he made purchases

410
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Speaker 2: that he couldn't afford.

411
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Speaker 4: He is a representation of these guys, these upsight guys,

412
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Speaker 4: these guys who are not gentry having control over his life.

413
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Speaker 4: And that is scary, and it's scary not only to

414
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Speaker 4: him but to his peers.

415
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Speaker 2: Why is that though, because they become dependent on merchants. Yes,

416
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,360
Speaker 2: so if the merchants don't play ball with the gentry,

417
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Speaker 2: then the gentry can't make money because now commoners and

418
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Speaker 2: everybody has options.

419
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Speaker 4: Is that what it is? But part of it's that,

420
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Speaker 4: But part of it is the idea that they're going

421
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Speaker 4: to be supplanted completely politically, politically, socially, economically completely.

422
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Speaker 5: Scots are not well liked here, and especially the upper

423
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 5: class who are supportive of King George. Scotts are rebels

424
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Speaker 5: barbarians and traders. And then on top of that, he's

425
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Speaker 5: a merchant. Merchants are there to get money, and they

426
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Speaker 5: are evil and they're going to cheat you anyway that

427
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Speaker 5: they can.

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Speaker 2: But wasn't John Chisel's father, Charles Chisel, a merchant from Scotland?

429
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Speaker 2: Also he was, but he was a member of the

430
00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 2: gentry there too, And while Rutledge well off, the Chisels

431
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,880
Speaker 2: had saved ungodly amounts of money until John Chisel took

432
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Speaker 2: over the family's finances. Rutledge and John Chisel appeared to

433
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 2: be at least pleasant to one another that day. They

434
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 2: smiled as Rutledge drank. Rutledge had arrived at the tavern

435
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,040
Speaker 2: early that morning with a few friends, and he had

436
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 2: been drinking for much of the day. The local newspapers

437
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,879
Speaker 2: reported that Chisel arrived toward evening, which was Virginian for

438
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Speaker 2: late afternoon. Chisel and Rutledge stood near each other as

439
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 2: the Scottish merchant picked up a glass. Chisel had decided

440
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 2: not to have any ale for now. Rutlige's friends milled

441
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,360
Speaker 2: around the small room as the men laughed. The candles

442
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,840
Speaker 2: flickered as the smoke from clay pipes grew thicker, and

443
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,920
Speaker 2: the light outside became slightly dimmer. It wasn't easy to

444
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 2: see in the room, crowded with men shoulder to shoulder,

445
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 2: the fireplace burned wood, filling the outside with smoke. John

446
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:26,920
Speaker 2: Chisel watched Robert Rutledge, the merchant with the seemingly simple life.

447
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 2: They were such different men.

448
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,400
Speaker 9: He's at the tavern, he's spending time with Robert Rutledge.

449
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,920
Speaker 9: Robert Ruttledge, according to some of the other men there

450
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 9: that day, had been quote thrice drunk end quote at

451
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,920
Speaker 9: the tavern. So he's a little bit what we would

452
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,879
Speaker 9: call in the eighteenth century in his cups. But Colonel

453
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:50,479
Speaker 9: Chisel is sober. According to several different reports, Colonel Chisel

454
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,160
Speaker 9: might go into the dancing room, he might go into

455
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 9: another room, but essentially, at one point he asks Robert

456
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:57,639
Speaker 9: Rutledge to come back to the house that they're staying at.

457
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 9: Within that conversation, Colonel Chisel starts swearing at one point,

458
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 9: and Robert Rutledge mentions that it's a profane thing for

459
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:06,240
Speaker 9: him to do.

460
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,919
Speaker 2: In true crime, we often talk about triggers. There are

461
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:16,960
Speaker 2: many times an inciting incident in someone's life causes them

462
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 2: to react or to act. When Robert Rutledge, a merchant,

463
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 2: corrected a proper gentleman like John Chisel for using profanities,

464
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:26,919
Speaker 2: Chisel became enraged.

465
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 9: You have to understand, it wouldn't be as if you

466
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 9: or I, Kate, if you started swearing, or I started

467
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 9: swearing and I said, how knock it off. It's not

468
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,920
Speaker 9: the same in the eighteenth century. The only equivalent I

469
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 9: can come up with is, let's say you're standing next

470
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 9: to the queen and the queen starts swearing, and you

471
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:45,040
Speaker 9: tell the queen not to swear, Well, she doesn't have

472
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 9: to listen to you. It's not a footing on equals.

473
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,880
Speaker 2: In his drunken state, Robert Rutledge had made a grave error.

474
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 2: Even though it seemed as if the merchant and Chisel

475
00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:01,680
Speaker 2: were friends, Rutledge, it seemed, had crossed a very important line.

476
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:06,200
Speaker 9: They have a relationship, they have some sort of amiable relationship.

477
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,960
Speaker 9: But Colonel Chisel is the elite. He is, as we've

478
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 9: called him, the old Guard. He is extremely well connected.

479
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 9: And so for a man to question a gentleman's conduct.

480
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 9: For Robert Rutledge, who's a merchant, to question Colonel Chisel,

481
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 9: who's a gentleman's conduct is a major social.

482
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 2: Faux pah, and it clearly infuriated John Chisel, who had

483
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 2: a reputation for being arrogant and quick tempered.

484
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,359
Speaker 9: They begin to get into a fight, and at this

485
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 9: point words are thrown. More things are thrown later on,

486
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 9: but they start with words.

487
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 2: It might have been better to just have a fistfight

488
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 2: and be done with it, but Robert Rutledge had insulted

489
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 2: Chisel publicly, and now Chisel would return the favor.

490
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 9: So they start fighting back and forth, and eventually Colonel

491
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 9: Chisel calls him, Robert Rutledge a Scott, a Presbyterian fellow,

492
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,800
Speaker 9: which in Virginia to be a Scott, a Scottish merchant,

493
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 9: the implications that you're stingy or miserly, and so it

494
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 9: is certainly an insult.

495
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 3: He tells him that he is a man who came

496
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 3: to Virginia to cheat Virginia men. He refers to him

497
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 3: as a Presbyterian fellow.

498
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 2: Robert Rutledge was livid. He knew what that insult meant.

499
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 2: Chissel was throwing his lowly status in Virginia back in

500
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 2: his face and in front of a tavern full of men,

501
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 2: including Rutledge's own friends. Chisel continued to berate him in

502
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 2: front of the entire tavern, embarrassing Rutledge and embarrassing himself. Finally,

503
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 2: Robert Rutledge had enough and their fight was about to escalate.

504
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 9: Robert Rutledge throws a glass of wine in Colonel Chisel's direction,

505
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,880
Speaker 9: which quote some part of may have touched him. Whether

506
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 9: or not all of the wine hit him or not,

507
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 9: I cannot say. But if it's already a massive social

508
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 9: faux pas, to tell a gentleman he can't swear, to

509
00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 9: throw wine in his face is really what sets Colonel

510
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 9: Chisel off.

511
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 2: Chisel flew into a rage. And just to be clear,

512
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 2: witnesses reported that John Chisel was perfectly sober. He hadn't

513
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 2: even started drinking yet. This was not a drunken, violent reaction.

514
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 2: It was about ego and honor. This seems like a

515
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 2: good time to bring up the honor code of the

516
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 2: seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds. We talked about this in

517
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 2: season five of tenfold The Family Feud in Virginia. When

518
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 2: a man was insulted, society's rules dictated that he could

519
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 2: only regain his reputation by fighting or killing the person

520
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 2: who dishonored him. The rules were more complicated than that,

521
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,160
Speaker 2: but you get the idea. If you slided someone in

522
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 2: the smallest way, you might find yourself in a duel.

523
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 2: The Honor Code demanded that neither Chisel or Rutledge back down.

524
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 2: If they did, they would be publicly humiliated.

525
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 9: So at this point, Colonel Chisel starts throwing things back. Initially,

526
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 9: he tries to throw a bowl of bumbo. It's what

527
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:09,000
Speaker 9: you know, is this really kind of nasty, hyper alcoholic punch.

528
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 9: It's a cheap punch if you want to get really drunk.

529
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 2: It was actually a toddy punch, but apparently it's very

530
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 2: similar to bumbo, which is a mixture of rum water, sugar,

531
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,520
Speaker 2: and nutmeg. Politicians like George Washington used to pass out

532
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 2: cups full of bumbo to voters during elections. I tried some.

533
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 5: Not my thing.

534
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 2: Anyway. Chisel tried to hurl the punch bowl at Rutledge,

535
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 2: but he's surrounded by men who were grabbing at him,

536
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 2: trying to hold him back.

537
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 9: And I should mention that the tavern, the room there

538
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 9: in is very small, so it's a very packed, crowded, smoky,

539
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 9: smelly odorous sort of place where you have all these

540
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 9: men and gentlemen sitting around smoking pipes and drinking heavily

541
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 9: pungent alcohol and the reek of sweat. Because it's the

542
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 9: beginning of June.

543
00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 2: Chisel broke free and threw a chair at Rutledge. The

544
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 2: chair missed.

545
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 9: Colonel Chisel responds by attempting to throw a candlestick and

546
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 9: bludgeon him over the head. Other people stop Colonel Chisel,

547
00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 9: but he doesn't stop there. He goes and reaches for

548
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 9: fire tongs in the fireplace there's these heavy, hoarse pieces

549
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 9: of iron, and tries again to bludgeon Robert Rutledge.

550
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 2: Both men hurled insults and items at each other as

551
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 2: the other people in the small tavern tried to get

552
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 2: out of the way, but the room was very small.

553
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 2: Friends of both men struggled to stop each from hurting

554
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 2: the other, and soon Chisel was ready to put an

555
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 2: end to it. He bellowed to the enslaved person who

556
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 2: had been dragged along, get my sword.

557
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:42,920
Speaker 3: And everyone else is saying no, no, no, don't do that,

558
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:43,480
Speaker 3: don't do that.

559
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 9: He tells his enslaved man servant, get me my sword.

560
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 5: Now.

561
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,640
Speaker 9: At this point the enslaved. Either boy or man in

562
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 9: question refuses, and when he refuses this from multiple accounts,

563
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,520
Speaker 9: he says, I will kill you first if you don't

564
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 9: get me my sword right now.

565
00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 3: Colonel Chisel then makes a loud proclamation to the room

566
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 3: that if he doesn't go get the sword, he will

567
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 3: run him through with it. And so his man goes

568
00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,760
Speaker 3: to get his sword. He brings it back to him.

569
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 3: I think the paper says it's naked, meaning it's unsheathed

570
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 3: at that time, and the two continue to tussle in

571
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 3: words across the room.

572
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 2: Seeing that sword, men inside the tavern began to approach Chisel,

573
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,440
Speaker 2: pleading for him to put it down and go to bed.

574
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 2: Chisel swore that he would quote run any man through

575
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,200
Speaker 2: the body of the sword who would dare to come

576
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 2: near him or offer to take the sword. That was

577
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 2: a pretty clear message to everyone in that tavern, except

578
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 2: Robert Rutledge, who was so drunk he could barely stand.

579
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 2: Chisel turned and glared at Robert Rutledge, his former friend,

580
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 2: and waved him away. He ordered him to leave the

581
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 2: tavern as if Rutledge were unworthy to stay in Chisel's

582
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 2: Since Rutledge was very drunk, He hiccuped and smiled, insisting

583
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,279
Speaker 2: that he had no grudge against Chisel. Chisel screamed that

584
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 2: if he did not immediately get out, that he would

585
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 2: kill him. One of Rutlige's friends tried to draw him

586
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 2: toward the back of the tavern. Chisel and Rutledge were

587
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 2: about six feet away from each other at this point,

588
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:25,759
Speaker 2: and the friend was fumbling for the key to the

589
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 2: door to escape. Chisel glared at Rutledge and hissed repeatedly

590
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:32,480
Speaker 2: Presbyterian fellow.

591
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,240
Speaker 3: By some means. At some point they end up across

592
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 3: a table from one another.

593
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,719
Speaker 2: Rutledge walked toward the table and retorted Fellow. He looked

594
00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 2: at Chisel, smirked, and replied that he thought himself as

595
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 2: good a fellow as Chisel.

596
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:54,920
Speaker 3: Doonel. Chisel very clearly lunges at Robert Rutledge, and.

597
00:34:55,080 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 2: Soon someone would die. But who and what what happened

598
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 2: to the killer? If the murderer were Robert Rutledge, we

599
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 2: can assume what would happen. He would be dragged to

600
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 2: the gallows and immediately hanged. But if the murderer was

601
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 2: John Chisel, would the gentry really allow one of their

602
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:33,799
Speaker 2: own to be publicly executed. It's complicated. On the next

603
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 2: episode of tenfold more wicked on exactly right.

604
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 8: Robert Ratlidge, although he had done very well for himself

605
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 8: and had land and had done well in trade, he

606
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,840
Speaker 8: wasn't of the right class. He wasn't of the ruling class.

607
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 9: There's a scuffle. There's an altercation. You can see from

608
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 9: the diagram. They moved from place to place around the

609
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 9: room until eventually you have Colonel Chisel on one side

610
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 9: of a table, Robert Rutledge on the other.

611
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:10,040
Speaker 6: It's somebody of a lower social level. It's somebody from Scotland,

612
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 6: so you've grabbed that on one side. Plus I'm a

613
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:14,800
Speaker 6: member of the elite.

614
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:20,040
Speaker 8: And the final act I caned over a table where

615
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 8: Chisel raised his sword.

616
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:24,759
Speaker 9: You know, we're not talking about a knife. We're not

617
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 9: talking about a switchblade. It's a big, heavy object and

618
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 9: the point of that kind of a sword is that

619
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:32,760
Speaker 9: it's meant to do damage.

620
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,440
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Speaker 2: Senior producer Alexis and Morosi, Consulting producer Kyle Ryan, researcher

629
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Speaker 2: Nicole Brown, sound designer Eric Friend, composer Curtis Heath, artwork

630
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631
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Speaker 2: and on Twitter at tenfold More