Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. When Western Union sent their first half tone
Speaker 1: photograph over telephone lines in it wasn't the first time
Speaker 1: the world had seen photos sent by phone. The same
Speaker 1: holds true for the boom in the travel trailer industry
Speaker 1: in the nineties. Many had already been there, seen that.
Speaker 1: This and many other examples is true because of the
Speaker 1: exploits of one Tom Swift, the heroic young adult prodigy
Speaker 1: created by writer and publisher Edwards Strada Meyer. In Tom
Speaker 1: Swift and his Photo Telephone, the idea of sending pictures
Speaker 1: by telephone predates the actual invention by thirteen years. Similarly,
Speaker 1: Tom Swift and his Wizard Camera, featuring a portable movie camera,
Speaker 1: was eleven years ahead of its time. And one more
Speaker 1: for good measure, Tom Swift and his Diving Sea Copter,
Speaker 1: which sounds like science fiction today but came true with
Speaker 1: the creation of the Flying Submarine, produced by the Department
Speaker 1: of Defense four years after the book was published. Either
Speaker 1: Edward strada Meyer was actually a genius or he had
Speaker 1: friends in all the right places. Whatever the case, reading
Speaker 1: any Tom Swift novel became like seeing the future, albeit
Speaker 1: in the hands of a stalwart sixteen year old hero.
Speaker 1: Strada Meyer modeled Tom Swift after some of the best
Speaker 1: inventors of the era, such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
Speaker 1: And while some people may have seen Swift's toys and
Speaker 1: gadgets as outlandish, maybe even impossible, history shows us that
Speaker 1: he was something of a visionary. In fact, more than
Speaker 1: a few scientists and engineers have cited Swift as an
Speaker 1: inspiration for their own works. But there is one Tom
Speaker 1: Swift invention that took a bit longer to formulate. When
Speaker 1: pressed with the imprisonment of his friends in the African Savannah,
Speaker 1: Swift unleashed his new gizmo, the electric Rifle. Never mind
Speaker 1: the fact that in this same book his airship is
Speaker 1: called the black Hawk, which is now a very recognizable
Speaker 1: military helicopter. Name Tom's Electric Rifle is a Swiss army
Speaker 1: of lethal and non lethal tricks and widgets, It can
Speaker 1: shoot through walls without leaving a hole. It can stop
Speaker 1: a charging whale because apparently whales openly charged ships. And
Speaker 1: it could even simply light up the night with a
Speaker 1: hovering glowing ball to make it easier to see and
Speaker 1: stop more rampaging animals in the dark. Given the implausibility
Speaker 1: of this rifle, though, it's understandable why some aspiring inventors
Speaker 1: may have simply picked up a different Tom Swift novel
Speaker 1: and tried that instead. Putting wheels on a home sure,
Speaker 1: portable cameras, that's easy. But creating an electric rifle that
Speaker 1: can stop a whale, oh, that's something else. Enter Jack Cover,
Speaker 1: a NASA contractor, scientist, and physicist. As a child, Cover,
Speaker 1: like so many of his peers, found inspiration in the
Speaker 1: adventures and inventions of Tom Swift. For Cover, it was
Speaker 1: the electronic rifle that claimed his attention the most, and
Speaker 1: it quickly became the apple of his scientific eye. This apple,
Speaker 1: like many that fell from the Tom Swift tree, would
Speaker 1: revolutionize the world that landed in this time, the world
Speaker 1: of law enforcement, which hadn't seen this kind of innovation
Speaker 1: since the introduction of fingerprinting in nineteen o two. In
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, Cover developed the first working model, and by
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven it had made the rounds to more
Speaker 1: than fifteen thousand law enforcement agencies in the US. Of course,
Speaker 1: at some point in development, Cover had created a brand
Speaker 1: name for his product, as all good companies tend to do.
Speaker 1: He wanted to call it the Thomas a Swift Electronic Rifle,
Speaker 1: but that was a bit of a mouthful, so instead
Speaker 1: he just went with the initials Taser. These days, when
Speaker 1: two people are at odds, they have a number of
Speaker 1: peaceful ways to handle their conflict. They could talk it
Speaker 1: out or go through a mediator to help them solve
Speaker 1: their problems. The fact is we've come a long way
Speaker 1: from the days when settling a grudgement walking to the
Speaker 1: middle of a field, taking ten paces and then firing
Speaker 1: a gun at the other person. But for hundreds of years,
Speaker 1: duels were an everyday part of life. During the medieval era, nights,
Speaker 1: squires and other offended parties would take up swords against
Speaker 1: each other in battle for honor. The losing side was
Speaker 1: then executed if they didn't die during the fight. Later on,
Speaker 1: duels evolved they were seen as civilized. Yes, civilized outlets
Speaker 1: for aggrieved individuals so that they wouldn't make scenes in public.
Speaker 1: A showdown in a private location was preferred to a knockdown,
Speaker 1: drag out fight in the middle of the street. Perhaps
Speaker 1: no duel is more famous than that one that occurred
Speaker 1: in July of eighteen o four between Alexander Hamilton's and
Speaker 1: Vice President Aaron Burr. Hamilton's was killed after throwing away
Speaker 1: his shot, a tragedy that changed the course of history.
Speaker 1: But there was another duel, albeit a less violent one,
Speaker 1: that should be equally as well known as the Hamilton's
Speaker 1: Bird duel. For one, it involved one of the greatest
Speaker 1: authors who ever lived, Alexander Duma. Before he introduced us
Speaker 1: to the Count of Monte Cristo and the Three Musketeers,
Speaker 1: Duma worked as a magazine writer and playwright. He was
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty five, and the twenty three year old had
Speaker 1: recently arrived in Paris. He was dining out with his
Speaker 1: friends at the Palais Royal, a literal royal palace that
Speaker 1: had been built for a high ranking cardinal in the
Speaker 1: mid sixteen hundreds, and after the meal, Duma and his
Speaker 1: companions headed to the cafe near the palace. He was
Speaker 1: considered a dandy at the time, and on this night
Speaker 1: he wore an outfit prized of a cloak and top boots,
Speaker 1: which were tall boots with heels that collecked when he walked.
Speaker 1: This apparently upset a soldier playing billiards nearby, who made
Speaker 1: a snide remark at Duma's expense. Alexander didn't take it well.
Speaker 1: He chose to retaliate by grabbing another queue and disrupting
Speaker 1: the arrangement of the balls on the table, ruining the
Speaker 1: man's game. One thing led to another, and Duma and
Speaker 1: the other man agreed to a duel to be held
Speaker 1: on January five, a few days later. His friends didn't
Speaker 1: think it was a good idea, after all, he was
Speaker 1: a writer, not a fighter, but Duma wanted to establish
Speaker 1: himself as a romantic someone who took action and fought
Speaker 1: for what he believed in. Plus it would help him
Speaker 1: with his stories. He began practicing his shooting in preparation
Speaker 1: for the duel. He turned out to be a pretty
Speaker 1: good shot too. On the day of the showdown, Duma
Speaker 1: arrived at the location before the soldier, who did not
Speaker 1: show up at all. The man had slept in, and
Speaker 1: so the face off was rescheduled for the following day.
Speaker 1: Oh and their choice of weapons changed too. No longer
Speaker 1: would they use guns, but swords instead. Duma had some
Speaker 1: skill as a fencer, but he was more comfortable with
Speaker 1: the pistol. The next day, both men came to a
Speaker 1: local quarry to carry out their duel. They hunted for
Speaker 1: a long while looking for the right spot. It was
Speaker 1: freezing out and there was snow on the ground, making
Speaker 1: the scouting process difficult. Eventually they found a suitable location,
Speaker 1: but then came the problem of Duma's sword. He'd taken
Speaker 1: his father's sword, which was considerably shorter than the soldiers.
Speaker 1: He agreed to press on, though refusing to let anyone
Speaker 1: else handle it. Duma removed his coat at the soldier's request.
Speaker 1: He also took off his waistcoat and shirt underneath, as
Speaker 1: well as his suspenders. That last item was probably a
Speaker 1: bad idea, though, as without them he couldn't keep his
Speaker 1: pants up. They fell around his ankles, eliciting laughter from
Speaker 1: the quarry workers standing by. Duma hoisted them back up
Speaker 1: and tied the suspenders around his waist like a belt.
Speaker 1: Angry and Humilia did he jabbed his sword into the
Speaker 1: man's shoulder. The soldier fell backward, startled by how cold
Speaker 1: the blade was against his skin in the winter air.
Speaker 1: He held immediately and Duma was declared the victor. The
Speaker 1: fight lasted all of a few minutes, and nobody had died.
Speaker 1: The young author later used his experience as inspiration for
Speaker 1: key moments in his novels, such as The Three Musketeers.
Speaker 1: Of course, he was probably smart to leave out the
Speaker 1: part where his pants fell down and everyone else laughed.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the
Speaker 1: World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.