1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Medicine is science. Oftentimes it can take years 7 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: of research and trials for a new medication or procedure 8 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: to make it to patients. On a wider scale, yeah, 9 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: that doesn't stop people from hunting for miracle cures, those 10 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: one in a million treatments that bypassed the lengthy safety 11 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: tests mainstream drugs undergo. Before the nineteen o six Pure 12 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,040 Speaker 1: Food and Drug Act, there were almost no regulations in 13 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: place to prevent doctors or snake oil salesman from peddling 14 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: whatever tinctures they thought might heal someone, and for hundreds 15 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: of years, the science behind medicine was well questionable. King 16 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: Charles the Second, for example, was no stranger to medical curiosity. 17 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: As a child, he'd been tutored by William Harvey, a 18 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: surgeon on the cutting edge of the field who had 19 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,839 Speaker 1: been the first person to detail how the heart pumped 20 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,479 Speaker 1: blood throughout the body. Charles studied many scientific subjects growing up, 21 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: including chemistry and physics, but when it came to medicine, 22 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: especially later in life, he rarely turned anything down. Due 23 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: to his poor health, in the weeks before his death, 24 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: Charles underwent all manner of treatments, including cupping, blood letting, 25 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: and something called the King's Drops. King's Drops were created 26 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: by Jonathan Goddard, a physician and surgeon who had developed 27 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: a unique formula for what he deemed a royal cure all. 28 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: It could help with fainting bladder stones, and it was 29 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: said to be a powerful stimulant as well. Nevertheless, Charles 30 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,559 Speaker 1: wanted to know what he was putting into his body, 31 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: so he paid Goddard for the formula. The King learned 32 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: much about the drops chemical composition. Among its ingredients were 33 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: ivory dried vipers, and heartstorn, an ammonious solution made from 34 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: deer horns. Everything was ground up, liquefied, distilled, and filtered 35 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: through a complex process that eventually yielded an alcoholic solution. 36 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: But there was one ingredient that really pulled the whole 37 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: thing together. It's effecting this however, varied from person to person. 38 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: What was it that Goddard put in his drops? Human 39 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: skulls five pounds of them crushed into a fine powder, 40 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: But not just any skulls would do. Goddard sought out 41 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,079 Speaker 1: the craniums of young men who had been killed violently, 42 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: like soldiers or recently executed criminals for lesser ailments. A 43 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: few drops were administered at a time. For more serious conditions, though, 44 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: such as a stroke or lethargy, forty to fifty draws 45 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: could be ingested at once. Unsurprisingly, this miracle cure didn't 46 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: cure much of anything, and it might have made the 47 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: King's health even worse. He died on February second of 48 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 1: sixteen eighty five, and it was believed at first that 49 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,399 Speaker 1: he had been poisoned. Today experts are able to tell 50 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: that Charles most likely suffered from kidney disease, which led 51 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: to his passing. Whether the drops had contributed to it, however, 52 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: remains to be seen. It's likely they didn't help. Edward 53 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: Walpole had been a member of Parliament for the town 54 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: of King's Lynn in Norfolk when he took some of 55 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: Goddard's drops in sixteen sixty eight. Walpole died after suffering 56 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: a seizure shortly thereafter, but that didn't stop people from 57 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: believing in the drop's power, especially since they were chock 58 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: full of human skulls. Skulls had been used in medicinal 59 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: treatments from the sixteenth century all the way through the 60 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: eighteenth century. In fact, a German Man named Oswald Kral 61 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: developed a concoction in sixteen forty three that was meant 62 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: to cure epilepsy, and like Goddard, he preferred to use 63 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: skulls from men who had died under violent circumstances. But 64 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: corpse medicine, as it was called, extended beyond the bones 65 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: inside the head. Someone with a sore muscle might have 66 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: rubbed belly fat on the offending spot to alleviate the pain. 67 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: People drank blood because they believed it had restored if properties, 68 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: and the poor who couldn't afford expensive medicines, would attend 69 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: executions and pay for a cup of the red stuff, 70 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: freshly squeezed. Of course, other cultures who practiced corpse medicine, 71 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,119 Speaker 1: like the Native Americans, were vilified and called all kinds 72 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: of slurs due to what the Europeans saw as uncivilized cannibalism. 73 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 1: The hypocrisy was strong back then, and some of those 74 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: stereotypes have lingered to this day. But times changed, and 75 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: with them, so did medicine. Scientific breakthroughs led to new 76 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: remedies like penicillin and vaccines for diseases such as smallpox. 77 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 1: People stopped eating and drinking skulls to feel better. After all, 78 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: any cures would have been psychosomatic anyway, you know, all 79 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: in their head. Ask anyone today about politics, and they'll 80 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: long wistfully for a simpler time, a time when senators, 81 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: congress people, and even presidents were more civilized in their disagreements. 82 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: But the fact is, the political landscape has always been 83 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: a hotbed of shady campaign tactics and even shadier players. 84 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty eight, the Detroit Free Press published heinous 85 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: insults about presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant. He was described 86 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: as and I quote, a drunkard, a man of vile habits, 87 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: and my favorite, as brainless as his saddle. Louis cass 88 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: isn't a name most people know today, but in eighteen 89 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: forty eight he ran against Zachary Taylor for presidents of 90 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: the United States. He also got on the wrong side 91 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: of a newspaper magnet name Horace Greeley, owner of the 92 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: New York Tribune. In fact, Greeley once referred to the 93 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: Democratic candidate as that potbellied, mutton headed cucumber sold casts. 94 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: Suffice it to say, cast did not farewell in the election, 95 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: but one man put all others to shame when it 96 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: came to outlandish political behavior. We might look back on 97 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: his actions today as reason for disqualification, but if anything, 98 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: they only made him more popular. His name was Dan Sickles, 99 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: born in New York City in eighteen nineteen. He was 100 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: raised by his mother and father, who worked as a 101 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: patent lawyer and politician. It's no wonder Dan followed in 102 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: his footsteps later in life, earning a law degree and 103 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,359 Speaker 1: getting himself elected to the New York State Assembly in 104 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven. It was around this time when sickles 105 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: questionable behavior started to gain him notoriety. He joined up 106 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: with Tammany Hall, a cutthroat political organization that had controlled 107 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: New York for decades. Though he was considered an ally, 108 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: there were a few times when he found himself on 109 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 1: the receiving end of their wrath. Once he was giving 110 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: a speech when a gang of rivals physically removed him 111 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: from the stage and threw him down a spiral staircase. 112 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: On another occasion, he fled through an open window and 113 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: down a fire escape to get away from their assault. 114 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: When he was thirty two years old, Sickles married a 115 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: girl named Teresa Baggioli, who was no more than fifteen 116 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: at the time. Both her family and Sickles protested to 117 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: their nuptials, but it didn't matter. The two were wed, 118 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: and the assemblyman continued to work his way up the 119 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: New York political ladder. After a series of positions in 120 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: both New York and London, Sickles returned home in eighteen 121 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,559 Speaker 1: fifty six and was elected to the New York State Senate. Now, 122 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: while he was pursuing his career, the newly elected senator 123 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: was also pursuing extracurricular activities outside of his marriage, but 124 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: kind of got him censured by the New York State 125 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: Assembly around eighteen fifty nine. However, even though Sickles was 126 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: allowed to covert with whoever he saw fit, that didn't 127 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: mean his wife was afforded the same luxuries. He found 128 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: out that she was having an affair with another man 129 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: and confronted her lover in broad daylight, Sickles shot him dead. 130 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: The man he killed happened to be Philip Barton Key, 131 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: the second U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia 132 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: and the son of National anthem composer Francis Scott Key. 133 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: Sickles turned himself in and hired a team of lawyers 134 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: for his defense. It took over two weeks of testimony, 135 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: but in the end Sickles was acquitted. He submitted a 136 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: plea of temporary insanity. For the first time in the 137 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: history of the U. S. Court system, the jury believed him. 138 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: Rather than run for re election in the Senate, Sickles 139 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: sought to rehabilitate his image by building up an army 140 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,959 Speaker 1: of volunteer soldiers in New York. The Civil War had 141 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: just started and the Union was in need of recruits. 142 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: His efforts earned him the rank of colonel, despite having 143 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: no military background whatsoever. He eventually graduated to brigadier general, 144 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: and his conduct throughout most of the war earned him 145 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: high marks. For one, Sickles never turned over the runaway 146 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: slaves who found their way to his camp. In fact, 147 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: he employed a lot of them to work as servants. 148 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: The men who were able to fight were trained as soldiers, 149 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: but he was also a man who hated to be 150 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: told what to do. During the Battle of Gettysburg, for example, 151 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: he defied a direct order from his commander to hold 152 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: his current position. He instead sought higher ground. His cavalier 153 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: nature nearly led to defeat for the Union Army, and 154 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: perhaps were sick cost him his leg, which was destroyed 155 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: by a cannon ball and had to be amputated. Sickles 156 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: donated the shattered bone from his leg to the Army 157 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 1: Medical Museum in Washington, d c. He even visited it 158 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: each year on the anniversary of the battle, sometimes bringing 159 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: his dates there to see it. After the war, he 160 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,959 Speaker 1: returned to New York and led the committee on creating 161 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: the city's most iconic park, Central Park. Post war, Sickles, however, 162 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: might have been even more brazen than his younger self. 163 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty nine, he took position as u s 164 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: ambassador to Spain, where he and Queen Isabel the Second 165 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: began a toward affair, one that ended with Sickles marrying 166 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: one of her attendants instead. The whole ordeal led to 167 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: his eventual resignation from the position, and finally, in nineteen twelve, 168 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: he was arrested yet again, not for killing anyone. This 169 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: time he'd been accused of stealing almost thirty thousand dollars 170 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,040 Speaker 1: from a Civil War monuments commissioned fund that he had 171 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: been put in charge of, And, just as he'd done 172 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: with his murder trial fifty years earlier, Sickles got away 173 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: scott free. He had apparently built up enough goodwill with 174 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 1: friends and supporters to have the money paid back in full. 175 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,559 Speaker 1: Sickles died two years later in New York City at 176 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: the age of ninety four. For a man who survived 177 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:46,439 Speaker 1: being tossed down a flight of stairs, tried for murder, 178 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 1: and losing his leg to a cannonball, he survived much 179 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 1: longer than most of his generation. As the artist David 180 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 1: Hockney once said, I prefer living in color. Well, a 181 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: few people live more colorfully than Daniel E. Sickles. I 182 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,719 Speaker 1: hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. 183 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about 184 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show 185 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how 186 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Works, I make another award winning show called Lore, 187 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show and 188 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the world 189 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:34,479 Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.