1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I have 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: a friend who sends me like historical tidbits and clips 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: from old newspapers that he digs up from time to time. 6 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: Usually these are things that are simultaneously interesting and kind 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: of weird. Uh, sometimes it's very weird. Earlier this year, though, 8 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: he sent a message about a reported murder from more 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: than a century ago, and just from the details that 10 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: trickled through over these texts, I thought, Okay, that's got 11 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: to go on the list. This is probably the most 12 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: well known among people from Texas and people who are 13 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: affiliated with Rice University in Houston, because it is the 14 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: of the university's founder and namesake, William marsh Rice. Today 15 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how William marsh Rice amassed 16 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: a fortune big enough that he was basically able to 17 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: establish an entire university by himself, and how that fortune 18 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: also made him a target for murder. Although William marsh 19 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: Rice's namesake university is of course in Texas, he was 20 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 1: born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March fourteenth eighteen sixteen. His 21 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: parents were David and Patty hall Rice, and he was 22 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,679 Speaker 1: the third of their ten children, seven of whom survived infancy. 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,200 Speaker 1: William was named for the Reverend William Marsh, a Methodist 24 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: circuit writer who established a Methodist Episcopal Society in that 25 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: area in eighteen fifteen. David and Patty were its first 26 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: two members. David worked at the Springfield Armory, which was 27 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: the United States first federal arsenal. He also worked as 28 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: a tax assessor and a tax collector and represent into 29 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: Springfield in the General Court of Massachusetts. Later in William's life, 30 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: he wrote a letter in which he described his parents 31 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: as very hard working and devoted to their children, and 32 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: said that his father in particular had such a quote 33 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: firm reliance upon providence that nothing seemed to lay heavy 34 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: on his mind. While William was still a boy, Massachusetts 35 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: passed a law requiring any town with five hundred families 36 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: or more to build a high school. William's father was 37 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: on the committee that worked to build the school in Springfield, 38 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: and the Rices were one of the families that financially 39 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: contributed to its construction. So it seems like education was 40 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: pretty important to them, and it would have made sense 41 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: for William to have enrolled in the school when it opened, 42 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: but there isn't any record of this, and the family 43 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: lore is that at around age fifteen he actually left 44 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: school to work at a store. Rice turned twenty one 45 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty seven, and at that point he had 46 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: saved enough money to buy a store of his own, 47 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: but that same year, a combination of factors triggered the 48 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: Panic of eighteen thirty seven. Rice's reasons for leaving Massachusetts 49 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: after this aren't documented anywhere, but it's extremely likely that 50 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: this business he'd started for himself suffered during this financial crisis, 51 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: and at about the same time people in the United States, 52 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: we're hearing about cheap land and new business opportunities that 53 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: were available in the Republic of Texas, including through advertisements 54 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,639 Speaker 1: that were intentionally trying to attract more Anglos to the area. 55 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty eight, Rice moved to Texas, sending a 56 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: load of goods to Galveston by sea so that he 57 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: could set up a store there. He traveled by rail 58 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: and then by packet ships so that he could meet 59 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: up with it. Rice's cargo did not make it to Galveston, 60 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: though the ship that it was on was lost at sea, 61 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: and this may have been a factor in his decision 62 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: to move on from Galveston to Houston. Houston had been 63 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: founded in eighteen thirty six and in eighteen thirty seven, 64 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: and it had been named the capital of the Republic 65 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: of Texas. At that point, it was barely getting started 66 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: as a city, and there were more tense than permanent structures, 67 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: but Houston had obvious potential to become a bustling trading center. 68 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: It was situated on Buffalo Bayou, which connected to the 69 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: Port of Galveston through Galveston Bay, so people from the 70 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: surrounding area could send their goods overland to Houston, and 71 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: from there it could be shipped out to the Port 72 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: of Galveston by water. In February of eighteen thirty nine, 73 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: the Harrisburg County Board of Commissioners granted Rice three and 74 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: twenty acres of land in Houston, and then that April, 75 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: Rice got a contract to both supply and serve liquor 76 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 1: at the Milum Hotel. He was paid the cost of 77 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: the alcohol plus three dollars a day, and his board. 78 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 1: This job might conjure up an image of somebody who 79 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: really enjoyed or at least cared about alcoholic beverages. But 80 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: Rice himself seems to have been a teetotaler. It was 81 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: his job, it was a good business opportunity, clearly that 82 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,280 Speaker 1: se he just seems to have been like, whatever I 83 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: can put my hand in to get some money, go 84 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: and it'll be good. Rice formed a series of business 85 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: partnerships in the Houston area. One was with Barnabas Haskell 86 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: in August of eighteen forty, but that partnership seems to 87 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: have fizzled out pretty quickly. Not long after, he became 88 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: partners with Charles W. Adams. Their joint ventures included a 89 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: sugar plantation. Around eighteen forty four, Rice started an import 90 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: export business with Ebeneezer B. Nichols, who had fought against 91 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,679 Speaker 1: Mexico and against Indigenous nations while serving in the army, 92 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: and together they did business as Rice and Nichols Exporters, 93 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: Importers and Wholesale Grocers of Houston. This business imported all 94 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: kinds of stuff, basically anything that people living in Texas 95 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: could want our need, but they exported mostly cotton, and 96 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: this was true of Houston's other exporters as well. Houston's 97 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,559 Speaker 1: next biggest export at this point was hides, and once 98 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: a sawmill was built in the eighteen forties, lumber joined 99 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 1: cotton and hides, but both hides and lumber were way 100 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: way behind the amount of cotton that moved from Houston 101 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: to Galveston and then out to other parts of the world. 102 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: The Texas Constitution outlawed the chartering of banks. That was 103 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: something that would continue until after the US Civil War, 104 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,160 Speaker 1: so as Rice and his business partners became wealthy enough 105 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: to do it, they started offering basic banking services in 106 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: addition to their work as merchants and cotton brokers, things 107 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 1: like offering loans and lines of credit. Businesses in Texas 108 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: couldn't issue currency, though, so when people needed it, they 109 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: relied on US, Spanish, and Mexican currency, even though it 110 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: wasn't always clear what their actual value should be. Because 111 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: of this lack of a centralized currency, people also paid 112 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: their debts in other ways as well, so some of 113 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: Rice's clients paid him in land, and that, of course 114 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: added to his wealth. In eighteen forty five, Texas became 115 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: a US state, entering the Union as a slave state. 116 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: At this point, the United States was trying to maintain 117 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: a balance between free enslave states in the Senate. That 118 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 1: balance was tipped slightly in favor of slave states until 119 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight, and that's when Wisconsin entered the Union 120 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: as a free state. This was not just a political 121 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: or theoretical issue for William marsh Rice. The cotton industry, 122 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: which was such a central part of his business, was 123 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: profitable because of its exploitation of enslaved labor, and Rice 124 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: wasn't simply exporting cotton and selling imports to enslavers. He 125 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: was also acting as a cotton factor, loaning money to 126 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 1: landowners and cotton growers in the window between when they 127 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: delivered their crop and when they were actually paid for it, 128 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: and also just handling other business for them. William's brother, Frederick, 129 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: also owned a cotton plantation with an enslaved workforce of 130 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: at least thirty five people, and William both sold the 131 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: cotton grown there and helped his brother to run that business. 132 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: William was also more directly involved. He spent at least 133 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: a year serving on a slave patrol, which worked to 134 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: track down and return people who had liberated themselves from slavery. 135 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: As part of this, he posted advertisements with physical descriptions 136 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: of people who had escaped and offering rewards for their return. 137 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: In addition to notices that he placed on other people's behalf, 138 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: William's advertisements included ones for people who had escaped from him. 139 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: William enslaved people for most of his time in Texas 140 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: before the Civil War. Enslave schedules from the eighteen sixties 141 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: censes he is listed as enslaving fifteen people. Some had 142 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: been given to him as payment for debts and some 143 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: had been part of land deals. He bought the land 144 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: or took possession of the land as payment for a debt, 145 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: and enslaved people who were made to work the land 146 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: just came with it. He also purchased people directly, including 147 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: a seventeen year old named Amanda, who he bought at 148 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: a public auction for one thousand, fifty dollars. As another example, 149 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty eight, he and Ebenezer Nichols were together 150 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: enslaving a seventeen year old named Ellen and Ellen's one 151 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: year old daughter. William transferred his portion of their ownership 152 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: over to Ebenezer's son, Frank Rice Nichols as a gift, 153 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 1: even though Rice participated in and massively benefited from the 154 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: institution of slavery. Some historians and biographers have concluded that 155 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,320 Speaker 1: he did not support the Southern States secession over the issue, 156 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: which of course launched the Civil War. His business dealings 157 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: suggested that he understood how much power and wealth was 158 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: really focused in the Northern States and with the federal government. 159 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: He also had a nephew who served with the thirty 160 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 1: seventh Massachusetts Volunteers, who later suggested that one of the 161 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: reasons Rice ultimately moved away from Texas was that he 162 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: was suspected of having Northern sympathy. At the same time, 163 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: though in the early years of the war, Rice and 164 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: his wife worked to raise money for and to otherwise 165 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: support Confederate soldiers and their widows, and any statements that 166 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: Rice made after the war was over about supporting the 167 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:19,439 Speaker 1: Union or rejecting the Confederacy really can't just be taken 168 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: at face value. Once the war was over, it was 169 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: absolutely in his best interest personally and financially to try 170 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: to establish the idea that he had been pro Union 171 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: all along. I'm one of the good guys. We have 172 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,479 Speaker 1: gotten a little bit ahead of ourselves. In the chronology 173 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,080 Speaker 1: of this discussion of William marsh Rice's history as an enslaver. 174 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: So we are going to take a quick break, and 175 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: then we're gonna rewind a few years before the Civil 176 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: War started. On June twenty nine of eighteen fifty, thirty 177 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: four year old William arsh Rice married eighteen year old 178 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: Margaret C. Bremen, with newspapers describing their wedding at the 179 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: Capitol Hotel as splendid. William bought them a house in Houston. 180 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: This was actually one that his business partner, Ebeneezer Nichols 181 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: had started building but not finished yet, before deciding to 182 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: move to Galveston to manage their operations there. At some 183 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: point around this time, William also started attending an Episcopalian 184 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 1: shirts rather than a Methodist church, possibly because Margaret was 185 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: Episcopalian and the Nichols family were Episcopalians as well. In 186 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,599 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one, Rice helped establish the Houston and Galveston 187 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: Navigation Company. After his brother Frederick moved to Texas, they 188 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: established William Rice and Company. In eighteen fifty eight, William 189 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: bought a brig he named the William M. Rice, which 190 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: he used to import ice from Massachusetts. We are not 191 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,960 Speaker 1: sure whether this was connected to Frederick Tutor's ice business 192 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: that we have covered on the show before, but he 193 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: sold the ship at the start of the Civil War. Yeah. Unfortunately, 194 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,439 Speaker 1: the Frederick Tutor book that might have had that information 195 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: went back to the library years ago. I actually worked 196 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: on that episode, uh, and I could not retrieve it 197 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: again in the timeline for this episode. Anyway. Even though 198 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,920 Speaker 1: Rice doesn't seem to have had much formal education himself, 199 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: he does seem to have been interested in the educational 200 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: systems in the community where he was living. In eighteen 201 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: fifty seven he became a board member of the Houston 202 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: Education Society, and in eighteen fifty nine he became a 203 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: trustee of the Ward Free School and of Texas Medical College. 204 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: By this point he had a reputation for being a 205 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: skilled and reliable businessman. He had an estimated fortune of 206 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which made him 207 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: one of the richest men in Texas. He was probably 208 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: second only to sugar planter John Hunter Herndon, whose wealth 209 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,440 Speaker 1: primarily came from his huge landholdings and the work force 210 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: that he enslaved. Sometime before the start of the Civil war, 211 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: Rice dissolved his partnership with Ebenezer Nichols. This seems to 212 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: have been an amical division of their business, with Nichols 213 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: doing business in Galveston while Rice focused largely on Houston. 214 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: The U. S Civil War started, of course, in eighteen 215 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: sixty one, and at first Rice continued to run his 216 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,680 Speaker 1: business from Houston. He didn't join the army. It sort 217 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: of seems like it was kind of business as usual, 218 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 1: sort of, except with the blockade and whatnot, at least 219 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: at the beginning. But then his wife, Margaret died on 220 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: August thirteenth of eighteen sixty three. After her death, William 221 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: left Texas, where their home was used as a military hospital. 222 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: He drew up a will, leaving everything to his brother, 223 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: and then he went to matt to Borrow's Mexico. This 224 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: had become a popular location for people who were trying 225 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: to ship goods without having to use blackade runners to 226 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: get through the Union blockade of Confederate ports. After the war, 227 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: Rice claimed that he had never run the blockade. This 228 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 1: leaves some unanswered questions, like he was able to essentially 229 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: legally go around it from Mexico, but he was still 230 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: in Houston. For a chunk of the war. So it's 231 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: not totally clear whether he was being honest when he 232 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: claimed never to have used blackade. Runners. Probably not sitting 233 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: on his hands during that time, right, um, So regardless 234 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: of that, as we said earlier, it wasn't his best 235 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: interest to make it seem like he had been as 236 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: law abiding by Union standards as possible. He stayed in 237 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: Mexico until August of eighteen sixty five, and of course 238 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: Rice faced some financial losses as a result of the war. 239 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: Confederate currency and bonds were both worthless afterward. When applying 240 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: for amnesty after the war, he claimed that he had 241 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: been financially ruined, but really he managed to protect a 242 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: lot of his investments. He had gotten his brother to 243 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: sell out his stock in Houston, and he had tinued 244 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: to trade in cotton and necessary goods from Mexico. He 245 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: also had other investments besides the ones we've discussed, including 246 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: plank roads and railroads. Rice went back to Houston, as 247 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: we said, right after the war was over, but then 248 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: not long after that he moved to New Jersey, where 249 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: he worked as an agent for Houston and Texas Railroad. 250 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: In addition to the Railroad. He kept a lot of 251 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: business ties in Texas, including becoming a director of Houston 252 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:31,480 Speaker 1: Insurance Company in June of eighteen sixty six. On June 253 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, Rice married Julia Elizabeth Baldwin Brown, known 254 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: to family as Libby. She was the widowed sister of 255 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: his brother Frederick's wife, and William had also acted as 256 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: her late husband's agent. Although they got married in Houston, 257 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 1: they went back east not long after the wedding, possibly 258 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: because of a terrible yellow fever epidemic that struck Houston 259 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,640 Speaker 1: that summer. That epidemic killed nearly five hundred people. That 260 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: was the worst yellow fever at to make ever to 261 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: strike that city. For a lot of their marriage, William 262 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth lived primarily in New York and New Jersey. 263 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: William bought a farm in Donnellen, New Jersey, and that 264 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: eventually had an orchard, a dairy in a smoke house. 265 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: They often spent winters in Houston, but there were years 266 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: long stretches where they didn't go back to Texas at all. 267 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: This didn't seem to suit his wife, though William really 268 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: loved the farm, but Elizabeth wanted to have friends and 269 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: social engagements and more amusements than were really available out 270 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: in the country. Eventually, William got an apartment for them 271 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: in Manhattan, and she seemed happier there, and from there 272 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: she took on various charitable pursuits. In five Rice also 273 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: bought the Capitol Hotel in Houston, where they stayed when 274 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: they visited, eventually having a suite built and furnace just 275 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: for their use. In eighteen eighty seven or eighteen eighty eight, 276 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 1: Caesar Maurice Lombardi, who was president of the Houston School Board, 277 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:04,639 Speaker 1: came to Rice about funding a municipal high school. The 278 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,640 Speaker 1: city council was not really enthusiastic about the project. According 279 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 1: to Lombardi, they thought high school was quote high falutin nonsense. 280 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: But as we've discussed, Rice was already involved in various 281 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: educational institutions. His parents had been as well. But after 282 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: considering this proposal, he decided that funding the high school 283 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: was really the city's job and he wanted to do 284 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: something different. He decided to use his fortune to build 285 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: the William M. Rice Institute of Literature, Science, and Art. 286 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: Mis replaced an earlier idea that he had been working 287 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: on to fund an orphanage that would have been not 288 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: far from his farm in New Jersey. Rice established a 289 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 1: board of trustees, and on May thirteenth, he provided a 290 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: two hundred thousand dollar endowment, quote, devoted to the instruction 291 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: and improvement of the white inhabitants of the City of 292 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: Houston and State of Texas through and by the establishment 293 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: and maintenance of a public library and Institute for the 294 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: advancement of literature, science, and Art. Later that month, the 295 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: institute was incorporated. Under its articles of incorporation, it was 296 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,960 Speaker 1: to be devoted to the quote establishment and maintenance of 297 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: a thorough polytechnic school for males and females designed to 298 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: give instructions on the application of science and art to 299 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: the useful occupations of life. This document also specified that 300 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: the quote library, reading room, scientific department, and polytechnic school, 301 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: and the instruction, benefits and enjoyments to be derived from 302 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: the institute to be free and open to all. It 303 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: was also specified that the school would be built only 304 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 1: after Rice's death. I read some speculation that this was 305 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: because the Capitol Hotel had turned into kind of a 306 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: money pit and like a maintenance nightmare, and that maybe 307 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: he just didn't want to have to deal with something 308 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:00,119 Speaker 1: like that for his institute while he was alive. The 309 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 1: Rice's return to New York later in eighteen ninety one, 310 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: it was to a larger, nicer apartment. In eighty three, 311 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: William drew up a will that left most of his fortune, 312 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: which was estimated at about four million dollars, to the institute, 313 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 1: with the rest divided up among various people, including provisions 314 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: to make sure his wife had an income if she 315 00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: survived him. Elizabeth didn't outlive William, though she got sick 316 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,199 Speaker 1: in the winter of eighteen and in the spring of 317 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety six they went to Houston, hoping that the 318 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: warmer weather would help her. After they got there, though 319 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: she had what sounds like a stroke. Afterwards, she was 320 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 1: paralyzed on her right side, and her cognitive abilities seemed 321 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: to have been seriously affected as well. But then, in 322 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: June of eighteen ninety six or in Thaddeus Holt drew 323 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: up a new will for Elizabeth. Elizabeth's mother and sister 324 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,439 Speaker 1: witnessed it, and Holt was named as executor. This will 325 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,879 Speaker 1: claimed that Elizabeth was a resident of Texas, which meant 326 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: that under the state's community property laws, half of William's 327 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: estate would be hers to bequeath even if William was 328 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: still alive when she died. All of this was done 329 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: without William's knowledge, and it is really not clear how 330 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: involved Elizabeth was in the decision to do this or 331 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: the terms of the will itself. But the terms of 332 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: the will specified that the executor would receive ten percent 333 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,439 Speaker 1: of everything that he received and paid out. Under its terms, 334 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's bequeathals added up to about one point to five 335 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: million dollars, or twice that much if it turned out 336 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: William's estate was worth more than expected, so that meant 337 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 1: that as executor of this estate or in Holt stood 338 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:50,680 Speaker 1: to make at least a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. 339 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: All of this seems shady deeply. As the summer progressed 340 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: in Houston, the heat seemed to make Elizabeth's condition worse, 341 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: so the Rices went to a healing retreat in Waukasha, Wisconsin. 342 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 1: Although Elizabeth did seem to fare a bit better in Wisconsin, 343 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,240 Speaker 1: the opposite was true for William. He went back to 344 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: New York, something that he said was both ordered by 345 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,480 Speaker 1: a doctor and what his wife wanted. Elizabeth died on 346 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: July eighteen ninety six, at which point Williams still knew 347 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: nothing about the will that or in Holt had drawn up. 348 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 1: When that will was admitted to probate in March of 349 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:34,400 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety seven, Rice filed suit arguing that although they 350 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: had been in Texas when this will was created, they 351 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 1: were residents of New York, so Texas's community property laws 352 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,719 Speaker 1: did not apply. Around this time, Rice met a man 353 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 1: named Charles Jones, who was known as Charlie. Charlie had 354 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: been told to look after a trunk that had been 355 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: sent from Waukasha to Houston, which belonged to the late 356 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: Mrs Rice. In the spring of eighteen seventy nine, when 357 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,920 Speaker 1: will and returned to New York after filing suit in Texas, 358 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: he took Jones with him as his valet. We will 359 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: talk more about this after another sponsor break. Legal action 360 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: over Elizabeth Brice's will went on for years, and during 361 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: this time William marsh Rice mostly stayed in New York. 362 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:34,160 Speaker 1: He became increasingly solitary, maybe a little eccentric. He spent 363 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,880 Speaker 1: most of his time reading journals, writing lots of letters, 364 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: trying to look after his health. He had developed some 365 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 1: chronic digestive problems and seems to have been very focused 366 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,160 Speaker 1: on trying to stay as healthy as possible. He had 367 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: folks in Houston looking after his business interests there, and 368 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: in New York, his only real companion was his ballet, 369 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: Charlie Jones. Meanwhile, or In T Holt, who had drawn 370 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: up Elizabeth Rice's contested will, was still trying to gather 371 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: evidence to support his case that she should be considered 372 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: a resident of Texas. This required investigations and interviews in Houston, 373 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: New York, and New Jersey, and Holt realized that he 374 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: just could not do it all by himself, so he 375 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: hired another lawyer, Albert T. Patrick, to handle things in 376 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: New York and New Jersey. Patrick's investigation naturally brought him 377 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: into contact with Rice's valet, and Charlie Jones later testified 378 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: that around the end of eighteen Patrick started convincing him 379 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: that they should try to get some of Rice's fortune 380 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: for themselves. In January of nineteen hundred, Walter Weatherby, who 381 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: was a clerk at the bank that Rice used in 382 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,560 Speaker 1: New York, came to him and asked him for a loan. 383 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: Jones eavesdropped on this conversation and later went to weather Be, 384 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: describing Rice as quote old and dopey and claiming that 385 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:03,000 Speaker 1: he could get Rice to sign anything. Jones proposed that 386 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 1: weather B dropped a new will for William marsh Rice, 387 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,680 Speaker 1: which Jones would get him to sign. Whether By did 388 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: not take him up on this offer, but he also 389 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:17,159 Speaker 1: didn't tell anyone about it. Also, at early Charlie Jones 390 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: got sick and Albert Patrick sent his doctor Walker Curry 391 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,160 Speaker 1: to treat him. Curry, who had served as a surgeon 392 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: in the Confederate Army, prescribed a Mercury tonic. Rice decided 393 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,640 Speaker 1: to seek some treatment from Curry as well. At this point, 394 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: Rice did not personally know Patrick, but he did know 395 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: that Patrick was doing all of these investigations and relating 396 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: to his wife's will. So Patrick told Curry that he 397 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: had to keep their whole connection a secret from Rice. Meanwhile, 398 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: Patrick was building a fake paper trail to make it 399 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: look like he had an ongoing business relationship with Rice. 400 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,439 Speaker 1: Patrick pulled in Morris Myers and David Shore, who were 401 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: a notary and a commissioner of deeds that he knew, 402 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 1: and they reported back to Patrick when they signed and 403 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: notarized documents for Rice so that he could date his forgeries. 404 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,639 Speaker 1: On the same day, Jones also mailed Patrick blank pieces 405 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 1: of paper from Rice's apartment, and once Patrick received them, 406 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,640 Speaker 1: he replaced the blank paper with documents he had forged. 407 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: He also started practicing Rice's signature. Jones typed up correspondence 408 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: for Rice to sign, but he also brought some of 409 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: those unsigned documents for Patrick to do. Then, in the 410 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: summer of nine d Patrick drew up a new will 411 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: for William marsh Rice, one that left most of Rice's 412 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 1: fortune to him rather than to the William m Rice 413 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: Institute of Literature, Science, and Art. So at this point, 414 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: Rice was eighty four years old. He had chronic digestive 415 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,120 Speaker 1: trouble and some difficulty walking thanks to an old knee injury. 416 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,520 Speaker 1: He had actually jumped off of a moving train. After 417 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: realizing that he had accidentally, he slept through his stop, 418 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,479 Speaker 1: and that was the source of that problem. Dr Curry 419 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 1: described him as weak, with swelling in his hands and feet, 420 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: a sluggish heartbeat, and some hearing loss. But Rice aspired 421 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: to live to be as old as his grandfather, Josiah Hall, 422 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: who had died at the age of a hundred and 423 00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:23,479 Speaker 1: one Jones later testified that in about August of nine hundred, 424 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,360 Speaker 1: Patrick started suggesting that they try to speed things along 425 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:31,119 Speaker 1: with Rice, but this timeline might not really be accurate. 426 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: Jones's brother back in Texas had also started buying chloroform 427 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: and sending it to the men in New York back 428 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 1: in July. Regardless of the details of this timeline, though, 429 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:47,479 Speaker 1: Jones testified that on Patrick's instructions, he had started giving 430 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,439 Speaker 1: Rice the mercury pills that Curry had prescribed to him earlier, 431 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: and larger doses than were intended, eventually giving him so 432 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: many of these pills that Patrick had to get some more. 433 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,159 Speaker 1: At first, Rice seems to have thought these pills that 434 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:06,120 Speaker 1: Jones was dosing him with were helping to improve his health. Then, 435 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: on September eight, a hurricane struck Galveston, Texas. This storm 436 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: was catastrophic and deadly. It killed at least six thousand 437 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: people and possibly even twice that number. It also caused 438 00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 1: enormous property damage, completely leveling much of Galveston, including buildings 439 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: that William marsh Rice owned. This is sometimes described as 440 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: the worst natural disaster in US history, and it is 441 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: covered in our prior episode five historical storms. Rice still 442 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: had business interests in Houston and in Galveston, and then, 443 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,760 Speaker 1: to make things worse, on September six, a fire broke 444 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:48,240 Speaker 1: out at the Merchants and Planters Oil Company, which was 445 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: a cotton seed mill that Rice owned. Rice authorized manager 446 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 1: Henry Oliver to draw up to a hundred and fifty 447 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,360 Speaker 1: thousand dollars from his accounts to pay for repairs. All 448 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: of this was financially catastrophic for Rice, and all of 449 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: the associated stress and trauma aggravated his already difficult digestion. 450 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,679 Speaker 1: After a friend stopped by and told him that bananas 451 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,359 Speaker 1: always helped her when her digestion was bad, he went 452 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: way overboard and he ate nine bananas a day. That 453 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,679 Speaker 1: made him feel worse, and he took even more of 454 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: those mercury pills that Jones had given him to try 455 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: to fix it. We've talked on the show before that 456 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: mercury was sometimes used as a medicine. Uh, not a 457 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 1: great idea. He at this point had taken a lot 458 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,480 Speaker 1: of it. But Rice was still alive, and Patrick was 459 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 1: apparently terrified that if he did not die soon, he 460 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: would spend his entire fortune trying to rebuild in Texas, 461 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: and that would make that forged will worthless. So, according 462 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: to Jones's testimony, on Sunday, September twenty three, nine hundred, 463 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: Patrick gave him some poison to Sir of to Rice 464 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: in a t Rice actually found it too bitter and 465 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 1: spit it out. By this point, Rice was pretty weak, 466 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: and Jones carried him to ben Jones later testified that, 467 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: following Patrick's instructions, he dosed Rice with two ounces of 468 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: chloroform in a sponge wrapped in a towel that had 469 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: been pinned in the shape of a cone. After about 470 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 1: thirty minutes, he confirmed that Rice was dead, and he 471 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: retrieved and burned the sponge and towel. Then Patrick came 472 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: into the apartment posing as Rice's legitimate lawyer. He told 473 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 1: the undertaker who arrived, that Rice wanted to be cremated 474 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,080 Speaker 1: and that the cremation should happen the next day. Jones 475 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: had actually laid some of the groundwork for this, getting 476 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: some pamphlets on cremation and staging them on Rice's desk. 477 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: There was also a letter which was probably forged, in 478 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: which Rice purportedly requested to be cremated. When the undertaker 479 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: explained that it was not possible to start the cremation process, 480 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: so quickly Patrick ordered Rice's body to be embalmed in 481 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: the interim. By this point, Dr Curry had also arrived 482 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: and he got a blank death certificate from the undertaker. 483 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: He filled it out with the cause of death of 484 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: old age and weak heart immediate cause indigestion, followed by 485 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 1: cola coo to diarrhea with mental worry. That's not real, 486 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:29,920 Speaker 1: it's not a real word. Yet. I tried to figure 487 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: out what what Curry meant by cola coo to diarrhea, which, 488 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: because it's not even an order of letters that would 489 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: work in English, I don't I don't really know. At first, 490 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: Rice's death didn't really strike people as suspicious, given his 491 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:51,120 Speaker 1: age and his health. But the next day, David Short, 492 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: that Commissioner of Deeds that Patrick had been working with, 493 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: tried to cash a check for twenty five thousand dollars 494 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 1: at S. M. S. Winson and Sons Bank, but the 495 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 1: clerk at the bank thought something was a miss. Number one. 496 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: Rice did not typically right checks that large number two. 497 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: The check was made out to Albert's T. Patrick, but 498 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:17,840 Speaker 1: it was endorsed Albert T. Patrick, the clerk refused to 499 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: process the check and Short left, returning a bit later 500 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,360 Speaker 1: with a check that had all of the names spelled correctly. 501 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: The clerk still was not convinced and called Race's apartment 502 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: at the Berkshire and got Jones on the phone. Jones 503 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,920 Speaker 1: was evasive, but eventually told the clerk that Rice was dead. 504 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: Derreck Swinson, who was one of the sons and s 505 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: w Swinson and sons went to an attorney and they 506 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: sent word to Houston about Rice's death. Rice's Houston attorney, 507 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: James A. Baker, contacted Rice's brother, Frederick, and the two 508 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 1: of them left for New York. When they got there, 509 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: Albert Patrick produced the will that he had written back 510 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: on June thirty, which left Rice's institute only two fifty 511 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: thousand dollars less any money it had received up to 512 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: that amount thanks to Rice's earlier endowment and the interest 513 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: that it had accrued. This will would have left the 514 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 1: institute with nothing additional from Rice's estate, and instead left 515 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: most of the estate to Albert Patrick. Patrick claimed that 516 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: this was because Rice was quote tired of life and 517 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: tired of business. Right sure, Rice's actual attorneys and his 518 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: brother went to the district attorney who ordered an autopsy. 519 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: This was carried out on September and Rice's body was 520 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 1: cremated on the twenty five. At this point, there was 521 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: all kinds of speculation in newspapers that Rice had been 522 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: murdered for his money, and this coverage became increasingly sensationalized, 523 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: especially as various members of Rice's extended family, including people 524 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: that he had not spoken to in decades if ever, 525 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: started giving statements to the press saying that they were penniless. 526 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: On October four, Albert Patrick and Charlie Jones were both 527 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 1: arrested for forgery, for that five thousand dollar check that 528 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: was originally spelled wrong, for the forged will, and for 529 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: various other forged checks, and then on the seven, the 530 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: coroner's office issued its report. In Rice's autopsy, the coroner 531 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 1: said that there was enough mercury and his organs to 532 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: have caused his death, plus a lot of arsenic, although 533 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: they attributed the arsenic to the embalming fluid UH. Later on, 534 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: there were medical experts who talked about um the effect 535 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: of chloroform on his lungs. It doesn't seem to have 536 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 1: been part of the actual coroner's report. At this point, 537 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: when the coroner's report came out, Charlie Jones told prosecutors 538 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: he wanted to make a statement, and he gave a 539 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: full confession to everything he and Patrick had done, although 540 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:57,960 Speaker 1: he said that Patrick was the one who had killed 541 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 1: Rice with chloroform. Soon Morris Myers and David Short were 542 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 1: arrested for their involvement as well. Before long, though, it 543 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,759 Speaker 1: became clear that Albert Patrick could not have been the 544 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: one who gave Rice chloroform. He had eaten dinner that 545 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: night at his boarding house, and then he had been 546 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,560 Speaker 1: in the parlor singing hymns with some of the other 547 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: people who lived there before they all went to a 548 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 1: religious meeting, basically had an alibi. After hearing this, Jones 549 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: confessed that it was he, not Albert Patrick, who had 550 00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: chloroformed William marsh Rice. As all of this was happening, 551 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: or in Holt settled the lawsuits related to Elizabeth Rice's 552 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,360 Speaker 1: will out of court. William Rice's murder had added a 553 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: whole other layer of complication, and it had become clear 554 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 1: that he could not build an airtight case that she 555 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,560 Speaker 1: should have been considered a resident of Texas. Albert T. 556 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: Patrick was tried for murder and was found guilty. On 557 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 1: March twenty six, nineteen o two, he was sentenced to death. 558 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: The media spectacles surrounding all of this got another jolt 559 00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: a couple of days later when he announced his engagement 560 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 1: to Mrs Addie Francis, who owned the boarding house where 561 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: he lived. He made that announcement, of course, from prison. 562 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: Two months later, when past podcast subject Hetty Green was 563 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: granted a permit to carry a pistol, she told reporters 564 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: that it was for her own protection, citing, among other things, 565 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: the case of William marsh Rice. Do you suppose Valet 566 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,279 Speaker 1: Jones would have molested him if he knew Mr Rice 567 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 1: had a pistol? Of course he would not have done so. 568 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:37,879 Speaker 1: I don't want evil disposed people to repeat that sort 569 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: of thing on me. On April twenty nine, nineteen o four, 570 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: all the legal and probate issues were settled surrounding William 571 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 1: marsh Rice's will, and the Rice Institute trustees got four millions, 572 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,760 Speaker 1: six hundred thirty one thousand, two hundred fifty nine dollars 573 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: and eight cents. But Albert Patrick's family and supporters maintained 574 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:03,440 Speaker 1: his inn since they brought in expert witnesses who testified 575 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 1: that Charlie Jones's story just did not add up, among 576 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,400 Speaker 1: other things, if Rice had been chloroformed, as Jones described, 577 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: the people who came into the apartment and examined the 578 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: body would have been able to smell it. After years 579 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 1: of ongoing legal proceedings, Patrick's sentence was commuted on December twenty, 580 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:25,120 Speaker 1: nineteen o six, and he was pardoned in nineteen twelve. 581 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 1: He died in nineteen forty. Charlie Jones was not charged 582 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:33,640 Speaker 1: in Rice's murder. A lot of the statements that he 583 00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:38,080 Speaker 1: gave to police contradicted one another or were implausible for 584 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:40,759 Speaker 1: various reasons, and at one point he had tried to 585 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: take his own life while in custody. Ultimately, though he 586 00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 1: was released, he seems to have gone back to Texas 587 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:49,319 Speaker 1: with his brother, and he took his own life there 588 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty four. Most accounts of all of this 589 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,760 Speaker 1: described Rice's death as a homicide, with Jones and Patrick 590 00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: both directly involved in it. But in The of Old 591 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: Man Rice, which was published by New York University Press, 592 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:08,719 Speaker 1: in Martin L. Friedland describes being certain that Patrick was 593 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:12,240 Speaker 1: guilty before he started researching the book, but then becoming 594 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 1: more doubtful as his work went on. Friedland consulted medical 595 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: experts who raised doubts and pointed out inconsistencies between Jones's 596 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:24,560 Speaker 1: testimony and how chloroform actually works. Some of these were 597 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,800 Speaker 1: the exact same points that Patrick's defense team and expert 598 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: witnesses had made back in the early nineteen hundreds. It 599 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:34,719 Speaker 1: is possible that marsh was already dead when Jones tried 600 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 1: to chloroform him, or that his account of the chloroform 601 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:43,759 Speaker 1: was fabricated. The forgery is easier to substantiate at this point. Yeah, 602 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,759 Speaker 1: it seems pretty clear to me that there was definitely 603 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 1: a plot going on to take his money, maybe also 604 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: to try to hasten him toward death with the mercury pills. 605 00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:00,040 Speaker 1: The chloroform has some question marks around it, uh, and 606 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,719 Speaker 1: he was cremated. It will never conclusively be known at 607 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,840 Speaker 1: this point. The William marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement 608 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: of Letters, Science and Art now William Marsh Rice University, 609 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:16,759 Speaker 1: opened on September twenty three, nineteen twelve. A statue of 610 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: William Marsh Rice, which is referred to around campus as Willie, 611 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 1: was erected at the university in nineteen thirty, and Rice's 612 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,600 Speaker 1: ashes were placed under it. In more recent years, there 613 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,920 Speaker 1: has been a student led movement to remove this statue 614 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,880 Speaker 1: because of Rice's enslavement of other people and because he 615 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 1: established the university specifically as a whites only institution. When 616 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 1: Rice drew up his will, people generally framed the United 617 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,439 Speaker 1: States as having two races, black and white. So while 618 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:50,120 Speaker 1: the university did enroll other non black people of color 619 00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: earlier in its history, its specifically excluded black students for decades. 620 00:38:56,640 --> 00:39:01,640 Speaker 1: It wasn't until nineteen sixty three, after years of advocacy 621 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:06,360 Speaker 1: by students and pressure from outside the university and things 622 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,720 Speaker 1: like Brown versus Board of Education, the university trustees started 623 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: trying to find a way out of that white's only 624 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:19,600 Speaker 1: clause in Rice's will. This ultimately involved a court case, 625 00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:23,360 Speaker 1: one that sought to overturn both the whites only clause 626 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,840 Speaker 1: and Rice's stipulation that the university would not charge tuition. 627 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 1: That court case was ultimately successful, and the university's charter 628 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 1: was also revised to reflect both of those changes. Although 629 00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:39,240 Speaker 1: Rice had also specified that this institution would be devoted 630 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,399 Speaker 1: to quote the city of Houston and State of Texas. 631 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,840 Speaker 1: Out of state and international students had been admitted almost 632 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:50,040 Speaker 1: from the start. Rice University's first known black student was 633 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:54,120 Speaker 1: graduate student Raymond Johnson, who was admitted in nineteen sixty 634 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:57,640 Speaker 1: six and earned a PhD in mathematics in nineteen sixty nine. 635 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:01,320 Speaker 1: The first black underground du it's at Rice where Linda 636 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:05,600 Speaker 1: Fay Williams and Theodore Marshall Henderson. They both graduated in 637 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:10,640 Speaker 1: n And that is the murder kind of question mark, 638 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:17,200 Speaker 1: William marsh Rice, do you have listener mail that is 639 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:20,359 Speaker 1: not a question mark? I do. I mean it's still 640 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:22,279 Speaker 1: has question marks, though I picked a listener mail that 641 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 1: has some question marks. This is from Liam uh and 642 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:28,160 Speaker 1: Liam wrote a note that said, hello ladies, I just 643 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,479 Speaker 1: listened to your Friday episode. Was the Friday episode behind 644 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,160 Speaker 1: the scenes where we talked about jin and you talked 645 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:37,640 Speaker 1: about the KLM houses. I'm very fortunate that pre COVID 646 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:41,280 Speaker 1: I flew to the US from the UK with work 647 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:44,360 Speaker 1: and KLEM were usually the second best choice of route 648 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,719 Speaker 1: but always cheaper, so often what I ended up on. 649 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:48,759 Speaker 1: So I have a small collection, and yes I have 650 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,440 Speaker 1: the app, and yes people go nuts. They bring them 651 00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:53,799 Speaker 1: round on a little tray, and many people ask them 652 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,120 Speaker 1: to turn the tray round so they can see the 653 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:59,759 Speaker 1: numbers to check them off in their app Anyway, the 654 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: point in writing Klem, we're taken to court over the houses. 655 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,160 Speaker 1: Once under Dutch log gifts are taxable, and the government 656 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,440 Speaker 1: argued that these were gifts to some passengers. Klem's defense 657 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: was that, actually, know these aren't gifts because they are filled. 658 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 1: It's actually a farewell drink served in a special container. 659 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 1: If the passengers choose not to drink it and take 660 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:24,240 Speaker 1: it home, that's up to them. It was a successful defense, 661 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,439 Speaker 1: even though I've never seen anyone open their house, which 662 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: Kaleb absolutely no. They sealed them in those fancy bags. 663 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:32,959 Speaker 1: If you're connecting so you can bring your liquids through. 664 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:35,920 Speaker 1: Some of them go on eBay for hundreds of dollars, 665 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,440 Speaker 1: but only if it's not been opened. And because I 666 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,000 Speaker 1: know you love kiddies, here's our three legged rescue Pogo. 667 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:48,080 Speaker 1: Um My printer attempted to print the picture of Pogo, 668 00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:51,319 Speaker 1: but it's so big that it cannot work out. Uh. 669 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: Liam says, thanks for all the many hours of lifelong learning. 670 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,680 Speaker 1: I love this story and I tried to go learn 671 00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:02,600 Speaker 1: more about this, and it's little vague exactly what happened. 672 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:07,920 Speaker 1: Um with the legal questions about the delf Blue houses 673 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:12,360 Speaker 1: um that Kalem gives out two passengers. The most authoritative 674 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:16,799 Speaker 1: source I found was the Kalem blog um, which described 675 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:19,400 Speaker 1: this as being not so much about taxes, but but 676 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,120 Speaker 1: about the idea that airlines were not allowed to give 677 00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:28,920 Speaker 1: passengers incentives and basically saying, is there some law that 678 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,800 Speaker 1: says that alcohol has to be served in a glass? 679 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,160 Speaker 1: Um to build a case for the idea that this 680 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,719 Speaker 1: is a this is a container and not a gift um, 681 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,440 Speaker 1: I found some sources that claimed that this was related 682 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:47,840 Speaker 1: to US airline deregulation in the nineteen seventies. I was 683 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,960 Speaker 1: not able to find like actual detail about it in 684 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: the time allowed before recording today's episode. But regardless, even 685 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:57,080 Speaker 1: if this does turn out to be kind of like 686 00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:00,760 Speaker 1: an apocryphal myth making story around the Hail Them houses, 687 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:04,200 Speaker 1: I still find it delightful. So thank you li Liam 688 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:08,239 Speaker 1: for this email and for the kiddie picture. If you'd 689 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:10,840 Speaker 1: like to send us a note, We're at History Podcast 690 00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:14,719 Speaker 1: at iHeart radio dot com. We are also all over 691 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,480 Speaker 1: social media at Misston History That is where we will 692 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:22,319 Speaker 1: find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. And you can 693 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,640 Speaker 1: subscribe to our show on the I heart Radio app 694 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:33,719 Speaker 1: and wherever you get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in 695 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For 696 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,919 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 697 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.