1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Since we just talked about the dictionary Wars, 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: we thought we would return to the theme of dictionaries 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: for Today's Saturday Classic. In twenty twelve, prior hosts Sarah 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: and Deblina did a two part episode on w C Minor, 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: who was a major contributor to the first edition of 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: the Oxford English Dictionary. These episodes are a little on 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: the shorter side, so we are combining them into one 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:32,560 Speaker 1: as Today's Saturday Classic. William Chester Minor experienced delusions, paranoia, 9 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: and other symptoms of mental illness for most of his 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: adult life, and as is often the case, a lot 11 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: of the language around this has really evolved. And also 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: we just want to give folks a heads up that 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: Miner spent most of his life in an institution after 14 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: committing a murder, and his later experiences include some serious 15 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: self harm, so all of that comes up in today's episode. Also, 16 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: the movie The Professor and the Madman, which is mentioned 17 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: as being in development when this episode was recorded, did 18 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: come out in twenty nineteen. I have not seen it. 19 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: Have you seen it? 20 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 2: Holly? 21 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: I have not, so I can say that the reviews 22 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: were not necessarily glowing, but. 23 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 2: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a 24 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. 25 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Deblina Chalkerboarding. 26 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 4: And I'm Sarah Douty. 27 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 3: And this podcast starts with a legend involving the first 28 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 3: meeting of two men, James Murray, the primary editor of 29 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 3: the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and one 30 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 3: of his most prolific contributors, a doctor W. C. Minor. So, 31 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 3: unless you're really into dictionaries, the scenario probably doesn't interest 32 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 3: you right off the bat until you learn that there's 33 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 3: a bit of a mystery surrounding the situation. Don't tune 34 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 3: out of the podcast, no, stay with us for just 35 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 3: a couple minutes. So, as the story goes, Murray and 36 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 3: Minor had been working together for about twenty years, but 37 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 3: they'd never met. Minor had kept faithfully mailing Murray information 38 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 3: on word origins and meanings that he picked up just 39 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 3: in the course of his own reading and research. But 40 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 3: even though Murray had invited him several times, Minor kept 41 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 3: refusing to make the fifty mile trip from where he 42 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 3: was living in this small English village of Crowthorne to Oxford, 43 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 3: where Murray's dictionary headquarters were located. So Murray, I mean, 44 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 3: he thinks this is a little strange, but he just 45 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 3: thought Minor's probably a little eccentric or something like. 46 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 4: That, maybe a shut in or something. 47 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, So, according to this legend, in eighteen ninety seven, 48 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 3: Murray finally decided, well, if this guy's not going to 49 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 3: come to me, I'm going to go to him and 50 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 3: work on the dictionary was progressing well at this point, 51 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 3: and people who'd had a hand in its creation were 52 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 3: starting to receive honors, So Murray thought, I want to 53 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 3: make sure doctor Minor gets recognized too, so he. 54 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 4: Doesn't spring a surprise visit on him or anything. He 55 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 4: telegraphs doctor Minor and says he's planning on visiting on 56 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 4: this certain Wednesday in November, and that he'll be taking 57 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 4: a train that should arrive at Crowthorne station just after 58 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 4: two o'clock. So doctor Miner wires him a response and says, basically, 59 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 4: that's great, I'll be expecting you. You'll be welcome here. 60 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 4: And it seems like these two guys are finally going 61 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 4: to be able to meet. Everything seems fairly normal, and 62 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 4: it really continues to seem that way even when Murray 63 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 4: arrives on the appointed day. He shows up at the 64 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 4: train station and there's a carriage waiting for him and 65 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 4: it ushers him off to this huge brick mansion. Once 66 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 4: he's inside, a servant shows up and attends him to 67 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 4: the grand study, where there's this very important looking man 68 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 4: standing behind a desk, and Murray bows and announces himself 69 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 4: to him. 70 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,119 Speaker 3: He says, quote, a very good afternoon to you, sir. 71 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 3: I am doctor James Murray of the London Philological Society 72 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 3: and editor of the New English Dictionary. It is indeed 73 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 3: an honor and a pleasure to a long last make 74 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 3: your acquaintance. For you must be kind, sir, my most 75 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 3: assiduous help meet doctor W. C. Minor. And there's kind 76 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 3: of an awkward pause at this point, one of those 77 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:17,679 Speaker 3: pauses where you feel like you can hear every sound 78 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 3: in the room, and then the man responds, quote, I regret, 79 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,720 Speaker 3: kind sir, I am not it is not as all 80 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 3: as you suppose. I am, in fact, the superintendent of 81 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 3: the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Doctor Minor is most certainly here, 82 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 3: but he is an inmate. He has been a patient 83 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 3: here for more than twenty years. 84 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 4: Dunt dundu. It's like the beginning of a Wilkie Collins 85 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 4: novel almost, And like we said, this account, as originally 86 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 4: reported in the Strand magazine in nineteen fifteen, is thought 87 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 4: to be just a legend, but the two men who 88 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 4: are involved and the circumstances surrounding them and the circumstances 89 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 4: that would have put them in a situation like this 90 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 4: were very real indeed. 91 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 3: And we're going to to take a closer look at 92 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 3: the relationship between these two men that we've talked about 93 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 3: in part two of this podcast. But first we want 94 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 3: to look into the more pressing question that this anecdote raises, 95 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 3: which is why most people tell it when they start 96 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 3: talking about doctor Minor. Who was this doctor W. C. 97 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: Minor? 98 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 3: What was he doing in a criminal lunatic asylum? And 99 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,679 Speaker 3: how did a crazy person essentially become such a major 100 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 3: contributor to the highly respected Oxford English Section. 101 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 4: It just seems the ultimate of methodical, level headed reference works, 102 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 4: you can imagine. So this is going to be a 103 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 4: tale of madness and murder and lexicography. But there's some 104 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 4: war in here too, and interestingly enough, this episode kind 105 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,480 Speaker 4: of ties into our Civil War series in a roundabout. 106 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 3: Way, yeah, part one of it at least. But before 107 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 3: we can get into any of that, first we need 108 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 3: to start with the basics. Who was W. C. Minor? 109 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 2: So? 110 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 3: William Chester Minor was born in June of eighteen thirty 111 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 3: four in Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka, but he 112 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 3: was descended from a long line of Connecticut aristocrats. His 113 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 3: parents were missionaries. His father, Eastman Minor, was a devout Congregationalist, 114 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 3: and his mother, Lucy, the two of them together had 115 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 3: just moved to Salon the year before William was born. 116 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,160 Speaker 3: He also had a sister whose name was also Lucy, 117 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 3: who was born a couple years after him. 118 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 4: So the first really traumatic event in William Miner's life 119 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,840 Speaker 4: occurred when he was very very young. Just after his 120 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 4: third birthday, his mother died of consumption. His father remarried 121 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 4: to another missionary named Judith Taylor a few years later 122 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,280 Speaker 4: and started a second family with her. But according to 123 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 4: a BBC article on Minor, he was kind of had 124 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 4: a troubled childhood almost and was especially tormented during his 125 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 4: boyhood with lashievious thoughts about local girls. 126 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, which doesn't seem that odd for a young boy. Right, 127 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 3: especially in his preteen years. But it's a point that 128 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 3: may have significance later when we start talking about his 129 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 3: insanity and how it manifested itself. So just kind of 130 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:05,719 Speaker 3: keep that in the back of your brain for now. 131 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 3: At age fourteen, Minor's dad had him sent back to Connecticut, 132 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 3: and he sailed back to the United States by himself, 133 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 3: and then he moved in with his uncle, Alfred, who 134 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 3: was a store owner in New Haven. 135 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 4: And about ten years after that, Minor started school at Yale, 136 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 4: where he specialized in comparative anatomy and earned a medical 137 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 4: degree in February of eighteen sixty three. There's also kind 138 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 4: of an interesting side note about his time at Yale, though, 139 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 4: especially considering his later involvement with the Oxford English Dictionary. 140 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 4: According to an article by Joshua Kendall in The Nation, 141 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 4: in eighteen sixty one, when Minor was a first year 142 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 4: medical student at Yale, he signed a contract to write 143 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 4: definitions for a new edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary, an 144 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 4: American dictionary of the English language, and the agreement was 145 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 4: that he'd be paid five hundred dollars to quote prepare 146 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 4: the articles. In the fallowup departments zoology, natural history, geology, mineralogy, botany, chemistry, anatomy, 147 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 4: surgery of all sorts. Sounds like kind of a monumental undertaking, 148 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 4: especially for a first year medical student who's probably other thing. 149 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 4: I would think so. But minor got this job because 150 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 4: James Dana, who was a professor at Yale and was 151 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 4: originally supposed to write these selections or these sections of 152 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 4: the New Dictionary, had to lighten up his workload a 153 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 4: bit because he was experiencing a bout of depression. So 154 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 4: Dana suggested kind of randomly, it seems, a first year 155 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 4: med student minor to stand in for him and cover 156 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 4: the sections, and Dana, being more experienced, would still supervise 157 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 4: or at least review the completed work. 158 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 3: Apparently, though he didn't supervise him that closely, because, according 159 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 3: to Kendall's article, the section's minor worked on contained many 160 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 3: inaccurate and inconsistencies. His work was publicly criticized, which must 161 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,680 Speaker 3: have been mortified for a young med student, especially by 162 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 3: Samuel Stamen Haldeman of Delaware College, who later became one 163 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 3: of the first presidents of the American Philological Association. He 164 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 3: later wrote that quote accepting Professor danis part the natural 165 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:26,679 Speaker 3: history is the quote weakest part of the book burn Yeah, totally. Regardless, 166 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 3: Minor had his first experience working on a dictionary under 167 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 3: his belt, and his name was in that eighteen sixty 168 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 3: four edition of Webster's. 169 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 4: And of course he also had his medical degree too, 170 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 4: And so after graduating from Yale, Miner joined the Union 171 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 4: Army and his first posting was at the Knight Hospital 172 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 4: in New Haven, Connecticut, and he was basically still training there, 173 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 4: still getting his experience as a doctor, but the Civil 174 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 4: War was going on. So a few months to a 175 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 4: year after entering this first posting he ended up on 176 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 4: the battlefront in Virgini, where he served as an assistant surgeon. Now, 177 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 4: Minor wasn't really the best soldier you could imagine. He 178 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 4: wasn't exactly cut out for the horrors of war. Most 179 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,839 Speaker 4: people describe him as being pretty sensitive, refined. He liked 180 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 4: to read, he enjoyed painting watercolors, He played the flute, 181 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 4: and so it's really unfortunate then considering the battle he 182 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 4: ended up in. 183 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,079 Speaker 3: Yeah, he ended up in the Battle of the Wilderness, 184 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 3: which is described as a particularly bloody and horrific battle 185 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 3: I've seen it described as a slaughter house. The battle 186 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 3: lasted fifty hours, but it left twenty five thousand dead 187 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 3: or wounded. It started when General Grant's men crossed the 188 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 3: Rapidan River, and apparently the rifle fire was so thick 189 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 3: it not only killed people but could cut off trees. 190 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 3: It also started a fire in the underbrush, so that 191 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,239 Speaker 3: not only were men being killed and wounded by gunfire, 192 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 3: they were also being burned to death. One soldier wrote 193 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,679 Speaker 3: later that it was like quote Hell had itself usurped 194 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 3: the place of Earth. 195 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 4: And the key thing here as it relates to minor though, 196 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 4: is that a lot of the people participating in this 197 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 4: battle were irishmen who had come over to America to 198 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 4: escape the famine and make a little money while they 199 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 4: were at it. And these guys were able to get 200 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 4: work as soldiers in the Union Army for thirteen dollars 201 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 4: a month. But of course, during a war, and especially 202 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 4: a situation like the Battle of the Wilderness, where trees 203 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 4: are being chopped down by rifle fire, you're going to 204 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 4: have a lot of people who just figure thirteen dollars 205 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 4: a month is not worth this and dessert. So around 206 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 4: this time the Union Army had a lot of people 207 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 4: who were guilty of desertion or attempted desertion, but because 208 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 4: they still needed soldiers, they had to figure out a 209 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 4: way to dissuade others from deserting punish those who did 210 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 4: without taking the standard punishment, which is execution. They needed 211 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 4: the soldiers to keep on fighting, so there were a 212 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 4: few possible solutions. Some guys were suspended by their thumbs, 213 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 4: others were gagged with bayonets, and others were branded with 214 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 4: the letter D on their cheeks or their cheek rather 215 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,199 Speaker 4: their chest or their rear end with a hot iron, 216 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 4: or they kind of were tattooed, almost cut with a 217 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,360 Speaker 4: razor and then the wound would be packed with black 218 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,959 Speaker 4: powder another form of branding. 219 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 3: Ultimately, so on one occasion, or at least sources only 220 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 3: refer to one specific occasion, Minor was forced to brand 221 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 3: an Irish deserter who'd tried to run away from the 222 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 3: Battle of the Wilderness. So you can kind of imagine 223 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 3: what this must have been like for Minor. He was 224 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:47,520 Speaker 3: the young, inexperienced doctor being asked to perform this horrible task, 225 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 3: and you know, an irishman was probably brought to him crying, struggling, pleading, 226 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 3: and Minor has to take the hot branding iron and 227 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 3: put it to the deserter's cheek and watch him probably 228 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 3: scream in pain. 229 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. 230 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 4: So, most sources point to this as a defining moment 231 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 4: for Minor, saying that it played a really big role 232 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 4: in some of the strange, unusual things that started to 233 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 4: happen in his life not too long after his war service. 234 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 4: But after the war, Minor continued to serve in the 235 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 4: army for several years. He did pretty well for himself, actually, 236 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 4: he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a commissioned captain, 237 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,319 Speaker 4: but during that time his behavior also started to become 238 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 4: increasingly strange. When he was stationed on Governor's Island in 239 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,559 Speaker 4: New York, he started visiting brothels a lot, and after 240 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 4: that he was transferred to Florida, where his behavior started 241 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 4: getting even more and more erratic and paranoid and sometimes 242 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 4: even violent, and he began to think that his superiors 243 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 4: were plotting something against him. 244 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 3: So by eighteen sixty eight, it was pretty clear that 245 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 3: Miner's mind was not well, and army doctors diagnosed him 246 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 3: as having monomania or an obst session with one subject 247 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 3: which gives rise to delusions. They also said that he 248 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,679 Speaker 3: was suicidal and homicidal. So Minor went to the government 249 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 3: Hospital for the insane in Washington, d c. Which later 250 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:14,000 Speaker 3: became Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, and he actually volunteered for this. 251 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 3: He volunteered to go and then after eighteen months in 252 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 3: that facility, doctors decided that Minor was quote incapacitated by 253 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 3: causes arising in the line of duty, so he was 254 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 3: basically forced to retire from the army. But he did 255 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 3: win a lifetime army commission. 256 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 4: So he was going to be taken care of financially, yes, 257 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 4: So after being released from the army, Minor returned to 258 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 4: Connecticut and spent a little bit of time with his family, 259 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 4: But his family soon decided that England was the place 260 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 4: for him to be because they were really hoping that 261 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 4: maybe if he went there, Minor could settle down a 262 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 4: little bit, maybe start painting again, meet up with some 263 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 4: talented people, start to earn his reputation back. So they 264 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 4: packed him off with his paint and a letter of 265 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 4: introduction to the art critic and drawing master John Ruskin, 266 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 4: hoping that Ruskin would be some sort of entree to 267 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 4: English society for Minor somebody to introduce him to people 268 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 4: who could help him start recovering. 269 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 3: But for reasons that are still unclear, Minor didn't seem 270 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 3: to even try to blend into respectable society. When he 271 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 3: got to England at the end of eighteen seventy one, 272 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,000 Speaker 3: he settled in the Lambeth section of London, one of 273 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,480 Speaker 3: the lowest sedioust to most crime ridden parts of the city. 274 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 3: Some people think he might have moved there because he 275 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 3: had easier access to prostitutes from this area, but we're 276 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 3: not sure, so we don't know much about his time there, 277 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 3: But it seems that his delusions just continued to get worse. 278 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 3: He thought people, irishmen in particular, were trying to break 279 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 3: into his room at night. It seems like that vision 280 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 3: of the branded Irishman, his experience with that was kind 281 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 3: of coming back to haunt him at this point. 282 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 4: Yeah. In fact, according to an account kept by the 283 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 4: Berkshire Record Office, Minor made a report to Scotland Yard 284 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 4: shortly before Christmas, saying that he thought men were trying 285 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 4: to force their way into his room at night to 286 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 4: poison him. He believed these men to be Irish and 287 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 4: Scotland Yard just dismissed him as a crazy man, didn't 288 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 4: follow up on it, didn't do anything about it. Then, 289 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 4: on February seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, a constable was patrolling 290 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 4: the Lambeth area and heard several shots ring out at 291 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 4: about two am. He rushed off in the direction the 292 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 4: shots came from, blowing his whistle on the way to 293 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 4: alert other constables in the area to come in and 294 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 4: support him. And who should he find holding the gun 295 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 4: but William Chester Minor. 296 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 3: Yes, Minor had shot and killed a man named George Merritt, 297 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 3: a working man who was innocently on his way to 298 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 3: work at a brewery, a man whom Minor had never met. 299 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 3: In Part one of this pot we took a look 300 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 3: at Miner's early life, how he came from an aristocratic family, 301 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 3: He got a good education, he studied medicine at Yale 302 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:11,400 Speaker 3: and joined the Union Army as an assistant surgeon during 303 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 3: the Civil War, and his life and career at that 304 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 3: point seemed really full of promise. But his mental health 305 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 3: went downhill after the war, and we talked about how 306 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 3: that downward spiral may have been triggered by an incident 307 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 3: during the Battle of the Wilderness in which he was 308 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 3: forced to brand an Irish deserter on the cheek. After 309 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,160 Speaker 3: spending about eighteen months in a hospital for the insane 310 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 3: in DC, Minor decided to head across the pond to England, 311 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 3: where he could hopefully rest paint kind of calm his 312 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 3: thoughts a bit, maybe earned back his reputation by connecting 313 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 3: with the right people in London. But when we last 314 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 3: saw Minor he'd done nothing like that. 315 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:47,679 Speaker 4: No, it didn't go down that way at all. He 316 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 4: had gotten off on the wrong foot by taking up 317 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 4: residence in Lambeth, which was one of the sedious parts 318 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,400 Speaker 4: of London, and when we left off with part one 319 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 4: of this story, he had just killed a man who 320 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 4: he'd never laid eyes on before. So we're going to 321 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 4: pick up at that crime February seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, 322 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:12,479 Speaker 4: just as the constables were reaching the scene finding Minor 323 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 4: standing there gun in hand. 324 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 3: And we should mention before we get too far into 325 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,639 Speaker 3: this that one of the sources of information in this 326 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 3: podcast is Simon Winchester's book The Professor and the Madman. 327 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 3: One of our listeners actually mentioned it on Facebook, so 328 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:27,479 Speaker 3: it reminded me that I need to bring it up 329 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,359 Speaker 3: and talk about a little bit. It's a really fascinating book. 330 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,479 Speaker 3: It takes a really in depth look at minor story, 331 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,480 Speaker 3: kind of the other characters, definitive work on his life. Yeah, 332 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 3: it is a lot of articles about Minor use this 333 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 3: as a source too, so even the other sources we 334 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 3: use probably pulled from that to some extent. So moving 335 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:46,480 Speaker 3: on with the story. Though, the man that Minor had 336 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:50,120 Speaker 3: shot was bleeding all over the street. Two constables tried 337 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:51,919 Speaker 3: to get him to a nearby hospital, but it was 338 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 3: too late. They identified the dead man as George Merritt, 339 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 3: who'd been a stoker at the Red Line Brewery, which 340 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 3: was something of a landmark in the area. The area 341 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 3: wasn't that great and he'd been there for eight years, 342 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 3: which meant that he pretty much he being a stokerman 343 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 3: that he kept the fires over which the beer was 344 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 3: made burning. Obviously, that wasn't a glamorous job. This guy 345 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 3: brought home twenty four shillings a week, which wasn't a 346 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 3: lot even back then. He was very poor, and he 347 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 3: also had a wife and six kids and one more 348 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:20,920 Speaker 3: baby on the way. 349 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 4: Yeah, so a lot of family relying on him. He 350 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,400 Speaker 4: was about thirty four years old and he did live 351 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 4: in the area. And when he ran into Minor, he 352 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 4: had been on his way to work at the dawn 353 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 4: shift of the brewery, so it was about two am 354 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 4: heading out, runs into this guy on the street who 355 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 4: ends up shooting him. So meanwhile, the constable who apprehended Minor, 356 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,719 Speaker 4: who was Constable Terran, had what was sort of a 357 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 4: strange exchange with the suspect. He asked him, whom did 358 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 4: you fire at? And Minor, who Terran described as really 359 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 4: cool and collected, gave this bizarre response. He said it 360 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,199 Speaker 4: as a man, you do not suppose I would be 361 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 4: so cowardly as to shoot a woman. So not really 362 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 4: the response he was probably expecting to get out of him. 363 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 4: Tarrant proceeded to take Minor down to the Tower Street 364 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 4: police station ask some questions. On the way, though Minor 365 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 4: started to say that the whole thing was an accident, 366 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 4: started to give a little more reason, maybe more of 367 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 4: what Tarrant had been expecting in the first place. He 368 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 4: was just saying he'd shot the wrong man. He had 369 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,640 Speaker 4: been trying to defend himself from somebody had broken into 370 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,200 Speaker 4: his room and he'd made a mistake. 371 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 3: He was also saying a lot of other weird stuff 372 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 3: on the way to the police station too, so you 373 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 3: could see how maybe the constable wouldn't quite believe him. 374 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 3: He was asking the constable to search him. He was like, well, 375 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 3: what if I have another gun? And the constable was like, well, 376 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 3: please keep it in your pocket if you have another gun. 377 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 3: I mean, it was really kind of an odd sort 378 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 3: of interaction that they had. But when they got to 379 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,920 Speaker 3: the station, Minor was formally arrested and charged with murder. 380 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 3: Because he was American, the US Minister in London had 381 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 3: to be notified in the crime, which became known as 382 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 3: the Lambeth tragedy, became an international incident, and Minor was 383 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,720 Speaker 3: thirty seven years old at this time. Just to give 384 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 3: you kind of a reference point. 385 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 4: Okay, so at this point Minor got put into the 386 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 4: horsemonger Land jail and Scotland Yard got put on the case. 387 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 4: So Minor himself wasn't really much of a help. I mean, 388 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,120 Speaker 4: this is no surprise. He wasn't much of a help 389 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 4: with the investigation. He just continued to say over and 390 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 4: over it was an accident. You know I shot the 391 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,560 Speaker 4: wrong man. But when the trial started in early April, 392 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 4: details about Minor's strange life started to surface through the 393 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:41,199 Speaker 4: help of various witnesses. His lambeth landlady, for instance, came forward, 394 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 4: missus Fisher, and she said that while he was a 395 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,679 Speaker 4: very good tenant, he was kind of a strange fellow. 396 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 4: He was anxious. He'd often demand to have the furniture 397 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 4: in his room moved around and rearranged, and he was 398 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 4: really really afraid that people might break into his place. 399 00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 3: In particular, she said that he was very afraid of 400 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,920 Speaker 3: the Irish. He would always ask if she had any 401 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,440 Speaker 3: Irish servants working in the house, or if there were 402 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,880 Speaker 3: any Irish lodgers staying there. In part one of this podcasts, 403 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,880 Speaker 3: we mentioned Miner's delusions about irishmen breaking into his room 404 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 3: at night and how it was probably related to that 405 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 3: branding incident during the Civil War when he had to 406 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 3: brand the Irish deserter on the cheek, and we talked 407 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 3: about how he'd already contacted Scotland Yard about this. During 408 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 3: the trial, a Scotland Yard detective named Williamson in fact 409 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 3: came forward and testified that Minor had come to him 410 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 3: three months earlier, complaining that men were trying to come 411 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 3: into his room at night and poison him. Specifically, Minor 412 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 3: believed the intruders were members of the Finnian Brotherhood, militant 413 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 3: Irish nationalists, and he thought they were planning on murdering 414 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 3: him and making it look like a suicide. 415 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 4: And other people, you know, people who had met Minor 416 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 4: and spoken to him before, did have a suspicion that 417 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 4: something was off with him. Williamson, the guy who Minor 418 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,479 Speaker 4: went to, wrote in his notes from that time that 419 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 4: Miner was clearly insane, but there was an other aspect 420 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,639 Speaker 4: to Minor's delusions as well. Another man who testified at 421 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 4: the trial was William Dennis, and he was an employee 422 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,520 Speaker 4: at London's Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane. We've talked about 423 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,679 Speaker 4: maybe doing a podcast on that at some point, but 424 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:16,199 Speaker 4: his job was to watch Minor at night when he 425 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,440 Speaker 4: was in jail, and Dennis said that every morning, when 426 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 4: Minor would wake up, he would accuse Dennis of having 427 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 4: been paid to molesse Minor during the night while he 428 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 4: was asleep, and Minor's step brother George Minor would later 429 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 4: confirm these delusions. About sexual abuse, saying that for the 430 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 4: time that Minor was home before he left for England, 431 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,120 Speaker 4: he would often accuse people of trying to break into 432 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 4: his room and molest him at night. So it wasn't 433 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,080 Speaker 4: just this fear of somebody breaking in or the Irish 434 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 4: trying to get him. There was this whole other aspect 435 00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 4: to it. 436 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, the sexual aspect of his delusions. And I think 437 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 3: that's why some people relate sort of his mental illness, 438 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,439 Speaker 3: or maybe relate the beginning of his mental illnes to 439 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 3: the lascivious thoughts that we mentioned in the first part 440 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 3: of this podcast that he used to have about girls 441 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 3: in Sri Lanka when he was growing up. That maybe 442 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 3: that was an eurn over it too exactly. Maybe that 443 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 3: was an early indication of mental illness, I should say so. 444 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,880 Speaker 3: Minor himself pretty much confirmed this aspect of his delusions 445 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 3: when he was interrogated too. He testified that on the 446 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,160 Speaker 3: night that he killed George Merritt, he woke up suddenly 447 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 3: and saw a man standing at the foot of his bed. 448 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,119 Speaker 3: So he reached for his Colt Service revolver, which he 449 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,400 Speaker 3: kept under his pillow while he slept, and he said 450 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 3: that the man saw him reach for his gun and 451 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,680 Speaker 3: then took off and ran down the stairs and out 452 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 3: of the house. Minor followed him and then saw a 453 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 3: man running down the street, thought it was the intruder, 454 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 3: fired four times and shot him. That's his side of 455 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 3: the story anyways. 456 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 4: Really our poor brewery employee. But the final decision in 457 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 4: the case was determined by the Notton rules, which were 458 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,959 Speaker 4: named for somebody who had shot a man and was 459 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 4: acquitted on the grounds of being insane, and the jury 460 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 4: in Miner's case determined that he was also of unsound 461 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 4: mind when he had committed the crime, so the ruling 462 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 4: was not guilty on the grounds of insanity, and the 463 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 4: judge told him, quote, you will be detained in safe custody, 464 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 4: doctor Minor, until Her Majesty's pleasure be known. So we 465 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,679 Speaker 4: already know where Minor was sent from the story. At 466 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 4: the beginning of our first episode, the detention was set 467 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 4: to take place at Broadmoor Asylum for the criminally Insane 468 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 4: in the village of Crowthorne in the County of Berkshire, 469 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 4: and he was known there officially as File number seven 470 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 4: four to two seven forty two and was expected to 471 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 4: spend the rest of his life there as a quote 472 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 4: certified criminal lunatic. But we need to describe what his 473 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 4: life really was there. It was more than just being 474 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,120 Speaker 4: a number and a quote certified criminal lunatic. 475 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:55,679 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it was better than you might expect. He 476 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 3: got to broad More on April seventeenth, eighteen seventy two, 477 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,200 Speaker 3: acording to that account kept by the Berkshire Record Office 478 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 3: that we mentioned in the first part of the podcast. 479 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 3: He was described at the time as a thin, pale, 480 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 3: and sharp featured man with light colored sandy hair, deep 481 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 3: set eyes, and prominent cheekbones. He was considered to be 482 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 3: low risk, so he ended up in cell Block two, 483 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 3: which was known unofficially, I guess as the Swell Block. 484 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 4: It was like that Swell Block cell block. 485 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,040 Speaker 3: It was the lowest security cell block and it's where 486 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 3: prisoners had the most privileges. And since Minor was well 487 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,159 Speaker 3: educated and a well to do American, he got special 488 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 3: treatment there, special freedoms and comforts that a lot of 489 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,200 Speaker 3: inmates probably didn't get. Almost as soon as he got there, 490 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,399 Speaker 3: the American Consulate in London, for example, made sure that 491 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 3: Minor was reunited with his possessions, including his own clothes, 492 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,680 Speaker 3: his art materials and his diary. They didn't send him 493 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 3: with his surgical instruments, though good they kept those. 494 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 4: Don't send a bunch of scalpels over to the guy 495 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:01,240 Speaker 4: insane asylum. But he also had some money coming in. 496 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,440 Speaker 4: He had a regular allowance from his family, which gave 497 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 4: him the ability to buy stuff or have the hospital 498 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 4: purchased things on his behalf. And that made his food 499 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 4: a lot better, you know. He'd have poultry and games, steak, biscuits, coffee, 500 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,440 Speaker 4: sometimes even wine and spirits. But it also allowed him 501 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 4: to keep his mind occupied. This was an intellectual man, 502 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:28,239 Speaker 4: and he was able to purchase newspapers, engineering papers. He 503 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 4: might have used those to get some tips on a 504 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 4: sturdy building construction, because he was, of course, still extremely 505 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 4: troubled by these delusions of people breaking into his room 506 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,639 Speaker 4: at night. At one point, he supposedly even had his 507 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,920 Speaker 4: bedroom floors covered with zinc to keep the demons from 508 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 4: coming up through the floorboards while he was asleep. 509 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 3: He would also get a lot of books, and we're 510 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 3: going to talk about that a little bit more in 511 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,719 Speaker 3: a second, but many of these books he would have 512 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 3: shipped from New Haven, Connecticut or ordered from shops in London, 513 00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 3: and at some point during his stay there, probably pretty 514 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 3: on from what we can tell, Minor was also given 515 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 3: access to two cells, a separate day room in addition 516 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 3: to his bedroom, and he converted that day room into 517 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 3: a kind of library lined with bookshelves. So overall he 518 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:18,200 Speaker 3: had this pretty comfortable existence at Broadmoor, considering the circumstances, 519 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 3: and he received visits from family and friends, and he'd 520 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,120 Speaker 3: occasionally dine in the superintendent's home. According to Winchester's book, 521 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,480 Speaker 3: he even received visits from Eliza Merritt, who is none 522 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 3: other than the widow of the man he'd shot. She'd 523 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 3: supposedly forgiven him after Minor settled some money on her 524 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 3: and her children, but whether or not this actually happened 525 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:39,479 Speaker 3: is still up for debate. 526 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 4: So Minor might have just been in this situation with 527 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 4: his two cells, all of his books, his newspapers, engineering papers. 528 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 4: Spent the rest of his days there unknown, but one 529 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 4: day around the summer of eighteen eighty, while he was 530 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 4: reading some of that material, he came across this sort 531 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 4: of press release, and it was called an Appeal to Readers, 532 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 4: and it was in a book that he'd ordered from 533 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 4: a Library in London. So it was basically this request 534 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 4: for English speaking volunteer readers around the world to help 535 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 4: out with a massive publication project that was going on 536 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 4: at Oxford University, which at the time was going to 537 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,400 Speaker 4: be called the New English Dictionary, and it was intended 538 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 4: to be the biggest, most thorough collection of English words yet. 539 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 4: So they needed they're soliciting some help for their new dictionary, 540 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 4: they were writing. 541 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, So it seems Minor immediately realized that he was 542 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 3: kind of in the perfect position to contribute here, seeing 543 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 3: as how he had tons of time on his hands 544 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 3: to read and he could get new books pretty much 545 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 3: whenever he wanted. So he wrote to James Murray, who'd 546 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,719 Speaker 3: taken over as editor of the dictionary project in eighteen 547 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 3: seventy nine, and he's the one who had drafted that 548 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 3: press release just mentioned, and asked if he could help out. 549 00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,600 Speaker 3: And as we mentioned in part one to this podcast, 550 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 3: James Murray ended up being the Oxford English Dictionary's editor 551 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 3: for forty years and was also its greatest and most 552 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:15,720 Speaker 3: famous editor. He's a really interesting character and probably deserves 553 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 3: a podcast in his own right. Though he was around 554 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 3: Minor's age, very intelligent and he loved learning, but he 555 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 3: came from a poor family and had to quit school 556 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 3: at fourteen, so he was basically self taught, which I 557 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,840 Speaker 3: think is pretty amazing considering all he accomplished. 558 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 4: And I mean by self taught, you mean he knew 559 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 4: lots of languages in astronomy, not just like he was 560 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 4: an informed man. 561 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. He was very highly regarded for his knowledge. 562 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 3: But of course we're focusing on minor story here, so 563 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 3: we'll just tell a little bit about the dictionary so 564 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 3: you'll understand exactly how Minor was helping out from his 565 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 3: cell in broadmore So, this Grand Dictionary project actually started 566 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 3: in eighteen fifty seven with three members of London's Philological Society, 567 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 3: Richard Trench, Herbert Coleridge and Frederick Fernival, who saw some 568 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 3: serious deficiencies in the dictionaries that had been published so far, 569 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 3: including those by Webster, which we talked about a little 570 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 3: bit in the previous podcast. Samuel Johnson and Charles Richardson. 571 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 3: They had two main problems with these existing dictionaries. On 572 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 3: one hand, they didn't think that they were comprehensive enough. 573 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 3: For example, some just included very difficult words. 574 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 4: So words you would need to look up in the. 575 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,440 Speaker 3: Dictionary exactly, and they felt a dictionary should really include 576 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 3: every word in the English language. They also felt that 577 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 3: every word, along with a definition, should have an authoritative etymology, 578 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:39,760 Speaker 3: so quotations from literary passages that would illustrate every meaning 579 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 3: of every single word, including and this was a key point, 580 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,040 Speaker 3: one meaning. One quotation I should say that illustrated the 581 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 3: word's earliest known usage in English. 582 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 4: So try to wrap your mind around that for a minute. 583 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 4: I mean, I think that's important before we go on. 584 00:31:54,880 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 4: Imagine trying to find that earliest usage through every book 585 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 4: printed in English and not have any sort of search 586 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 4: engine capabilities. Of course, real people would have to go 587 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 4: through these books reading and looking for the words. So, 588 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 4: of course, since there would be a lot of words included, 589 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 4: and each word might need the support of several quotations, 590 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 4: there was no practical way that a dictionary staff could 591 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 4: handle all of that on their own. So the plan 592 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 4: was to involve these unpaid volunteer readers, enthusiastic readers, I guess, 593 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 4: from all over the English speaking world. And that was 594 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 4: the announcement that Minor saw in the paper or the book. 595 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,680 Speaker 3: So in that article in the Nation by Joshua Kendall 596 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 3: that we referenced in the previous episode. He compares it 597 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,320 Speaker 3: to quote what we now know of as the wiki 598 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,080 Speaker 3: model of creating and disseminating knowledge, which I think is 599 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 3: a really cool way to think about it. 600 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 4: It makes it all makes sense when you think about 601 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 4: it like that. Yes, we do have this modern way 602 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 4: to look at it. Something to compare it to. 603 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:04,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, wiki without the Internet exactly. So, for a number 604 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 3: of reasons, real work on the Dictionary didn't get going 605 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 3: until Murray came on board in eighteen seventy nine, and 606 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 3: even then it was really slow going. For example, it 607 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 3: took until eighteen eighty four to publish the first volume, 608 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 3: which was a to ant, so very slow, very slow going. 609 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 4: But still this wiki model of collecting illustrative quotations was 610 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 4: pretty successful. You know. They were getting a lot of 611 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,320 Speaker 4: real work done, and they ended up getting millions of 612 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:37,600 Speaker 4: contributions from volunteers in England, Ireland, Scotland and the United States, 613 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 4: people who would send in quotations from books and magazines 614 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 4: and newspapers, and like we mentioned, you know, they were 615 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 4: trying to go for the earliest known use. Some of 616 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 4: these went back as far as the ninth century, and. 617 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 3: It was to this aspect of the dictionary that Minor 618 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 3: was contributing, So he didn't really do any defining like 619 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 3: he had done for websters. But as we've mentioned several times, 620 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 3: he did become one of Murray's best contributors. He'd send 621 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 3: in these small cards with quotations on them. By the 622 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 3: thousand and eventually more. His personal library contained a lot 623 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,000 Speaker 3: of rare sixteenth and seventeenth century books in particular, and 624 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 3: he'd search through these for appropriate quotes. And he even 625 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,320 Speaker 3: went a step further and would sometimes ask the oed 626 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 3: editors what word they were working on, and then find 627 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 3: quotes to go with those specific words. 628 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 4: And I mean, just thinking about that makes my head hurt. 629 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 4: That you would get a list, maybe a short list, 630 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,279 Speaker 4: of a few words they were working on, and then 631 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 4: go look through your entire library for that word. I 632 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 4: just I can't imagine. So in eighteen ninety nine, Murray 633 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:45,399 Speaker 4: said that Minor had sent in quote no. Less than 634 00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:50,439 Speaker 4: twelve thousand quotes and added quote, so enormous have been 635 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 4: doctor Minor's contributions during the past seventeen or eighteen years 636 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 4: that we could easily illustrate the last four centuries from 637 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,800 Speaker 4: his quotations alone. So it's no wonder that Murray really 638 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 4: wanted to meet Minor along the way, this guy who 639 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,880 Speaker 4: was contributing so much to the Dictionary. But their first 640 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 4: meeting probably didn't take place quite like that dramatic legend 641 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 4: that I think I compared it to Wilkie Collins. It 642 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,720 Speaker 4: sounded like a Wilkie Collins set up that we related 643 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,799 Speaker 4: at the beginning of part one of this podcast, the 644 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 4: one that was published in The Strand in nineteen fifteen. 645 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:30,320 Speaker 4: That sensationalized account has the two meeting in eighteen ninety 646 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 4: seven after Minor failed to attend the Great Dictionary Dinner, 647 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:38,280 Speaker 4: which sounds fun thrown at Queen's College in Murray's honor 648 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 4: to celebrate the Dictionary's progress, And according to that legend, 649 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 4: this was the first time Murray realized that his favorite 650 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:49,080 Speaker 4: contributor was actually an inmate in a mental asylum. But 651 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:51,800 Speaker 4: Winchester's research kind of turned up something different. 652 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, Both through his research and the discovery of a 653 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 3: letter written by doctor Murray and the Broadmore archives, we 654 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 3: can see that Murray, though we might have thought that 655 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,680 Speaker 3: Minor was just a retired doctor or a doctor in 656 00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 3: the asylum at first. He probably was clued into Minor's 657 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,320 Speaker 3: actual situation by the late eighteen eighties, and probably visited 658 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,840 Speaker 3: him as soon as eighteen ninety one rather than eighteen 659 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 3: ninety seven. Murray was always really sensitive to minor situation, 660 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 3: though apparently never letting him know that he knew that 661 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 3: Minor was mentally ill. So the two formed this kind 662 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,680 Speaker 3: of friendship that went beyond their working relationship. Murray even 663 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 3: visited Minor on several occasions, though it's unclear, according to 664 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 3: the Broadmor records, exactly how often that occurred. Murray would 665 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 3: supposedly telegraph a head, however, to find out what Minor's 666 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,880 Speaker 3: exact mood was before visiting, and he would avoid coming 667 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 3: if Minor was especially angry at the time. 668 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 4: But when he did visit, they had these very cozy experiences, 669 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,240 Speaker 4: kind of like two well respected colleagues hanging out together. 670 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 4: Murray and Minor would sit in Minor's day room and 671 00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 4: have some tea and have some cake in front of 672 00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,759 Speaker 4: the fire, just like it was a normal kind of 673 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 4: sit just catching. 674 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 3: Up friends hanging out. So you'd think that maybe this 675 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 3: friendship and having a purpose in the form of his 676 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:09,800 Speaker 3: dictionary work would have been really good for Minor's mental state, 677 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,759 Speaker 3: but his paranoid delusions just continued to get worse. He'd 678 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 3: think that he was being drugged at night with chloroform, 679 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 3: or tortured with electricity, or kidnapped from the asylum at 680 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,279 Speaker 3: night to be abused, so that nightly sexual abuse was 681 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 3: still a big part of it, and he'd even tried 682 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 3: to barricade his room at night to protect himself. And 683 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,520 Speaker 3: around the turn of the twentieth century, on December third, 684 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,360 Speaker 3: nineteen oh two, to be exact, he experienced a major setback. 685 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:40,120 Speaker 3: That morning, he actually mutilated his own genitals, and it 686 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,719 Speaker 3: seemed to be a desperate attempt to kind of put 687 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 3: a stop to the indecent acts that he thought he 688 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 3: was being forced to do every night. When asked why 689 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,040 Speaker 3: he did it, he said he did it quote in 690 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,320 Speaker 3: interests of morality. 691 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:54,840 Speaker 4: So after that he was kept in the infirmary for 692 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,440 Speaker 4: four months and then sent back to his rooms. But 693 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,399 Speaker 4: the delusions just persisted, and as the years went by, 694 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 4: he continued to get worse mentally and work less and less, 695 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,239 Speaker 4: and also his health started to decline. So a lot 696 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:12,360 Speaker 4: of people including Murray, began to petition for his release 697 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 4: to his family, and at first these petitions were denied, 698 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:19,200 Speaker 4: but the government finally relented in nineteen ten and then 699 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:23,520 Speaker 4: granted Miner's release and ordered that he be deported back 700 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:26,439 Speaker 4: to the States. So Murray, who had by that time 701 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,440 Speaker 4: been knighted for his work in the dictionary, and his 702 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:33,839 Speaker 4: wife visited Minor one last time right before Miner left 703 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 4: the country on April fifteenth, nineteen ten, and he brought 704 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:43,800 Speaker 4: along a court photographer to document this final meeting between 705 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 4: two friends and two really influential contributors to what was 706 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 4: going to be a famous dictionary. 707 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:53,880 Speaker 3: Murray was accompanied back to the States on a steamer 708 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,239 Speaker 3: by his brother Alfred, but it was really a long 709 00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,520 Speaker 3: time before he actually made it home to Connecticut. Immediately 710 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 3: went back to that hospital for the Insane in DC 711 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,640 Speaker 3: that he was at previously, which is now Saint Elizabeth's, 712 00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,480 Speaker 3: and he spent almost ten years there, kind of in 713 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 3: the same way that he lived at Broadmoor, as a 714 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:16,840 Speaker 3: privileged in may who still had nightly outbursts. So his 715 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 3: problems kind of continued to progress, and in between he 716 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,360 Speaker 3: would sort of spend his days reading and painting, and doing, 717 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,080 Speaker 3: you know, his activities that he enjoyed, but still in 718 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:27,680 Speaker 3: ill health. 719 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: Yeah. 720 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,720 Speaker 4: So by nineteen nineteen though, he was finally allowed to 721 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:34,799 Speaker 4: go back to Connecticut to be near his family, and 722 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 4: he died there March twenty sixth, nineteen twenty, you know, 723 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:42,359 Speaker 4: having been in prison the majority of his life by 724 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:46,440 Speaker 4: that point, or the hospital rather so, even though he 725 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,239 Speaker 4: lived this life of anonymity while he was locked away 726 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:54,279 Speaker 4: for so many years, his name is still pretty well known. 727 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:57,800 Speaker 4: It's still in the preface to the Oxford English Dictionary 728 00:39:57,840 --> 00:39:58,640 Speaker 4: in fact. 729 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:01,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, which ultimately that dictionary took seventy years to complete. 730 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 3: It was completed in nineteen twenty eight, which was a 731 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,600 Speaker 3: decade after Murray's death. And I think I found I 732 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,000 Speaker 3: saw this in that Nation article that we mentioned. Give 733 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:13,760 Speaker 3: us some stats, yeah, some stats to kind of boggle 734 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,840 Speaker 3: the mind in the end. The first edition, not including 735 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,160 Speaker 3: the supplements that were published after. But that first edition, 736 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:23,920 Speaker 3: published in nineteen twenty eight, had four hundred and fourteen thousand, 737 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 3: eight hundred and twenty five headwords, so to speak, defined 738 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:32,200 Speaker 3: by one million, eight hundred and twenty seven thousand, three 739 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 3: hundred and six illustrative quotations over fifteen thousand, four hundred 740 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:37,880 Speaker 3: and ninety pages. 741 00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:43,319 Speaker 4: Pretty incredible, very incredible, and it sounds like Minor was 742 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,640 Speaker 4: a pretty significant part of all of that. So in 743 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 4: recent years consequently, more people have taken an interest in 744 00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:53,960 Speaker 4: his life. And of course there's Winchester's book that you 745 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,719 Speaker 4: mentioned in the beginning, and there's maybe even going to 746 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 4: be a movie. Do you have any more info on that? 747 00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:00,799 Speaker 3: I don't have any more and fill on that when 748 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:02,600 Speaker 3: you look it up. It just says that the movie 749 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:06,640 Speaker 3: The Professor and the Madman is in development. Apparently Mel 750 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:10,040 Speaker 3: Gibson bought the rights to the movie in nineteen ninety eight, 751 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,520 Speaker 3: and they've gone through a couple of different directors I think, 752 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:15,080 Speaker 3: and they're working on it. But I don't know when 753 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:17,000 Speaker 3: it's supposed to come out, but I think that'll be 754 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 3: an interesting one to see when it does. 755 00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, it sounds like it would be a fantastic movie. Actually, 756 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:27,840 Speaker 4: I'm imagining the how you dramatize the dictionary writing scenes, 757 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,000 Speaker 4: though sort of like computer movies, they have to have 758 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:34,160 Speaker 4: scenes of like rapid typing maybe page flipping through the 759 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 4: country book. 760 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,319 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. Since 761 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:45,399 Speaker 1: this episode is out of the archive. If you heard 762 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,200 Speaker 1: an email address or a Facebook RL or something similar 763 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,160 Speaker 1: over the course of the show, that could be obsolete now. 764 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:57,280 Speaker 1: Our current email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 765 00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 1: Our old House Stuff Works email address, no Law, Younger Works. 766 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,600 Speaker 1: You can find us all over social media at misst 767 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: in history, and you can subscribe to our show on 768 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:11,000 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, and wherever else 769 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:17,040 Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class 770 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:21,120 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 771 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:24,799 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 772 00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:25,880 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.