WEBVTT - A Snowball’s Chance 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.600 Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio, Elizabeth Dunton, 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.840 How you be? I'm good? Do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.160 I do you want to share it with me? Collective 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.680 nouns what do you mean? Well, you know, like groups 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:20.680 of things like murder of crows, but parliament of owls saren? 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:25.239 Have you ever done a deep dive on collective nouns? Completely? Yeah, 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.920 I looked at him. I used to use those as 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.160 a way to call myself down in anxious moments. Okay, 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.520 I don't want to know, but like you know, there's 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:39.040 like a colony of bats. Um you know what jugglers is? Um? 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.879 A juggalo of jugglers and never thing of of jugglers. 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.760 Oh that's fun, which, like you know, you never see 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:48.519 a group of juggle I guess you do see a 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.800 group of jugglers outside the Loser Convent And I'm just kidding. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:59.920 Collective noun for silences. Uh, there's a rumba of rattle 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:05.200 snakes and the Kingdom of rats, which is kind of 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:09.240 like a rat king which don't google that people. My 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:13.800 favorite a death row of turkeys. Oh that is good, right, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.040 I mean a lot of these. There are multiple collective nouns, 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.000 phrase groups. But a death row of turkeys. Yeah, that's 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.560 that's up there. Yeah. Is there a writing desk of ravens? Sure? 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.520 Never more. Well, I've got something ridiculous for you. You've 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:31.880 got it's probably way more ridiculous than that I have 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.280 all the time in the world. Oh excellent, because this 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.920 one so wild one it will take me a second 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.240 to tell to you. You're ready. Yes, it's about a 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.880 Texas town. I mean, you know, I like Texas towns, 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:44.560 and it is Texas town in particular. It gets taken 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.080 over by twelve hundred college age military cadets who are 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.240 eager to win a rivalry prank war that involves now 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:56.600 take notes to private detectives, multiple high speed car chases, 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.840 a night raid on an armory and a depot, a town, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.800 telephone lines being seized, casual gunfire, mass arrest, wrongful imprisonment, 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:30.760 and a two pound owl. Oh okay, this is ridiculous crime, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:35.120 but podcast about absurd and outrageous capers and cons. It's 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:43.359 always murder free and ridiculous. Elizabeth. Before we dive into 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.519 the insanity of this story, I'd like to give you 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.400 a little context. I love contact, right, I figured you do. 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.519 Now you also love Reddit, right, Like, I don't really 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.720 check on anybody, but I know you're like the lurker. Yeah, 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.680 I don't post. I just you just read lurk rather Well, 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.200 there is a post a couple of days ago. He 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.040 might have seen it. I don't know. This guy put 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.440 forward a theory that the University of Alabama doesn't exists. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.880 That one, yeah, and they say, he said, basically, well, 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.640 I'll just quote it. He said, conspiracy theory. Quote, Alabama 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.919 is not an actual school. It is just a football team. 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.919 And then he makes his case and I continue to quote. 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.320 The title says it all. I don't think Alabama truly 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:23.680 exists as a school. There are no classes. If you 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.560 somehow break into one of the buildings on campus, you'll 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.600 find dusty storage rooms with US jock straps and Satanic 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.520 altars to bear Bryant's demon ghost. I have met so 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.160 many damn many Alabama fans roll tad. They say, if 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.560 you ask them what year they graduated, they will usually 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.640 hit you with and never been to college, Like that's 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.760 the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard. I live and 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.839 work in the South. I've interacted with fans of every 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.400 other SEC team, and most of them have actually attended 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.920 the university they route for. I have never not once 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:55.200 met an Alabama fan that went to Alabama. That's incredible, right, 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.880 I can get behind that that kind of theory. So 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.400 he does as you know, Uh, he gets a response 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.520 on Reddit. He had had to post an edit, and 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:08.120 so I quote, um, there are some very humble gentleman 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.680 visiting me. Every word I've said is unjust. I now know. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.000 Maybe I've just been stressed lately and I wanted to 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.120 be the center of attention. Hopefully my new friends can 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.800 correct my ignorance on the beauty of an Alabama education. 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.240 Nick Saban is handsome and intelligent and every man or 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.320 woman's dream. I've shown my jealousy of their degree programs 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:25.880 and anyone would be lucky to go to school and Tuscaloosa. 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:27.880 May God have mercy on my soul, and mate Elephant's 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.400 tramp will be if I ever transgressed again. He should 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.360 have held fast on that one. I'm just glad he 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:36.839 found the truth in the way of Alabama football because 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.800 also I'm I'm legally required to say this because it 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.760 will be broadcasting Alabama rural tides. So you know there 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.640 you go. Bear. Now you lived in South Carolina. We've 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.680 talked about this, and uh they're an SEC style like 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.400 fanatics for football in that area that got Clemson, You've 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.640 got the University South Carolina Gamecox. Now does that hold true? 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.599 Like the Alabama fans where you'd meet people who are like, 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.880 they're like, oh, yeah, I love Clemson and you're like, oh, 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.160 what you're to graduating? Yeah? Oh I ain't never been 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.640 to school. Yeah. I mean when I moved down there, 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.000 people would say who do you root for? Clemson or USC? 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.880 And of course, coming from California, I'm like Trojans, are 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.240 you kidding me? And so then I I was educated 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:23.400 on that that it's the cos and uh so they 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.279 everyone said I had to choose and I was like, like, 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.680 you know Kelly on nine o two and no, I 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.960 choose me. So I wouldn't want to pick a side. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:33.880 But then I was you know, I'd ask people, oh, 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.720 you went to Clemson where you like, you know, an 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.359 agg major of some sort, and no, they didn't go 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:42.640 to Clemson. And same with the most almost every USC fan. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.880 Yeah that most of them didn't go to those schools. 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.200 They went to college. They just didn't and they wanted 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.239 to support the big But I'll tell you, the most 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.800 maniacal fans are the Clemson fans who actually did go 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.800 to Clemson. Why the most maniacal, Like that's all. They 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.440 wear the clothes like they don't know any other clothes 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:06.160 and gear and they're super into it, which you know, hey, respect, 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.520 you love your you love your alma mater. Yeah, fire 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.280 up that tiger rag. Yeah. But you know what, I 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.960 choose me so for that that you went to Davis 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:16.920 for college and they have a football program and to 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:19.120 now an nt double a team. You did you go 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.880 to games? Did you care about? Like once or twice 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:25.120 they had? You know, I went to games? Did you? 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:26.880 Nobody was it like a thing like because you know, 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.679 I grew up in Davids' my hometown, so we rooted 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:31.520 for U c D. And I know that idea of 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.039 being the county rooting. And now obviously it wasn't like 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:35.719 oh I was like eleven, so it was like you 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:37.840 to go to school there. Nobody thought that, but we looked. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.320 We see the players walking around town. They were huge 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:41.760 to us. It might as well be like an NFL 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.120 star and NBA star. We loved the team, but we 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:46.560 noticed the college kids. You guys didn't give it. You 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.560 didn't know anything about the teams, didn't know like the 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.400 game was on Saturday. I kind of stumbled into it 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.320 a couple of times, and I was always distracted by 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:59.280 the like associative activities like the T shirt canon. Oh 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.600 you mean it's a game campus, we're in. The fullback 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:06.520 just fires a shirt cannon at the other players know. 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:11.120 And then here's here's the thing. I seem to recall 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.800 that they I think I made this up, and now 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.920 I think it's real. Someone put a burrito in the 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.880 T shirt cannon. I don't know if it really happened. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.120 I think I was imagining it that they would go 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.920 burrito madness and like fire burritos that would explode and people. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:30.960 But like I guess, you know, if you ask me, 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.200 I'm like, yeah, totally, I saw that. I don't think 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.440 that actually happened. You know, it's all a blur colleges 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:43.200 barrito madness. I love that. Well that is so that's 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.840 about the extent of my football knowledge. I'm not a 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.120 football person. I know this, I definitely know this. It's 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.280 the community aspect of football that I find really fascinating, 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.400 especially college football, because people will, you know, find themselves 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.320 in a team and they will go to war for 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.560 their team. Oh yeah, which brings us to this story. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:04.120 So this story takes place in nineteen seventeen. Right now, 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.400 that was the year that we would enter World War One. 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.720 This is just before then. This is in January. We 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:11.840 enter in April. This is in January. Is that the 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:16.520 year football was invented? No, we can just say yes, 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.600 if that helps you. This is the year of football 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.960 was invented. And so when they're inventing the game of football, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.720 it took place in Texas. They invented football in Texas, 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.240 Texas A and M, the Agricultural Mechanical School. Yes, they 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.160 were playing Rice University, but in this instant, since it 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:35.520 was January, which is after football season, they decided to 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.920 play a football game on the basketball court. And they 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.440 wore basketball uniforms. And then they'd used a basket in 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.360 the world, so they used basketball. So they just played basketball. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.439 It was a basket. They just really through the basket. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.200 I'm just saying it's a basketball, Okay. I just didn't 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.720 want you to get too jarred because I know you've 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.680 just become a fan of football. Yeah, it was just invented. Yeah, 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:56.800 it's a brand new sport. You were there. The basketball 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.680 game that they played was Houston's Rice University. His college 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.680 stations Texas A and M. Right, big rivalry. Basketball was 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.199 a huge sport at the time. And although it was 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:09.360 a really interesting game because when they won the game, 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.400 the score was thirteen. So Rice beats Texas A and 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:20.719 M and embarrasses them. I'm glad you know that. So 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.960 this was also the Texas A and M's first victory 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.360 over a right sports team in three years. Right, they're 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.079 just fired up about this. They go big, they're celebrating, 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.240 they're doing everything they can. They're getting drunk, they're yelling, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.720 they're screaming the drive around and their Model T cars 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:37.959 and the campus. Right, but there's not enough. They need 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.000 something else, a symbolic expression of their victory, something they 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.000 can hold on to, right, something to unite them and 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:46.319 give them this moment. So what do they do. They're like, 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.640 let's cast about and find something that will we can 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.920 always have this feeling, right, And they find exactly what 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.640 they need. The Texas A and M basketball players, some fans, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.280 some students, and some non student alumni. They all discover 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:03.199 that rice is left their mascot behind and it's unprotected, right, 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.320 And their mascot is an owl that is about the 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.360 size of a man, about a six ft tall owl. 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:13.679 It's not real. It's a statue where it's got a 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:17.360 wooden understructure, has like canvas skin stretched over it. It 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:21.400 weighs two hundred pounds. It is a huge structure. Did 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:23.319 a man climb up inside of it? No, it's just 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:27.280 a statue that they carry around. It's more of yes 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:29.480 and effigy. That's probably the better way of putting it. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.720 So this effigy, this canvas creation of their's, it's filled 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.800 with sawdust and excelsior, which is a stuffing material. So, right, 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:39.599 isn't that a great word, excelsior. It's always like that 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.200 on Stanley's favorite words. Also on the motto of the 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:47.000 New York State. It just means like ever also means stuffing, 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:52.160 New York stuffing. So this, uh, this wolf stuffing that's 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.560 filled in this bird is what gives it its volume, 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.480 it's weight, it's shape, and then obviously the wooden understructure. Right, 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.040 So the thing weighs too, hundred pounds and it's six 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.679 ft tall. It's basically like picking up a man, right, 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.720 like a big football player sized guy. Now, these guys 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.720 they pick up this owl and they run off with it. 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:13.120 And they managed to like get away without any of 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.520 the Rice students catching them, right. And then you have 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.560 to keep in mind also that these Texas A and 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:21.840 I'M students, they are Corman, they are cadets because Texas 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.200 A and M at this time was a military institute 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.920 that required to students to be cadets. And coming in 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:29.880 just a few months, these kids are all about to 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.360 go off. They all will be released to go join 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.400 World War One. And at this time they're training for 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.120 the war. So they're on war footing. They're like war craze. 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:39.680 They are already in a military mind. So they start 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:41.599 to act like this is an operation. They're ready to 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.480 get their faces shot up. So they go and they 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.600 grabbed this owl and they they you know, back all 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:49.800 off with it into the dark. They loaded into a car. 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.360 They drive to the train station. They load the owl 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.160 onto the train station. They handed over to the Wells 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.440 Fargo agents. They go get this back to college station 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.040 and don't tell anyone you have it. And then They're like, okay, 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.000 you're gonna pay for the rights, that's all. Yeah, exactly, 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.040 So they do. They put it on the train, they 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.000 loaded up, and they take the owl back to Texas 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.199 A and M Right. The Rice students they learn about 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.920 this when they read it in the news. The Texas 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:14.080 A and M. They put it in the news. It 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.280 filters over to Houston and then they're like what so wait, 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.040 they got all the way home and they didn't realize 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:22.560 they forgot a twod o. No, no, this was that 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.800 the game was in in Rice. So Texas didn't go 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.120 back and the Texas A and M s didn't go back. Yeah, 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.199 so the Right students are just missing there checking it. 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:30.960 They weren't. They weren't thinking it was in charge of 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:34.160 cleaning the owl after the games. That's a really good question. 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.760 I will put that to our researcher and get back 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:40.720 to you on who's an owl cleaner here? So, Texas 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.280 A and M Right they have the owl, they've managed 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.360 to get it back, and the Right students figure this out. 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.840 So what are they gonna do? They lie? They decide, 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.640 you know what, we're gonna say they didn't steal the owl. 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.440 So they build a new owl, and they put that 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.160 on campus and they insist that's the original owl. Like 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.000 when a kid loses the stuff, the parents get an 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.559 identical one. So they try that and that all the 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.079 thing that has to do is pretty much suffice for 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.280 all of the students and the local population. They can 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:09.280 show the newspaper, we'll see we still have our owl. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:10.760 But they know the truth. So like, we got to 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.800 get our owl back. So seventeen students get together, a 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.559 bunch of student athletes, members of the track team, football team, 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:23.480 basketball team. They'd create the Owl Protective Association. So they decide, 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:25.600 you know, two days after this owl of stolen, that 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:27.320 they were going to get their owl back. And so 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.880 then they hire a private detective. That's their first move, Like, 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:33.840 we need somebody to find out where the owl is. Yeah, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.079 so get get ourselves a private dick, and we'll get 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:37.880 him to go looking for it. So the private detective, 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:39.840 they're like, they go and they meet this guy and 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.280 he's like a grizzled nineteen seventeen private detective probably you know, 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:46.079 like I don't know, beat up railroad strikers for the Pinkertons. 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.560 I don't know this guy. He's a hard dude, right, 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:50.959 So they pay him to travel to college station and 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.000 hunt around for the owl. He does, He's like, okay, 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.160 I'll go out to college station and i'll telegraph you 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.640 guys when I find it. Right, So the private dick 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.400 takes the students money, goes off to college station. They 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:07.319 don't hear from him. Maybe we made a mistake. So 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.520 they decide, okay, we need to go over to college 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:11.840 station to find out what's going on. So they have 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.040 to sneak onto the campus. Remember these are all cadets. 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.520 So they go to the store like the Army Navy store, 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.240 and they get some army uniforms. Right, but they didn't 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.280 already have uniforms. No, these are the Rice students are 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.040 just college students, are just like rich Texas A and 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.440 M is So the Rice students have to go get 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:31.040 uniforms so they can sneak onto Texas campus. Right. So 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.840 they managed to do this. Now they have they have 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:35.760 other uniforms and they're gonna go. You have to understand 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.920 Texas A and M As they told you military institute. 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:40.800 So they have real military officers who were armed as 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.600 centuries on the campus. They've got bull sergeants, so as 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.440 they call them who run around, who tell the students 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.080 what to do. So they're sneaking onto essentially a military 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.640 like in Texas, right, So the right students, they got 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.720 their work cut out for them. So when they get 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.560 to town, turns out their detective was on the case. 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.760 He didn't just take their money and deal away into 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.080 the night. That's what I thought when I was reading this, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.840 certain that he did, you know, find the guys who 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.320 like may have stolen it. He's like, I couldn't find 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.200 the owl, right, I hate to tell you guys. They're like, man, 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.360 that sucks. That's terrible news. To dark night. It's raining. 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:16.680 They're like, well, we already came all the way to 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.760 College Station, which is about like a ninety mile trip. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.400 So they're like, I guess while we're here, we can 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.760 hunt around. So they hunt around on the Texas A 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.800 and M campus, pretending to be student or cadets rather, 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.040 and they have with them to transfer students who know 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.760 the university. So they're like, okay, where's where It's like 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:35.960 the dormitories, where is the where would they put this? 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:40.800 Right turn coats? So the scouts they send out, they 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.440 search all of the buildings except for the dormitories because 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.120 there'll be too many people who may recognize them. But 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.320 everything other than that, they're avoiding centuries, military guards, the 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.120 whole bit. They can't find the awl. No luck, right, 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.520 So the O p A. The their their scouts to 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.600 go off. They return to Houston four more days past 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.280 the starting to sweat people to question the owl they 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:03.760 have in the campus because they quite look right. So 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.800 they're like, okay, well this maybe beyond us. We need 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.840 to hire a new detective. So they're rich kids, they 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:14.320 throw some money together and they hire a second detective. 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:16.920 This dude's in him, I swear to God, is snowball 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.840 the only thing he's referred to a cat? Snowball? Yeah, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.280 Like he's a cat like snowball the cat producer Dave 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.640 spot On with the with the acknowledgement of the snowball 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.480 is essentially like his code name. But it's the silliest 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.000 damn code name he could come up with in Texas. Right, 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.320 So Snowball shows up on your heart, bitt and detective, 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.920 what do you guys need? Right, And they're like, Snowball 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:43.120 like the nose two no, no, no, I think he's 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.920 just a sweetheart. So he's just a little powder problem. 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.600 So I'll find your two hundred pound owl mascot or 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.640 whatever I got right, And so Snowball drives out to 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.760 college station and he starts snooping around and he poses 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.080 as a Houston area newspaper reporter. He's like, I heard 0:16:58.080 --> 0:16:59.760 about the owl nab and I want to get the story. 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:01.960 And kids are like, oh, that's great, yeah, because they 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.080 want the story to go back to Houston and embarrass 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.240 all the right students, so they never questioned the story. 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.480 He manages to get in and meet the actual Texas 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.000 A and M bird nappers to show him the bird 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.520 because he's like, I need pictures for the paper. They're like, okay, 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:16.920 we'll take it this way. They take him up to 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.320 the place where they're hiding the bird. He snaps his 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:22.760 photos and he's like, okay, the bird's here, and he's like, 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:24.800 thank you guys, pretends to be a reporter and leaves, 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.159 and then he goes out to the telegram office telegrams 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.960 Rice and he's like, you know, they they've got the bird. 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.959 He sends a coded message. The bird's nickname is Sammy. 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:34.879 That's what the Rice students call him. So he sends 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.439 his coded message, Sammy is fairly well and would like 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:43.840 to see his parents at eleven o'clock. Exactly. So, now 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.679 the plot is completely in motion, and after this short break, 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:49.960 I will be right back to tell you the next 0:17:50.000 --> 0:18:13.640 installment in this insane too. Okay, Elizabeth, you're ready for 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.680 more of the great Owl theft? Yes? Please? Okay? So 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.440 the Rice students, right, They now know that the bird 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:25.480 is still fine, it exists, and their detective Snowball has 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.000 found it for them, So they need to get into action, right. 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.320 The seventeen members of their O p A are called 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.919 out on a raiding party and they're ready to roll 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.520 the Owl Protective Association. Sorry, I should keep you up 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.159 with the acronyms. So they decided that Snowball's message and 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.399 a quote was a signal that the owl had been located, 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.480 and then his capture was now a matter of daring. 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:49.760 So daring is called for, and daring is what they're 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:53.919 prepared with a feat Exactly, So, the seventeen members of 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.960 the O p A, the Owl Protective Association the rock 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.920 up in two old Fords and a Hudson Super six. 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:02.840 Load up all seventeen people in these three cars right. 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.040 The second car, the second card just mentioned the Hudson 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:10.240 Super six that was introduced in nineteen sixteen, much like 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:14.240 professional football. So it was called the Super six because 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.239 at an in line six cylinder engine, it was the 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.040 one of the fastest cars of his time. It was 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.200 a high performance engine. Like I said, the Rice students, 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.240 rich kids, right, so they've got this card has a 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:30.120 distinctive seventy two horsepower just blazing. That's forty more horsepower 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.639 than you get from a similar size Hudson the year prior. Right, 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:34.719 So we're talking like real fast. Now, if you're wondering 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.360 top speed, seventy five miles per hour for our non 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:43.199 American listeners are twenty kilometers now. Fun fact, the Jode 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:45.320 family when they went west in the Grapes of Wrath, 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:50.840 what they were driving in was a Hudson Super six. Now, uh, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:52.920 this is what it looks like. I'm just gonna show 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.760 you a picture on Instagram, as I will, and it's 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.680 the Hudson Super six is probably one of my favorite 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:00.760 cars of this area. Just looks really cool. Right, how 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:03.600 many did that seat? I'd probably take, like you know, 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.800 standards five six people and this we had seventeen boys, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:08.800 and this is like in the arrow and people would 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:10.040 try to see how many people they could fit in 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.440 a telephone booth, you know, like they were really into 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.679 like squeezing. It was likely that's more the twenties, but 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:17.159 I'm saying the leading up to this is at the 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:19.919 college era of raccoon hats and big fur jackets and like, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:21.600 let's see how many people we can get in this, 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:25.000 you know. Yeah, So they're doing all of that, and 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:28.920 there's a Texas kids, so they go big with it. 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.879 So the other two cars, those are the two old Forts. 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:33.840 And when I say old Forts, everybody back then they 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:35.919 just referred to They only read the newspaper accounts. They 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:37.800 just said old Forts because there was the only the 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:39.919 Model T. They didn't have a bunch of Forts. There 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.280 was like previous Model A. But now we're to the 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.359 Model T. The old Tin Lizzy right, top speed forty 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.760 two miles per hour. Yeah, and for the non American listeners, 0:20:48.800 --> 0:20:52.520 that's sixty kilometers per hour. So these are, by the way, 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:54.120