1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: to the cabinet of curiosities. Not everyone had it easy 5 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: growing up. Many of us were forced to make our 6 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: own way due to any number of hardships. Carl knew 7 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: that better than most. He grew up in Germany, and 8 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: his father had a certain kind of idea about how 9 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: men should behave He told Carl's mother not to coddle him. 10 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: His boy had to make his own way, forge his 11 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: own path, like he had done so. Carl learned early 12 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: on that he had to be self sufficient in order 13 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: to get what he wanted or needed. By the age 14 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: of two, he had learned to feed himself. By ten, 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: his interest in music had led him to take up 16 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,680 Speaker 1: the violin, and with no one around to teach him, 17 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,119 Speaker 1: Carl taught himself instead. He got pretty good too, so 18 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: good in fact, that when he turned sixteen, his parents 19 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: sent him to a music conservatory to continue his education. 20 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: Karl studied with some of the finest teachers in Germany 21 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: for several years. After he graduated. He used his talents 22 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: to take him far beyond what even he believed possible. 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: Before he was old enough to drink, he was playing 24 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: with international orchestras in sold out concert halls. His skills 25 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: were so renowned he was invited to perform before the 26 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: famous composer Johann Strauss in Vienna. He developed a little 27 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: trick previously unseen during your average concert. Whenever he'd break 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: a string, Karl would change it in the middle of 29 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: the show while the rest of the band played on. 30 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: Then he'd rejoined the group and continue the performance. But 31 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: he didn't do it backstage or off to the side. 32 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: He made it part of the act. It got so 33 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: popular that he started using a weakened string in his shows, 34 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: just so he would be forced to demonstrate his ability 35 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: each time he played, and his talents were limited to 36 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: just music or impromptu violin repairs. It's hard to imagine 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: how someone might learn to shoot at a music conservatory, 38 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: but Carl also managed to become an a smarksman. He 39 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: was so good at it that he was said to 40 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: shoot the spots off of playing cards. Of course, word 41 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: about it spread, and the public wanted to see this 42 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: new skill with their own eyes, so Carl added it 43 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: to his repertoire anything to keep the people in their seats. 44 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: Right Throughout his career, he shared his gifts with audiences 45 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: all over the world. Carl even took his unique brand 46 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: of music and marksmanship to America, where he eventually settled 47 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: with his wife and gained citizenship. Carl had lived the 48 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: kind of life most men only dream of, becoming a celebrity, 49 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: both at home and abroad. But when his later years 50 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: were up ended by the First World War, he saw 51 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: a bigger calling for himself. He wanted to help the 52 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: veterans returning from battle, specifically those who had lost limbs. 53 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: To do this, he wrote and illustrated a guide book 54 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: for them. It took him less than a month to finish, 55 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: and it taught recent amputees how to use their feet 56 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: for things they used to do with their hands. I 57 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: know it sounds strange for a master violinist, a man 58 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: who could change a broken string in the middle of 59 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: a performance or shoot a playing card, to write a 60 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: book about using one's feet to perform everyday tasks. Well, 61 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: As the old saying goes, you have to write what 62 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: you know, and Carl knew all about doing things with 63 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: his feet, from shuffling cards to smoking cigarettes to writing 64 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: his autobiography. Carl was a phenom with his feet. That's 65 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: because he had no choice. Carl Anthan had been born 66 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: without hands. It's wooden frame is unmistakable, the leather straps 67 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: worn and cracked, waiting to envelop a new guest, and 68 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: the helmet, once fastened to the head, it's capable of 69 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: delivering two thousand volts straight through the body. They took 70 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: something as simple as a chair a place of rest, 71 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 1: and transformed it into an instrument of death. Little did 72 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: Ben Franklin no when he first collected that bolt of 73 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: lightning on a stormy night in seventy two, that his 74 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: discovery would be used to power the ultimate method of justice. 75 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: For over one years, the electric chair was designed as 76 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: a more humane form of execution. Back in the late 77 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, a dentist, yes, a dentist, had heard about 78 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: a man who had died instantly after grabbing onto the 79 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: high voltage wires of a large electric generator. The dentist 80 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: saw a way to use this electricity to do more 81 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: than just power lights around town. It could be used 82 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: to ensure a quick and painless end for death row 83 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,800 Speaker 1: inmates everywhere, especially after a recent series of botched hangings 84 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: had landed in the newspapers. The Governor of New York 85 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: established a commission to seek an alternative method, consisting of 86 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: three members, a human rights advocate, a lawyer, and that dentist. 87 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: The commission sought advice from experts such as Thomas Edison 88 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: on how best to harness electricity as a means of execution, 89 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,520 Speaker 1: because justice was meant to be swift but not cruel. 90 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: There's that word again, justice, I guess it's apt. The 91 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: first electric chair went into use in eighteen nine, and 92 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: ten years after its introduction, Charles Justice, and inmate at 93 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: the Ohio State Penitentiary, came up with an idea. While 94 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: serving his sentence, he'd been given a job of cleaning 95 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: up the room where the electric chair was housed, the 96 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: death chamber, as it was called. It was during one 97 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: of his rounds when he noticed something about the chair, 98 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: the restraints. They weren't strong enough to keep a man 99 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: from shaking all over as the electricity course through him. 100 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: This constant movement resulted in burned flesh, which offended witnesses 101 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: and went against the whole more humane thing they'd been 102 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: aiming for. Charles worked with prison officials to enhance the restraints. 103 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: I mean, why not. He would have done anything to 104 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: reduce his own sentence, and he certainly had the technical 105 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: knowledge to make those changes. Instead of leather straps, he 106 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: created metal clamps that fit over the prisoner's wrists and les, 107 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 1: designed to reduce movement and the risk of burned skin. 108 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 1: The results worked wonders for the prisoners, the witnesses, and Charles. 109 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: When the time came for his parole hearing, he had 110 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,040 Speaker 1: no problem convincing the board he was ready for a 111 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: second chance. After all, he'd been instrumental in making their 112 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: executions more efficient and humane, just as they had intended. 113 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: It's unclear how Charles spent his newfound freedom. Whether he 114 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: traveled the world or sought a job as an engineer, 115 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: will never know, though I can hazard a guess that 116 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: whatever he did, it was far from legal. That's because 117 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: ten years after he was released, Charles Justice found himself 118 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: right where he'd started. He'd been convicted of murder and 119 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: sent back into his old stomping ground, Ohio State Penitentiary. 120 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 1: There was only one difference. Now, he would never be 121 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: eligible for parole. He would never sleep in his own bed, 122 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: or drink a beer or do anything again that a 123 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: freeman might enjoy. He was the latest addition to Ohio 124 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: State Penitentiary's death row, and on November nine of nineteen eleven, 125 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: Charles Justice was strapped into the same chair he'd helped 126 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: improve a decade earlier. You got to feel firsthand the 127 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: metal restraints around his wrists and ankles, albeit only for 128 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: a few moments. Seconds later, charles life came full circle. Justice, 129 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: as they say, had been served. I hope you've enjoyed 130 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for 131 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show 132 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created 133 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 134 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 135 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 136 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,679 Speaker 1: learn all about it over the world of Lore dot 137 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: Come and until next time, stay curious.