WEBVTT - Jane Bigelow: “The Bigelow Terror” 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:05.920 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:15.440 partnership with I Heart Radio. It was the best of times, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:18.720 it was the worst of times. Hello, and welcome to 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.920 another episode of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.200 and motivations of some of the most notorious stalkers throughout history. 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.440 I'm Maria tram Marquis and I'm Holly Fry. So you 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.879 probably recognize that quote that Maria kicked things off with. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.000 And if it sounds familiar but you can't quite place it, 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.800 I will help you out. It's from A Tale of 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.239 Two Cities, which was written by Charles Dickens. And of 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.800 course Dickens is considered one of the best known fiction 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.680 writers ever, certainly in the Western world, and with each 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.200 passing century he continues to be regarded as perhaps the 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:59.920 greatest novelist of the Victorian era, certainly probably the most famous, 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.840 at least for school children here in the US. He 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.840 is responsible for classic novels. You're going to know all 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:10.600 these names. Oliver Twist, a Christmas carol which everybody knows 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:16.800 because it inundates us from November through December, maybe October sometimes, 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.360 David Copperfield, a Tale of Two Cities, as we just mentioned, 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:26.120 and Great Expectations, among many other writings. And it's accurate 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.840 to say that because of this high level of output 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.640 and success over the years, Dickens attracted more than a 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.839 super fan or two. So it actually wasn't uncommon during 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.000 this time for writers to begin their careers as journalists, 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.120 and that's what Dickens did. He worked at The Mirror 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.760 of Parliament and The True Son until three and it 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.760 was because of his experiences as a journalist and the 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.480 number of influential people that he was able to meet 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.520 through those journals, that Dickens was able to do something 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:59.920 he really wanted to do as a writer, which was 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.400 published a book. He's climbing that ladder exactly. He did 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.200 get to publish his book, which happened in eighteen thirty three, 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.160 that was titled Sketches by Bass, and it was published 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.520 under the pseudonym Bass, that was his childhood nickname. And 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:17.800 we may know him best for his huge list of 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.200 novels that he wrote, but Dickens did a lot of 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.720 other work. He edited weekly periodicals, he wrote travel books, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:28.040 and he was very involved with charitable organizations. Just three 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:31.040 years after the publication of sketches by Boss, so this 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.600 puts us in eighty six. Twenty four year old Dickens 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.040 married the twenty one year old daughter of a man 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.880 named George Hogarth, who was someone that Dickens had previous 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.440 business dealings with. They had worked quite closely, and that 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.160 woman was Catherine Hogarth, and she and Charles Dickens went 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.959 on to have a twenty two year marriage which produced 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:54.560 ten children. So the same month that he and Catherine married, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.600 the first installment of The Pickwick Papers was published. Now, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.960 this is one of the most pular novels of all 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.760 time in the Western world. This collection of loosely related 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:09.200 adventures was published in serial format, so came out a 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.720 little bit of a time between eighteen thirty six and 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:17.000 eight thirty seven, and it was wildly successful. And from 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.520 that point on there was really no looking back for 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:25.720 the famously private Dickens. Speaking of that marriage, yes, let's 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.040 talk about those children for just a moment. It is 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.600 pretty widely reported that Dickens really enjoyed being a father, 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.680 specifically to a young brood of children, and he wrote 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.680 and produced plays and other fairly elaborate holiday productions at 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.960 their home to entertain friends. And guests such as the 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.560 Tennyson's and the Thackeray's, also famous writers of the time. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.840 This of course involved all those kids, right we have 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.760 a whole players group, right I have. I have a 0:03:55.840 --> 0:04:00.560 stock cast of ten I could work with. But as 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.440 his kids got a little bit older, though, it said 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.840 that Dickens became much less interested in them. They kind 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:10.600 of aged out of the magic window for his his fascination. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.960 Nobody wanted to do those little plays anymore. The second 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.440 they've become rebellious. I picture him being like, you're out 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:21.520 of the play exactly. They hit that age, and he's like, out, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.840 your voice is changed. You cannot do this anymore. We're 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:28.359 going to cast your younger sister. So I am going 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.839 to actually keep talking about these kids for just another minute, 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.599 because there is something we should really address about their 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.840 names and their nicknames that their father gave to them. 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.839 And as you're about to hear, how could we not 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.880 talk about this? So Dickens is known for his unique 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.760 and often kind of hilarious character names in his novels. 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:56.159 There's Paul Sweedlepipe, I believe, Lord Lancaster still Stalking and 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.240 the pork and hams um All a favorite all come 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.919 to mind, and uh, things weren't really all that different 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.080 with his kids. So some of the children were actually 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.000 named for famous writers such as Alfred Tennyson Dickens and 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:15.920 Henry Fielding Dickens. But it wasn't just their real names, right, 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:21.840 they had nicknames. They all had nicknames. And you can tell, 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.680 like as he that he really did love having a 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.839 young group of children. Right. So there were nine living 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.960 children because their daughter Dora had died in infancy. So 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.560 we're gonna talk about each of these children, and they're 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.760 hilarious and adorable, question mark nicknames. It's going to take 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.800 a minute, though, because it's nine children. So first of all, Charlie, 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:47.600 who was the oldest son, was nicknamed the snodg ering blee. 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.600 It just what you want your dad to call you, 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.680 for sure, you're like dad, how kind You're not in 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:58.280 front of my friends. His eldest daughter, Mary was known 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.000 mostly as Many, but she also had a nickname, uh, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:07.120 the mild Gloster. His son Henry was known as Harry 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.960 or just h most of the time, but he also 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.000 answered to a couple of other names, including the comic 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:18.359 Countryman and sometimes the jolly post Boy. There was also 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.680 Francis chicken Stalker Dickens Um, and the name honors a 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.400 character from a Dickens novel, which actually almost all of 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:32.200 these nicknames do. Right, then we have Walter young Skull Dickens. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.760 I would kind of love if that's what my family 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:38.640 called me, young Skull. We can start calling you young 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.960 Sandwich is already young skull. Please come inside. That's how 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:47.599 I'll introduce you from now. This is young Skull. People 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:52.680 be like that skull is not young. Let's move on. Um. 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:57.640 Alfred Tennyson, he was known as Skittles, not the candy. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.359 I know, I have questions. I'm like their connection betwixt 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:05.640 the two. Sydney Dickens had two nicknames. One was the 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.760 Ocean Specter, which sounds sort of dramatic and actually feel 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.920 like that one somehow related to Skittles because through me, 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.040 Skittles makes me think of like a little crab, you know, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.640 sort of running around. Well. The other nickname that Sydney 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.160 had was also maritime in nature. It was the Admiral 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.240 Oh Yes. And then there was Kate, who was one 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.120 of the youngest children in the family, and Dickens gave 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:33.000 her her specific nickname because of her hot temper, Kate 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:40.760 was known as Lucifer Box. I just back away from 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.520 that one. And then there was the baby, which is 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.040 one of the nicknames I think most most large families 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.760 will sometimes called the youngest child the baby. Ye right, 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.119 do you have the baby? Even I, as an adult human, 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.120 people would be like, oh, you're the baby, and I'm like, sure, right, yeah, 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.960 the baby. That was his son, Edward. But Edward didn't 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.040 continue to be called the baby throughout his life because 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.840 he grew into a new nickname which stuck with him 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:07.960 for the rest of his life, and that was Plorn, 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:14.800 which actually began as Mr Plournish maroon teagooner. These are 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.960 like the things you would call a pet, right. I 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.880 was just thinking they're great like cat names. Who bless 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.760 Edward for putting up with that and somehow negotiating it 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.239 down to Plorn and now Ran he's like dropped the Mr. Please. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.920 That's a long list of really great and funny nicknames. 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:33.959 So I'm going to take us to uh Dickens his 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.480 own childhood and life for a minute. And this is 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.560 before he became famous. So he was born in eighteen 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.040 twelve and it was into kind of a lower middle 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.520 class family and neighborhood. His father was a clerk in 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.400 the Navy payoffice, but ultimately he was sent to debtors prison, 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:54.880 and at age twelve, Dickens supported his family by taking 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.360 a factory job where he pasted labels on shoe polish bottles. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.960 His novel David Copperfield is actually considered largely autobiographical, especially 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.360 this time, and it is also believed that Dickens likely 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:12.480 lived with epilepsy. Modern doctors have noted that the way 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.920 that Dickens described what he called quote the falling sickness 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.400 as it was known in the Victorian era, bears striking 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.920 medical accuracy when you compare it to descriptions of epilepsy, 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:28.240 and throughout his works, several of Dickens's fictional characters, including 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.479 monks in Oliver Twists, are described as also having symptoms 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.480 of what we today would diagnose his epilepsy. As an adult, 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.440 Dickens really liked being active. He was known to go 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.920 horseback riding. He was not going on a probably long 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:46.480 distance like twenty mile hikes. He frequently entertained his friends, 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.040 and it turns out he really enjoyed playing practical jokes. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.719 He was a magician, and he practiced hypnotism, and it 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.120 said that he would hypnotize Catherine to help alleviate her headaches. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:03.120 Although he read gularly practiced it on others, he always 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.320 refused to be put into a trance himself. Dickens also 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.560 loved and we got to repeat this, he loved all 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:15.840 things paranormal. He was at least allegedly a member of 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.760 London's famous Ghost Club. That's a group that investigates reported 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:23.320 ghosts and hauntings. We're using present tents because that club 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.320 is still around today, although if you look at its history, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.160 some indicate that, like after Dickens died, it fell off 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.679 for a while but then was revived. But you can 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:34.600 look it up today. If you're just you know, looking 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.920 to join a paranormal investigation and research organization and you 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.960 happen to be in London, absolutely maybe Dickens behaunt you 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:46.000 fingers crossed, right. Yeah, So let's take a break for 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.839 a word from our sponsor right now, and when we 0:10:48.920 --> 0:11:03.480 return we'll talk about Dickens Mania. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.120 Dickens's career and life changed significantly when he went on tour. 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.199 It was in eighteen sixty seven that Dickens kicked off 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.880 a seventies six date tour across America which has since 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.800 been described as the Victorian version of the British Invasion, 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.120 including the arrival of the Beatles at John F. Kennedy 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.680 Airport in New York City in the nineteen sixties. Dickens 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.840 had toured the US once before, in two and his 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:38.160 fans gave him a very warm welcome, literally trying to 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.640 tear the shirt off his back to get themselves a souvenir. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:47.200 I marvel at these things, but I know I marvel 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.000 at these things. That's the kind of behavior I think 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:53.680 people think of as very modern fair mania. But it 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.360 was going on them between Dickens and Liz Domenia, like 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.240 there was a lot in terms of being a fan 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:04.319 of someone in the nineteenth century. Dickens, by the end 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:09.880 of the tour described his experience as primarily disenchanting. He complained, 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.240 we quote, I can't drink a glass of water without 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.160 having one hundred people looking down my throat when I 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:20.800 opened my mouth to swallow. So this type of celebrity 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:24.000 or rock star status is pretty commonplace today, and that's 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.640 certainly augmented by the connectivity that we've achieved, but in 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.400 the mid eighteen hundreds it most certainly was not. And 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.400 he just was not prepared for this level of constant 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.520 gaze upon him. Absolutely not, And as we can see, 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.640 he had a really hard time adjusting to it as 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.600 most of us really, honestly it might And his quote 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.640 is how queer it is that I should be perpetually 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.000 having things happen to me with regard to people that 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.440 nobody else in the world can be made to believe. 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.640 So between the first and second tours he made of 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:57.000 North America, and despite the twenty two years and ten 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:01.160 children together, Charles and Catherine ended the relationship in eighteen 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.960 fifty eight. Dickens is on record stating that he was 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:09.360 quote totally incompatible with his wife. You would think he 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.600 might have figured that out more than two decades later, 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.319 but but he did. The pair separated, but they did 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.440 not ever divorce because at that point in time in 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.760 Victorian society, divorce would have been quite scandalous because of 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.600 how famous Dickens had become. Like if TMZ had existed them, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.480 they would have been all over this. They would have 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.400 been following him. There would have been paparazzi in the bushes, 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:37.000 outside of his hotel, cameras everywhere. But the thing was, 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:42.559 he didn't really treat the situation with care. He slandered 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:47.719 his wife's name publicly. After ten children and some postpartum 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:52.199 issues that she had. He thought that she had grown fat, tired, 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.200 and dull. Um. I came up with a new use 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:00.000 for the time travel machine and it might need to deliver. Uh. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.080 I'm not a fan of violence, but I would want 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.360 to perhaps just you know, jab him with a sharp 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:07.400 stick and be like, what is wrong with you? Um? 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.480 He also just just once? He also it does count. 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.320 He also characterized his wife as weak minded and by 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.840 and large embarrassing to him, and he also said that 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.960 she was an unloving mother. So clearly that divorce was 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.960 all bad blood. There was not much amicable about it. No, no, 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.440 And it's also around this time that Dickens, who was 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.480 then began an affair with an eighteen year old actress 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:38.320 who was named Ellen or Nellie turn in Um. It's 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.480 it's really not known if that relationship began before or 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.160 after he and Catherine separated, but it's known that he 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.600 did do his best to hide his new relationship. He 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.360 always maintained though, that Nelly was not his mistress and 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:56.080 they weren't having an affair, but everyone modern day knows 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.200 that that was just a lie, And because he feared 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.120 the press would discu cover them, he didn't really travel 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.280 with her at all, and he did not allow her 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.840 to accompany him on his second tour. And that second 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:12.400 tour was very big news because while the first tour 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.120 had been pretty intense, the second tour created one of 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:20.840 the first modern mass media celebrities. He inspired what's often 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:26.200 called Dickens Mania. So there's this wonderful description of how 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:30.120 Dickens looked while he was walking around Boston, which I 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.280 believe his tour began to either New York of Boston's. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.080 This is fairly early on. And if ever there was 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.880 a great way to describe the style of what could 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:43.360 be a Victorian rock star, this might be it. So Dickens, 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:47.200 we quote, who had a gleefully gaudy fashion sense that 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:52.760 attracted attention and some revulsion, was a particularly striking celebrity 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.880 to encounter. He had fans who tore it his fur 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.720 coat and one took an impression of his money bootprint 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:03.600 from the gravel was really quite a scene. It's funny 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.280 because I didn't know until way late in life that 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:10.640 Dickens had been sort of this like crazy dandy Me too, 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:15.040 I think, because I associate him with his works, which 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.200 are by and large about you know, like I think 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.360 of Bob Cratchett, is like he's standing in that story 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:23.080 and somebody who's very you know, kind of clothed in 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.480 like these dark tattered No, that wasn't him at all, 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.840 not at all. And I had no idea. And you know, 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.920 when I when I was going through school, he certainly 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.680 didn't learn anything otherwise but that that description of him. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.440 So I was telling Holly when I first saw that 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.440 description of him that he reminds me of a Victorian 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.880 age Keith Richards because he's very flamboyant and he's got 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.240 like what at the time was it was considered this 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:48.560 utterly cool sense of style. And yet you look at 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:49.960 it and you're like, none of that works, but it 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.000 totally all works. Yeah, Yeah, they don't teach you that, 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.160 and still you don't know nowhere in it, nowhere in 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.400 any of my my history or lit books was it 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.560 like he is a fancy pants He had a lot 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:08.439 of scarves hanging in his closet right, So that, of 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.399 course was reported in the press, and so were a 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.960 lot of other things because the American press fixated on 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.199 reporting things like his personal habits. Uh. They printed that 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.080 he did not use mustard in a particular restaurant in 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.800 New York City, as though that was newsworthy. We don't 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.760 know which restaurant, but in case you're wondering for our 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.080 New Yorker's uh, cats As Deli, which is famous for 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.960 its handmade mustard, did not open its doors until so 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:38.879 we know it. It was not that one, and he 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.720 was not slaighting cats right. He was about twenty years 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.160 too early for that one. Maybe it's because of him 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:46.960 that they were like, we gotta make our own mustard. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:53.040 There you go, there's our next theory. So this tour, 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.280 the second tour to the U S. Dickens was a 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:59.560 hot ticket on the literary tour circuit here and there 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.320 was a I'm actually when Dickens considered a stage career 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.800 rather than a writing career, and it really showed in 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.520 his readings on tour and his readings anywhere. He was 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.080 known as a gifted performer, and he did tours. He 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.920 did public readings, and every time he would, he would 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.480 act out passages from his books as if he was 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.640 on stage. And as a writer too, he would act 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.240 out his characters before writing them into his novels. He 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.680 wrote plays, he performed before Queen Victoria, and uh from 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:32.520 time to time he also accepted rules in in amateur plays. Yeah, 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:34.399 so those cute little plays he was putting on with 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.919 the kids back home for his friends were not his 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.440 only theatrical moments. He wanted to do it for himself, right. 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:43.679 And here's the thing. He was a hot ticket like 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.320 people wanted to see him when he toured because he 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:50.040 was excellent at it. He was the master of ceremonies 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.200 that you would always hope to see. He has been 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.959 described as dynamic, quick and observant and just having an 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:00.440 amazing zest for life that kind of pulled his audience 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:03.320 right along with him. And maybe he just hypnotized them all. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.440 Uh So, mainly what people saw was what Holly just described. 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:12.640 But there was a flip to that though, and he 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.600 he has also been described as being high strung, impatient, 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:21.240 and also prone to depression, commonly two sides of the 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.280 same coin for sure. So it was on this second 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.520 American tour. When Charles Dickens met the Big Allows, he 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.760 was staying at the Parker House hotel in Boston. He 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.280 usually dined there, he spent his evenings playing games like 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.160 charades there with his manager and his publisher, as well 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.640 as this couple, the Big Glows, who were visiting from 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.639 New York City, and they were also staying at Parker House. 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.240 So I'm actually going to interject something here right now. 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:49.840 This is the same Parker House that is famous for 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:55.000 Parker House roles, and they were invented in eighteen seventies, 0:19:55.280 --> 0:20:01.520 so he missed those as well. But this is also 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:03.960 the part of the story where we don't talk about 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.959 delicious baked goods, but instead we move on to the 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.760 stokery portion of the story. So the Bigelows we have 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.960 Jane and John. And when Jane Tunis Poultney met the 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.840 author and attorney John Bigelow, they met in eighteen fifty 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:22.080 and he was immediately smitten by her. Four months later 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.840 they married and they went on to have nine children. 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.000 John Bigelow edited and co owned with the New York 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.399 Evening Post from eighteen forty nine to eighteen sixty one. 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:34.879 That was before he became involved in a career of 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:39.680 international diplomacy. In eighteen sixty one, so that is when 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.399 his his New York Evening post time ends, he was 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.240 appointed by Abraham Lincoln to the American consul in Paris, 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:49.720 And at this point his career really took off, because 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:54.000 from there he became Charge d'affaire before becoming Envoy Extraordinary 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.840 and Minister planet Potentiary. And in eighteen sixty five, so 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:01.120 just four years into this diplomatic career, he moved into 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:05.680 the position of American Ambassador to France. He became very 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.439 influential in France, in Napoleon the Third Court, in particular, 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.399 he was so influential that he is credited for helping 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:17.400 the Union win in the American Civil War by convincing 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:22.199 France not to provide aid to the Confederate States. And 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:26.320 then there's Jane. Jane Bigelow was known as Jenny to 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:29.640 her close friends, and she seems to have had a 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.440 profound impact on her distinguished husband. He wrote of her, 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.679 and we quote she was a woman of notable beauty 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.840 and social charm. Her family deemed our courtship rather brief, 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.840 but there seemed to be no occasion on my part, 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:46.920 at least for prolonging it. Years after her death, he wrote, quote, 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:49.960 without her, my career in the world would not only 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.440 have been very different from what it was, but far 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:56.560 less satisfactory to myself and to others. Okay, so let's 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.240 get real. John may have been a very influential diplo meant, 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:04.119 and he may have credited Jenny with his success, but 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:08.000 his wife was actually not exactly what most people would 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:12.200 have expected of the spouse of someone in his position. 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.440 There is a story at one point of her slapping 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.439 the Prince of Wales on the back. I'm sure he 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:23.000 was surprised by that, a silly gesture, but at the 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:27.200 time that but I mean even now that would be horrifying. 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:31.800 So subtract a hundred and sixty years off of it, 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.080 and it's really horrifying. There are a lot of other 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:39.320 similar stories of poor or inappropriate behavior on her part, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:42.800 and it was actually rumored that John's career was really 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:46.280 stifled because of her behavior, and that he lost out 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:50.040 on the coveted position as American Minister to London because 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:54.080 not everyone adored her as he did. So Jane, I'm 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:56.720 going to call her Jane not Jenny, we're not friends. UM. 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:04.520 Jane to socialite in Baltimore. UM. And she was about 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:06.920 forty years old at the time she met Dickens, who 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.080 was probably also in his maybe his late forties at 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.800 this point. UM. She was well known in political circles 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.040 because of what her husband did as his career, and yes, 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:20.159 also because of that whole slap thing. UM. So she 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:23.240 was also really well known in both New York's social 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.840 and literary circles. And that's because of her patronage to 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:31.920 emerging writers and artists. She quite literally opened her home 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:34.879 to important and influential writers when they were in New 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:38.359 York City. For instance, several times she hosted Oscar Wilde. 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:42.399 She also notably hosted Charles Dickens. And it's when she 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:45.840 met Dickens that things really began to change for Jane. 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:49.680 So we're gonna take a quick break here, but when 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:52.439 we return, we will talk about what came to be 0:23:52.520 --> 0:24:09.680 known as the Bigelow terror. Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:13.720 talk about how someone might go from being stay insufferable 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:18.320 company to being a stalker. So much of what we 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:21.720 know about Jane's obsession with Dickens actually comes from the 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:25.080 diary of another woman, that is Annie Fields, who was 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:28.720 a Boston Society hostess and she was the wife of 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:33.520 Dickens's publisher. Annie was present for many of the games 0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:36.159 and dinners that were held while Dickens was in town, 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:40.040 so she witnessed a lot of things, and her descriptions 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:42.719 are a good peek into how Jane went from quote 0:24:42.760 --> 0:24:48.440 obnoxious to stalker behavior. It's interesting that she quotes that tool. 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:52.240 She very specifically calls her behavior stalker stalker ish. So 0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:59.159 Annie also described Jane and her behavior as the Bigelow terror, 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:03.000