1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: A quick note about today's episode. We originally started talking 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: about covering today's topic, which is the New Orleans race 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: riot of nine hundred, also known as the Robert Charles 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: Riots in July, following the police shootings of Filando Castile 5 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: and Alton Sterling and the July seventh attack on Dallas 6 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: police that killed five officers. Because the nine hundred riots 7 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: involved violence against both police and New Orleans black community, 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: it's an important piece of historical context, but also when 9 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: we wanted to wait to cover until a little time 10 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: had passed. We recorded today's episode on septem prior to 11 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: the police shootings of Tyree King, Terence Crutcher, and Keith 12 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:44,239 Speaker 1: Lamont Scott. Welcome to Steph you missed in history class 13 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: from how works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: And I'm Tray Steve Wilson, and today we're talking about 15 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: a really complex p of history and it's one that 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: Tracy and I discussed whether or not we should do 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: it for a while, and I kind of back burnered 18 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: it for a little bit because of recent race racial 19 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: strife in our own country, But that also makes it 20 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: kind of an important moment to examine and look at Yeah, 21 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:20,320 Speaker 1: it have definite parallels to a number of uh, relatively 22 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: recent events. It does. The main person in this story, too, 23 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: is is a little bit difficult because his name is 24 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: Robert Charles, and he's been characterized all across the spectrum 25 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: from a villainous monster to a sort of martyr figure. Uh. 26 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: And in nine he committed some very horrible violent acts 27 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: in a racially charged uh sort of moment in New 28 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: Orleans history, and we don't really know why he did this. 29 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: And there is, I should say, right up front, a 30 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: lot of violence in this story, committed by a lot 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: of different people. Um. And in reading the source that 32 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,560 Speaker 1: I primarily used for the subject, which is a book 33 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: called Carnival of Fury, It was written by William Ivy Hare, 34 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: it really struck me as uncanny how similar some of 35 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: the scenarios in this piece of history sound to news 36 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: of today. And so the snapshot that it provides of 37 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: the South in the decades after the Civil War and 38 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: leading into the Jim Crow era is in some ways 39 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: startlingly familiar. Uh. And the book is also full of 40 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: racially charged language that was contemporary to the year that 41 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: the riot happened. There's a lot of relaying and reporting 42 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: and reprinting of things that were in the newspapers. That 43 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,399 Speaker 1: was language we would never use today, and so we've 44 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: left those slurs out of today's recounting of those events. Um, 45 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: but even so, be forewarned that there is still some 46 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: truly horrifying violence that you kind of can't leave out 47 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: and still get the story across. So if you know violence, 48 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: particularly racially charged violence, is the kind of thing that 49 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:54,920 Speaker 1: might be disturbing to you or that you might not want. 50 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: Maybe you're younger historians hearing this might be one to 51 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: skip out on. Robert Charles was born in late eighteen 52 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: sixty five or early eighteen sixty six. His mother was 53 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: actually carrying him when the United States Civil War ended. 54 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: Jasper and Mariah Charles's parents had been enslaved when they 55 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: conceived Robert, but they were free when he was born. 56 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: He was the couple's fourth child and their fourth son. 57 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: His life becomes really interesting because it really is sort 58 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: of this this parallel to the end of the Civil 59 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: War leading up to the turn of the century, and 60 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: both of Robert's parents had been born into slavery, so 61 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: when they were newly freed, it was the first time 62 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: they had ever been free, and they made a life 63 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: for themselves as sharecroppers on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, 64 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: and it's unknown whether they leased that land from the 65 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: person who had previously owned them or not. Share crapping 66 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: at this time was a system where a family could 67 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: get by, but really just barely. Most of the freed 68 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: former slaves who wanted to raise crops did not have 69 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: them any to get started because they had previously been enslaves, 70 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: so they had to rent their land, which was basically 71 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: what sharecropping amounts to. In addition to owing the ongoing 72 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: lease on the fields that they were working, a lot 73 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: of them also had crop leads, which gave a merchant 74 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,720 Speaker 1: who provided their supplies to them, the first claim on 75 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: any of the crops that were harvested, and often that 76 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: merchant that they had a crop lead with was also 77 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:31,919 Speaker 1: the person that owned their land and was renting it 78 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: to them, So it was not uncommon for a farmer 79 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: to basically owe most, if not all, of their income 80 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,360 Speaker 1: from raising crops to the merchant and landowner, and most 81 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: families accrued significant debt in the seasons in between harvests 82 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: as they depended on these supplies from their merchant to 83 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: keep their families basic needs. Meant so Robert and his siblings. 84 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,239 Speaker 1: His parents had six more children after he was born, 85 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: uh and another who they took on and was reportedly 86 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 1: their grandchild who they raised. They grew up in a 87 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: system where prosperity was systematically unattainable for them. Yeah, there's 88 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: there's a lot written I should say in that book 89 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: that I cited just a moment ago that suggests that 90 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: the Charles family did pretty well, um in relation to 91 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: some other families. They did not get above a poverty level, 92 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: but they were kind of able to to keep things 93 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: even and not fall deeper and deeper and deeper into 94 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: debt as some of the farmers in the area did. 95 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: And at the same time, as we've discussed many times 96 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 1: on this podcast, there was significant tumult and violence as 97 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 1: the country moved through the reconstruction era and led into 98 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: the Jim Crow era and for a while, Capaya County, 99 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: where the Charles family lived, was actually a little bit 100 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: unique in that it had a fairly even split between 101 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: black and white farmers, and there was a surprising level 102 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,799 Speaker 1: of cooperation between the races. There was a local white 103 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: politician named John Prentis Matthews who went went by print, 104 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: who organized a coalition of black and white farmers known 105 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: as the Independent Party. Unfortunately, though, that coalition broke down 106 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: during the financial stress and racial tensions that engulfed the 107 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: country during the during reconstruction. Tensions were so great during 108 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: the weeks leading up to the elections of eighty three 109 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: that black members of the community who were politically active 110 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: received death threats, most often by groups of men who 111 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: broke into their homes to deliver those threats. Yeah, there 112 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: was this group called the Procession and they basically at 113 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: night would just walk through the streets, finding homes to 114 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: break into and threaten people that lived there. Uh. And 115 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: while Jassper Charles was an active voter pretty much from 116 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: the moment he became a freeman, he was not a 117 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: political leader, so he wasn't necessarily targeted by these groups, 118 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: but he still feared for his family's safety. And things 119 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: became so perilous and there had been some deaths that 120 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: the Charles family, several other black families, and a small 121 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: group of white families who supported this idea of coalition 122 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: all went into the woods to hide for safety. In 123 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: the last few days before the election. Print Matthews, that 124 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: politician who had organized this coalition party, was shot dead 125 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,680 Speaker 1: while he was casting his ballot on election day, and 126 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: he was characterized in the days after as having quote 127 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: organized the Negro race against the whites of the county. 128 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: Many in Matthews supporters, both black and white, moved away 129 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 1: from Capaia County after the election day murder. This exodus 130 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: actually turned into a pretty big burden for the economy 131 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: of the area. Much of the farmland was based on 132 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:48,040 Speaker 1: this debt heavy system that benefited the landowners, and having 133 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: so many of their renters move away, many of them 134 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: leaving their debts behind, led to a real cost. But 135 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: there were also plenty of people who felt like the 136 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: gain of having black people leave the county was worth it. 137 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: And at this point, Robert Charles was seventeen and there's 138 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: been a lot of speculation over the years about whether 139 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: he was multi racial or not, based on both drawings 140 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: and descriptive accounts of him. Um So if you ever 141 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: see that come up, know though that he always self 142 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: identified just simply as black. He didn't factor in any 143 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: other possible lineage, and he actually stayed in Capaia County 144 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: after that election, but only for a few more years. 145 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty seven, he moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to 146 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: look for employment. He worked for a while at the 147 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: Vicksburg Waterworks Company and eventually settled into position in the Louisville, 148 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: New Orleans and Texas Railroad starting in eight In May 149 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: of eight two, Robert and his brother Henry were involved 150 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: in an incident involving gunplay at a train depot in 151 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: Rolling Fork, which is forty miles north of itz Vicksburg. 152 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 1: A young black man had stolen a pistol from Robert, 153 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: and he and his brother had gone armed to retrieve it, 154 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: and that weapon that had been stolen had changed hands. 155 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: The trains flagman had it when they reached Rolling Fork, 156 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: and when Robert and Henry attempted to take it back, 157 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: the flagman fired on them and they returned fire. The 158 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: flagman eventually tossed the contested pistol from the train as 159 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: it was departing, and the Charles brothers retrieved it. No 160 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: one was hurt, but this incident would be characterized very 161 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: differently in later years. When the riot situation happened, this 162 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: got reported completely wrong. As like he had killed a 163 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: train worker. Like they're just completely um ludicrous exaggerations of 164 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: what had happened. This was one of those things that 165 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: came back after he became sort of a a known 166 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: entity and got told in embellished at bizarre ways. Even 167 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: at the time, though, Robert was afraid that even though 168 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: there had been no injuries, as a black man who 169 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: had shot at a white man, he was basically doomed 170 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: he if he stayed at this railroad job. So he 171 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,200 Speaker 1: changed his name to Curtis Robertson and moved back to 172 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: Capayah County. In his life there seems to have been 173 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: relatively uneventful. Um. There's not a lot of documentation on it, 174 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: until he was arrested for selling liquor in a dry 175 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: county in fall of eighteen four and he pled guilty 176 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: and he was fined forty dollars plus costs, And while 177 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: he was supposed to stay in jail until he could 178 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: come up with that money, he managed to convince the 179 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: judge to bypass that directive, probably so that he could 180 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: raise funds more easily. But he didn't pay that fine 181 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: and instead he left for New Orleans. An arrest warrant 182 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: was issued in eighteen nine five for the delinquent Curtis Robertson, 183 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: although it doesn't seem that anyone actually pursued him. Then, 184 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: in October of eighteen ninety six, he appeared voluntarily in 185 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: court before the same judge. He pleaded innocent to the 186 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: exact same charges that he had been convicted for in 187 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety four. This whole episode is a little confusing, 188 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: the records on it are not complete, but he ultimately 189 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: was cleared of the charges, although he opted to once 190 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: again go to New Orleans instead of staying in Kapaiah 191 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,839 Speaker 1: County where he had grown up. Yeah, there's debate over 192 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: what really took place there, if while he had been 193 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,199 Speaker 1: free and had left for New Orleans, new evidence had 194 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,520 Speaker 1: come up that led him to return and clear his name, 195 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: or if something else played out. But uh, his return 196 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,119 Speaker 1: to New Orleans after this was all cleared up eventually 197 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: catalyzed an incredibly violent period of riots. But before we 198 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: get to that, we're gonna pause and take a breather 199 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: and get ready for it while we hear about one 200 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: of our fantastic sponsors. Perhaps the reason that Robert Charles 201 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,559 Speaker 1: a k. A. Curtis Robertson was eager to go back 202 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: to New Orleans was the fact that he had earlier 203 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: in eight joined a group called the International Migration Society. 204 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: He had plans to move to Liberia, and he had 205 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: already started making payments on this planned move. Over the 206 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: next several years, he would slowly move away from using 207 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: his alias and return to his original name of Robert 208 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 1: Charles uh. And we've talked about on the podcast before 209 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: that there were different factions even within the black community, 210 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: about how to sort of deal with race relations. And 211 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: there there were some both black and white people who 212 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: thought the best thing would be for freed slaves to 213 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: move back to Africa, even though many of them had 214 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: never been to Africa before. Uh And, as we lead 215 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: into this, UH, this was a point in US history 216 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: where the police force in New Orleans was considered the 217 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: most overworked and porous paid in the nation. Um. While 218 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: the city in nineteen hundred had more than three hundred 219 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: thousand residents, it had three hundred and fifteen policemen. Fewer 220 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: than two hundred of those were revealable for patrols. So 221 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: there was a setup where even though they made less 222 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: money in a lot of times than sort of unskilled 223 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: labor on the railroad. There were lots of people that 224 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: wanted to work for the police department, but there really 225 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: weren't funds to hire them, and so even if they 226 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: were working twelve hour shifts, two shifts a day, there 227 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:22,720 Speaker 1: were still fewer than a hundred officers to cover the 228 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: entire um square mileage of the city in that time. 229 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: So one of the things that comes up in incarnival 230 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,239 Speaker 1: Fury is the idea that it was actually pretty startling 231 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,880 Speaker 1: that the violent crime rate was really pretty low in 232 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: New Orleans. There were a lot of petty crimes, but 233 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: not a lot of violent crimes. At this point, race 234 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: relations in New Orleans were as complicated as they were 235 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: anywhere else in the South and the rest of the country. 236 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,439 Speaker 1: At this point, while in some neighborhoods white and black 237 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: working class citizens lived in fairly integrated circumstances, the belief 238 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: that black people were inferior was as common as anywhere 239 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: else in those neighborhoods. There was even one New Orleans newspaper, States, 240 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,479 Speaker 1: which was the official journal of city government, that routinely 241 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,959 Speaker 1: featured anti black writings by its editor, Henry J. Hearsey, 242 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: who firmly believed that the only way to solve the 243 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: race problem was to use his own word extermination. His 244 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: writings are exactly as horrific as you're probably thinking. UM, 245 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: and all of this is kind of a setup to 246 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: give insight into why Robert Charles as well as UH 247 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: some other people of color planned to move to Liberia. 248 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: And as it turned out, the International Migration Society folded in. 249 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: There is a very high likelihood that it had been 250 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: largely in operation in which its white organizers collected monthly 251 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: dues from black people in exchange for the promise of travel. 252 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: So I know you already said, but I kind of 253 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,480 Speaker 1: want to say again that there were so many different 254 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: organizations talking about UH relocating to Liberia, working from so 255 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: many different perspectives, with so many different UH motivations. Like 256 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: there were definitely organizations that were explicitly racist, that were like, 257 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: we need the black people to leave, But then there 258 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: were also people who were advocating for themselves, saying, Okay, 259 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: we're never going to have a fair life here, so 260 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: we should leave. So, like, I don't want to paint 261 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: the entire movement based on this one an organization that 262 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: there were so many different perspectives on it. Robert Charles, 263 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: for his part, might not have realized that the I 264 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: M S was at worst a flam flam operation and 265 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: at best just poorly run. After the organization folded and 266 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: then reorganized under the name of Liberia Colonization Society, he 267 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: routinely wrote to one of the organizers uh and distributed 268 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: literature on behalf of the society all throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. 269 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 1: He might have been not aware that the person that 270 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: he was writing to was not actually black. Yeah, that 271 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: comes up as one of the things. It seems like 272 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: these people were running this society but not really working 273 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: with the people that they were collecting money from. And 274 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: allegedly they did send a couple of trips to Liberia, 275 00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 1: but completely underprepared, unfunded, and most of the people that 276 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,440 Speaker 1: went on those trips died shortly after they arrived in Africa, 277 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: either from malnutrition or some illness that they contracted on 278 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: the voyage. So even if it was kind of on 279 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,920 Speaker 1: the up and up, it was just not well organized 280 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: at all. Charles also began working with Bishop Henry M. 281 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: Turner of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta, and 282 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: he asked to be a subscription agent for Voice of Missions, 283 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: which was a monthly periodical that the Bishop produced. Turner 284 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: was also a proponent of the Back to Africa cause, 285 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: and Voice of Missions was one of his primary methods 286 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: for spreading the ideology that a new beginning in Liberia 287 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: was the best next step for black people in the 288 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: United States. In June hundred, Robert Charles was laid off 289 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,639 Speaker 1: from his job. He had been working in a lumber yard. 290 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,679 Speaker 1: He had a very small income from selling copies of 291 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: the Voice of Missions, but to conserve as much money 292 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: as he could, he asked a young man named Leonard 293 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: Pierce to rent a room with him so that the 294 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: two of them could split the cost. Yeah, Leonard Pierce 295 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: was only nineteen. He was very young, um and that 296 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: would of course change his life forever. On July twenty three, 297 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: d Robert Charles invited his roommate Leonard to go meet 298 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: two women with him for sort of a double date. 299 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,199 Speaker 1: And Charles, at this point was already dressed and Pierce, 300 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: who had just gotten home from work, washed up and 301 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,880 Speaker 1: also dressed to go out. Both men were armed, which 302 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 1: was not at all unusual at the time. The two 303 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: of them first went to visit Robert's sister Alice, and 304 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,400 Speaker 1: then to Dryad Street, where the two women, Virginia Banks 305 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: and Ernestine Goldstein, rented a room from a white woman 306 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:58,159 Speaker 1: named Mrs Cooley. Robert had told Leonard that the ladies 307 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: had been out on an excursion that day and that 308 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: they would be back late. This wasn't actually the case. 309 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: Although we really don't know if this was a purposeful 310 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,479 Speaker 1: deception or not, it's kind of likely that Charles was 311 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: hoping to wait until Mrs Cooley was asleep to then 312 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: try to gain admittance to the home to visit with 313 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:21,360 Speaker 1: Banks and Goldstein. Yeah, just like if you have ever 314 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:24,680 Speaker 1: gone as a teenager to see one of your friends 315 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: or someone you had a crush on late at night 316 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: and tapped on their window to try to get in 317 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: secretly without their parents knowing. It was kind of like 318 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: that situation. Uh. And while the two men waited for 319 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: the ladies, who were in fact in their rented room, 320 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,359 Speaker 1: throughout the evening, they sat on the steps of another 321 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: house on the street at fifteen Dryads Street, New Orleans, 322 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:49,679 Speaker 1: New Orleans. P D Sergeant Jules C. Cohen was told 323 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 1: according to his account, that a pair of suspicious looking 324 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: black men were hanging around on the steps of a 325 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: white family on Dryad Street. He whistled to summon two 326 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: other officers, Joseph Cantrell and August Mora, to go investigate 327 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: this with him, and, according to Mara's later testimony, which 328 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:11,920 Speaker 1: remained the most consistent throughout multiple tellings, in the aftermath 329 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,440 Speaker 1: of Anyone's the trio approached Charles and Pierce, and they 330 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: inquired as to why they were lingering there on the 331 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: steps of a house that was not theirs. And as 332 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 1: the officers neared the pair on the steps, Robert Charles 333 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 1: stood up. So Robert Charles was pretty tall, about six ft, 334 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: and Maura took his standing up as an aggressive gesture. 335 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: He grabbed Charles and after a minor scuffle, beat him 336 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: with his baton. Which of the men drew his gun 337 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: first is completely unknown. More actually relayed this story both ways, 338 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,680 Speaker 1: but both men ultimately fired shots and both were injured. 339 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: Cantrell had also fired his weapon, and it's unknown whether 340 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: his shot or Maura's hit Robert Charles in the thigh. 341 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,640 Speaker 1: And throughout all of this, Leonard Pierce had sat motionless 342 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,919 Speaker 1: and terrified on the steps. Cohen had held him at gunpoint, 343 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: and so Pierce did not see all of the details 344 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: of this Mora Charles altercation that it was playing out. 345 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: Charles led the scene and made his way to his 346 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: apartment at Street Pierce. He was frightened and crying, gave 347 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: the police the address, and a patrol wagon arrived there 348 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,640 Speaker 1: at three am on July. As they approached the room, 349 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,919 Speaker 1: they saw that the door was open a crack, and 350 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: when they called out to Robert Charles to open up, 351 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: he emerged and he shot Captain John T. Day dead. 352 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:39,399 Speaker 1: Then he shot the patrolman, Peter J. Lamb, in the head. 353 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: Charles then retreated into his room and shut the door, 354 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,199 Speaker 1: and according to accounts, he could be heard reloading his 355 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: Winchester rifle. Another tenant of that same house, a woman, 356 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: opened her door and she ushered the remaining two police 357 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: officers who had gone into the building, Julesia Cohen and 358 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: Ernest Trenchard, into her room, and they sheltered there with 359 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:06,120 Speaker 1: her for two full hours. At the same time, several 360 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: officers outside had remained in place, at one point calling 361 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,119 Speaker 1: out to inquire if they needed to go in. They 362 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: new assistance inside the house, but they didn't ultimately enter 363 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,080 Speaker 1: the house. At four thirty, Charles emerged from the home 364 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: and fired at one of the officers, grazing his cap. 365 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,800 Speaker 1: Both of the policemen ran away, and they would later 366 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: testify that they had been looking for a telephone. They 367 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,359 Speaker 1: did actually phone in the precinct from a nearby drug store. 368 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 1: Yeah that whether or not they were running away from 369 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: him in fear for safety or whether they were actually 370 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: looking for the telephone comes up a little bit later, 371 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: but by daybreak it appeared that Robert Charles had left 372 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: the premises, and word quickly spread through both the neighborhood 373 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: and the police force what had happened, and Fourth Street 374 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,919 Speaker 1: quickly became crowded with both officers and onlookers, and a 375 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: massive manhunt ensued. So New Orleans, already fraught with racial tension, 376 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,879 Speaker 1: became a powder keg of violence. Initially, there were calls 377 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: to go to the precinct, take pierced and lynch him. 378 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: The police moved into the parish prison to try to 379 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: protect him, and at that point almost any black man 380 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: became a suspect. The various mobs that started circling in 381 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:26,119 Speaker 1: the streets before July was over. Multiple black men and 382 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: two black women had been beaten by mobs, and another 383 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: armed group of vigilantes was dispersed by a lie. This 384 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: was basically a quick thinking gamble that an alderman told them, 385 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: saying that Robert Charles had been arrested in a nearby town, 386 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: which caused the crowd to break up. They were seemingly 387 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: satisfied by the knowledge that he had been arrested, but 388 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: this was really just the calm before the storm. Yeah. 389 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: The next day, as it became known that Charles was 390 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,679 Speaker 1: in fact not in custody, anger raged anew and the 391 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: acting mayor at the time the regular mayor was away, 392 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: was keenly aware of the potential for this situation to 393 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,119 Speaker 1: very quickly get out of hand, so he issued the 394 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:12,440 Speaker 1: following proclamation, Whereas as a result of the regrettable assassination 395 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,159 Speaker 1: of Captain Day and Officer Lamb, and the wounding of 396 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,880 Speaker 1: Officer Moura, there is a disposition manifested on the part 397 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,200 Speaker 1: of certain of our citizens to take the law into 398 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: their own hands, much to the prejudice of the good 399 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,199 Speaker 1: name of the City of New Orleans. Now Therefore, I 400 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: William Malee, Acting mayor call upon good citizens to aid 401 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,320 Speaker 1: the authorities in preserving the peace, not to assemble on 402 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: public streets and places discussing the sad events here and 403 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: above set forth, but to let justice take its course. 404 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: But there was so much anger and tension that this 405 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:51,080 Speaker 1: proclamation did no good. Unfortunately, some of the city's papers 406 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 1: also ran incredibly incendiary pieces that suggested that all black 407 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: people were part of a larger problem that had culminated 408 00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: in Robert Charles's actions. The Henry Heirsey Paper states that 409 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,560 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier Lad to a Frenzy when it ran 410 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: a fearmongering editorial on the afternoon of July about the 411 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: dangerous quote regime of the free negro that threatened the 412 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: safety of a white society. And we're gonna pause here 413 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: for a word from a sponsor, because things will take 414 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,679 Speaker 1: a very ugly turn. Uh. So we're gonna have that 415 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: little break so we can get ready, and then we 416 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 1: will jump into the last part of the story. Today's 417 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 1: podcast is brought to you by Square Space. 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So as a bit 435 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: of fair warning, the grizzlier aspects of this tale take 436 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: place here in the last segment, So brace yourselves or 437 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: tap out if you think it might be too much 438 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: for you or any younger history buffs, or maybe review 439 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: it before you share it with younger listeners who might 440 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: be listening. Basically, the rioting that night was horrifying. The 441 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: mob first emboled at a monument to Robert E. Lee 442 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,679 Speaker 1: with a plan to march to the parish prison and 443 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: take Leonard pierced by force. Along the way to the prison, 444 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: assaults started on Any black person, including women and the elderly, 445 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,600 Speaker 1: who was unfortunate enough to be in the path of 446 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: this mob found themselves in grave danger. And as this 447 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: mob was walking through the streets and would encounter street 448 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,879 Speaker 1: cars that were carrying people home for the evening, they 449 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: would stop those cars and board them, and any black 450 00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: citizens found aboard were beaten or in many cases shot 451 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: dead at point blank range. By the time the violent 452 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: mob reached the prison, it consisted of three thousand people, 453 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: which were primarily young white men. The prison was barricaded 454 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: and defended by some of the city's most respected peacekeepers, 455 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: who made it very clear that they would not yield. 456 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: The mob eventually moved on from its original objective and 457 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: instead headed to the black entertainment venues, found them closed 458 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: and deserted, so the splintered into smaller groups of vigilantes. 459 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:07,240 Speaker 1: As the night were on searching out additional victims, and 460 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,240 Speaker 1: as the sun came up on the the numbers of 461 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,679 Speaker 1: rioters actually swelled as some who had left the night 462 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:17,119 Speaker 1: before when things started to splinter apart once again joined 463 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,359 Speaker 1: the violent herd, apparently after they had gone home and 464 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: gotten some rest. So over the course of the next 465 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: twelve hours, the government made a call to citizens to 466 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,640 Speaker 1: form a special police force to help quell the violence 467 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: and try to restore the city to peace. Some offers 468 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 1: of assistance that came in had clearly missed the message. 469 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,400 Speaker 1: They did not get that the idea was to stop violence. 470 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,120 Speaker 1: They were hoping that the government was going to sanction 471 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: their desires to annihilate all of New Orleans Black community. 472 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: The night of was still marked by violence. Both beatings 473 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: and murders still happened that night, although the assembled militia 474 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: was slowly gaining control of the city, but after three 475 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: days of searching, at this point, Robert Charles was still 476 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: at large, and he had in fact been in one 477 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,920 Speaker 1: place the entire time that these waves of mob violence 478 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: had been sweeping through New Orleans. He had sought refuge 479 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,880 Speaker 1: with friends and they had granted it. But on Friday 480 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 1: July a tip came in from a black informer to 481 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: the Superintendent of Police. A family named Jackson was harboring 482 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: him at their renting home at twelve o eight Saratoga Street. 483 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: Robert Charles had known the Jackson's for several years, and 484 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,920 Speaker 1: many people had seen him visit in the Saratoga Street house. 485 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: Sergeant Gabriel Portius was dispatched to check out the tip, 486 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: and Portius had actually been one of the men who 487 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: had defended the prison and kept rioters away from Pierce, 488 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: and he was an incredibly well respected policeman by both 489 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: black and white citizens. He was considered unusually fair in 490 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,400 Speaker 1: his treatment of everyone he encountered on his job. When 491 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: Robert Charles got wind that the police were on Saratoga Street, 492 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: he hid with his rifle in a claw it. He 493 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: had a portable furnace for casting bullets, and he had 494 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:08,239 Speaker 1: been melting down lead pipe to make his ammunition. So 495 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,840 Speaker 1: Porteus and Corporal John f Lally once they had made 496 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,720 Speaker 1: their way to the Jackson home, questions silence Jackson about 497 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:19,160 Speaker 1: Robert Charles, and Jackson claimed to have no knowledge of 498 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: the man, but the policeman believed that he was actually 499 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: Charles's brother. There was some confusion and they placed him 500 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: under arrest, and they were walking him into the house. 501 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: Charles emerged from the closet where he had been hiding 502 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: and he shot both officers Porteus and Lally. Portius died 503 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: almost immediately, but Lally held on for a little while, 504 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: and there was a moment of confusion as several men 505 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 1: ran from their homes in the area after hearing these shots. Initially, 506 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 1: two policemen who had been stationed in the street attempted 507 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,880 Speaker 1: to arrest a man, thinking that he was Charles, but 508 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: then realizing he was simply somebody who lived nearby and 509 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: had been running in fear. Yeah, once those shots rang out, 510 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: I mean again, knowing what had been happening in the city, 511 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: pretty much everyone that was near uh this house ran 512 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,320 Speaker 1: into the streets, and so everyone thought that all of 513 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: those people were Robert Charles fleeing. But Charles had not fled. 514 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: He had in fact gone into an upstairs bedroom, and 515 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,640 Speaker 1: then he actually kicked a hole in the wall that 516 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: separated that bedroom from the adjoining bedroom to give himself 517 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: a wider range of vantage points. And initially it was 518 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,920 Speaker 1: believed that Charles was gone, but then when he shot 519 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: at a white man who was standing in the yard below, 520 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: he revealed his position and a standoff began. So we 521 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 1: we don't know what he was thinking or what was 522 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: motivating him. But he has to have known at this 523 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: point that there was no way out, and it appears 524 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: that desperation of that knowledge incited this mindless violence, because 525 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: Robert Charles then began firing at white citizens. Mayor kept 526 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,360 Speaker 1: a Villa, who had turned from his traveling and relieved. 527 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: The acting mayor, William Malee, made a declaration that the 528 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: authorities would fire gatling guns into the white mob that 529 00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,720 Speaker 1: was forming around this house if things got out of 530 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 1: hand again. So they were trying to prevent mob violence, 531 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,240 Speaker 1: but just the same, an armed mob of approximately five 532 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: thousand formed in the neighborhood surrounding Charles's hideout, and the 533 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: numbers continued to swell, with estimates placing the number when 534 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: it topped out upwards of ten thousand people. During the conflict, 535 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,040 Speaker 1: Charles was shot at thousands of times. The house was 536 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: severely damaged, but Charles snhow survived. He had fired his 537 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,239 Speaker 1: weapon and estimated fifty times in the course of an 538 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: hour and forty minutes, and he had killed two additional 539 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 1: people and wounded nineteen others. Eventually, desperate to flush Charles 540 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: out from the residents, police snuck into the lower floor 541 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 1: of the residence and set a fire using a horse 542 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 1: hair mattress from the home, which they soaked in kerosene. 543 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: The hope was that the smoke would drive him out, 544 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: and a fire patrol captain that was with them dribbled 545 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: water on the mattress so that it would produce thick, 546 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:11,200 Speaker 1: thick clouds of smoke. This actually worked, although the spreading 547 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: fire was really what drove Charles out. As Robert Charles 548 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 1: attempted to exit the residence, he was shot. He fell 549 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 1: and was shot several more times while trying to turn over, 550 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:24,480 Speaker 1: still still clutching his weapon. Hail of bullets was unleashed 551 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 1: on his body by several men who were in the 552 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: room he had been attempting to leave through, and when 553 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: it was clear that he was dead and the ammunition 554 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: was running out among the men that were there at 555 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: close range, his body was dragged outside the house's front entrance. 556 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: A frenzy of dragging and beating the corpse and riddling 557 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: it with bullets then commenced. His body was then stomped, 558 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,400 Speaker 1: and though the crowd wished to burn it, the police 559 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: stopped things there. Uh What was left of his remains 560 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,320 Speaker 1: was then carried away on the police wagon, but as 561 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: they made their way through the streets, the crowd continued 562 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: to bat at his body with sticks. Many people chased 563 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: the wagon through the streets all the way to the morgue. 564 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: The night of despite the fact that it was quickly 565 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: common knowledge that Robert Charles was dead, two other black 566 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 1: men were killed in the street, and a black schoolhouse 567 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: was burned to the ground. The volunteer forces that had 568 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:21,680 Speaker 1: been called to action earlier in the weeks stayed on 569 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 1: duty throughout Saturday and into the morning hours on Sunday 570 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: to try to deter further violence. On Sunday, which was July, 571 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: the body of Robert Charles was taken as discreetly as 572 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: possible to be buried in the city's Potter's Field, which 573 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: was whole cemetery. He was buried quickly without ceremony, and 574 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: the location of his grave was kept secret to prevent 575 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 1: any grizzly souvenir seekers from exhuming the body and cutting 576 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,239 Speaker 1: it up and taking pieces away. The five officers who 577 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: had been at Charles's residence when he shot and killed 578 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: two of their fellow officers were all charged with cowardice 579 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: for failing to apprehend him at that time time, they 580 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 1: were all found guilty and dismissed from the force. All 581 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,759 Speaker 1: of them appealed their verdict but lost. Yeah, so those 582 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: men that said that they were going to search for 583 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: a phone were still found guilty of cowardice for having 584 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:17,320 Speaker 1: run away. Leonard Pierce was indicted on the charge of 585 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: attempting to murder police Sergeant A. Cohen. Ten people connected 586 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:24,520 Speaker 1: to the incident at the Saratoga Street residents were arraigned, 587 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: although one of the men that was involved hanged himself 588 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: in his cell before indictments were handed down. Testimony by 589 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,720 Speaker 1: Silas Jackson's wife, Martha, indicated that while she had taken 590 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: in Robert Charles for fear that he would hurt her 591 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,800 Speaker 1: or her family if she didn't, neither Silence nor anyone 592 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: else had actually known that they were harboring him. Eventually, 593 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:50,560 Speaker 1: only Silas, Martha and Charles Jackson were tried. Martha and 594 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 1: Charles were acquitted, and the jury returned a decision of 595 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,280 Speaker 1: guilty for Silence, but that was for manslaughter. The judge 596 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 1: throughout that decision, saying that his only possible guilt would 597 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,480 Speaker 1: have been for aiding and abetting. By May of nine 598 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,239 Speaker 1: oh one, all of the Saratoga Street residents involved in 599 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 1: the case had been set free. Additionally, nine white men 600 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,280 Speaker 1: were indicted for first degree murder in the mob violence 601 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:19,399 Speaker 1: after numerous witnesses testified against them. Two other men were 602 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:23,080 Speaker 1: indicted on charges of unlawful assembly in connection to the riots. 603 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,319 Speaker 1: The actual trials were a mess of hung juries and 604 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 1: confused testimony and resulted basically an abandonment of the cases. 605 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,399 Speaker 1: In June one, Leonard Pierce was released on bond, and 606 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:41,080 Speaker 1: despite many scheduled hearings, none of them ever happened due 607 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:44,560 Speaker 1: to schedule conflicts on the part of A. Cohen. Yeah, 608 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,400 Speaker 1: they finally kind of gave up on the case. Uh. 609 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: And in the weeks following the riots in New Orleans 610 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,080 Speaker 1: in July d there were numerous acts of violence around 611 00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: the country that were attributed in one way or another 612 00:35:56,239 --> 00:36:00,480 Speaker 1: to the unrest associated with the Robert Charles incidents. A 613 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 1: final death toll attributed to Robert Charles's actions was four 614 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:09,400 Speaker 1: white police officers and three civilians. Additionally, he had seriously 615 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:14,759 Speaker 1: wounded eight people and slightly wounded a dozen more. Dozens 616 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: of black residents who had no connection to Robert Charles 617 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:20,840 Speaker 1: other than being of the same race had been brutalized. 618 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: Many others, both black and white, had been injured by 619 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:26,680 Speaker 1: the mobs who ran the streets of New Orleans in 620 00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: search of vigilante justice. After the riots, the room that 621 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: Robert Charles had shared with Leonard Pierce was invaded by 622 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: both Press and Lucky Lose, many of them hoping to 623 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: carry away souvenirs. Among his personal effects were several textbooks 624 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,800 Speaker 1: and composition books. And while one reporter examined the books 625 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:48,680 Speaker 1: and determined that Charles was working on quote improving himself intellectually, 626 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: the writings of Robert Charles in those composition books was lost. 627 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 1: They were taken by unknown persons as souvenirs, and they 628 00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 1: have never turned up in the record again. Robert Charles 629 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,239 Speaker 1: had one white friend in New Orleans who was a 630 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:09,239 Speaker 1: clothing store salesman named him and Levy and Charles, who 631 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:13,120 Speaker 1: Levy only have our knew is Curtis Robertson regularly purchased 632 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,960 Speaker 1: clothing from Levy's shop, and the two really came to 633 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: know and like one another. And it's interesting to note, 634 00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 1: and this is very counter to most accounts and testimonies 635 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 1: that were given after all of this violence, happened. Uh 636 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:33,440 Speaker 1: that the characterization of Charles as a bloodthirsty monster is 637 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,359 Speaker 1: not one that Levy holds too. He always described him 638 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: really favorably as seemingly well educated and smart and with 639 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: excellent taste in clothes, And in fact, he was one 640 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 1: of the people that identified the body of Robert Charles 641 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,680 Speaker 1: based on the clothes that he had been wearing, and 642 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,480 Speaker 1: a lot of ways this is one of history's mysteries. 643 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,960 Speaker 1: While we do know what happened in the various altercations 644 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: between Robert Charles and the police, we don't have any 645 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,239 Speaker 1: clear records of his mindset or even his demeanor and 646 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: the days that led up to that first shooting on 647 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:10,160 Speaker 1: July twenty three. Many of the statements of acquaintances who 648 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 1: vilified him are believed to have been given out of 649 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,040 Speaker 1: fear by people of color who were basically trying to 650 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:20,359 Speaker 1: distance themselves from his story basically is a means of 651 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 1: self preservation. Yeah, one of the women that he and 652 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: Pierce were going to meet was apparently, by some accounts, 653 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,960 Speaker 1: his girlfriend, And when she was questioned, she really told 654 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,399 Speaker 1: a terrible story that he was violent and that he 655 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:40,120 Speaker 1: was had been violent with her, But that was the 656 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,120 Speaker 1: first time that ever came up. And so there's some 657 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:46,120 Speaker 1: theory that she was so terrified that if she was 658 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: associated with him and he had been going to meet 659 00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,279 Speaker 1: her that night, that she would somehow be implicated in 660 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 1: these crimes. That that account is often not considered reliable. Uh, 661 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:01,960 Speaker 1: it's as I said at the beginning, it's a strange story, 662 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:08,000 Speaker 1: and it's very complicated, and it's one that deserves thought. 663 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:10,799 Speaker 1: You know, it causes me to reflect on kind of 664 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: how how things can quickly escalate and get out of 665 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:20,120 Speaker 1: hand and happen without thoughts. And we have talked about 666 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,839 Speaker 1: other events on the show that are often described as 667 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 1: as race riots, um, and a lot of times that 668 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:31,239 Speaker 1: term is not really indicative of what really happened because 669 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:34,600 Speaker 1: it makes it sound like there were multiple races involved 670 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:40,240 Speaker 1: that were equal aggressors, and overwhelmingly that is not the case. 671 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:45,000 Speaker 1: And even in this particular case, like you did have 672 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:52,560 Speaker 1: one man who was horrifyingly killing police officers and civilians, 673 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:55,480 Speaker 1: but then in terms of the riot that broke out, 674 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 1: that was definitely not something in which two sides were 675 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:02,040 Speaker 1: equal aggressors. That was a it in which one side 676 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: was seeking vigilante justice. Yeah, yeah, pretty much. All of 677 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: the accounts suggests that basically every black person in New 678 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 1: Orleans at the time was hiding they were so terrified. Uh, 679 00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:17,640 Speaker 1: and with good reason that I can't imagine how frightening 680 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:21,279 Speaker 1: that must have been. Um, would you like to move 681 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 1: on to non frightening listener mail? I wouldn't leave. Okay. 682 00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:28,040 Speaker 1: As I've said recently, we are working through a huge 683 00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 1: stockpile of awesome postcards because while we have been traveling, 684 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,359 Speaker 1: people have been traveling and sending us fabulous notes from 685 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,600 Speaker 1: the road. Uh. So I will talk about a few 686 00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:38,440 Speaker 1: of them quickly here because I know this has been 687 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: a longish episode. First, our listener Paula has sent us 688 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:44,799 Speaker 1: a few postcards, and two of them that I really 689 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:48,720 Speaker 1: super love. One she sent us from Root sixty six 690 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:52,360 Speaker 1: in Oatman because she ate at the Olive Oatman restaurant 691 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:54,440 Speaker 1: and that made her think of the podcast that we 692 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,760 Speaker 1: did on all of Oatman. The other one I super 693 00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,440 Speaker 1: de duper love. It is from the U. S. Basin 694 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: Rockets side Her, which is not especially super history oriented, 695 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,719 Speaker 1: but um, she went to space camp and for some 696 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:09,719 Speaker 1: reason this card made her think of US uh and 697 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,759 Speaker 1: Martian fashion. So it is basically like a Journey to 698 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,240 Speaker 1: Mars poster that's done in postcard size and it's lovely. 699 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,240 Speaker 1: Who wouldn't want to think about Martian fashion? I certainly 700 00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:23,360 Speaker 1: want to, especially after horrifying episodes. So thank you, thank you, 701 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 1: thank you, Paula, like, it's so cool that you share 702 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,600 Speaker 1: all of this travel with us. Uh. The other one 703 00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:31,160 Speaker 1: is from our listeners, Emily and Mark, and they say, 704 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:33,880 Speaker 1: greetings from San Juan Island. We had planned a camping 705 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,840 Speaker 1: trip here before one of us, which is apparently Emily, 706 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:40,040 Speaker 1: stumbled upon your pig war episode while making our way 707 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,279 Speaker 1: through your backlogs. We listened again on our way to 708 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,320 Speaker 1: the island and visited both the English and American camps, 709 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,080 Speaker 1: which are national historic parks. The park quote celebrates how 710 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:54,040 Speaker 1: individuals and nations can resolve disputes without resorting to violence. 711 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 1: End quote, and then she put in parentheses but just 712 00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:00,200 Speaker 1: barely thank you for the fun and appropop podcast. So 713 00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:04,400 Speaker 1: they sent us a lovely postcard from San Juan Islands. Uh. 714 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,920 Speaker 1: So that was lovely. Thank you, thank you, thank you too, 715 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,359 Speaker 1: Paula and Emily and Mark. I hope your travels were 716 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,640 Speaker 1: all safe. If you would like to write to us. 717 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:16,200 Speaker 1: You can do so at history podcasts at how stuff 718 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 1: works dot com. You can also find us across the 719 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:22,160 Speaker 1: spectrum of social media as missed in History. That's at 720 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: mist in History, on Twitter, Facebook dot com, slash mist 721 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:28,640 Speaker 1: in History, Pinterest dot com, slash mist in History, Miston 722 00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:31,319 Speaker 1: History dot tumbler dot com, and on Instagram. At mist 723 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:33,799 Speaker 1: in History. You can visit our parents site, which is 724 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,319 Speaker 1: how stuff Works. You can research almost anything you like there. 725 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:39,080 Speaker 1: Just put something into the search bar and you're gonna 726 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:41,080 Speaker 1: come up with a ton of results which would be 727 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,239 Speaker 1: interesting and fascinating. You can also find us at missed 728 00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,920 Speaker 1: in history dot com, where we have a backlog. We 729 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,960 Speaker 1: have all of our episodes and an archive formats from 730 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,440 Speaker 1: when the show first began. There are also show notes 731 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:54,760 Speaker 1: for every episode that Tracy and I have worked on together. 732 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:57,279 Speaker 1: Uh So, we encourage you come and visit us at 733 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:04,880 Speaker 1: misston history dot com or how stuff works dot com 734 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,400 Speaker 1: for more illness and thousands of other topics because it 735 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:11,759 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com, m