WEBVTT - The Best Worst Imposter: Edgar Laplante 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:04.880 Ridiculous Crime is a production of My Heart Radio. Oh 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.119 what's up, Elizabeth done? That's much. How are you doing today? 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.559 Oh man, I've just been sitting here gazing out of 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.200 the culture, considering the ridiculousness. And okay, did you know 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:17.680 I was wondering this because you know the times, and 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.799 I was like, what creature, what vertebrate creature has the 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.960 smallest brain to body weight ratio? All right now, just 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.400 thinking about that, And it turns out the answer is 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:32.120 the bony eared ass fish. Would you call me the 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.199 bony eared ass fish? Now? In case you're wondering, and 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.240 I know you how curious you are about things named 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.680 as fish. This is a form of eel to cusk eel. 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.760 And that's it. Is a three point seven five centimeter 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.680 long little fish. And uh, that's it. That is the 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.800 smallest brain to body weight. So there you go a 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.160 little ridiculousness. I like that. That is ridiculous. You want 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.040 to know what else is ridiculous? What I'm here for 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.480 building your entire career on a false identity, That's ridiculous. 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:26.360 This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:36.360 heists and cons It's always murder free, right, yes and ridiculous. 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:42.960 All right, to begin my lecture cultural identity subject, it's weird. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.720 It's a weird thing. Well, we have groups that were 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.120 born into and then ones that sort of claim us 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.840 the ones that we claim right back, Like, let's keep 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.680 let me give you an example. I like to say 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.520 that my ethnicity is Californians, very fitting for you, right, 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.240 Like any other cultural or ethnic ties that I have 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.760 are so far removed that they don't really have an 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:11.080 impact on how people see me or how I see myself. Interesting. Yeah, 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:12.960 so like I don't have it, I can't touch it. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:14.799 Like you know, if you go back far enough, I'm 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.840 a fifth generation Californian. Oh, then you're definitely not completely Californian. 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:23.560 It's my history, it's my culture, my cuisine, my perspective, 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.920 my very state of being. People choke. You were joking 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.919 the other day about how most red hot Chili pepper 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.480 songs about California in some way, shape or form. Yes, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:36.400 I did you know what I'm here for it? I 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:40.919 get it. Anthony keats share of zero California that not 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:42.760 the rest of us know about. We don't see the 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.600 purity of vision you have and I'm sorry, Yeah, we're 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.799 the ones missing out, not Anthony Keatis exactly. But that's said, 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.120 there are cultures to which I feel a great kinship. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.080 Well though, I feel really comfortable in Italy. I love it. 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.040 It feels right, not just the like like the architectures, 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:07.440 everything everything. I'm fascinated by the culture, history, art, cuisine, 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.440 just the soul of the place, the people are. If 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:12.320 you want to try and lump all of Italy into 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.840 a monolith, which is very difficult, but I'm with you, 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.960 really a collection of city states. Do you have any 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:23.160 feelings like that? Communities that I feel a certain kinship. Yeah, 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:28.480 I would say that the Scandinavian like berserker Viking thing 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.359 for whatever reason, if I see anything about that and 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.160 I and I do have on my mother's side some 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.000 Swedish heritage, but I don't know why it's so loud 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.400 in me. So I feel that it's probably more of 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:40.440 an affinity that I have, and it's not like my 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.600 ethnic heritage bubbling up. But anytime I see a Viking, 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:45.760 I'm like, yeah, that's my people. Yeah, you feel it 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.760 makes sense, you know, the same thing for pirates, but 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.160 that's more of an occupation you could Yeah, it's a 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.760 multicultural occupation. Okay, So for my love of Italian culture, say, 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.200 I'd never go around and tell people that I'm Italian. No, no, no, 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:05.160 I wouldn't give myself a fake name and concoct a backstory. Um, 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.680 I wouldn't pretend to speak for all Italians or with 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:16.320 the bad Italian accent. No U house of Gucci. Ye 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.719 that Yeah, that's a whole other episode of ridiculousness, and 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.560 it's a crime. I wouldn't play into any preconceived notions 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.039 about Italians and like base my false identity on my 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.960 poorly understood and unresearched ideas about Italians. You would never 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.720 run a foul of the Italian American community. No, wouldn't 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.360 dress as a caricature nic a little like a plumber, 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.320 cartoon plumber as part of my fake identity. But you 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.280 know what, that's exactly what Edgar la Plant did. Just 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:49.560 not Italians. He was born in the US to a 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.320 French Canadian family with zero ties to the First Nations, 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:59.320 the indigenous. Yeah, but one day Edgar decided that he 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.240 was Native and American. He just woke up one day 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:06.560 and deep in his bones and then he ran that 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:11.320 con completely off the rails. So that's Edgar the plant. 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:16.200 He was born in Okay, time get just put yourself 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.480 in the time and place in Central Falls, Rhode Island. 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.200 Shout out to produce Big Dave Kisten, Rhode Island. What 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.120 are the few affordable places to live anymore in the 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.720 greater Providence area? Oh, good to know Central Falls. I'm 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:33.520 sure it's lovely how founders be worn So Edgar. When 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.240 he's fourteen years old, he got caught scamming change from 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:43.200 local businesses and was sent to reform school. Now, I'm 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.280 sure that he learned all sorts of stuff there. It's 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.680 a great education, reform school. But he also, you know, 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.760 he did learn to sing when he was there, Like 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.920 you're not using okay, he became a rat. He really 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.800 learned to sing. Johnny No, he could carry a tune. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:00.839 When he was in his early twenties, he moved to 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.720 New York. So turn of the century by he was 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:10.440 working at Coney Island as a ballyho man Saren Webster's 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:15.240 Dictionary defiance bally who as a noisy, attention getting demonstration 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:21.000 or talk, flamboyant, exaggerated or sensational promotion or publicity or 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.600 excited commotion. Thank you for the Webster definance. When I 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.839 was teaching college English, there were two ways to make 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:33.160 me completely lose it when grading essays. If you started 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:39.320 an introductory paragraph with in Today's Society, or if you 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:43.240 used Webster's Dictionary defiance fill in the plank as anywhere 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:47.280 in the paper, I had an automatic ten point deduction 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.120 on essays. If any of those popped up students knew it, 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.760 it wasn't and they still did it in Today's Society. Oh, 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.240 I would just get hot on that one. I wonder 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.200 what they were thinking when they were typing nothing, this 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.360 is a winning opening. They were thinking nothing. It's lazy writing, 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.000 lazy brained. So this Bally who this would be the 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.480 same as like a barker, right, like the person. Yeah exactly. 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:13.280 Thank you for bringing me back on topic. So, Edgar 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:17.480 ballyhu Man, Coney Island, nineteen Coney Island in nineteen ten 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.600 is such an incredible place. Oh yeah, it was Atlantic 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:27.560 City before Atlantic City, right seaside, neighborhood in Brooklyn. Amusement, parks, attractions, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:32.200 just general entertainable. Oh yeah, but like cotton Candy, Oh yeah, 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.679 the attractions, the sin of cotton candy. Thousands of people 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.280 are there just walking around eating ice cream, riding rides, 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.480 playing Carney games, looking at EMUs. I don't know if 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.200 I'm not mistaken. Ice cream is a new thing at 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.640 that time too. This is like a new taste. Everything 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:54.280 is new and penny candy. Um yeah, so everything's new, exciting, 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.840 smells great, smells sweet. Yeah. Um no it doesn't. Uh 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:04.160 So anyway back to and the ballyhu Man. So that summer, 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:10.920 Edgar was hired as a Native American impersonator by the W. H. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:16.280 Long's Big Indian and Medicine Concert Company, very nineteen ten 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:20.520 kind of outfit, right, Edgar toured with them. He did 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:25.679 tours three acts to night. What was his act, you asked, curious. Well, 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.360 he called himself Chief white Oak, and he just impersonated 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.200 a Native American and that was he doing, like the 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:35.600 grunts and the Howe and all that. So he's on 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.040 a medicine show. So they're basically doing patent medicine. So 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.280 they're already trying to hoodwink the audience and to get 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.240 the audience to come and see the show. They have 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:46.480 a fake Native American prison going. Here's the snake. Yeah, 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:51.520 he's so bad, so painful. So he mixes up concoctions 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.840 with them. He sells them under the promise that their 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.880 ancient Native American cures for whatever happens to ail a 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.440 person with cash in their pocket. You can relieve you 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.800 of the cash and pocket disease. Just will hear you 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.800 of having money, So I don't forget. He learned how 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.760 to sing and reform school. So he performed on vaudeville 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.280 stages across the country, which in nineteen ten, you know, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.680 we're you know that was the thing. Yeah. Um, when 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.839 he was performing in Key West, opening for a young 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.280 George Burns. Yes, he started calling himself Chief Harry Johnson. 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.160 You gotta give me a war, and I'm sorry I've 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:40.280 blindsided you with it. Doesn't make Yeah. By late nineteen sixteen, now, um, 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.280 he's in Arizona and an army training camp near the 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.040 Mexican border. I was about as when he did in 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:48.680 the war. Yeah, he said that he was Tom Longboat. 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.199 He just keeps changing his native That's a famous Onondaga 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.079 distance runner from the Six Nations Reserve, Brantford, Ontario and 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.440 the Olympian War Hero. He was bouncing around the like 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:04.120 standing out Longboat. These are very different actual person though. 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.120 He's not just saying Chief Harry Johnson or Chief White Elk. 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:11.760 He's like, I'm Tom Longboat. He's not an Olympian in 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.559 real life Edgar, but he was athletic and he won 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.920 a one mile foot race against the other soldiers. So 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.280 they're like, oh, well he must be. He looked nothing 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.520 like Tom Longboat. Let me put that out there too. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:26.080 But at the time it's like, you can't just go 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:32.240 look at us. His word is gold. So he travels 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.240 around the American West. He collects fees for speaking and singing. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:41.000 March nineteen seventeen, he's still posing his Longboat. He's in 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:44.240 San Jose, California, and he gives a speech at the 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.440 first Baptist church there, and he told them he was 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:52.040 basically a doctor pretty much. He went, he said, he went, 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.880 he went to med school in Chicago, and then he 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.000 said he spoke a bunch of different languages because he 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.480 traveled all over the world. He said he worked as 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.959 a medic in the battlefields in France, Okay. And then 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.559 he also said that he as Longboat played on the 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.600 then famous Carlisle Indian Industrial Schools football team that upset 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:17.280 Harvard November nine eleven. He said he was on that team. 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.800 It's like, yeah, I was there. It's cool again, he 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:26.120 doesn't look like Tom Longboat. People didn't notice. They didn't care. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.079 He loved story. Yeah, and they're like the the Associative Fame. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.840 Oh guess who I got to meet. He enlisted the 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:39.120 Naval Reserve and he says, quote, my people have buried 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.679 the tomahawk and hatchet and war paint, but they are 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:44.760 ready to go to war with you boys to protect 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:49.280 our own star spangled banner if necessary. This story is 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.240 gonna I'm worried about my eyes. They're rolling so far 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:53.959 back in my head. I'm going to bruise them. They 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.240 made detached. I mean you wow, Well you know he 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.880 was a tomahawk of my people? Who I mean, like, 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.720 come on, bro. So we also said that he, as 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.400 Tom Longboat, had been severely injured by a bayonet and 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.760 yet still meddled in the Olympics. So back we could 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:14.480 be funnier as if he was bayonetted in the in 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:19.079 the Olympics and still meddled. Still did it a Please 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.160 note that there were people journalists and law enforcement that 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.240 did catch onto him at this point, and they would 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:30.400 warn the journalists, would warn the officials or journalists yeah 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:32.040 in the next town who he was or where he 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:36.239 had just been. So sometimes that became public, and oftentimes 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.880 it's because he was like getting in trouble with authorities 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:40.560 and they start to suspect him and then he blows. 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.320 So he gets to San Diego and the San Jose 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:49.000 Evening News called him out with his impersonation as fake. 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.360 But he's already gone, and you know, you'd have to 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:52.920 get the paper. So it's like, oh, that guy who 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:57.200 just left it. Yeah, one way or another, he's able 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.160 to get out of all these situations. Usually he just 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.880 denies it and leaves town. Now, after San Diego, he 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.559 goes to l A and he calls himself Chief Harry 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.280 Johnson when he's there, to Harry john I just felt right. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.520 And he disguised himself in a long black wig, just 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:19.960 dicking around. Love a long black wig, love a wig anyway, 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:25.240 a pale head bag, moccasin's buckskin pants with beads on 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.760 him and then around his shoulder. He wears the striped 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:34.400 Native American blanket. Oh, he's just a melange of different cultures. 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:38.600 So he's like a walking cigar store in stat Yes, 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.280 that's his whole, that's his vibe. So then he goes 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.920 to the Midwest and then he changes his name. He's 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.800 chief to Wuana naturally. Sometimes he says he's Cherokee. Sometimes 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.760 he says he's Sue, but he's chief to Wana. Now. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.360 Difference Like it's like if I wanted to pull off 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.640 a fake Italian thing, and sometimes I say him from 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.400 Luca and sometimes I say I'm from Naples. Are two 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:02.800 very different things. I would go further and say it's 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.040 more like saying sometimes I say I'm from Portugal and 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.480 sometimes I say I'm from Poland. That's a different nations. Yeah, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.720 different nations and on the same continent. But weighed everything. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:16.200 Different languages, different cultures, different environments, different regions, but hey 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:22.040 throw them all together. Continent. So he is swirling all 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:26.040 over the country and these things. Nineteen seventeen, in the summertime, 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.080 he makes it to New York City, Big Apple. Do 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:30.920 you know they call it that. I've heard this. Yeah. 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.800 He goes to the labor employment section because I guess 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.920 he didn't have a job, and so one of the 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:41.200 officers there had seen his act before. He's so honored 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.880 Tom Longboat, you need a job you're here. Edgar was like, 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.960 well sure, So they get him a job as a 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:54.400 seaman on the s s Antilles, and that's bringing US 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.320 troops to France. Yeah, I figures guessing everything going that 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:01.720 way at that time. W W one. Um. Through this, 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.120 he winds up getting a certificate of identification under the 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.800 name Tom Longboat. So he's now got US government. I 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:13.120 D say, it's hard to just say tong Longboat, Tom. Yeah, 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:17.200 it's hard out there for me that emin and they 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.760 want to switch, you know, Tom Longboat will just keep saying. So. 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.880 While he's at sea, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle discovers that 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:30.520 there are two men calling themselves Tom Longboat. Um, they 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.320 think that Edgar was the real one. And then the 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.800 news caused enough of a dispute that when he gets 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.400 back to the States, he's brought in for questioning by 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.600 the newspaper or for the police. By the police, he admits, look, 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.880 I'm not Tom Longboat. UM, my real name is Thomas Tajuanna. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.400 He's like to wanna get out of here. It most 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:52.880 have been funny. You didn't have as much I D 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:54.920 not just the Google. But like when you didn't even 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.520 really have ideas, you're it's like, oh yeah, you infuse 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.800 me with another dude. Um So, there's like too much 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.400 heat on him, too much attention. He blows town. He 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.120 goes up to upstate New York. That's not a good move. 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.560 There's a lot of native populations and kind of exactly. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.760 But he starts calling himself Chief White Elk again, takes 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.920 a back full circle. He says, again he's telling people 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.160 I was on that Carlisle football team. He said he 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:27.440 had been wounded now in the Battle of Verdun. But yes, 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.680 World War One. He continues traveling around the country. He 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:32.640 like gathers himself. He's like, okay, I'm just going to 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:36.160 stick with the white Elk thing. He sings, He gives speeches. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.480 Sometimes he gives speeches about his experience in the war. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.360 This man did not go He didn't even I guess 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.040 he did get on a boat, yeah, and then dropped 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.680 a bunch of guys off. He was like sea uber 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:55.640 And he talks about the importance of enlisting, even though 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.160 he hadn't enlisted. Um so, yeah, that's what he's doing. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.399 December nineteen seventeen he's in Laramie, Wyoming. He's caught by 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:09.720 the authorities and arrested for do we knowbody's impersonating? Oh, 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:13.520 he's a fraud, not just for defrauding all these people. 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.720 So a month later they realize we don't have enough 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.320 evidence to prosecute him. He's released under the promise to 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.679 quote quit posing as a hero more stolen valor for you, 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.760 exactly do you think that he quit posing as a hero. 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.040 I'm guessing now this is just an educated yes, but 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.399 I'm guessing no. Well, when we get back from this 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:59.880 ad break, I'll let you know. Okay, we're back. Uh. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.479 When we went to the break, Edgar La Plant was 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:09.760 posing as a any variety of Native American. Yeah, chief right, Sorry, 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.919 I forgot. I left out his appellation sprinkling a fine 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.600 dusting of stolen valor over the top of it, now 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:18.760 now frosted with stolen valor. I asked you if you 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.560 thought he would obey the lawmen of Laramie, Wyoming who 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.399 told him to quit posing as a hero. And if 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:25.199 I remember correctly, I did the map and let me 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:29.600 check my answer. No, you're correct, you're correct. Instead, early 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:33.800 nineteen eighteen, he goes to Pueblo, Colorado, good military towne. 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:39.120 He says he's the Cherokee Chief Clyde White elkide throw 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.520 that in there, and then he says he speaks six 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:45.840 languages and fourteen Native American dialects. Did he name the 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:48.240 languages or just kind of say that, No one could testimony. 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:49.960 He's like, guess what, I went to medical school in 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:57.080 Chicago to He's they, Yeah, So he keeps talking about 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.280 being multi lingual. He keeps saying that he went to 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.959 med school in Chicago. Those are his like through lines 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.840 in his cons He tours around selling war stamps and 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.080 liberty bonds for the government or for the government. Yeah. No, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.640 at first I'm thinking like, okay, he did this and yeah, 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:18.000 they'll pass this land. No, he was legitimately selling war 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.720 stamps and liberty bonds, and as you know, war bonds 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:24.720 basically loans that citizens give to the government to fund 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:29.280 military efforts in times of war. Uh. Taking that money 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:32.240 out of circulation also controls inflation, as you know, not 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.480 telling you anything new, just talking to myself. Um, you 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:38.240 can buy them in a bunch of different denominations. There's 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.280 a low yield, but like it became really popular and 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:45.040 easy to access for people. Because of the multiple denomination, 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.679 you could do small amounts and still feel like you're contributing. 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.840 So he's collecting him in all these different amounts. He 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.439 would talk to service clubs, community groups. He'd urge all 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:56.560 these white folks to enlist at the same rate as 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:01.080 Native Americans. That was his thing Natives. He said that 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:06.280 Native Americans were out pacing everybody else a capital basis. 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.960 It's more of my people are and the great father. 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:14.040 It is said that he sold one point eight million 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.840 dollars in bonds in San Francisco in a single week. 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:22.320 That can't be right. It is said. People are saying 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.320 that passed the fact check. People are saying that he 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.399 brought in five hundred thousand dollars in war bonds in 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.080 Oakland during a single lunch engagement. These numbers can't be right. 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:35.560 Back then, how are you getting that? I don't even know. 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.400 If you wouldn't like mugged all of the rich people, 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.560 you could get this much money. Maybe it's two day's dollars. 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.080 He's good at his work. The guy's charming and it's 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.359 quite the charlate. So but I mean, that's the thing, 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.640 like I'm imagining that he's getting speakers fees for this stuff. 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.080 But he's raising money for the war efforts. But he 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.080 told that he's got rotarians out there giving out big 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.280 chunks of money. I'm imagining, and people like that these 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:01.480 social clubs. Okay. March nineteen eighteen, he's in Salt Lake City. 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.000 He's calling himself Chief white Elk. Do we know which 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.240 first name at this? Probably Clyde, you know, Chief white Olk, 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.000 but you can call me Clyde, my favorite Clyde. Um. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:16.040 He meets a thirty one year old woman named Auson 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:22.639 one time as a k a. Bertha Thomas. So did 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:25.959 he give her this name? No? She was born in Eureka, California. 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:31.920 Her mother was Uruk and her father was white. Okay, 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:33.880 I thought she was also running her own scamp. That's 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:35.280 what I thought too, And I had to be like 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.560 stop the presses. Everything screeched to a halt, and I 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.159 was like, wait, please tell me is this favorite? No, 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.760 she's a real deal. Um. She was a trained nurse, 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.320 but she was also a singer and actress like most 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.879 trained nurses. I know. She was a favorite model of 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:54.320 this photographer, Emma Bell Freeman. And I found a really 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.840 cool picture of her taken by Freeman. I'll put it 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:00.960 on the Instagram and tacking at my front door. Edgar 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:04.800 and Bertha meat and they're dating within twenty four hours 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:07.960 back then does that mean something different? Like they met 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.800 at six o'clock on a Wednesday and six o'clock Thursday. 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:14.640 He's like, um, you want to be like boyfriend girlfriend? 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.760 But can I pin you? And she's like, my, es, 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:20.679 you're kind of cool. Should we make it telegraph official? 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.520 And they did? They Yeah, they posted pictures of themselves 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.280 in telegram and then they walked around holding hands and 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.920 everyone was like, oh, I think they're together. They're so cute, 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:33.800 you guys. Um hours two days after that, he asked 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:37.480 her to marry him. Wow. He's like, my name Chief 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:43.400 white Elk would like to marry you Asha. So yeah, 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:47.240 zaren Oh romance, I love a young love. I want 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.840 you to close your eyes. Oh god, my eyes. They're 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:55.600 rushing to quote. I want you to picture it. March thirteenth, nine, 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:02.000 Salt Lake, Sit, m h F from Clean it is. 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:07.200 The street. Cars are packed on this crisp afternoon. Cars 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.560 are clogging the streets, crowds. They're all heading to the 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:17.640 Capitol Building. You, Saren and five thousand other people cram 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:20.159 into the grounds around the Capitol building. So me and 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:26.360 my entourage. A thirty one piece band plays patriotic tunes 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:30.040 as spectators gather for a rally that will include sales 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:37.160 of war bonds and enlistening tables. The capital is dolled up, flags, bunting, 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:44.680 potted palms, the works. Four pm. Salt Lake City Mayor 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:50.600 w Mont Ferry climbs the steps. Beside him a very 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:55.760 tall man wearing a large feathered war bonnet. He wears 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:02.480 a whole beaded buckskin tuxedo head to toe. He's got 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:06.480 on blue moccasin's with American flag beat it onto the front. 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:11.520 He has total Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow level 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:17.320 of accessories. He's got ribbons, feathers, fors bells, a bone necklace. Yes, 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.879 he's maybe he's wearing eyeliner. Let's say he's holding a 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:25.080 tomahawk in one hand and a peace pipe in the other. 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:29.959 He's full party city right now. What we have here 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:33.800 is Chief White Elk standing next to the mayor. Then 0:24:34.000 --> 0:24:36.959 all of a sudden, the band strikes up again. They 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:41.040 play long greens the bridal chorus, also known as here 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:47.480 comes the broad So and her Bertha. She's decked out 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:52.639 in all white dress, shells, beads, head dress, moccasins mean 0:24:52.720 --> 0:24:56.600 it's her wedding day. The Mayor conducts the wedding ceremony 0:24:56.720 --> 0:25:00.959 for all five thousand plus strangers in attendance. The Governor 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:04.800 signs their marriage. Oh yeah, and they present the governor 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:09.800 with bow and arrow as I thank you a great 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:14.919 times had by all um. It's not really known at 0:25:15.000 --> 0:25:19.680 that point how much Bertha knew about Edgar's true identity. Okay, okay, 0:25:19.720 --> 0:25:22.040 remember with you. She had to have known he was 0:25:22.119 --> 0:25:24.280 full of it. I'm guessing there's no way he's not 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:27.439 the only one who she didn't know when she married 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:30.399 him after knowing him for three days. Then like she 0:25:30.560 --> 0:25:33.400 found out though, because the marriage was a lousy one 0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:39.520 surprise around this time, like they get married, Edgar develops 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:45.440