Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of My Heart Radio. Oh
Speaker 1: what's up, Elizabeth done? That's much. How are you doing today?
Speaker 1: Oh man, I've just been sitting here gazing out of
Speaker 1: the culture, considering the ridiculousness. And okay, did you know
Speaker 1: I was wondering this because you know the times, and
Speaker 1: I was like, what creature, what vertebrate creature has the
Speaker 1: smallest brain to body weight ratio? All right now, just
Speaker 1: thinking about that, And it turns out the answer is
Speaker 1: the bony eared ass fish. Would you call me the
Speaker 1: bony eared ass fish? Now? In case you're wondering, and
Speaker 1: I know you how curious you are about things named
Speaker 1: as fish. This is a form of eel to cusk eel.
Speaker 1: And that's it. Is a three point seven five centimeter
Speaker 1: long little fish. And uh, that's it. That is the
Speaker 1: smallest brain to body weight. So there you go a
Speaker 1: little ridiculousness. I like that. That is ridiculous. You want
Speaker 1: to know what else is ridiculous? What I'm here for
Speaker 1: building your entire career on a false identity, That's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers,
Speaker 1: heists and cons It's always murder free, right, yes and ridiculous.
Speaker 1: All right, to begin my lecture cultural identity subject, it's weird.
Speaker 1: It's a weird thing. Well, we have groups that were
Speaker 1: born into and then ones that sort of claim us
Speaker 1: the ones that we claim right back, Like, let's keep
Speaker 1: let me give you an example. I like to say
Speaker 1: that my ethnicity is Californians, very fitting for you, right,
Speaker 1: Like any other cultural or ethnic ties that I have
Speaker 1: are so far removed that they don't really have an
Speaker 1: impact on how people see me or how I see myself. Interesting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so like I don't have it, I can't touch it.
Speaker 1: Like you know, if you go back far enough, I'm
Speaker 1: a fifth generation Californian. Oh, then you're definitely not completely Californian.
Speaker 1: It's my history, it's my culture, my cuisine, my perspective,
Speaker 1: my very state of being. People choke. You were joking
Speaker 1: the other day about how most red hot Chili pepper
Speaker 1: songs about California in some way, shape or form. Yes,
Speaker 1: I did you know what I'm here for it? I
Speaker 1: get it. Anthony keats share of zero California that not
Speaker 1: the rest of us know about. We don't see the
Speaker 1: purity of vision you have and I'm sorry, Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: the ones missing out, not Anthony Keatis exactly. But that's said,
Speaker 1: there are cultures to which I feel a great kinship.
Speaker 1: Well though, I feel really comfortable in Italy. I love it.
Speaker 1: It feels right, not just the like like the architectures,
Speaker 1: everything everything. I'm fascinated by the culture, history, art, cuisine,
Speaker 1: just the soul of the place, the people are. If
Speaker 1: you want to try and lump all of Italy into
Speaker 1: a monolith, which is very difficult, but I'm with you,
Speaker 1: really a collection of city states. Do you have any
Speaker 1: feelings like that? Communities that I feel a certain kinship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say that the Scandinavian like berserker Viking thing
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, if I see anything about that and
Speaker 1: I and I do have on my mother's side some
Speaker 1: Swedish heritage, but I don't know why it's so loud
Speaker 1: in me. So I feel that it's probably more of
Speaker 1: an affinity that I have, and it's not like my
Speaker 1: ethnic heritage bubbling up. But anytime I see a Viking,
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, that's my people. Yeah, you feel it
Speaker 1: makes sense, you know, the same thing for pirates, but
Speaker 1: that's more of an occupation you could Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: multicultural occupation. Okay, So for my love of Italian culture, say,
Speaker 1: I'd never go around and tell people that I'm Italian. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't give myself a fake name and concoct a backstory. Um,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't pretend to speak for all Italians or with
Speaker 1: the bad Italian accent. No U house of Gucci. Ye
Speaker 1: that Yeah, that's a whole other episode of ridiculousness, and
Speaker 1: it's a crime. I wouldn't play into any preconceived notions
Speaker 1: about Italians and like base my false identity on my
Speaker 1: poorly understood and unresearched ideas about Italians. You would never
Speaker 1: run a foul of the Italian American community. No, wouldn't
Speaker 1: dress as a caricature nic a little like a plumber,
Speaker 1: cartoon plumber as part of my fake identity. But you
Speaker 1: know what, that's exactly what Edgar la Plant did. Just
Speaker 1: not Italians. He was born in the US to a
Speaker 1: French Canadian family with zero ties to the First Nations,
Speaker 1: the indigenous. Yeah, but one day Edgar decided that he
Speaker 1: was Native and American. He just woke up one day
Speaker 1: and deep in his bones and then he ran that
Speaker 1: con completely off the rails. So that's Edgar the plant.
Speaker 1: He was born in Okay, time get just put yourself
Speaker 1: in the time and place in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Speaker 1: Shout out to produce Big Dave Kisten, Rhode Island. What
Speaker 1: are the few affordable places to live anymore in the
Speaker 1: greater Providence area? Oh, good to know Central Falls. I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's lovely how founders be worn So Edgar. When
Speaker 1: he's fourteen years old, he got caught scamming change from
Speaker 1: local businesses and was sent to reform school. Now, I'm
Speaker 1: sure that he learned all sorts of stuff there. It's
Speaker 1: a great education, reform school. But he also, you know,
Speaker 1: he did learn to sing when he was there, Like
Speaker 1: you're not using okay, he became a rat. He really
Speaker 1: learned to sing. Johnny No, he could carry a tune.
Speaker 1: When he was in his early twenties, he moved to
Speaker 1: New York. So turn of the century by he was
Speaker 1: working at Coney Island as a ballyho man Saren Webster's
Speaker 1: Dictionary defiance bally who as a noisy, attention getting demonstration
Speaker 1: or talk, flamboyant, exaggerated or sensational promotion or publicity or
Speaker 1: excited commotion. Thank you for the Webster definance. When I
Speaker 1: was teaching college English, there were two ways to make
Speaker 1: me completely lose it when grading essays. If you started
Speaker 1: an introductory paragraph with in Today's Society, or if you
Speaker 1: used Webster's Dictionary defiance fill in the plank as anywhere
Speaker 1: in the paper, I had an automatic ten point deduction
Speaker 1: on essays. If any of those popped up students knew it,
Speaker 1: it wasn't and they still did it in Today's Society. Oh,
Speaker 1: I would just get hot on that one. I wonder
Speaker 1: what they were thinking when they were typing nothing, this
Speaker 1: is a winning opening. They were thinking nothing. It's lazy writing,
Speaker 1: lazy brained. So this Bally who this would be the
Speaker 1: same as like a barker, right, like the person. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: Thank you for bringing me back on topic. So, Edgar
Speaker 1: ballyhu Man, Coney Island, nineteen Coney Island in nineteen ten
Speaker 1: is such an incredible place. Oh yeah, it was Atlantic
Speaker 1: City before Atlantic City, right seaside, neighborhood in Brooklyn. Amusement, parks, attractions,
Speaker 1: just general entertainable. Oh yeah, but like cotton Candy, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the attractions, the sin of cotton candy. Thousands of people
Speaker 1: are there just walking around eating ice cream, riding rides,
Speaker 1: playing Carney games, looking at EMUs. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken. Ice cream is a new thing at
Speaker 1: that time too. This is like a new taste. Everything
Speaker 1: is new and penny candy. Um yeah, so everything's new, exciting,
Speaker 1: smells great, smells sweet. Yeah. Um no it doesn't. Uh
Speaker 1: So anyway back to and the ballyhu Man. So that summer,
Speaker 1: Edgar was hired as a Native American impersonator by the W. H.
Speaker 1: Long's Big Indian and Medicine Concert Company, very nineteen ten
Speaker 1: kind of outfit, right, Edgar toured with them. He did
Speaker 1: tours three acts to night. What was his act, you asked, curious. Well,
Speaker 1: he called himself Chief white Oak, and he just impersonated
Speaker 1: a Native American and that was he doing, like the
Speaker 1: grunts and the Howe and all that. So he's on
Speaker 1: a medicine show. So they're basically doing patent medicine. So
Speaker 1: they're already trying to hoodwink the audience and to get
Speaker 1: the audience to come and see the show. They have
Speaker 1: a fake Native American prison going. Here's the snake. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's so bad, so painful. So he mixes up concoctions
Speaker 1: with them. He sells them under the promise that their
Speaker 1: ancient Native American cures for whatever happens to ail a
Speaker 1: person with cash in their pocket. You can relieve you
Speaker 1: of the cash and pocket disease. Just will hear you
Speaker 1: of having money, So I don't forget. He learned how
Speaker 1: to sing and reform school. So he performed on vaudeville
Speaker 1: stages across the country, which in nineteen ten, you know,
Speaker 1: we're you know that was the thing. Yeah. Um, when
Speaker 1: he was performing in Key West, opening for a young
Speaker 1: George Burns. Yes, he started calling himself Chief Harry Johnson.
Speaker 1: You gotta give me a war, and I'm sorry I've
Speaker 1: blindsided you with it. Doesn't make Yeah. By late nineteen sixteen, now, um,
Speaker 1: he's in Arizona and an army training camp near the
Speaker 1: Mexican border. I was about as when he did in
Speaker 1: the war. Yeah, he said that he was Tom Longboat.
Speaker 1: He just keeps changing his native That's a famous Onondaga
Speaker 1: distance runner from the Six Nations Reserve, Brantford, Ontario and
Speaker 1: the Olympian War Hero. He was bouncing around the like
Speaker 1: standing out Longboat. These are very different actual person though.
Speaker 1: He's not just saying Chief Harry Johnson or Chief White Elk.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm Tom Longboat. He's not an Olympian in
Speaker 1: real life Edgar, but he was athletic and he won
Speaker 1: a one mile foot race against the other soldiers. So
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, well he must be. He looked nothing
Speaker 1: like Tom Longboat. Let me put that out there too.
Speaker 1: But at the time it's like, you can't just go
Speaker 1: look at us. His word is gold. So he travels
Speaker 1: around the American West. He collects fees for speaking and singing.
Speaker 1: March nineteen seventeen, he's still posing his Longboat. He's in
Speaker 1: San Jose, California, and he gives a speech at the
Speaker 1: first Baptist church there, and he told them he was
Speaker 1: basically a doctor pretty much. He went, he said, he went,
Speaker 1: he went to med school in Chicago, and then he
Speaker 1: said he spoke a bunch of different languages because he
Speaker 1: traveled all over the world. He said he worked as
Speaker 1: a medic in the battlefields in France, Okay. And then
Speaker 1: he also said that he as Longboat played on the
Speaker 1: then famous Carlisle Indian Industrial Schools football team that upset
Speaker 1: Harvard November nine eleven. He said he was on that team.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, I was there. It's cool again, he
Speaker 1: doesn't look like Tom Longboat. People didn't notice. They didn't care.
Speaker 1: He loved story. Yeah, and they're like the the Associative Fame.
Speaker 1: Oh guess who I got to meet. He enlisted the
Speaker 1: Naval Reserve and he says, quote, my people have buried
Speaker 1: the tomahawk and hatchet and war paint, but they are
Speaker 1: ready to go to war with you boys to protect
Speaker 1: our own star spangled banner if necessary. This story is
Speaker 1: gonna I'm worried about my eyes. They're rolling so far
Speaker 1: back in my head. I'm going to bruise them. They
Speaker 1: made detached. I mean you wow, Well you know he
Speaker 1: was a tomahawk of my people? Who I mean, like,
Speaker 1: come on, bro. So we also said that he, as
Speaker 1: Tom Longboat, had been severely injured by a bayonet and
Speaker 1: yet still meddled in the Olympics. So back we could
Speaker 1: be funnier as if he was bayonetted in the in
Speaker 1: the Olympics and still meddled. Still did it a Please
Speaker 1: note that there were people journalists and law enforcement that
Speaker 1: did catch onto him at this point, and they would
Speaker 1: warn the journalists, would warn the officials or journalists yeah
Speaker 1: in the next town who he was or where he
Speaker 1: had just been. So sometimes that became public, and oftentimes
Speaker 1: it's because he was like getting in trouble with authorities
Speaker 1: and they start to suspect him and then he blows.
Speaker 1: So he gets to San Diego and the San Jose
Speaker 1: Evening News called him out with his impersonation as fake.
Speaker 1: But he's already gone, and you know, you'd have to
Speaker 1: get the paper. So it's like, oh, that guy who
Speaker 1: just left it. Yeah, one way or another, he's able
Speaker 1: to get out of all these situations. Usually he just
Speaker 1: denies it and leaves town. Now, after San Diego, he
Speaker 1: goes to l A and he calls himself Chief Harry
Speaker 1: Johnson when he's there, to Harry john I just felt right.
Speaker 1: And he disguised himself in a long black wig, just
Speaker 1: dicking around. Love a long black wig, love a wig anyway,
Speaker 1: a pale head bag, moccasin's buckskin pants with beads on
Speaker 1: him and then around his shoulder. He wears the striped
Speaker 1: Native American blanket. Oh, he's just a melange of different cultures.
Speaker 1: So he's like a walking cigar store in stat Yes,
Speaker 1: that's his whole, that's his vibe. So then he goes
Speaker 1: to the Midwest and then he changes his name. He's
Speaker 1: chief to Wuana naturally. Sometimes he says he's Cherokee. Sometimes
Speaker 1: he says he's Sue, but he's chief to Wana. Now.
Speaker 1: Difference Like it's like if I wanted to pull off
Speaker 1: a fake Italian thing, and sometimes I say him from
Speaker 1: Luca and sometimes I say I'm from Naples. Are two
Speaker 1: very different things. I would go further and say it's
Speaker 1: more like saying sometimes I say I'm from Portugal and
Speaker 1: sometimes I say I'm from Poland. That's a different nations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: different nations and on the same continent. But weighed everything.
Speaker 1: Different languages, different cultures, different environments, different regions, but hey
Speaker 1: throw them all together. Continent. So he is swirling all
Speaker 1: over the country and these things. Nineteen seventeen, in the summertime,
Speaker 1: he makes it to New York City, Big Apple. Do
Speaker 1: you know they call it that. I've heard this. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He goes to the labor employment section because I guess
Speaker 1: he didn't have a job, and so one of the
Speaker 1: officers there had seen his act before. He's so honored
Speaker 1: Tom Longboat, you need a job you're here. Edgar was like,
Speaker 1: well sure, So they get him a job as a
Speaker 1: seaman on the s s Antilles, and that's bringing US
Speaker 1: troops to France. Yeah, I figures guessing everything going that
Speaker 1: way at that time. W W one. Um. Through this,
Speaker 1: he winds up getting a certificate of identification under the
Speaker 1: name Tom Longboat. So he's now got US government. I
Speaker 1: D say, it's hard to just say tong Longboat, Tom. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's hard out there for me that emin and they
Speaker 1: want to switch, you know, Tom Longboat will just keep saying. So.
Speaker 1: While he's at sea, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle discovers that
Speaker 1: there are two men calling themselves Tom Longboat. Um, they
Speaker 1: think that Edgar was the real one. And then the
Speaker 1: news caused enough of a dispute that when he gets
Speaker 1: back to the States, he's brought in for questioning by
Speaker 1: the newspaper or for the police. By the police, he admits, look,
Speaker 1: I'm not Tom Longboat. UM, my real name is Thomas Tajuanna.
Speaker 1: He's like to wanna get out of here. It most
Speaker 1: have been funny. You didn't have as much I D
Speaker 1: not just the Google. But like when you didn't even
Speaker 1: really have ideas, you're it's like, oh yeah, you infuse
Speaker 1: me with another dude. Um So, there's like too much
Speaker 1: heat on him, too much attention. He blows town. He
Speaker 1: goes up to upstate New York. That's not a good move.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of native populations and kind of exactly.
Speaker 1: But he starts calling himself Chief White Elk again, takes
Speaker 1: a back full circle. He says, again he's telling people
Speaker 1: I was on that Carlisle football team. He said he
Speaker 1: had been wounded now in the Battle of Verdun. But yes,
Speaker 1: World War One. He continues traveling around the country. He
Speaker 1: like gathers himself. He's like, okay, I'm just going to
Speaker 1: stick with the white Elk thing. He sings, He gives speeches.
Speaker 1: Sometimes he gives speeches about his experience in the war.
Speaker 1: This man did not go He didn't even I guess
Speaker 1: he did get on a boat, yeah, and then dropped
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys off. He was like sea uber
Speaker 1: And he talks about the importance of enlisting, even though
Speaker 1: he hadn't enlisted. Um so, yeah, that's what he's doing.
Speaker 1: December nineteen seventeen he's in Laramie, Wyoming. He's caught by
Speaker 1: the authorities and arrested for do we knowbody's impersonating? Oh,
Speaker 1: he's a fraud, not just for defrauding all these people.
Speaker 1: So a month later they realize we don't have enough
Speaker 1: evidence to prosecute him. He's released under the promise to
Speaker 1: quote quit posing as a hero more stolen valor for you,
Speaker 1: exactly do you think that he quit posing as a hero.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing now this is just an educated yes, but
Speaker 1: I'm guessing no. Well, when we get back from this
Speaker 1: ad break, I'll let you know. Okay, we're back. Uh.
Speaker 1: When we went to the break, Edgar La Plant was
Speaker 1: posing as a any variety of Native American. Yeah, chief right, Sorry,
Speaker 1: I forgot. I left out his appellation sprinkling a fine
Speaker 1: dusting of stolen valor over the top of it, now
Speaker 1: now frosted with stolen valor. I asked you if you
Speaker 1: thought he would obey the lawmen of Laramie, Wyoming who
Speaker 1: told him to quit posing as a hero. And if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, I did the map and let me
Speaker 1: check my answer. No, you're correct, you're correct. Instead, early
Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen, he goes to Pueblo, Colorado, good military towne.
Speaker 1: He says he's the Cherokee Chief Clyde White elkide throw
Speaker 1: that in there, and then he says he speaks six
Speaker 1: languages and fourteen Native American dialects. Did he name the
Speaker 1: languages or just kind of say that, No one could testimony.
Speaker 1: He's like, guess what, I went to medical school in
Speaker 1: Chicago to He's they, Yeah, So he keeps talking about
Speaker 1: being multi lingual. He keeps saying that he went to
Speaker 1: med school in Chicago. Those are his like through lines
Speaker 1: in his cons He tours around selling war stamps and
Speaker 1: liberty bonds for the government or for the government. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: at first I'm thinking like, okay, he did this and yeah,
Speaker 1: they'll pass this land. No, he was legitimately selling war
Speaker 1: stamps and liberty bonds, and as you know, war bonds
Speaker 1: basically loans that citizens give to the government to fund
Speaker 1: military efforts in times of war. Uh. Taking that money
Speaker 1: out of circulation also controls inflation, as you know, not
Speaker 1: telling you anything new, just talking to myself. Um, you
Speaker 1: can buy them in a bunch of different denominations. There's
Speaker 1: a low yield, but like it became really popular and
Speaker 1: easy to access for people. Because of the multiple denomination,
Speaker 1: you could do small amounts and still feel like you're contributing.
Speaker 1: So he's collecting him in all these different amounts. He
Speaker 1: would talk to service clubs, community groups. He'd urge all
Speaker 1: these white folks to enlist at the same rate as
Speaker 1: Native Americans. That was his thing Natives. He said that
Speaker 1: Native Americans were out pacing everybody else a capital basis.
Speaker 1: It's more of my people are and the great father.
Speaker 1: It is said that he sold one point eight million
Speaker 1: dollars in bonds in San Francisco in a single week.
Speaker 1: That can't be right. It is said. People are saying
Speaker 1: that passed the fact check. People are saying that he
Speaker 1: brought in five hundred thousand dollars in war bonds in
Speaker 1: Oakland during a single lunch engagement. These numbers can't be right.
Speaker 1: Back then, how are you getting that? I don't even know.
Speaker 1: If you wouldn't like mugged all of the rich people,
Speaker 1: you could get this much money. Maybe it's two day's dollars.
Speaker 1: He's good at his work. The guy's charming and it's
Speaker 1: quite the charlate. So but I mean, that's the thing,
Speaker 1: like I'm imagining that he's getting speakers fees for this stuff.
Speaker 1: But he's raising money for the war efforts. But he
Speaker 1: told that he's got rotarians out there giving out big
Speaker 1: chunks of money. I'm imagining, and people like that these
Speaker 1: social clubs. Okay. March nineteen eighteen, he's in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 1: He's calling himself Chief white Elk. Do we know which
Speaker 1: first name at this? Probably Clyde, you know, Chief white Olk,
Speaker 1: but you can call me Clyde, my favorite Clyde. Um.
Speaker 1: He meets a thirty one year old woman named Auson
Speaker 1: one time as a k a. Bertha Thomas. So did
Speaker 1: he give her this name? No? She was born in Eureka, California.
Speaker 1: Her mother was Uruk and her father was white. Okay,
Speaker 1: I thought she was also running her own scamp. That's
Speaker 1: what I thought too, And I had to be like
Speaker 1: stop the presses. Everything screeched to a halt, and I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, please tell me is this favorite? No,
Speaker 1: she's a real deal. Um. She was a trained nurse,
Speaker 1: but she was also a singer and actress like most
Speaker 1: trained nurses. I know. She was a favorite model of
Speaker 1: this photographer, Emma Bell Freeman. And I found a really
Speaker 1: cool picture of her taken by Freeman. I'll put it
Speaker 1: on the Instagram and tacking at my front door. Edgar
Speaker 1: and Bertha meat and they're dating within twenty four hours
Speaker 1: back then does that mean something different? Like they met
Speaker 1: at six o'clock on a Wednesday and six o'clock Thursday.
Speaker 1: He's like, um, you want to be like boyfriend girlfriend?
Speaker 1: But can I pin you? And she's like, my, es,
Speaker 1: you're kind of cool. Should we make it telegraph official?
Speaker 1: And they did? They Yeah, they posted pictures of themselves
Speaker 1: in telegram and then they walked around holding hands and
Speaker 1: everyone was like, oh, I think they're together. They're so cute,
Speaker 1: you guys. Um hours two days after that, he asked
Speaker 1: her to marry him. Wow. He's like, my name Chief
Speaker 1: white Elk would like to marry you Asha. So yeah,
Speaker 1: zaren Oh romance, I love a young love. I want
Speaker 1: you to close your eyes. Oh god, my eyes. They're
Speaker 1: rushing to quote. I want you to picture it. March thirteenth, nine,
Speaker 1: Salt Lake, Sit, m h F from Clean it is.
Speaker 1: The street. Cars are packed on this crisp afternoon. Cars
Speaker 1: are clogging the streets, crowds. They're all heading to the
Speaker 1: Capitol Building. You, Saren and five thousand other people cram
Speaker 1: into the grounds around the Capitol building. So me and
Speaker 1: my entourage. A thirty one piece band plays patriotic tunes
Speaker 1: as spectators gather for a rally that will include sales
Speaker 1: of war bonds and enlistening tables. The capital is dolled up, flags, bunting,
Speaker 1: potted palms, the works. Four pm. Salt Lake City Mayor
Speaker 1: w Mont Ferry climbs the steps. Beside him a very
Speaker 1: tall man wearing a large feathered war bonnet. He wears
Speaker 1: a whole beaded buckskin tuxedo head to toe. He's got
Speaker 1: on blue moccasin's with American flag beat it onto the front.
Speaker 1: He has total Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow level
Speaker 1: of accessories. He's got ribbons, feathers, fors bells, a bone necklace. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's maybe he's wearing eyeliner. Let's say he's holding a
Speaker 1: tomahawk in one hand and a peace pipe in the other.
Speaker 1: He's full party city right now. What we have here
Speaker 1: is Chief White Elk standing next to the mayor. Then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the band strikes up again. They
Speaker 1: play long greens the bridal chorus, also known as here
Speaker 1: comes the broad So and her Bertha. She's decked out
Speaker 1: in all white dress, shells, beads, head dress, moccasins mean
Speaker 1: it's her wedding day. The Mayor conducts the wedding ceremony
Speaker 1: for all five thousand plus strangers in attendance. The Governor
Speaker 1: signs their marriage. Oh yeah, and they present the governor
Speaker 1: with bow and arrow as I thank you a great
Speaker 1: times had by all um. It's not really known at
Speaker 1: that point how much Bertha knew about Edgar's true identity. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: remember with you. She had to have known he was
Speaker 1: full of it. I'm guessing there's no way he's not
Speaker 1: the only one who she didn't know when she married
Speaker 1: him after knowing him for three days. Then like she
Speaker 1: found out though, because the marriage was a lousy one
Speaker 1: surprise around this time, like they get married, Edgar develops
Speaker 1: an alcohol and drug habit. Hello, he's doing He's doing
Speaker 1: morphine and cocaine. Yeah, he's doing coke. Yeah, that that's
Speaker 1: a serious drug. Probably he had this guy that was
Speaker 1: like a friend of his that supplied it with him,
Speaker 1: And there were rumors and innuendos about his relationship with
Speaker 1: that guy. We're just going to leave that to the side.
Speaker 1: A World War One veteran, he's going for the full
Speaker 1: vet experience. Um, this is obviously tough for Bertha. So
Speaker 1: he continues to have these close calls with authorities. Summer
Speaker 1: of nineteen nineteen and don't forget. So they got married
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighteen. So a year later, I was there
Speaker 1: a beautiful ceremony, the governor is there you. I still
Speaker 1: get choked up when I think about beautiful it was
Speaker 1: do you need a second? The buckskin he was wearing.
Speaker 1: Did you feel You're like, I'm in the presence of
Speaker 1: Chief White O Clyde. What's up? I'm pretty much just
Speaker 1: standing on the pages of history right now. That's beautiful.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you. He's having close calls. A
Speaker 1: year later, he joins a lecture tour of Canada. This
Speaker 1: time he's calling himself Doctor to Juana, which at this
Speaker 1: point Bertha has got to be like, look, dude, settle
Speaker 1: on a name. Now. I know you're full of it.
Speaker 1: I don't know what to call you when I want
Speaker 1: to get your tent to Jenner, he says, as doctor Tijuana,
Speaker 1: he's a survivor of the sinking of the Antilles. He's
Speaker 1: a Carlisle grad college football star, Cherokee chief. He's going
Speaker 1: back to Cherokee and he's an Olympic long distance runner,
Speaker 1: so he's using longboat mythology, but he's saying that he's
Speaker 1: Doctor Tijuana. Edgar and Bertha they work together on various
Speaker 1: speaking and entertainment circuits um but by late nineteen the
Speaker 1: relationship is really strained. Around that time, they also adopted
Speaker 1: a fifteen month old Native American baby that they named
Speaker 1: ethel Lolita white Elk. Was that a dare the ethel
Speaker 1: Lolita white Elk? And that's like, all of that is
Speaker 1: a lie. Bertha can't cope. She's like, you're a junkie.
Speaker 1: I can't do this. Ta Yeah. So she stops touring
Speaker 1: with him, separates, takes Ethel Lolita and off they go.
Speaker 1: And is Edgar bothered by this? I'm guessing no, not really.
Speaker 1: So by late nineteen two, he's calling himself Dr Ray Tajuana.
Speaker 1: This is probably my new favorite name of his Doctor Ray.
Speaker 1: He takes a French Canadian lover and goes to England.
Speaker 1: You know, as you do, you've done that? Uh what
Speaker 1: I call spring break. Reporters are on hand for his
Speaker 1: arrival in England. I'm sure he wired and he was like,
Speaker 1: guess what. He gets there and he requests a meeting
Speaker 1: with King George the Five. He's like, hey, Cherokee Royalty
Speaker 1: in the house, busy chief, I want to talk to
Speaker 1: the king. Yeah, He's like, what are you doing on Friday?
Speaker 1: He did not get a meeting. Listener, he did not
Speaker 1: get a meeting. I'll wear my formal headwear. You wear
Speaker 1: your formal headwear? Oh my gosh. Yeah. They there's a
Speaker 1: couple of kings having fun. Beautiful. So he performs around
Speaker 1: England just as he had in the state. He's not
Speaker 1: getting war bonds obviously, but he's like, you know, giving
Speaker 1: tales of his people. But they had a war effort.
Speaker 1: Well doesn't matter. Yeah, I don't care about them. Uh.
Speaker 1: In Man in Chester in April ofree he met the
Speaker 1: unmarried thirty seven year old Ethel Holmes, who had a
Speaker 1: seven year old son named Leslie, and within three months
Speaker 1: they were married fast on the job with this one.
Speaker 1: On their marriage certificate, Ethel called herself a widow, which
Speaker 1: was not true, and Edgar used the name Ray Tijuana
Speaker 1: and said he was a doctor of medicine and that
Speaker 1: his father's name was Chief Waltrobe. Just just you know,
Speaker 1: he's like looking around, he sees something like a tin
Speaker 1: of suspects. So September twenty three, the three of them,
Speaker 1: uh was? He called himself ray to Wuana wa Ethel
Speaker 1: and then Leslie. They go to France and Belgium and
Speaker 1: Edgar is now giving lectures back under the name Chief
Speaker 1: white elk and he's always got these ladies with him.
Speaker 1: We're like, yeah, go ahead, how easy it was to
Speaker 1: scam people? Yeah, this is my well. He gets to
Speaker 1: Paris and Paramount Pictures contacts him because they're like, we
Speaker 1: have this movie coming out, the Covered Wagon. So they
Speaker 1: ring them up, ring ring, like hey, Chief white elk Um,
Speaker 1: can you help us promote the film? Can you go
Speaker 1: to Nice and promote the Covered Wagon? He's like, no problems,
Speaker 1: goes to Nice. In the spring of he gets an
Speaker 1: actual Native American head dress, because at this point I
Speaker 1: think he's using party city stuff. He gets the head
Speaker 1: dress from an American doctor living in Nice, and it
Speaker 1: was supposed to be a loan of the head dress.
Speaker 1: The doctor never saw it again. But while he's there,
Speaker 1: he meets twenty seven year old Contessa Antoinette Kevin Hooler Metsch.
Speaker 1: She's known as Ada her friends than because I couldn't
Speaker 1: do that again. So twenty seven year old Ada. She
Speaker 1: gives Edgar three francs and says this is to tend
Speaker 1: to the knees of Indian orphans, and then invites him
Speaker 1: to dinner in Monte Carlo with her and her stepmother,
Speaker 1: Which how great is that? Once in my life, For
Speaker 1: once in my life, I want to be able to like,
Speaker 1: you know what, hey, come to dinner in Monte Carlo. Yeah,
Speaker 1: come with me and my aunt, the contessa or my
Speaker 1: mother thent why not? Why? Why? Why not me? That's
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to stay here. Um, so come with
Speaker 1: me and my stepmom. Sixty three year old widowed contessa
Speaker 1: Milania Kevin Cooler Metch, come on, let's go to Monte Carlo.
Speaker 1: And he's like Austria. You know, we wouldn't be Austro Hungarian.
Speaker 1: So they're like former royalty at this point. I don't know, well,
Speaker 1: I think after World, for one, he had all those
Speaker 1: people going around scam and saying, oh, yes, I'm the
Speaker 1: the viscount of this, they're really a contessa of something. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So they go to Monte Carlo. At the dinner, Milannia
Speaker 1: gives Edgar five thousand francs that she won at the casino.
Speaker 1: This is like straight out of like a Bond film. Um.
Speaker 1: And she says this is a gift for Native American
Speaker 1: children because they're all concerned, feeling like they're a bunch
Speaker 1: of orphans. Um. He tells the contessas that he was
Speaker 1: actually also an oil baron and in addition to being
Speaker 1: Cherokee royalty. So he's like, I'm I'm Cherokee Royalty, I'm
Speaker 1: King of the Cherokee, and I'm an oil baron, and
Speaker 1: I also own a ton of land in Canada. That's
Speaker 1: that's me. I should have told you this. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you a little about me, uh, he explains. Though,
Speaker 1: he's like, here's the problem. Though, gals gather around. British
Speaker 1: bureaucracy is temporarily holding my money. Because it's all very complicated.
Speaker 1: I can't get into it. It's very confusing. So I
Speaker 1: don't want to confuse you ladies. Um. I just need
Speaker 1: like a little loan because the Brits are holding all
Speaker 1: my money. He basically, did the Spanish prisoner scam for himself. Yes,
Speaker 1: He's like, if you can free me, I will gladly
Speaker 1: repay you with He's like, I will pay you back,
Speaker 1: but just I need a little I need a temporary loan.
Speaker 1: And then he tells Melania, well, the loans that you're
Speaker 1: giving me are going to be secured by sources and governments.
Speaker 1: And also you know I have Bourbon lineage, so not
Speaker 1: up to somehow I'm French royalty and Cherokee royalty. Don't ask.
Speaker 1: Let's just say kings recognized kings. Thank you. He says,
Speaker 1: my father, what do you think his dad's name is? Now? Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Pierre blanc elk. He's getting he's getting
Speaker 1: like less and less creative, and it's more and more
Speaker 1: like I feel like he's looking around the room, Chief
Speaker 1: yellow robe. He's looking chief pretty lamp in chief yellow robe,
Speaker 1: chief shiny shoes. He says that, so that when they're saying,
Speaker 1: well how is it the Tierra Cherokee and a Bourbon
Speaker 1: French royalty, Well, see Chief yellow Robe married my mother,
Speaker 1: who's the daughter of Prince Ludovic Mario of Bourbon. That's
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a real person he himself had owned.
Speaker 1: Edgar was like, here's how I can tell you I'm legit.
Speaker 1: I once loaned the Empress of the Austrio Hungarian Empire
Speaker 1: a million lira after she was ousted from her throne. Okay,
Speaker 1: so that's like when I go around scamming people and
Speaker 1: be like you, guys, it's totally cool. Because one time
Speaker 1: I loaned Bill Gates like seven million dollars. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: just needed it because like the particular didn't matter to me.
Speaker 1: Very confusing. I just want to make this easier for you.
Speaker 1: Don't worry your head about these details. Uh So at
Speaker 1: this point, his second wife Ethel and the stepson Leslie,
Speaker 1: they had moved back to Manchester because like they're still
Speaker 1: following him around. But now he's like and Tom too,
Speaker 1: because she's lying. So Edgar goes back for a little
Speaker 1: bit to Manchester, like please please, baby, and you must
Speaker 1: forgive me, and she's like lining alone. Um, but then
Speaker 1: he goes back to visit Milannia. Remember this is the
Speaker 1: sixty year old step mom Contesa Contesa, Yeah, Adda is
Speaker 1: the one he's younger. Um, he goes to see Milannia
Speaker 1: because guess what Milannia caught feelings for Edgar? Oh, and
Speaker 1: he could just detect it with his like spider scamsen.
Speaker 1: I think she put a little slipped a little note
Speaker 1: in his suitcase that said do you like me? Check
Speaker 1: yes or no? Here's my hotel room. And she's she's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you want to be a boyfriend and girlfriend. This happens
Speaker 1: a lot for Edgar, over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: She's like, do you want to take a spin a
Speaker 1: promenade around the square holding hands and varsity letter? Yes,
Speaker 1: that's exacting. Well, he was on the cars. So apparently
Speaker 1: he wired a goodbye no to his stepson that read,
Speaker 1: dear leslie, your father must leave and never come back. Stop.
Speaker 1: That's like the worst letter to get from you. Spring.
Speaker 1: Edgar's in Italy with Milania, and uh, things kind of
Speaker 1: start heating up, as in the law no with his lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Let's take a break and when we come back, I'm
Speaker 1: going to tell you how Edgar took it to the
Speaker 1: next level. All right, Saron, Hey, what's up? You got
Speaker 1: more from the White Elk for you better believe it.
Speaker 1: So remember when we left off, Edgar still going by
Speaker 1: Chief White Elk, not by chief Harry Johnson. Which that's
Speaker 1: a rude dude. Oh that's right, Billie Idol's a drug buddy,
Speaker 1: Harry Johnson. That name has a real energy to dude
Speaker 1: rude dudes. I don't think that Edgar la Plant has
Speaker 1: earned the title rude dude. Oh no, definitely not pretend.
Speaker 1: He's just rude. So he in rude fashion. He wires
Speaker 1: his stepson, Leslie back in Manchester. Dear Leslie, your father
Speaker 1: must leave and never come back. And isn't he the stepfather?
Speaker 1: So it's like, is he talking about like my dad?
Speaker 1: And then remember the wife said she was a widow,
Speaker 1: so it's like, your dead dad must leave. And then
Speaker 1: he's like rub it in, why don't you so? Edgar
Speaker 1: now spring of he's in Italy with Milannia. They go
Speaker 1: on a huge shopping spree. Of course you're at the Contessa.
Speaker 1: He buys him gold watches. Yeah, multiple, He's got like
Speaker 1: three on each arm. He's like Swatch watches. I had
Speaker 1: two Swatch watches. Don't don't worry about it. Going to
Speaker 1: judge custom tailored suits to Swatch watches and Benetton sweaters,
Speaker 1: I'm judging a little okay, um he she bought him
Speaker 1: this expensive car for him to give to her five
Speaker 1: year old stepson. When they met. George. His name is
Speaker 1: g e O R g Oh. It's friends without the Art. Sure,
Speaker 1: isn't that the name for the von Trapp family? The
Speaker 1: dad is gay Organ? Okay, so gay Org, Right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with what you're saying. The sound of music, Dad,
Speaker 1: that's all I know. Okay, I think I've seen that movie.
Speaker 1: I have a sister, I've seen it long ago. Um. So,
Speaker 1: Melania has a twenty five year old stepson named Georg
Speaker 1: and she's like, Edgar, you're gonna love him, but you
Speaker 1: have to give a present when you meet him. And
Speaker 1: Edgar is looking around the room, he's like a yellow road.
Speaker 1: She's like, no, he has this like souped up car.
Speaker 1: So she keeps giving Edgar cash. Um. He comes up
Speaker 1: with all these excuses of why he needs more. She
Speaker 1: buys into him. I've got a hole in my pockets. Life.
Speaker 1: He goes on a tour of Italy paid for by Millennia,
Speaker 1: and he's greeted by these huge crowds. What does he
Speaker 1: do when he meets the crowds? Something racist? Now he
Speaker 1: made it rain baby, He handed out cash to these people.
Speaker 1: Is he wearing the head dress like handing out cash?
Speaker 1: He's totally. He's like, guess what, chief fight elks here
Speaker 1: and it's time to party. He's making it rain with
Speaker 1: like Indians like yeah, I'm royalty, take it, and people
Speaker 1: are of course, these crowds are being attracted the hell. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this guy is handing out money. He's living it up
Speaker 1: on the riviera, so he gets like super tan and
Speaker 1: so it's really helping the costume game. He's just all
Speaker 1: greased up in tan um. This guy, Paul Willits wrote
Speaker 1: a book called King Khan, The Bizarre Adventures of the
Speaker 1: Jazz Age's Greatest impostor the book on this cat um.
Speaker 1: He wrote quote his face had over recent weeks becau
Speaker 1: I'm quite bronzed, which chimed conveniently with his chosen identity.
Speaker 1: Bolstering this where his current clothes white suede pants, brightly
Speaker 1: hued appurtenances, an orange shirt, and a cloak embellished by
Speaker 1: a thick mink tail. His practice of wearing a feathered
Speaker 1: head dress, tucking a dagger into his belt, and puffing
Speaker 1: on a traditional long stemmed ceremonial pipe in between cigarettes
Speaker 1: also boosted his credibility, so too did his frequent talk
Speaker 1: of the land he owned. So let's just I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: can we just stop for one second and put this
Speaker 1: vision in our heads of Captain white, suede pants, cooling chain,
Speaker 1: smoking white. He's like puffing on a cigarette. Then he
Speaker 1: takes a little toke, looking like George Hamilton's so amazing. Um.
Speaker 1: He becomes also in this frame, in this phase of
Speaker 1: his life, a favorite of Italian fascist officials. I was
Speaker 1: just about ask like, wait a minute, we're just post Marinetti,
Speaker 1: the fascist future submerged, and now you have them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they're like, we love this. He's incredible. He doesn't argue,
Speaker 1: he's like I know, I'm um. In fact, he spreads
Speaker 1: some of that cash. He tosses cash at them. He
Speaker 1: donates money to party offices. And he gets the title
Speaker 1: of honorary corporal in the militia. So he's an honorary fascist. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's only one of three men in Italy to have
Speaker 1: that title. They give to a fake Native American. He's
Speaker 1: running around with a war bonnet on and he's like
Speaker 1: hamming it up all over Italy. He hired, well, he
Speaker 1: hires a twenty three year old senior officer in the
Speaker 1: Fascist militia, to be his private secretary. And he also
Speaker 1: tried and then he failed to have a personal meeting
Speaker 1: with Mussolini in Rome in late August. There can only
Speaker 1: be one big hamm in curve. I'm not let anyone.
Speaker 1: He gets curved by King George the Fifth and Mussolini
Speaker 1: back in Manchester. Ethel not happy with the current arrangement,
Speaker 1: so she mails a letter to the contessa, both of them.
Speaker 1: How did he know the contessa's address? And she was
Speaker 1: there in the beginning of it, and it's like Santi clause,
Speaker 1: you just write the old one. And then she draws
Speaker 1: like a rough sketch of her on the front of
Speaker 1: the I'm like, oh, yeah, that's Milannia. Um proves to
Speaker 1: her with the documents to prove to her that he
Speaker 1: didn't have the money he says he has. Now, how
Speaker 1: do you do the documents that prove a lack of money?
Speaker 1: I guess like an empty bank. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: how I would believe I don't have any money. Um. Somehow, though,
Speaker 1: either Edgar intercepted the letter or she didn't properly address
Speaker 1: it and just drew a picture. Milannia never gets the letter.
Speaker 1: Neither does add a. Um. Milannia in order to finance him,
Speaker 1: she has to sell family property. What I mean finance
Speaker 1: and the she's sending him money, still giving Milannia is
Speaker 1: still giving Edgar money. What yeah, so she's still giving him.
Speaker 1: She's like, I gotta sell some property. Lady, what about Leslie?
Speaker 1: You got a baby? Come on now, let's how do
Speaker 1: you say that guy's name George Organ. It's like this
Speaker 1: step son. He's like suspicious, Like okay, now you're selling
Speaker 1: property for this guy and you keep saying that he'll
Speaker 1: pay you back. Um, he has connections in Britain. I
Speaker 1: mistook it. Milani has selling property. I thought the wife
Speaker 1: she goes to wrap him out. The letter doesn't make it.
Speaker 1: That's okay, I'm not I I'm very confusing. So the
Speaker 1: fal Son now is catching one. Son's like, hold up,
Speaker 1: I don't trust this guy. He starts an investigation, so
Speaker 1: he calls Britain people Baba. He sends a telegraph, but
Speaker 1: he knows how to address letters. He's like, let's get
Speaker 1: to the bottom of Chief white Elk. So Gay Org
Speaker 1: I can't say that. He attempts to withdraw three hundred
Speaker 1: thousand lira from his family's account money walking around money.
Speaker 1: But he finds out the accounts empty because of all
Speaker 1: of Millannia's withdrawals. Wow. So Milannia convinces ge Org that
Speaker 1: Edgar was good for the loans. That's it's Edgar feels
Speaker 1: the heat, feels feels feels, feels the heat. He promises
Speaker 1: to repay the full loan, which is at this point
Speaker 1: is over a million lira, and by he says, I'm
Speaker 1: going to do that by December four, that's ten weeks
Speaker 1: from ben Okay, so he gives him a dead line. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but then he's like, hold on, hold on, hold on,
Speaker 1: how about January. Give me a little bit more time
Speaker 1: and I'll repay you. And you know what, plus six
Speaker 1: percent interest. That's not a small amount. Now it's late November.
Speaker 1: The Italian press and the government finally learn Chief white
Speaker 1: Elk not Chief white Elk doesn't it. Finally catch up
Speaker 1: finally and they're like, guess what, buddy, you're out of here.
Speaker 1: They go to kick him out of the country o
Speaker 1: the fascist care They're like, we can't use this, not
Speaker 1: to our benefits. So he gets escorted by Italian police
Speaker 1: to the Swiss border on December, and he's then relocated
Speaker 1: to a hospital in Belenzona. So we relocated like they.
Speaker 1: On the way there, he tripped a bunch and he
Speaker 1: had been injured somehow. I don't know if he tripped
Speaker 1: and fell on the dagger. If you're gonna take me
Speaker 1: to the border, I gotta go over to that hospital.
Speaker 1: So according to that book, King con Quote, Swiss journalists
Speaker 1: had not thus far recycled the skating press coverage of
Speaker 1: him in Italy, France and elsewhere, so there was no
Speaker 1: obvious reason for skepticism. Even the hospital's director, Dr Emilio
Speaker 1: Sacci bought the line that Edgar was a prominent and
Speaker 1: very wealthy man who is also a physician. Talk of
Speaker 1: the prince generated flattering stories in the Swiss newspapers, and
Speaker 1: a parade of local worthies trooped to the hospital to
Speaker 1: pay homage to him. These visitors included numerous distinguished women,
Speaker 1: quite a few of whom seemed keen to bag him
Speaker 1: as a husband. Less than a week ago, his life
Speaker 1: had been beset with problems, yet now it was ripe
Speaker 1: with encouraging possibilities. The con man's chorus, Yeah, so he's
Speaker 1: just laying in the hospital. Everyone's buying his game again,
Speaker 1: and then women are like, oh, I'll nurse you back
Speaker 1: to health, and he's well, thank god, because I got
Speaker 1: a loan to repay. So Contessa atta right, she paid
Speaker 1: the medical bills in Switzerland and then but at the
Speaker 1: same time she's like, I need to know for myself.
Speaker 1: I'm going to England and doing my own investigation. But
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, she pays the bills. He recovers and
Speaker 1: he's like, I'm gonna start touring Switzerland on the road.
Speaker 1: Why not early January? If he's in French speaking Nucatel, Switzerland,
Speaker 1: he registers at the hotel there as Prince to Wuana Ray.
Speaker 1: So he switched to Way no longer a doctor, I
Speaker 1: haaded emotion, prince. But before he was ready to Juanna
Speaker 1: exactly doctor Ray Tajuana. Yeah, now he's Prince to Wuana Ray.
Speaker 1: He says he's a diplomat and he has millions of
Speaker 1: dollars of Canadian assets. Give me a room, all right.
Speaker 1: He propositioned a lot of members of staff and like
Speaker 1: some some he was successful, others not. He gets kicked
Speaker 1: out a few days later without paying his bill. Turning
Speaker 1: out part of the staff. Exactly. He's made his way
Speaker 1: through the through the like laundry room. Uh, the owner
Speaker 1: of the hotel took all his stuff. They kicked him
Speaker 1: out and they're like, we're confiscating all your belongings. We're
Speaker 1: going to pay your bill with your head dress. He well,
Speaker 1: he know, he gets kicked out onto the street with
Speaker 1: just his head dress, hat and a suit. The head dress,
Speaker 1: take the war bonnet and you're suit and you're out
Speaker 1: of here. Just offensiveness and get going to a chapstick
Speaker 1: and a dance belt. He's out of there. All I
Speaker 1: need is this paddle ball game. Ada, she gets back
Speaker 1: from her fact finding mission to the uk UM, she
Speaker 1: tells Melania, her step mom, what she discovered. What did
Speaker 1: she discover? He's a madman and a con man, is
Speaker 1: what she's been told. He's got to get arrested, was
Speaker 1: what she says. So Ada goes to Switzerland to confront Edgar,
Speaker 1: but Milania super embarrassed that she fell for this scam
Speaker 1: and that she's like, please don't go to the police,
Speaker 1: So she sends out to go you confront him in person.
Speaker 1: But I'm not telling the fuzz on this one because
Speaker 1: it's going to make me look like a fool. So
Speaker 1: what's she gonna do with throw a drink in his face?
Speaker 1: Just sit ho home and cry. I mean like the
Speaker 1: daughter when she goes to confront them, Like what's she
Speaker 1: gonna do like wave a bony finger and wave a
Speaker 1: bony finger, throw a drink like a scene walk out? Okay,
Speaker 1: well here, but then she's going to go find Edgar. Right,
Speaker 1: he's strung out in broke, cooling out in the hospital. Right.
Speaker 1: So I am happy to report that Edgar was arrested
Speaker 1: by Swiss police January. Now, during questioning, he did admit
Speaker 1: to being Edgar la Plant from Rhode Island. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: comes clean, but he told so many otherwise that the
Speaker 1: Swiss police thought that that was yet another alias, like
Speaker 1: we can't believe anything he said. Several weeks go by,
Speaker 1: they continue their investigation. Okay, yes it is. Actually they realized, yes,
Speaker 1: this is Edgar a Plant from Rhode Island. Atta who
Speaker 1: thought Edgar still had a lot of the money that
Speaker 1: he'd taken from a family, and they thought maybe we
Speaker 1: can get it back. She paid off his Swiss debts,
Speaker 1: like the hotel and everything. Um made sure he was
Speaker 1: well treated in jail, he still cast the spell over.
Speaker 1: The family gave him money for his defense, and so Um,
Speaker 1: Adda Milannia and the twenty five year old fail son,
Speaker 1: George Um, they go to visit him in jail. Dude,
Speaker 1: his Harry Johnson game must be amazing. Just off the charge.
Speaker 1: How was he pulling this? He promised he was going
Speaker 1: to repay the debt, and he says he's going to
Speaker 1: pay them a hundred dollars a month. Now, it's estimated
Speaker 1: that in today's money, it's estimated that he gave away
Speaker 1: and spent as much as sixty five point four million
Speaker 1: dollars of their money. And so at that rate, it's
Speaker 1: gonna take him four hundred years to pay it back.
Speaker 1: He's like hundred bucks a month, Yeah, it would take
Speaker 1: him seven generations exactly. So by this time Adda and
Speaker 1: the family, they learned from Edgar's British wife, Ethel, that
Speaker 1: Edgar is not Native American. They get that confirmation. So
Speaker 1: even though he's Edgar will Plant, he's also not Native American. Um.
Speaker 1: Ethel got that intel from the Canadian government, not First Nations.
Speaker 1: The family accused Edgar of defrauding them by quote, using
Speaker 1: his powers as a hypnotist and master of magic. Oh
Speaker 1: they busted out like the rescute and card on. He
Speaker 1: did abra cadabra? Or is my three year old nephew,
Speaker 1: says Bobby Cadaver, Bobby Caldaver. Magic. Um? She pressed charges. Finally,
Speaker 1: Milannia in Italy. Edgar reaches out to Ethel, the one
Speaker 1: in England for help. Says, guess what, we'll get back
Speaker 1: together when all this is over. I'll come back to you.
Speaker 1: You can, me and Leslie. We're going to make a
Speaker 1: go of it. I was wrong. Well. Ethel starts writing
Speaker 1: letters of support for him and asking the US government
Speaker 1: for help. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna need a second.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is really disappointing. Really, I am so
Speaker 1: disappointed in so many I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed Ethel.
Speaker 1: He goes on trial in Switzerland. He his defense is
Speaker 1: partial insanity. This a little bit. I'm half mad? Hey,
Speaker 1: which who among us isn't you know? Um? Here's an
Speaker 1: excerpt from his cross examination. Do you remember that you
Speaker 1: told the authorities that you had a medical diploma from Carlisle?
Speaker 1: I don't remember. Do you not often claim to have
Speaker 1: attended Carlisle. I just went there to play football. A
Speaker 1: letter from that college has just been received by the authorities.
Speaker 1: It states that they don't know you even as a
Speaker 1: football player. The gallery erupts in laughter. Did you say
Speaker 1: that you owned a lot of land in Canada? Well,
Speaker 1: I certainly hope to own a lot of them. Don't
Speaker 1: hold him against me. He gets sentenced to one year
Speaker 1: in prison minus time served and a heavy fine which
Speaker 1: he cannot pay. He's released from the Swiss prison October
Speaker 1: immediately gets handed over to the Italians. Bring him over here. Um,
Speaker 1: he's going to go down trial for charges that the
Speaker 1: Contessa has filed against him. So he's held in Trieste
Speaker 1: in turn for tin for about a year before the
Speaker 1: trial and then fall of the trial begins. Um, all
Speaker 1: of the Milannia crew testifies against him. Edgar gets sentenced
Speaker 1: to seven years, five months and fifteen days and a
Speaker 1: nine thousand lira fine and in order to repay one
Speaker 1: million over one million lira to Millannia. Yeah, good luck happened.
Speaker 1: So he's in prison. He works in a nitwear shop.
Speaker 1: He hand embroidered and also operated a weaving machine, and
Speaker 1: he had a lot of cash though, when he's in
Speaker 1: prison because a wealthy female Belgian writer who believed in
Speaker 1: his cause, his self proclaimed cause as an Indian rights campaigner.
Speaker 1: He she's sending him money and he puts half in
Speaker 1: the commissary and he puts the other half to like
Speaker 1: habits of the special lunch is brought into him every
Speaker 1: day from a local restaurant. He really should have gone
Speaker 1: into politics. He missed his mark. And the Belgian writer
Speaker 1: it's like, you know what, when you get out, you
Speaker 1: can be my chauffeur or my secretary. You can be
Speaker 1: my bodyguard when you get out, just pick one guard
Speaker 1: that body um. But he says, no, I can't because
Speaker 1: I don't want He says, quote, I'm not certain what
Speaker 1: i want to do with the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: I'm just finding myself. So he gets transferred to a
Speaker 1: prison near Rome and thanks to good behavior, paroled after
Speaker 1: just two and a half years of his sentence. He
Speaker 1: couldn't leave for two months though, until he secured a
Speaker 1: ticket back to America. So he's got no money. So
Speaker 1: the US Consulate's like, all right, we got you a
Speaker 1: job as a mess stewart on an American cargo vessel
Speaker 1: to s s executive leaving mid August Edgar kisses American
Speaker 1: Soil September Brooklyn carrying nothing but quote, a dog eared
Speaker 1: copy of the transcript of his Italian trial reading fift
Speaker 1: dollar bills, and a wooden spoon used for the duration
Speaker 1: of his imprisonment. No word on the war bonnet if
Speaker 1: he's still wearing, and what did he need the wooden
Speaker 1: spoon for the duration of his imprisonment? Is is like
Speaker 1: a poop knife, Like what is this? He's just you know,
Speaker 1: it's for like all the sundry thing, digging out of
Speaker 1: the cell, eating a scoop in your own eyeball out
Speaker 1: Goode's on the only clothes that he was wearing, a
Speaker 1: gray suit and a pair of tan oxfords, and um,
Speaker 1: there were reporters waiting for him when he did actually
Speaker 1: because his PR team had the advanced work. So he
Speaker 1: tells the New York Times that he's given up his
Speaker 1: whole game and he would quote remain plane edgard la
Speaker 1: plant of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Look, he's even lying from
Speaker 1: there and go in for some ordinary job like umbrella fixing,
Speaker 1: a job. I don't know, but he says, that's you know,
Speaker 1: what I mean, just be an ordinary guy. Just hear
Speaker 1: every day umbrella fixing, nothing about work. So he's like,
Speaker 1: I could be a ditch digger. He's like, I could
Speaker 1: be you, as like yellow Robed got a broken umbro
Speaker 1: I can fix that for a job. He said that
Speaker 1: during his time with the Contessas he realized that, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not a Native American, but that quote as he
Speaker 1: felt sure anyone with a spark of romance may see.
Speaker 1: It was hard for him to disavow a tale that
Speaker 1: meant so much inattention and money. This part I believe
Speaker 1: that the first honest statement. It just felt too good.
Speaker 1: He tells the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that he was part
Speaker 1: of the Tuscarora tribe and that he got his name
Speaker 1: Chief white Elk from a pr man, and that he
Speaker 1: was interpreting for the Native Americans acting in a film
Speaker 1: his imagining. He also told the reporter that Otta had
Speaker 1: thrown money and gifts at him and that the stepson
Speaker 1: got him arrested because he was jealous, and when talking
Speaker 1: about an Italian jail, he said, quote, all I ever
Speaker 1: had to eat was thin soup and half steamed spaghetti.
Speaker 1: I used to starve myself, so that the doctor would
Speaker 1: order milk and eggs just to get off the diet
Speaker 1: for a few days. The only person to go to
Speaker 1: Italy and complain about the food. Chief white Elk March
Speaker 1: nine thirty. He's living in Boston, still trying to make
Speaker 1: it his Chief Winal and he's looking for two women
Speaker 1: to accompany him on a touring radio show. Strikes out
Speaker 1: on that one moves to Pawtucket to live with his cousin,
Speaker 1: so he does. Okay, he's not really lying now he
Speaker 1: fa Yeah. He gets a job as Chief white Elk
Speaker 1: in a vaudeville venue and then starts touring the Northeast.
Speaker 1: He again goes back to using the name Chief Tajuana,
Speaker 1: but now he's Chief Louis Tajuanah. My god, I would
Speaker 1: love her somehoe in a shownee from like the upstate
Speaker 1: New York to come down to one of his shows
Speaker 1: and be like, brother, we just want to talk after
Speaker 1: the show. Yes. Two. Now he's in Oregon and he
Speaker 1: claimed he was a sixty five year old Native American
Speaker 1: and former Olympian. He tried to convince locals to give
Speaker 1: him money so he could get to l A where
Speaker 1: the summer Summer Olympics were being held. Yeah. Five, it
Speaker 1: goes from l A to Berlin. We know that is
Speaker 1: to Berlin because Hitler a thirty five back in Pawtucket
Speaker 1: working as a church organist and an amateur umbrella repairman.
Speaker 1: You say the church is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Speaker 1: So late nineteen seventies, now in Montana, calling himself Dr
Speaker 1: Dylan white Elk Dylan part of an Alaskan delegation traveling
Speaker 1: to d C to quote protest illegal Japanese fishing in
Speaker 1: American territorial waters, shifting all over the place. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: uh not? Late thirty eight he gets hospitalized in Flint, Michigan,
Speaker 1: after having a heart attack. Now August thirty nine, he
Speaker 1: has another heart attack, this time in northern California. He
Speaker 1: tells the hospital staff there that quote. Four years previously,
Speaker 1: he'd led a team of nine dog slits through the
Speaker 1: Alaskan wilderness, he said, as objective had been to reach
Speaker 1: the crashed air plane in which the columnist, broadcaster, and
Speaker 1: Hollywood star Will Rogers had been flying. The Associated Press
Speaker 1: wire service picked up Edgar's story, providing a conduit into
Speaker 1: newspapers up and down the West coast. Everyone loves a
Speaker 1: good story. And later in Oregon he says he's Dr
Speaker 1: E Warren the Plant. So I gotta say, if you
Speaker 1: want to see the world, either join the military or
Speaker 1: become a con. Because one of the people are bouncing
Speaker 1: around Summer forty two, were kind a long way en.
Speaker 1: We started this journey part of the country right now,
Speaker 1: New Orleans. He has a third heart attack, and he
Speaker 1: makes some money for selling fake shares in non existent
Speaker 1: oil companies Solid Solid, and then he goes to Phoenix.
Speaker 1: December forty three. He's calling himself Dr White Eagle. He
Speaker 1: says he's a native of the nearby town of Gila
Speaker 1: Bend and by implication of the Papago tribe, many of
Speaker 1: whom lived in the Gila River Indian Reservation. Okay, I
Speaker 1: just hope that some of them become into town. Catches pneumonia, bronchitis,
Speaker 1: dies from a heart attack. January death certificate list. His
Speaker 1: name is White Eagle. Doctor Indian mail gets it in
Speaker 1: the very end, lies to the end. What's your ridiculous
Speaker 1: takeaway here? Oh man, If you're gonna be a Charlatan,
Speaker 1: go big. If you're going to pick an ethnicity. Pick
Speaker 1: one that apparently nobody knows anything about. It would never
Speaker 1: question because if you can just be native or been like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, you got the head dressed, must be native, right,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna go do that. I'm gonna see if
Speaker 1: I can get myself like I don't know a couple
Speaker 1: of them like Kaiser Wilhelm hats I look at the
Speaker 1: spike in the top. I'm gonna tell people that I'm
Speaker 1: a German royalty and I'm perfect how far I can
Speaker 1: take this perfect? My takeaway since you asked, yeah, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: but he's a Boso. That's my takeaway. Contessa is bosos.
Speaker 1: The only non Boso main characters Bertha and the adopted daughter,
Speaker 1: the rest, everyone's a Boso the end. That's it. I'm done.
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Speaker 1: for us about a ridiculous crime you want to hear about.
Speaker 1: I want to confess to a ridiculous crime. Email us
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Speaker 1: divided into bozos and rude dudes. Don't let the bozos
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Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zarin Vernett,
Speaker 1: produced and edited by indifferent Italian Consul General Dave Kuston.
Speaker 1: Research is by the savvy and undupable contested Marissa brown.
Speaker 1: The theme song is by twelve time Olympian Thomas Lee
Speaker 1: and totally real and not fake medical doctor Travis Dutton.
Speaker 1: Executive producers are War Bonds salesman Ben Bollen and Noel
Speaker 1: Browne Say It One More Time Dequeous. Ridiculous Crime is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio four more podcasts. My
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