1 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: Yeah. Today's story kind of but not really, starts in 2 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five on April four, when Abraham Lincoln is 3 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while watching the play Our 4 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: American Cousin at Ford's Theater in d C. Do you 5 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: think it was any good, ben our American Cousin? Um? 6 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: I remember I think hearing about it in school, but 7 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't my kind of play. And it does remind 8 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: me of one of those very tasteless middle school jokes. 9 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: Did you ever hear this one? Well? Other than that, 10 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: Mrs Lincoln, how did you find the play? That's funny? 11 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: That's terrible? Too soon? Surely not? Surely not? Ben? You 12 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: you called out the date and it sounded to me 13 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: like it was long ago, long ago, far away, right, 14 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: And I'm no by the one. This ridiculous history is 15 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: ridiculous history. And there's our super producer, Casey Pegram giving 16 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: us his stamp of approval. Let me lean by the 17 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: window and see if see if we get thumbs up. Oh, 18 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: we got a pretty good thumbs up. Thumbs up indeed, 19 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: as you would text me thumbs up emoji that oh 20 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: thanks man? Yeah, yeah, I want to be clear that 21 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,199 Speaker 1: it is an emoji, because you know, some people don't 22 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: know this, but emojis translate differently across different folks. I think, oh, ACPs, 23 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: we've talked about Have we talked about this on this show? 24 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: I don't you know? So we just hung out and 25 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: talked a bit of a blur. We do talk about 26 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: all kinds of things. Today we're talking about Abraham Lincoln 27 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: getting a bullet to the back of the dome by 28 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: a crazed I don't know, maybe it's not fair to 29 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: call him craze, but a zealous actor by the name 30 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: of John Wilkes booth Um during said play that may 31 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: or may not have been any good, and then he 32 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:17,359 Speaker 1: leapt from the balcony. It was a point blank shot 33 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: to the back of the heads six temper Tyrannus onto 34 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: the stage, caught his his his pants on something on 35 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: the way down and broke his leg, and somehow managed 36 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:35,519 Speaker 1: to escape. Yeah, made it seventy three miles to Port Royal, Virginia. 37 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: While the Feds were chasing him, his accomplices were dropping 38 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: out one by one. He eventually was cornered in a barn, 39 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: surrounded by veterans from the Union Army. But wait, we 40 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: need to back up again. Yes, beep, beep beep, that's 41 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: the sound of the history truck moving back, because we 42 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: gave you a little bit of, I guess, a cold open. 43 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: We should start at the as the mad Hatter says 44 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: at the beginning, Yes, that's appropriate for this, isn't it. 45 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: Our story starts with a soldier by the name of 46 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: Boston Corbett, although he was born Thomas Corbett and was 47 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: not a soldier out of the womb. As it turns out, 48 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: his his initial occupation was as an incorrigible drunk. Yes, 49 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: Thomas Corbett was a hatter, not yet mad, and this 50 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: was a pretty solid job for an upstanding American in 51 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: the mid nineteenth century. But his wife and his first child, 52 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: a girl, died during childbirth, and this sent him on 53 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: a downward spiral. We had a lot of death and 54 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: childbirth things happening in these last this episode and then 55 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: the last one about the Cocklane ghost. It's true to 56 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: check it out. Yeah, if you haven't already, uh, and 57 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: if you haven't, the shame on you. But yeah, no, 58 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: he did not uh, he did not do well after 59 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: this blow uh from on high and um, he you know, became, 60 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: like I said before, an incorrigible drunk. So that wasn't 61 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 1: his first profession. His first profession was a hatter, and 62 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: then he gave that up for the bottle um and 63 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: he lived in New England um in Boston, and he 64 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: would just haplessly stumble around drunk. He was kind of 65 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: because he was a vagrant. He became known as kind 66 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: of like one of the town um shiftless layabouts, right. 67 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: And it was one night, uh late in the eighteen 68 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: fifties when he ran into someone that would change his 69 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: life forever. Yes. Then there's a great recounting of this 70 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: in the Washingtonian in an article by Bill Jensen. He 71 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: meets one of these proselytizing preachers, a street evangelists, and 72 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: it gets to him. Corbette is psmerized by this word 73 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: of God. He becomes a regular at the what what 74 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: they called sidewalk churches around the city, which was an 75 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: interesting phrase I had not heard before. But it's like 76 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: a regularly occurring church meet up that doesn't necessarily have 77 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: its own physical building. And he became sort of a 78 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: hype man at these street preaching get togethers. He stopped 79 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: drinking and he started uh. He started being the guy 80 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: who just yells amen along with you know, sort of 81 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: punctuating what the preachers are saying. Yea, hype Manning is 82 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: it is sort of like in the trap music O 83 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: to there that it's gonna go. Yeah, yeah, that was 84 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: that was what he would do, except he was going 85 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: Floyd to God. Yep, yeah, that kind of and now 86 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: and speaking of Jesus, he also grew his his his 87 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:59,239 Speaker 1: hair his main long to to appear to resemble Jesus 88 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: Christ himself. Um. He was baptized in the Methodist faith. UM, 89 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: and he changed his name to Boston from Thomas because 90 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: Boston was the town where he credited this meeting with 91 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: the street preacher that turned his life around. He was 92 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: twenty six at this time, and the ministers eventually said, hey, 93 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: you should get your own turf. In other words, maybe 94 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: it's sort of like back up off our turf with right, Manning, 95 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: we don't need you anymore. I feel like Jesus is 96 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: leading you to preach elsewhere elsewhere, to leading to preach 97 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: down on Fourth. I think that's right. I think we 98 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: have to remember we haven't said this yet, but I'm 99 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: sure a lot of people know this already, but hatters 100 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: used mercury to treat the felt, to form to form 101 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: the felt to make the hats. And as we know, 102 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: long term exposure to mercury, um does have some debilitating 103 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:01,919 Speaker 1: effects on the brain. Yeah, as some illitating cognitive effects. 104 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: We do want to tell you that the next part 105 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 1: of this story takes a brief and grizzly turn. Yes, 106 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: we'll try to make it as brief as possible, but yeah, 107 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: it's it's it's not a pleasant image that's coming up here. 108 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: So he's out ministering to the people in the summer 109 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: of eighteen fifty eight when he feels that a pair 110 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: of sex workers are googling him, are giving him the eye, 111 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: and he is disgusted with himself when he feels physically 112 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: excited rises to the occasion, right, So he proceeds directly home, 113 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: takes a pair of scissors, and you, after making an 114 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: incision in his screw to um, he removes his testicles 115 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: and then goes directly to a prayer meeting like you do. 116 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: It was a different time, Yeah, and not only that 117 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: he went to his prayer meeting, did whatever that entails? Uh? 118 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: And then oh, we should also mention that Um. He 119 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 1: was when when he got home from from this encounter 120 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: with these these these ladies of the evening, he was 121 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: in search of answers uh. And he opened the Bible too. 122 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: It's unclear if if he was looking for this passage 123 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: because he was aware of it, or if he was like, 124 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: you know, did the old flipperou? And this is what 125 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,239 Speaker 1: came exactly. And the passage that he encountered was Matthew 126 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,959 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve, which has a part that says there are 127 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: eunuchs who have made themselves unis for the sake of 128 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,439 Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God. Uh. And that's what he went 129 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: and did with the with the snip snip. So he 130 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: goes on to the prayer meeting and then what he 131 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: goes to the hospital immediately right, No, he goes the 132 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: next day after after the prayer meeting. Uh. He he 133 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:52,199 Speaker 1: grabs did or and takes a walk through the city, 134 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: thinking his thoughts. Surely he's bleeding profusely from his genitals. 135 00:08:57,360 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: At this point, one would think that he was able 136 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: who staunched the wound, because otherwise, surely it would have 137 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: been noticed during the prayer meeting. If the guy's bleeding 138 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: through his trousers, but either way, he did eventually check 139 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: himself into a Massachusetts general and spent some time trying 140 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: to heal. Eventually he says, Okay, I'm better. A few 141 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: weeks later and he moved to New York City to 142 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: become a hat maker again. But he's still very religious 143 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: a boy, is he? Ever? He's possibly the most religious 144 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: person we've ever encountered in any story we've ever done 145 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: for this show. Can you think of anyone more staunchly religious? 146 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: Staunchly religious? Um, probably not that guy who mooned all 147 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: those people. Definitely he was still unidentified. Yeah, this guy 148 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:50,080 Speaker 1: might take the cake so far. Uh. He would often 149 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: use his lunch break to go to prayer meetings, so 150 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: he's still kept these He's very i would say, dogmatic 151 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: religious practices. And then in eighteen sixty one, the Confederate 152 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: Army attacks Fort Sumter, which one was that in the 153 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: Civil War? Nice ironically named because it was because it 154 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: was very uncivil. Yes, they were not nice to each other, 155 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: they were not. He enlisted the Union Army, and he 156 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: had a quotation here that he allegedly told the women 157 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,360 Speaker 1: at his church, did you see this one? No, it 158 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: had not been give it to me when he told 159 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 1: the people a church that he was going to join 160 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: up with the Union Army. He said, when I come 161 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: eye to eye with my great suited enemies, I will 162 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: say to them, God, have mercy on your souls. Then 163 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: pop them off. Yes, I do remember this one. To 164 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: pop them off is what did it for me? Very slang, 165 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: you know what. It reminds me of them. It reminds 166 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: me of Samuel L. Jackson's character, and pulp fiction does 167 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: the whole. And I will smite thee with great anger 168 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: and fury his vengeance those who attempt to poison and 169 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: destroy my brothers, you know the one. It's good though. 170 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: I wonder if he got that idea from from from 171 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: old Corbett. Uh. Perhaps perhaps he did. That would be interesting. 172 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: We'd have to ask Quentin himself. Right, there was a 173 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: big bummer about him joining the army. He had to 174 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: shave his Jesus is Jesus, jam is Jesus locks. Yeah, 175 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: and by most of the accounts we've discovered, he was 176 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: no case soldier. Could he could? Ryan, you can fire 177 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: a gun, pretty good shot, but wasn't the wasn't the 178 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: best at um He answered to a very particular authority, 179 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,280 Speaker 1: didn't he ben, it was not No, it was not earthly, 180 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: nor was it his his commanders. And that's going to 181 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: come up time and again in this man's story. But 182 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: one funny anecdote in this Washington I And article is 183 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: about um the time where when he was training in 184 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: Franklin Square in New York, his colonel, a man by 185 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: the name of Daniel Butterfield, who they point out, I 186 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: did not know this composed TAPS. I didn't think TAPS 187 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: was composed just was you know? Yeah, but no, this 188 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: guy Butterfield, um also apparently had a bit of a 189 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 1: potty mouth, because um, he was just eff and jeffen 190 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: and swearing all over town. And Corbett was not having it. 191 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: Was he? No, absolutely not Corbett, who we should also 192 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: mention is still very green his training here. Uh he 193 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: when the curls yelling at them and cursing, he yells back, colonel, 194 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: don't you know you're breaking God's law? Butterfield is a 195 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: guest like, he's speechless for a second. This has probably 196 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:48,760 Speaker 1: never happened to him. So what what does he do 197 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: in response? Yeah? He he he reads him in the 198 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: Riot Act, probably in a very measured kind of hannibal 199 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: electric kind of way. I don't know this guy Corbett 200 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: kind of giving me the creeps the whole self. Uh 201 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: near relation thing that that's a that's a bridge too 202 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: far sign a mental illness, I think for sure. And yeah, 203 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: again we should point out that he had been exposed 204 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: to these vapors, these mercury vapors for quite some time 205 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 1: in his and his hatting career before he for any 206 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: of this happened. Um. Yeah, and he says, colonel, don't 207 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: you know you are breaking God's law? Uh? And yeah, 208 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: Butterfield was probably just say, you know what, my boy, 209 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: thank you so much for pointing that out, thank you, 210 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: thank you for saving But no, it's not he did 211 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: at all. It's not what he did at all. No. Uh, 212 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: he said, I'm gonna send you to jail. So Corbette 213 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: begins loudly singing hymns, pretty much shouting hymns while he's 214 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:47,439 Speaker 1: in jail. He's asked to stop. He won't. Butterfield eventually 215 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: throws up his hands and says, look, if you just 216 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: say you're sorry, I can let you out of prison, 217 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: to which Corbett says, he says it no, sir, I 218 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: have no cause to apologize to you, for you are 219 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: but immortal, and you have offended the delicate sensibilities of 220 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: the Lord thy God. So if you ask God to 221 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: forgive you, then maybe I'll ask you to forgive me 222 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: the chutzpah. It's out of control for a guy without balls, 223 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: this is really ballsy. Yeah, no, no doubt about that. 224 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: I think it just goes to show that those kind 225 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: of balls come from within. My friend. There we go. 226 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: So he is released at jail because he's like, this 227 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: guy's impenetrable, you know. Yeah. Yeah, Also there's a war going. Yeah, 228 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: they they probably need him. He's a crack shot. He's 229 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: at least a passable soldier. Um, so yeah, they they 230 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: need him. Um. And Okay, let's see. God, this guy's 231 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: got a really storied, storied life. Yeah, where do you 232 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: want to go? Well? He he He becomes a pretty 233 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: important figure in the Union, uh cause he fights in 234 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: all these very very deadly conflicts that most people would 235 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: not have survived and did not survive. And I don't 236 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: know if he had God's God on his side or whatever, 237 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,000 Speaker 1: but it's I don't know, it's hard to not think 238 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: that that his piety maybe had something to do with it, 239 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: or maybe it was just he was stark, raving, mad 240 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: and fearless and just kind of like had luck on 241 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: his side. Yeah yeah, Like the New England Historical Society 242 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 1: covers a little bit of his activity in the Civil War. 243 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: I did not know that he had enlisted or re 244 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: enlisted three times. He took to this conflict and he 245 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: wasn't the best soldier produced consistent. The thing people hated 246 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: about working with him is that he was always telling 247 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: people not to curse, would do sinful stuff sure, like 248 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: you know, like you do in the army. He sounded 249 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: like a real kill joy um. But he eventually got 250 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: captured and sent to Andersonville. Do you know what Andersonville Prison? Ben? Yes, No, 251 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: Andersonville Prison is a terrible, terrible place, or it was 252 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: a terrible terrible place. We should say. It's sitting here 253 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: in Georgia, right, Hunts. It was a Confederate run prison 254 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: here in Georgia, which you can visit. I've actually been it. 255 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: Uh it's the Andersonville National Historic Site now so it 256 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: preserves uh Camp Sumter, which is also known as the prison, 257 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: and it held forty five thousand Union soldiers prisoner during 258 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: the war. Uh Nearly thirteen thousand of them died not 259 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: from execution, but from diseases, scurvy, diarrhea, dysentery, the bloody flux. Yeah, 260 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: is that? What is that? What it was called? I 261 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: think that's what they call it. That was the That 262 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: was the shorthand. Um, although it's sort of longer now 263 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: just dysentery, the blood deflux, same number of syllables, but 264 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:55,280 Speaker 1: sounds a lot scarier, doesn't it. It does, Yeah, because 265 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: because the flux, I guess is when you when you 266 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: expel blood. Right now. The thing about uh, the thing 267 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: about Mr Boston Corbett is that maybe it's a matter 268 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: of his faith, Maybe it's a matter of luck. He survived. Yeah, 269 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 1: this man was nothing if not resilient. I mean, he 270 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:17,359 Speaker 1: survived a self administered castration first informat, he survived you know, 271 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: drunkenness in the streets, um. And he survived some of 272 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:25,880 Speaker 1: the most intense battles of the Civil War. Uh. And 273 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: he survived this prison, which was built to house ten 274 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: thousand inmates and ballooned to over thirty two thousand. There 275 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 1: was like a little stream that ran through it, and 276 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,119 Speaker 1: apparently it had just become a swamp of human filth, 277 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 1: and all of these diseases ran rampant. The guy who 278 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: was in charge of this, uh, this facility was actually 279 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 1: brought up on war crime trials because thousands, if not 280 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,360 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of men died in this facility. Yeah, 281 00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 1: thirteen thousand that we know of, So that guy was 282 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: rightly brought up a war crime. What's his name? His 283 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,919 Speaker 1: name was Captain Henry Were's w I r Z. Not 284 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: only he's tried for war crimes, but he was executed. 285 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: So after Corbett gets away, after he survives this convalesces 286 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: for a bit, one would imagine, right, learns to eat 287 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: solid food again, he still stays with the army. He 288 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 1: he had eventually reached the rank of sergeant in the 289 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: sixteenth New York Volunteer Cavalry. Now we get to the 290 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: point where we began the story. Oh man, weren't we 291 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,960 Speaker 1: having a barn burner? Maybe we hadn't quite gotten there yet. 292 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: But our man John Wilkes Booth, hobbled from his idiotic 293 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: fall at the Ford Theater after putting a bullet in 294 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 1: um old Abe Lincoln's head is now hold up in 295 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: this barn, along with two accomplices. I want to say, yeah, 296 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: everybody else has deserted them. He's seventy three miles away 297 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: from the theater, being hunted like a dog. Boston Corbette 298 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: is one of the twenties six elite cavalrymen sent from 299 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: the unit to pursue John Wilkes Booth and pursue him. 300 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: They did. They got a tip from a local innkeeper, 301 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: um who put them in touch with with a man 302 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: who kind of gave give a give it to us man. 303 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not doing a very good job. Oh no, 304 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: you got it. You got it. We've got uh Booth 305 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: and his conspirator, David Harold in a tobacco farm owned 306 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: by a guy named Richard Garrett. So what are the 307 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,439 Speaker 1: calvary men do once they have them cornered in that barn? Well, 308 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: they're not coming out right, So they light some straw 309 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: on fire and poke it through in a notth hole 310 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: in the in the barn, and you know, like old 311 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 1: dry wood tends to do it. It went up in 312 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: flames pretty quickly. And David Harold says, Okay, this is 313 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: crazy even for a terrorist like me. I give up Booth, 314 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: who was already made his decision, made his peace with 315 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:07,239 Speaker 1: whatever powers he thinks exists, stays inside. But as the 316 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: barn disintegrates in the conflagration, the soldiers outside can see 317 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: Booth silhouette moving back and forth in the burning barn. 318 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: And let's, uh, let's just remind our listeners. Maybe not 319 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,679 Speaker 1: really reminder, because we haven't said it yet. Um, the 320 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: instructions of this brigade was to bring back these men 321 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: alive because the plot against Lincoln there was a good 322 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,159 Speaker 1: chance that it had been organized orchestrated by forces on 323 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: the Confederate side, and they wanted to, you know, get 324 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: to the top of this uh conspiracy. Right. So when 325 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: our boy Corbett popped one off, as he would say, 326 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: right at John Wokes Booth as he hobbled away, people 327 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:09,440 Speaker 1: were understandably annoyed, right, And a another government employee says, 328 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: what on earth did you shoot him for? And he's 329 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,640 Speaker 1: rushing to yank Booth out of the burning barn. They 330 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 1: wanted him alive to you know, run up the ladder 331 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: of the conspiracy, and Corbett refused to apologize. Booth dies 332 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: around seven am the next day and the government forces 333 00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: are are wondering why this guy is completely contradicting his orders. 334 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: And all he says is that God Almighty directed me 335 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:46,199 Speaker 1: to So instead of John Wilkes Booth going back to 336 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: d C, they take Corbett. Yeah, and Edwin M. Stanton, 337 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: who's the Secretary of War who had issued a reward 338 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: the War Department of a hundred thousand dollars fifty for Booth, 339 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: five for um Surat and for Harold and a total 340 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: of a hundred thousand dollars. And um, this guy questioned 341 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,959 Speaker 1: Corbette uh personally, and I think he sort of decided 342 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: it wasn't worth pursuing that. Um, you know, the guy's dead. 343 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: The justice has been served. This guy is going to 344 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: be kind of a national hero. Let's let it. Let's 345 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: let it slide. Yeah. Even though Corbett kind of changes 346 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 1: his message at the trial and he says, I didn't 347 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,359 Speaker 1: fire the ball from fear. I was under the impression 348 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: that he, meaning Booth, had started to the door to 349 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:40,439 Speaker 1: fight his way through, and I thought he would do 350 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: harm to my men if I didn't fire. So it 351 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: changes a little bit. He's not quite as self righteous 352 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 1: about it. But how does this story end? Noel, he 353 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,760 Speaker 1: doesn't get the whole fifty grand. You know he gets 354 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: a portion of it, though I think who gets a 355 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: little over sixteen hundred. And then he asked if he 356 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: can take his horse hole, which I thought was pretty sweet. 357 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: He says, he's not valuable, but I'm attached to him 358 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,400 Speaker 1: and I'd like to take him home. He's a sentimental man. 359 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 1: He's a sentimental eunuch um mad hatter h Later he 360 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: is largely forgotten um. He starts initially going back to 361 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: work as a silk hat finisher, then he turns to 362 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:28,360 Speaker 1: being a lay preacher, making two fifty a year dollars dollars, yes, 363 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: not thousands, of course, And by eighteen seventy four he 364 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 1: has his mental state has further deteriorated. He is convinced 365 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: that John Wilkes Booth is actually still alive, and that 366 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: Booth has sent people from the former Confederacy to kill him. 367 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: That being said, though he was not a popular man 368 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: among his cohorts. For for for the reason we talked 369 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,520 Speaker 1: about earlier, that he's always in people's faces preaching the 370 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: Holy Roller line. But also like even the other troops 371 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: that he was with in his unit, they would have 372 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: been irritated with him because he kind of stole their glory. Right, 373 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,080 Speaker 1: that could have been any of them. Also, it would 374 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: have been much more of a group victory if they 375 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: had brought the man back alive like they were supposed to. 376 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: But instead he took it upon himself to to pop 377 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,439 Speaker 1: one off. Yeah, and so he was getting threatening letters, 378 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: that was real. Yes, he was getting threatening letters. Don't 379 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:26,919 Speaker 1: know if they were meant just to torture him, but 380 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: some were signed J. Wilkes Smooth. So in his mental 381 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: state he felt that these really were from this guy, 382 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 1: and there was this overarching conspiracy to assassinate him. By 383 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:46,199 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, increasingly unpopular, despised by half the country, 384 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: strongly disliked by his colleagues. Uh. He hops in a 385 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: wagon and says that he's going to head west. Where's 386 00:24:55,200 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: it go Ben? He goes to a place called Cloud County, Kansas, 387 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 1: starts the homestead of eighty acres. Yeah. Unfortunately, that doesn't 388 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: go super well, and because of some pretty intensely erratic behavior, um, 389 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: he does not get to continue in that endeavor. Some 390 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:21,120 Speaker 1: of that behavior includes in eighteen eighty seven, he holds 391 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: the Kansas House of Representatives hostage, basically using two revolvers 392 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,679 Speaker 1: and a sword, and then he declares that the session 393 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,440 Speaker 1: has been adjourned um. And then he has various incendity 394 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,440 Speaker 1: run ins with the law, and in eighteen eighty seven 395 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,720 Speaker 1: October that is um. He has declared insane and he 396 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: is committed to a Kansas asylum. But that's not the end. 397 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: That is not quite the end. He escapes from the 398 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: asylum in May six, eighteen eight because he sees somebody 399 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: making deliveries and tethering a horse to the front of 400 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,760 Speaker 1: the building. So he breaks away, jumps on the horse, 401 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: and takes off all the way to Neodesha, Kansas, home 402 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: of a fellow veteran and survivor of and Andersonville, a 403 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:17,719 Speaker 1: guy named Richard Thatcher, and that caused this kind of 404 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: bolo letter to be generated with the heading insane man 405 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: escaped Topeka, Kansas. Dear Sir Boston Corbett, an insane man 406 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: escaped from the insane asylum at Topeka this morning, and 407 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: it's supposed to be heading for Cloud County. He's about 408 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,400 Speaker 1: fifty five years old and five ft four inches tall. 409 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: It is a clever detail. This is a smart move. 410 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: He has plucked all his beard out down to the 411 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: lower part of his ears, his gray chin whiskers, and mustache, 412 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,399 Speaker 1: gray hair cut square at the bottom and parts his 413 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 1: hair in the middle. He wore a dark jeans suit 414 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: and black soft hat and was riding a bay or 415 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:01,919 Speaker 1: a sorrel pony with a boy's saddle. So keep a 416 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: lookout for that guy. He is regarded as a dangerous man, 417 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: but was unarmed when he escaped. If he comes your way, 418 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: arrest him and return him to the asylum at once, 419 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: or telegraph Dr B. D. Eastman, Superintendent Insane Asylum, Topeka 420 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 1: for orders. What happens when he meets up with his 421 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: old pal Thatcher, or when he reaches Thatcher's property, We 422 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 1: should say, well, the first thing he did when he 423 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: got there to Neodosha, Kansas, was he he took that 424 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: stolen horse that he referred to as a borrowed horse, 425 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: and he tied it a note onto it and slapped 426 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: it on the button sent it on its way. Um, 427 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: And it was quite a way as a way, So 428 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: it's it's unclear if that horse made it to its 429 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,439 Speaker 1: rightful owner. But the note kind of was like, sorry, 430 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,480 Speaker 1: I just had to do it here, Please take this horseback. 431 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: I didn't wasn't stealing it. But yeah, he went to 432 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 1: a train station and I was trying to get to Mexico. Um. 433 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 1: And that is the last anyone ever heard from him, right. 434 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: Rumors still trickle in after that. They'll see a lot 435 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 1: of people list as death as eighteen four. One theory 436 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:09,719 Speaker 1: says that he was targeted by people who were bitter 437 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: over the various battles he had had in his time 438 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 1: in the Union Army. Uh. Someone else said he died 439 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:21,000 Speaker 1: the Great Hinkley Fire. Uh. And then there were people 440 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 1: who would point out other possibilities. You know, in the 441 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,639 Speaker 1: early nine hundreds, of Federal Prison Bureau heard about a 442 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,679 Speaker 1: Boston Corbett who claimed he was alive and well and 443 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: wanted his pension checks. But the problem was that the 444 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: guy who claimed to be Boston Corbett, who also went 445 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: by the nickname Old Trapper. Old Trapper, only gave um 446 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: vague descriptions. Yeah, I think he was taller. And he 447 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: was taller, Yeah, like a lot taller, I believe full 448 00:28:54,720 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: eight inches or so. And then people thought that would 449 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: be the last they heard of him. But more and 450 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: more stories poured in. They just became less and less credible. 451 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,479 Speaker 1: If that makes sense, it does, and now he is 452 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: largely lost to history except for one one thing that remains. Right. Yeah, 453 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: it's like a weird kind of memorial. It's just a 454 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 1: pen like a like a fenced area. Um that marks 455 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: where his final home was. And uh. In this Washingtonian 456 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 1: article they wrap up talking about how in there was 457 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 1: a boy Scout troop that made a stone plaque to 458 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: put there and they called it the Boston Corbett dugout 459 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: And um, there are two revolvers embedded in the rock. 460 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: And here ends the strange story of Boston Corbette war. 461 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: He wrote a some a villain to others, but clearly 462 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:01,719 Speaker 1: a man in need of medical care ofs some sort. Yeah. Absolutely, 463 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:06,479 Speaker 1: who left a pretty fascinating mark on history. And if 464 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: you'd like to read more about Boston Corbett, you can 465 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: check out the book The Madman and the Assassin, which 466 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: has a a pretty snappy chronicle of his time, both 467 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 1: his normal life leading up to the Civil War and 468 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: his earlier struggles all the way to that fateful day 469 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:33,080 Speaker 1: when he shot John Wilkes Booth. I felt like a 470 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: very definitive engine. Usually we get to a segue or something. Uh, yeah, no, 471 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: that's good, that's good. Where it's almost like we're getting 472 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,480 Speaker 1: a little bit better at this. Well let's let's not 473 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: jinx ourselves, but we we hope you enjoyed this story. 474 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 1: We were surprised in the course of our research to 475 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: learn that, you know, a lot of people haven't heard 476 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: of this guy. I hadn't. Yeah, they don't really teach 477 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: you about it in school, you know. Well, you know, 478 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: it's like, I think this is an interesting slice of 479 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: life of the time too, and ms of like, you know, 480 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,960 Speaker 1: the way mental illness was was handled, the whole idea 481 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: of there's just so many interesting little twists in this story. 482 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: The way, um, the whole Anderson villain carstration thing. I 483 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: knew a little bit about that, but this was a 484 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: really interesting inside perspective, like from someone who lived through it, 485 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: the whole, you know, coming to Jesus stuff. It's just 486 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: this is like, why is there not a film about 487 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: this guy? Who would play him? Uh, Crispin Glover? Yes, 488 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: did I tell you that? My friend Matt saw Crispin 489 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: Glover on the subway in New York for like an hour, 490 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: just sitting by himself, wearing a really nice black suit 491 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: and listening to his earbuds. I think you may have 492 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,360 Speaker 1: mentioned that was it was he actually going somewhere just 493 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: righting the subway. No, I think he was going he said, 494 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: Matt works way uptown. Um, and his his theory was 495 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: maybe that he was shooting something in Harlem, because that's 496 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: sort of the direction. Yeah. So I think Crispin Glover 497 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: would be a good pick. He would be awesome. I mean, 498 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: I mean, look, if you look at this guy, listeners, 499 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: if you want to check it out, tell us what 500 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,520 Speaker 1: you think. Who would play Boston Corbett, Oh, Crispin Glover 501 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,240 Speaker 1: all day long? You know who else would be good? 502 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: Norman read us scenes. Also, my favorite moment in the 503 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: Guy's biography is definitely the Other Street evangelists saying God 504 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: has called you to preach my son about four blocks 505 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: that way. That's still my Favorite's good. H We want 506 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: to know what you thought about this episode, and as always, 507 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: some of our best ideas come from you, fellow ridiculous historians. 508 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: So let us know what other tremendously important characters in 509 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,000 Speaker 1: American history or in the history of your own country 510 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 1: seemed to be largely obscured today. We'd like to shed 511 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,320 Speaker 1: some light on them. As always, thank you for checking 512 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: out the show. Thank you to our super producer Casey Pegram, 513 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: thanks to Alex Williams who composed our theme, and thanks 514 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:52,080 Speaker 1: to Christopher Haciers for being our researcher extraordinaire on this episode. 515 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: And by this time, long time listeners, you know the drill. 516 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also 517 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: check out our Commune D page, Ridiculous Historians, which is 518 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: a hoot, a real hoot and hoot, hunt and holler 519 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: a bruhaha. Sure are we just going to toss synonyms? 520 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: We have to get out of here. We do toss synonym, 521 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: so I like it