1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson and uh, Tracy, 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: are you watching or did you watch True Detective? I 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: did not, which you still can. But thanks to its popularity, 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: as you may have earned, it actually crashed HBO go 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: on its finale night. I did hear that because so 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: many people were trying to watch it. Uh. Many people 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: have found are renewed or perhaps a new interest in 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: the writing of Robert W. Chambers because of a book 11 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,160 Speaker 1: of short stories that he wrote in the late eighteen 12 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: hundreds which is called The King and Yellow And this 13 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: book is referenced throughout the season one story arc of 14 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: True Detective with references to the Yellow King and the 15 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: wearing of masks in the city of Carcosa. And in turn, 16 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: Chambers influenced, uh a whole subgenre of writers of so 17 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: called weird fiction, including people like HP Lovecraft. Definitely weird. 18 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: Well it's actually called weird fiction. Just me going that's weird. 19 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: I'm just saying, and I love weird fiction. So, but 20 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: influencing Chambers. So going back before the work of Chambers 21 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: was actually a man who has been on my list 22 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: for a long time. Uh. So now seems like the 23 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: perfect point to focus on him, since True Detective pointed 24 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,600 Speaker 1: at all of this work so much recently, and all 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: of those mentions of Carcosa and True Detective that come up. Uh, 26 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: that name actually shows up in chambers work, but it 27 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: was borrowed from the man we're going to talk about today, 28 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 1: who is Ambros Beers, who first mentioned it in a 29 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: short story which was called an Inhabitant of Carcosa and 30 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: that was first published in and Ambrow's. Beers is a 31 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: really fascinating character. He was a soldier, he was a journalist, 32 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: he was an editor, He was something of a philosopher, 33 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: He was a cynic. Uh. He was a very complicated 34 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: man with an unwavering moral code. And his life experiences 35 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: he such so many things that are historically significant in 36 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: his time. Uh And much of it was fantastic, much 37 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: of it was horrific, and it all sort of informed 38 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: his writing. Ambrose was born Ambrose Gwinnette Beers on Dune 39 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: forty two in Ohio. It was in a settlement called 40 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: Horse Cave. His parents, Marcus Aurelius and Laura Sherwood Beers 41 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: had thirteen children, and Ambrose was the tenth. And here's 42 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: a fun fact that you can pull out at a 43 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: cocktail party if you have a conversation law. Marcus and 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: Laura only named their children names that started with the 45 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: letter A. So, in addition to Ambrose, they were Andrew, Aurelius, Arthur, Abigail, Augustus, 46 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: and Aurelia, so the female version of Aurelius, Addison, Albert, Amelia, Adelia, 47 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 1: and al Maida. I feel like at the end they 48 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: were just swapping around some consonants to try to make 49 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: new names. It seems that way. But thirteen kids in yeah, 50 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: creativity might fall away. There's no there's no Amanda. Did 51 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: we have that name yet? When Ambrose was still a 52 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: young child, the family moved to Indiana and eventually settled 53 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: in Elkhart, and Marcus had a really pretty impressive library, 54 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: which served as a major source of education and inspiration 55 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 1: to Ambrose in his early years. He enrolled in the 56 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: Kentucky Military Institute at seventeen, and while he excelled, he 57 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: wound up leaving the school early to take odd jobs. 58 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: Uh so this is right on the cusp of the 59 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: Civil War, and Beers ended up having a really impressive 60 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: military record during the course of the American Civil War. 61 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: At the start of the war, Beers's uncle, General Lucius 62 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: Varius Beers, established two companies of Union marines. This was 63 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: in April of eighteen sixty one. His nephew Ambrose was 64 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: among the men, and it was mere days after Lincoln's 65 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: call for volunteers when the younger Beers enlisted. Lucius had 66 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: instilled in Ambrose a strong opposition to the concept of slavery, 67 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: so he had been really eager to join the war effort. Yeah, 68 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: just as many other UH figures we've talked about, and 69 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 1: some even recently, UH. The Beers family was very much 70 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: part of the abolitionist mindset. When Major General George McClellan 71 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: led an invasion on West Virginia, Ambrose was part of 72 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: that campaign. The following year, eighteen sixty two, he was 73 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: at Shiloh in Hardin County, Tennessee when it was attacked 74 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: by the Confederate army. That battle was devastating for the 75 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 1: Union forces, who were taken by surprise, but Beers was 76 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,040 Speaker 1: one of the survivors who rallied under General Don Carlos 77 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: Buell and catalyzed a Confederate retreat, and the Shiloh Battle 78 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: was one of the bloodiest of the war, with more 79 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: than twenty three thousand casualties, and it's something that came 80 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: up a lot in his work. Two months later, the 81 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: newly promoted second lieutenant Beers saved his commanding officers life 82 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: at the Battle of Stone River, and I'm going to 83 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,799 Speaker 1: start that totally over. Two months later, the newly promoted 84 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: second lieutenant Beers saved his commanding officer's life at the 85 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: Battle of Stones River in Murphysboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee, and 86 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: shortly thereafter, in February of eighteen sixty three, he was 87 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 1: promoted to first lieutenant, and in his role as first lieutenant, 88 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: Beers served with the ninth Indiana Regiment and he fought 89 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: at Chickamauga in September of eighteen sixty three. Beers was 90 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 1: also part of the Atlanta Campaign under General Sherman, and 91 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: this campaign was pretty rough for him personally. He lost 92 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: his closest friend during the fighting and he was also 93 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: struck in the head by a musket shot on June 94 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: twenty three, eighteen sixty four, during fighting at Kennesaw Mountain, 95 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: which is close to us. That kind of brings this 96 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: particular story very close to home. But yeah, the whole 97 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,559 Speaker 1: we're in Atlanta. We're in Atlanta right now. Uh. Beers 98 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: was treated for his injury and he returned to the 99 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: front lines in September, so just a few months later, 100 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: and he served for several months before being discharged the 101 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:00,600 Speaker 1: following January. Uh chronic dizziness and fainting spells that were 102 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: kind of brought on by this head injury had ended 103 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: his time in the war, but just a few months 104 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: before the conflict officially ended. It's not really surprising to 105 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: say that the Civil War changed him, because how could 106 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: it not. He was only eighteen when he enlisted, and 107 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: the horrors of battle affected him pretty deeply. The idealism 108 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: with which he had entered the service was replaced with 109 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 1: this cynicism that would become one of his most fundamental traits. 110 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,479 Speaker 1: And his time in the war also, as I mentioned earlier, 111 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: informed a lot of his writing. There have been other 112 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: authors that wrote about the Civil War, and some of 113 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: them even served, like Mark Twain I think, had a 114 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: brief service, But Ambrose Beer served more than any of 115 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: those other writers. He was in the thick of it 116 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: for almost the entirety. I mean he enlisted days after 117 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: things began and was only a couple of months before 118 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: it ended when he was discharged. So those years he 119 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: was just constantly involved in the war. And a sad 120 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: commentary on how deeply his time and the war had 121 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: changed him. Beers wrote later in his life, when I 122 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: asked myself what has become of Ambrose Beers, the youth 123 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: who fought at Chickamauga, I am bound to answer that 124 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: he is dead. Yeah. He was uh, pretty open about 125 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: how much it had changed him and how sort of 126 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: bluntly it had ended his idealism. After leaving the war, 127 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: Ambrose worked in Alabama for a while as a treasury agent, 128 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: and then in eighteen sixty six he was employed by 129 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: General W. B. Hazen for an expedition into Indian territory. 130 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: And Beers had worked as a topographical engineer under Hazen 131 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: for a period during the war, and the general wanted 132 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: his map making skills again as his team made their 133 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: way west. Let's travel with Hazen took Beers all the 134 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: way to California. They arrived in San Francisco in eighteen 135 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: sixty seven and Beers decided to stay on the West 136 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: Coast and he found employment with the U. S. Mint. 137 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: But he had begun to work on writing in earnest 138 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: at the same time, and he started submitting essays and 139 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: short satire pieces to local papers. He was eventually published 140 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: in the San Francisco Newsletter, and when the managing editor 141 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,239 Speaker 1: of the newsletter resigned in eighteen sixty eight, Beer spilled 142 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: the vacancy. Yeah, even though he really didn't have any 143 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: formal journalism training, he kind of decided he was going 144 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: to become a journalist and studied on his own and 145 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: came managing editor of a paper, uh. And as managing editor, 146 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: he made a name for himself by taking over the 147 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: weekly column called The Town Crier, and he really used 148 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: this as his soapbox to lampoon government officials. We mentioned 149 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: earlier his sort of uh rigid moral code, and he 150 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: basically if he thought anybody was doing anything wrong, he 151 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: would call them out publicly in his column and right 152 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: really derisive things about them. Just pretty aggressive. Yeah. While 153 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: he was still working as a managing editor, he was 154 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: also developing another talent outside of journalism by working on 155 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: short fiction and so much. In the same way as 156 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: he started HISALSM career by submitting essays while working for 157 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: the Mint, he started submitting his short stories to literary journals. 158 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: He eventually published his first fictional story, The Haunted Valley, 159 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 1: in the Overland Monthly. And before we get to his 160 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: life sort of blossoming in terms of becoming a family man. 161 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:18,680 Speaker 1: Is it cool if we pause for just a second 162 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsor? Let's do it. So 163 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: back to Ambrose. On December eighteen seventy one, Beers married 164 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: a woman named Mary Ellen Day, and just a few 165 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,320 Speaker 1: months later, in March of eighteen seventy two, he quit 166 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: his job at the paper so that the couple could 167 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: take an extended honeymoon in London, although they ended up 168 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 1: moving to Bristol not long into their stay abroad because 169 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: the weather there was more hospitable to Ambrose's asthma. While 170 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: he was in England, he also works submitting his writing 171 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: to British journals. He eventually published work in the journal's Figaro, 172 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 1: London Sketchbook and Fun and he ended up with a 173 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: regular column and Figaro. Yeah he was writing comedy even 174 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: though I will talk a lot, and that's about how 175 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: sort of dark some of his writing is. Uh. A 176 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: lot of what he was writing was really, uh, you know, funny, 177 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: little satirical sketches. And this time while he was in 178 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: England was productive for both his career and his family. 179 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: The couple's first child, named Day, was born in eighteen 180 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: seventy two, and their second son, named Lee, was born 181 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy four, so they really were having an 182 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: extended stay in England. And in between these babies, Beers's 183 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: first three books were born, The Fiend's Delight, Nuggets and 184 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: Dust and Cobwebs from an Empty Skull uh. And after 185 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: baby number two, the Beers's returned to California in eighteen 186 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: seventy five, and not long after they returned to California, 187 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: they had a third child, who was a daughter named Helen. Meanwhile, 188 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: Ambrose returned to his writing career. Once they were stateside again, 189 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: he got a job as an editor of the journal Argonaut. 190 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: In another case of kind of repeating patterns in his life, 191 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 1: he wrote a weekly column. It often called out public 192 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: officials for their moral failings. However, this column, which was 193 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: called Prattle, also had the leeway to give him an 194 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: outlook for publishing fiction on a regular basis. He wrote 195 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: Prattle as editor of Argonaut for three years before setting 196 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: out on a surprising enterprise, you know, surprising and short lived. 197 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: In eighty Ambrose took a position as a general manager 198 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: of a mining company in South Dakota. And while the 199 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: allure of the job was probably the promise of you know, 200 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: significant income, the gold rush had really peaked several years earlier, 201 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,599 Speaker 1: and the corruption in the general depravity that he encountered 202 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: uh soured him on this position almost immediately. I mean, 203 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: we've mentioned how he liked to really call out people 204 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: that he thought were morally corrupt, So you can imagine 205 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 1: an entire business that he felt was just filled with 206 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: those people. Was really distasteful. And so by the end 207 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 1: of that year he was back in San Francisco. Pierce 208 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: was about to start writing Prattle in but not with 209 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: Argonaut this time around. His column was featured in WASP. 210 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: In addition to using it as a soap box to 211 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: call people out for their behavior and for using it 212 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: for short stories, he also used the column to share 213 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,959 Speaker 1: pieces about the Civil War, as well as short satirical 214 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: blurbs that would become the foundation of the Cynic's Word 215 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: Book and that would eventually be retitled The Devil's Dictionary. 216 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: Is the first thing I ever read by him, and 217 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: that's kind of how I fell in love with Ambrose Beers. 218 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 1: And we'll talk more about that in a bit. Uh. 219 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,960 Speaker 1: And after leaving the Wasp in eighteen eighty six, and 220 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,680 Speaker 1: that's one of those things where, uh, when you see 221 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: it written about, there's always there were lots of reasons 222 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: he left like he was, as you might imagine, not 223 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: always the easiest man to be around, because he did 224 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: have this sort of very strict code in his head 225 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: about how people should be and behave, and he was 226 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,079 Speaker 1: very opinionated and very outspoken about it. So that there 227 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: are many factors to that exit from the Wasp, and 228 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: they're not always clear, uh. But having burned many bridges 229 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: with his critical column, he had a lot of difficulty 230 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: finding work after that, so for about a year he 231 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:12,559 Speaker 1: went without a job. However, a man with a huge 232 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: reputation for being difficult in his own right came into 233 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: the picture and changed everything. So Prattle was revived by 234 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: none other than William Randolph Hurst, who offered Beers a 235 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:26,559 Speaker 1: position at the San Francisco Examiner. This was before Hurst 236 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: was the media giant that he would later become. The 237 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 1: Examiner was his first paper, and Beerst took the job 238 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: on the condition that he could write whatever he wanted, uh, 239 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:41,199 Speaker 1: like no editorial shut down of anything. And those were 240 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 1: terms that Hurst actually agreed to. You know, he had 241 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: sought out Beers, so presumably he was willing to be 242 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: pretty generous with his deal. And so Prattle once again 243 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:55,199 Speaker 1: became a combination of Ambrose Beers's fiction and his social commentary. 244 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 1: And this time he built on the work that he 245 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,199 Speaker 1: did at the WASP, and he published a much arger 246 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,440 Speaker 1: volume of his Civil War writings, including an occurrence at 247 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: Owl Creek Bridge, which is probably his most famous work. 248 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: In this tale, which was published initially in serial form, 249 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: a southern gentleman contemplates his life and reminiscence about his 250 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: home and his family. Is he's about to be hung 251 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: by Yankee soldiers. And it's much more complicated than that. 252 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: Beers is sort of a master of sort of shifting 253 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: what you think is real and what is actually happening. Uh. 254 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 1: And the tone of the piece is cold, and in 255 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: it a steady diet of violence has kind of jaded 256 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: all of the players. Uh, which is something that comes 257 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: up again and again in his work. This one's my 258 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: first exposure to Ambrose Bears. Did you like it when 259 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: you initially read it? It might have been in school, 260 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: So it was in school, and uh, I don't remember 261 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,760 Speaker 1: liking or disliking it. It's also been made into a 262 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: film several times. Yes, I also remember watching a film 263 00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: of it in school, so uh, yeah, there's it's it's interesting. 264 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: I feel like having come in from the Devil's Dictionary, 265 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:09,160 Speaker 1: which is much funnier and kind of absurdist in some ways. Yeah, 266 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: I have a much different sort of relationship with him 267 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: than people that were assigned Civil war stories by him 268 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: when they were kids. Well, it's one of those things 269 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: that I feel like I read it at the same 270 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: approximate time as reading Romeo and Juliet, which there's It's 271 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: one of those things where, in hindsight I kind of go, 272 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: is that really the best thing for middle schoolers to 273 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: get there? You know, first taste of this thing with Anyway, 274 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: while Bears had achieved a certain level of success as 275 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: a writer at this time, his home life was kind 276 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: of unraveling. He and Mary had grown apart, and he 277 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: had started to suspect that she was being unfaithful, although 278 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: there was really no evidence of infidelity. Yeah, it's one 279 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: of those things that, similar to when he left the WASP, 280 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: there's a lot of fuzzy nous around it. There's not 281 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: a lot of hard details. He thinks that she received 282 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: two letters from an admirer, and it kind of seems 283 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: like his pride may have caused him to draw conclusions 284 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:09,240 Speaker 1: and be dug in about something that really there was 285 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: no substance to. Uh. Which is a pity because then 286 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: after almost seventeen years of being married, they separated in 287 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: Then just a year later, their oldest son, Day was 288 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: killed in a gunfight over Day's fiancee, who had run 289 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: off with another man. Both of the young men wound 290 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: up dying as a result of their wounds. And despite 291 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: all of this turmoil that was going on in his 292 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: private life in the late eighteen eighties, UH the early 293 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: eighteen nineties were some of Beers's most successful years as 294 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: a writer. He published several books, all very quickly, tales 295 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: of soldiers and civilians, aggregated his Civil War stories, and 296 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: got a lot of critical acclaim. The Monk and The 297 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: Hangman's Daughter is written as a diary of a man 298 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: struggling with morality, and that was promoted as a translation 299 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: of a lost German text. Then there's Can Such Things Be, 300 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: which is a collection of supernatural short stories, and that 301 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:13,719 Speaker 1: one includes an inhabitant of Carcosa. And he also started 302 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: at this time to mentor younger writers. Uh. And that's 303 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 1: something he would do for years, although apparently, you know, 304 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: he remained a rather critical human being, Like he was 305 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: very judgmental and critical of others, and he would distance 306 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: himself from his students and writers he was supposed to 307 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: be mentoring that he thought weren't very talented or didn't 308 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: have very original ideas, Like he wouldn't it sounds like 309 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: he wouldn't really address it and be like, I don't 310 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:39,720 Speaker 1: really think you have what it takes. He would just 311 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:45,159 Speaker 1: sort of quietly shut them out. He's a complicated and 312 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: difficult man, I think so. Right as Beerce's career was that, 313 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:53,720 Speaker 1: it's apex Hurst sent him to Washington, d C. What 314 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,360 Speaker 1: Hurst wanted to do was kind of enlist Ambrose Bierce's 315 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 1: vitriol and sense of justice uh into his fight with 316 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: against the dealings of Collis Huntington's. So Huntington's had been 317 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 1: accused of being politically corrupt before, and he was trying 318 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: to slide a bill through Congress, which, if it passed, 319 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: was going to forgive all the outstanding loans that the 320 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: government held. Some of these had paid for the construction 321 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: of the Transcontinental Railroad. And the reason this is important 322 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: to Huntington's is that he was basically the last man 323 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: standing of the group that was responsible for building the project, 324 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: so he was not super interested in bearing the financial 325 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 1: burden and paying back all these loans that he now 326 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 1: was responsible for. Hurst had gotten wind of Huntington's scheme 327 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: to shirk all these loans, and he basically sent his 328 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: journalist attack dog after him. Beers was not a blind 329 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 1: pawn in all of this. He thought that the railroad 330 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: was correct and that Congress shouldn't be helping, and so 331 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: his skilled rhetoric drew attention to the bill, which was 332 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: ultimately defeated. And that's the whole episode that I mean. 333 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: There have been book just about that event, about the 334 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: fight of the railroad and Congress being involved in the 335 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,119 Speaker 1: legalities of the corruption, and UH, if anybody wanted to 336 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: explore that just know it's out there. Uh. Beers returned 337 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: to California after all of this for a while, but 338 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 1: soon he has to be transferred to Washington, d C. 339 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 1: Permanently and he and Hurst, as you can imagine, two 340 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 1: very opinionated, very outspoken men, were known to butt heads 341 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: uh and argue over things like this. But the request 342 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 1: was approved and Beerst moved to d C and started 343 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: writing his pieces for the Examiner as well as The 344 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: Cosmopolitan from his new home on the East coast. And 345 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: that was in eight so the nine hundreds did not 346 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: start off especially kindly for him. His remaining son, who 347 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: had followed in his father's footsteps as a journalist, died 348 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen o one from pneumonia, which might have been 349 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: complicated by a drinking problem. And in nineteen o five, 350 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: his wife, Mary, from whom he'd been separated since, died 351 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: of a heart attack. And she had actually only filed 352 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: for divorce a few months prior to her death, citing abandonment. 353 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,919 Speaker 1: And there is a whole other um theory that she 354 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,439 Speaker 1: thought that Ambrose wanted to get remarried, so she was 355 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,880 Speaker 1: sort of freeing him from their legal marriage, but he didn't. 356 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: He didn't ever marry again. From nineteen o nine to 357 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve, Beers worked exclusively on a twelve volume collection 358 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: of his work that was published by Neil Publishing Company, 359 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: and he wasn't working for Hers anymore. During this time, 360 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: he seemed to be kind of done with new writing 361 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,919 Speaker 1: in general, and once the publication project of that twelve 362 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,200 Speaker 1: volume collection was complete, Beers began a tour of Civil 363 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: War battlefields while he was en route to Mexico to 364 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: witness ponto Villa's Revolution, which, as you can imagine, was 365 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: a rather dangerous place for a foreigner to be wandering. 366 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,480 Speaker 1: He also squared away all of his personal business in 367 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: this time, although whether that was just the cautionary preparedness 368 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: of somebody getting ready to travel to a foreign country 369 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,880 Speaker 1: that was potentially dangerous, or a man who pretty much 370 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: recognizes that he's at the end of his life tying 371 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: up loose ends is a little bit unclear. You know, 372 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: it would have played out pretty much the same way 373 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: either way. He wrote a letter to his niece just 374 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 1: before he left, and one of the things that said was, 375 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 1: if you hear of my being stood up against a 376 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,159 Speaker 1: Mexican stonewall and shot to rags. Please note that I 377 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: think that a pretty good way to depart this life. 378 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: It beats old age disease, are falling down the cellar 379 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:41,879 Speaker 1: stairs to be a gringo in Mexico. Ah, that is euthanasia. Yeah, 380 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: it's kind of jovial, but also a little ominous. Uh. 381 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: Many people have wondered if he really was just going 382 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,200 Speaker 1: to Mexico sort of with the intent that he would 383 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: not ever come back. Uh. There continue to be rumors 384 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: and theories about that. Uh. And we don't know what 385 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: precisely happened to him on his travels while he was there. 386 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: His death date is generally listed as nineteen common nineteen 387 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: fourteen question mark. Uh. Sometimes it's just listed as nineteen 388 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: fourteen question mark. We have no way of knowing how 389 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: long he lived after his last correspondence, which was a 390 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 1: letter that he sent from Chihuahua in late December. In 391 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: that letter, he wrote as to me, I leave here 392 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: tomorrow for an unknown destination. And some people have read 393 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: into that that that was like a suicide note, and 394 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: others whore like, no, he he was just wandering. He 395 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,440 Speaker 1: didn't have a plan, and we don't know. But after 396 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: it became apparent that he had disappeared and no one 397 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: had heard from him. His daughter Helen, petition the US 398 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: government to investigate what had happened to him, and they did, 399 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: but nothing was ever found. He really kind of did 400 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: a thin air move. And of course there've been sightings 401 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:51,640 Speaker 1: and theories about what happened, but Ambrose Bears disappeared pretty thoroughly. 402 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,400 Speaker 1: There was really not any kind of trace to turn 403 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: over or obsess about. You don't know if he was 404 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:01,520 Speaker 1: killed by Federal two troops, rebels Pontoville himself. Nobody really knows. 405 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,560 Speaker 1: Some scholars have pointed to the siege of Ohinaga Chillawa 406 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,880 Speaker 1: in January nine, fourteen as a likely place of his death, 407 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: but there's really no substantial evidence that's ever been found. Yeah, 408 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,919 Speaker 1: it's just, you know, a big violent event that happened 409 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: near where he was last known to be. Uh. So, 410 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 1: theoretically that could have easily been a place where he 411 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: could have died and been lost kind of in the 412 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: carnage of the battle. Uh And when you read Beers's work, 413 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: as I've said, there's definitely this sense of darkness and 414 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: futility and reality juxtaposed with surreality and his war stories 415 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: in particular, I find extremely affecting. Chickamauga, for example, tells 416 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: the story of this young deaf boy who is on 417 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:44,439 Speaker 1: a battlefield, but he believes it's all a game. Like 418 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: he thinks he's in either a dream situation or his imagination, 419 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,439 Speaker 1: and he's so lost in this this imaginary play that 420 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 1: he fails to recognize the horrible reality around him, even 421 00:23:54,960 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: though beerst describes the carnage of war with extremely graphic detail. Uh. 422 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 1: And similarly, in Coude Gross, the story centers around a 423 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: man who kills a friend of his in a mercy killing. 424 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:12,160 Speaker 1: The man was wounded and really suffering, and as a consequence, 425 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,480 Speaker 1: the man that did the mercy killing is executed as 426 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,120 Speaker 1: a killer himself. And this sort of darkness and cruelty 427 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:20,920 Speaker 1: of war is always present in his works, as well 428 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,919 Speaker 1: as a certain detachment even in this, you know, pretty 429 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: intense description of truly grizzly scenes. And that's that's one 430 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: of the reasons why uh spoiler alert if you have 431 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: never watched Jacob's Ladder. A lot of people look at 432 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: Jacob's Ladder as a like a reworking of occurrence at 433 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: Owl Creek Bridge for the Vietnam war. Yes, that comparison 434 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: is often made, but his work is not without humor, 435 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 1: even though the tone of the humor is usually black. 436 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,200 Speaker 1: The Devil's Dictionary, like I said, I find hilarious. It's 437 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: really snarky. And so to end on a humorous note, 438 00:24:57,359 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: I thought we could read a couple of definitions from 439 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,640 Speaker 1: that work, because it is laid out like a dictionary, 440 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: with words and then their meanings. As written by Ambrose Beers, 441 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:10,919 Speaker 1: Sarah would love nown a temporary insanity curable by marriage. 442 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,719 Speaker 1: Quotation noun the act of repeating erroneously the words of another. 443 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: I love that one. I know the Internet needs to 444 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,560 Speaker 1: see that one. There's prey verb to ask that the 445 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a 446 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:32,640 Speaker 1: single petitioner. Confessedly unworthy politeness nown the most acceptable hypocrisy. Well, 447 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: and this, this next one is funny to me because 448 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,080 Speaker 1: my brother calls the lottery a stupidity tax, and sometimes 449 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: I call it a daydreaming license. Lottery noun attacks on 450 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,239 Speaker 1: people who are bad at math. And finally, if I 451 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: just love this one, it's so absurd and wonderful hash 452 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: It's categorized as X. It gets no part of speech assignment. 453 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 1: There is no definition for this word. No one knows 454 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: what hash is corn beef and deliciousness a commentary on 455 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 1: sort of the mash together of things that hash often is. 456 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: So yeah, that's Ambrose Beer. I highly encourage people to 457 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: read his work. It is easy to get a hold 458 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: of because almost all of it is on Project Gutenberg, uh, 459 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,119 Speaker 1: and also many other places online. I mean you need 460 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: to do a quick search and find just about the 461 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,439 Speaker 1: entirety of the body of his work. His letters are 462 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: a little bit harder to get a hold of. Speaking 463 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,719 Speaker 1: of letters, Yeah, do you have some listener mais? I do. 464 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: I have two pieces of listener mail, both of which 465 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 1: UH clear up some information and add uh an insight 466 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: that we would not have otherwise hand. The first one 467 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: is from our listener Alex, and it is about the 468 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,439 Speaker 1: Judge Crater podcast. She says, I wanted to clear up 469 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,360 Speaker 1: something on the Judge Creator podcast, which is a fun 470 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: bit of trivia. While Judge Crater was an Associate justice 471 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,199 Speaker 1: on the New York Supreme Court, that job is not 472 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: as impressive as it sounds. All of New York's lower 473 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: courts are called Supreme courts. The highest court in New 474 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 1: York is the New York Court of Appeals. I think 475 00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: the professor's told us that about ten times during the 476 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: month of law school. And then, uh, she makes this 477 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: suggestion for a podcast topic, and she gets all the 478 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: points for mentioning the clash. This is my personal point 479 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,919 Speaker 1: assignment system. Uh. The second letter is actually one of 480 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: the message that we received through Facebook from our listener NEMA, 481 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: and this is in response to part one of our 482 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,399 Speaker 1: Everest podcast, and Nema says, Hi, guys, just listen to 483 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: your podcast episode on Everest part one. The U. S. 484 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:28,440 Speaker 1: Air Force flight surgeon in me cannot help but point 485 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: out that you're mixing up H A C E with 486 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: hypoxia altitude sickness that results in high altitudes. Serebrilladema is 487 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: a slow biochemical process that involves damage to the brain cells, 488 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 1: while hypoxia is a relatively quick lack of oxygen that 489 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,920 Speaker 1: temporarily causes you to not think clearly. While hypoxia is 490 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: a symptom of H A C, H A C E 491 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,680 Speaker 1: is not hypoxias. He's referencings specifically when I talked about 492 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 1: my dad's altitude sickness story. He says, also before you ask, Yes, 493 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: we still do something very similar to what your dad described. 494 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,720 Speaker 1: It's done as part of regular aircrew training to teach 495 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,200 Speaker 1: folks how to recognize it and how insidiously it occurs. However, 496 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: version is much safer and more supervised, and my dad 497 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: would have been doing that decades ago, so I can 498 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 1: only imagine how much it's advanced. Well, and I didn't 499 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 1: talk about it at that time, but that story reminded 500 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: me of a friend of mine who, when he was 501 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 1: doing research in the rainforest, became dehydrated and had that 502 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:29,640 Speaker 1: same surreal sense of realizing that his his mental faculties 503 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: were not entirely present, and then being like, no, I'm okay. 504 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: Oh no, wait, I'm not okay. It's so weird how 505 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,000 Speaker 1: you become compromised and it's like your brain stitches together 506 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: a narrative that everything's fine. I'm very fascinated by that 507 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: aspect of brain science. If you would like to write 508 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: to us, you can do so at History Podcast, Discovery 509 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: dot com. Do you mind us on Facebook at Facebook 510 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: dot com, slash missed in History. You can visit us 511 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: on Twitter at mist in History, at missed in History 512 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 1: dot tumbler dot com on pin Drift dot com slash 513 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: mist in History and you can just go to www 514 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: dot miss in history dot com and explore our shiny 515 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: new website. It's very exciting, which has access to just 516 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: about all these other things you just mentioned. The two things. 517 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: There's two things that excite me the most about a 518 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: new website. One is there's a search function. Yes, so 519 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,479 Speaker 1: if you were wondering if we have an episode on something, 520 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 1: you can search for it. It's right there. Yes, we're 521 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: still finishing up the tagging of older episodes. Yeah. Tagging 522 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: is the second thing that is I'm very excited about 523 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 1: because one day soon you'll be able to click on 524 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: something like South America and you'll see all the South 525 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: America stuff. Yeah. It's very very cool, and the back 526 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: end team that worked on it did a great job, 527 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: and Tracy and I are excited to have this sort 528 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: of new framework to put information into in a new 529 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: home online. You know, we hope you visited if you'd 530 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: like to do some research on some of the things 531 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: we talked about today. You didn't go to how Stuffworks 532 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 1: dot com. And if you type in Civil War into 533 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: the search far, you're gonna get so much content on 534 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: the Civil War, and it was such a huge part 535 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: of Ambrose Beers's writings that it's worth exploring. Uh, if 536 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 1: she would like learn about just about cleaning else your 537 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: mind can conjure. You can also do that at how 538 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com and when out Day for more 539 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Because it has 540 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. This episode of Stuff you Missed 541 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: in History Classes brought to you by Linda dot com. 542 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 1: You can learn it at Linda dot com, an online 543 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,719 Speaker 1: learning company with more than seventy seven thousand video tutorials 544 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: that teach software, creative and business skills. Membership starts at 545 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 1: twenty five a month and provides unlimited seven access to 546 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: top quality video courses taught by expert instructors with real 547 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: world experience. 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