1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. So this is another 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,239 Speaker 1: one of those episodes which I feel like have been 5 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: happening to me lately, which probably suggests something about how 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: my mind is working. But it started as one thing 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: and then became something very different. I was originally planning 8 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: to do an anthology style episode where we talk about 9 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: like three or four criminals who vanished and were never found, 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: like that escaped and just went away. That still might happen, 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: but not today because I got to digging in on 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: one in particular, and it held my attention for a 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: whole episode's worth of content. I sort of watched this 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: happen virtually in real RBM, and then when I got 15 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: the outline, said that this was the right decision. Yeah, 16 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: I would hate to they're sore. It's interesting because in 17 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: some ways there's not a ton of news coverage of 18 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,479 Speaker 1: it from contemporary sources, but what there is is really fascinating. 19 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: If you are one of our Salt Lake City listeners, 20 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: and I know we have a lot there because every 21 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: time I'm in that town. Wonderful people come up and 22 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: tell me that they listen to the show aw and 23 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: I love Salt Lake. This one will probably be familiar 24 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: to you. It is the story of Jean Baptiste, who 25 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: is sometimes referred to as the with his Anglicized version 26 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: of his name as John in various accounts. That was 27 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: part of why he was hard to find in newspapers, 28 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: but we figured it out. His story is a little 29 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: bit odd and harrowing. It's about grave robbing, but there 30 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: are themes that emerge about how communities deal with unthinkable 31 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: crimes and the ways that the stories of those crimes 32 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: change to support hoped for conclusions. And in this case 33 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: there is an escape with a big question mark at 34 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: the end. So it does remain a history mystery, which 35 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: makes it kind of fun and kind of thrilling to 36 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,679 Speaker 1: talk about. So. Jean Baptiste was born in eighteen fourteen 37 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: according to census records, although there are some questions about 38 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: how accurate that is, the place of his birth is 39 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: also a matter of debates. Although it's often cited as Venice, Italy, 40 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: that's contradicted by later accounts that refer to him as 41 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,079 Speaker 1: a Frenchman, and there just isn't real clarity one way 42 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: or the other. We also don't know much about his 43 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,119 Speaker 1: early life. We do know that in the eighteen fifties 44 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: he was drawn to the gold rush, not the California 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: gold Rush or the Alaska gold Rush or any of 46 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: the other gold rush as we've spent a ton of 47 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,799 Speaker 1: time on recently, the one that was happening in Victoria, Australia. 48 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: And while in Victoria, Baptiste came in contact with missionaries 49 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. 50 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: They had traveled to the area to minister to the 51 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: huge influx of gold seekers. There were nearly half a 52 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: million people who had flooded into Victoria during the gold rush, 53 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: and it had a reputation as being completely void of morality, 54 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 1: where things like robberies happened out in the open in 55 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,119 Speaker 1: the light of day. So that's why they were drawn there, 56 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: thinking maybe these people need religion. But Baptiste, unlike these 57 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: other people, was very ready to convert. He seemed to 58 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: have been casting about for the right religion for a bit. 59 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: He had been raised Roman Catholic, but he had problems 60 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: with the church and he left that church to join 61 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: the Church of England. He was not happy in the 62 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: Anglican Church, and then he moved on to the Methodist 63 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: Church and then in Castlemaine, Victoria. He had actually built 64 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: his own small chapel while he was there for the 65 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: gold rush on property that he held. It's unclear to 66 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,880 Speaker 1: me if he owned this property, if he just claimed it, etc. 67 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: But he did build this small chapel there and he 68 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: actually had services there for other gold rushers on Sundays. 69 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: When Baptiste spoke with missionary leaders in Australia, he told 70 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: them that he believed in God and the Bible, and 71 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: then after talking to them about the LDS Church, he 72 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: wanted to convert. Immediately he said, quote, I will become 73 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: a baby. I want to be baptized. He gave them 74 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: this chapel that he had built and it immediately went 75 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: into use as a place to give sermons, something that 76 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: they had really been lacking before Baptiste's property donation. Yeah. 77 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: According to most accounts, they were like, you don't have 78 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: to convert right now, you can think this through and 79 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: he was like, no, Breddy, let's go, let's do this thing. 80 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: In the eighteen fifties, At the same time, Salt Lake 81 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: City was still really brand new. It had been founded 82 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty seven, and the LDS leaders in Australia 83 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: wanted to send some of their newly converted members back 84 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: to Utah to bolster numbers there and help support the 85 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,919 Speaker 1: new municipality, and Jehan Baptiste was to be part of 86 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: that effort. He and others boarded a ship called the 87 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: Tarkania in April eighteen fifty five and they headed for 88 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: California with the plan that once they made poured at California, 89 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: they would make the rest of the journey over land. 90 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: But the Tarkania had some problems. That included with the 91 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: vessel itself, which started taking on water, and also among 92 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: the seventy two people aboard. They developed a number of conflicts. 93 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: Some of the interpersonal conflict was because there was a 94 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: lot of disagreement about whether they should abandon the Tarkania completely. 95 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: The ship made it to Honolulu, Hawaii for repairs, but 96 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: even after it was patched up, a number of passengers 97 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: just refused to go on, and that included Baptiste. They 98 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: were the smart ones. The Tarkania didn't make it very far. 99 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: It had more problems, it had to just limp back 100 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: to Hawaii. In the meantime, Baptists stayed in Hawaii and 101 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: worked as a teacher for a few months before continuing 102 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,239 Speaker 1: on to San Francisco in February of eighteen fifty six, 103 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: and then in eighteen fifty nine he was finally in 104 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: Salt Lake City as planned. Yeah, the Turkinia got scuttled. 105 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: It's a little unclear to me what ship Baptiste took 106 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: to get to California, but he did make it there. 107 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,359 Speaker 1: And although he had made some pretty lucrative moves in 108 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: the Australian gold Rush and had not needed money for 109 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: a while, eventually Baptiste did need a job, and he 110 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: was employed as a grave digger. He both dug the 111 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: graves at the Salt Lake Cemetery and he interred the bodies, 112 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: and he had a home next to the cemetery. He 113 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: got married, and he also diversified his income by opening 114 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: a tailor and military shop with his new wife. We 115 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: do not have the name of that woman. To set 116 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: up Baptiste's arrest, we need to veer off into an 117 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: explanation of how he came to bury. A man named 118 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: Moroni Clawson In late eighteen sixty one, after just three 119 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: weeks in office, Governor John W. Dawson, who had been 120 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: appointed to his leadership role in Utah Territory by Abraham Lincoln, 121 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: fled that territory after accusations that he had made improper 122 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: advances to a widow in the Salt Lake community. Dawson 123 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: was tracked down and beaten nearly to death by several men, 124 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: and one of those was Morony Clawson. Clawson was shot 125 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: and killed several days later as police were chasing him. 126 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: Clawson's body was uncleimed, so after a police officer named 127 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: Henry Heath paid for a suit for the dead man 128 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: to be buried in he was interred at the Salt 129 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: Lake Cemetery by Jean Baptiste. Heath later said of this 130 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: act of charity, quote, I purchased his clothes myself, and 131 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: though I thought he was a very bad man, I 132 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 1: wanted to see him laid away as nicely as possible. 133 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: This I did, and I don't believe any pauper ever 134 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: had better or cleaner burial clothing than he. Long after 135 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: the burial, some of Clawson's relatives showed up in town 136 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: with the intent to have him exhumed so that they 137 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: could bring him to draper Utah, twenty miles south of 138 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: Salt Lake and have him interred there near the family. 139 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: And once Clawson was dug up, it became apparent that 140 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: something fishy was happening at the cemetery because the suit 141 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: Henry Heath had paid for was missing. Clawson wasn't wearing 142 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: any clothes at all, and when Heath found out this detail, 143 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: which he apparently learned from Clawson's brother, who was really mad, 144 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: he started investigating after first getting the go ahead from 145 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: a judge. We'll talk about this investigation and how it 146 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: yielded results pretty quickly after we pause for a quick 147 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Policeman Henry Heath first went to the sexton 148 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:01,239 Speaker 1: who oversaw the cemetery grounds to investigate this odd situation, 149 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: but the sexton had no information. So the next stop 150 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: was Jean Baptiste's home. Baptiste was not there, but his 151 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: wife was, and Heath and Clawson's brother, George, asked her 152 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: about the missing clothes. She had invited them in, but 153 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: she had no information to offer them. But as they 154 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: looked around the home, they were struck by the sight 155 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,719 Speaker 1: of a number of boxes that were stacked inside of it. 156 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: One of the men looked inside one of the boxes 157 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: and made the awful discovery that it contained what appeared 158 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: to be funeral shrouds. Of course, this led to the 159 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: examination of the other boxes, and things were more and 160 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 1: more unsettling from there, as a grizzly tallly of garments 161 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: was uncovered. Heath later wrote of this moment, quote, judge 162 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: if you can our horror and surprise when we discovered 163 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:55,760 Speaker 1: that this clothing was the funeral robes of people who 164 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: had been buried in the city cemetery for several years past. 165 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: Heath also recounted later a fear that he immediately had 166 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: regarding his own family, quote, when I tell you that 167 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: I had a short time previously buried in idolized daughter, 168 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: and when I feared that her grave, too had been desecrated, 169 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: and that her funeral shroud was among the motley, sickening 170 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: heap of flesh soiled linen we found in the grave 171 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: digger's hut. Perhaps you can partly comprehend it. He was 172 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: very frank in thinking about this, that his first instinct 173 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: was actually to kill Baptiste for what he had done, 174 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,959 Speaker 1: and as the men combed through these boxes, they found 175 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: clothing that was estimated to have been stolen from more 176 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: than three hundred graves, including a box full of baby 177 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: clothes and sixty pairs of children's shoes. Heath, George Clawsen, 178 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: and two other men next went to the cemetery where 179 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: Baptiste was working, and they found him wearing a suit 180 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: that was alleged to have been the burial clothing of 181 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: a saloon keeper who had died not long before this confrontation. 182 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: According to Heath's account, when Baptiste was initially confronted, he 183 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: fell to his knees, proclaiming his innocence, but after Heath 184 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: quote choked the wretch into a confession the policeman's own description, 185 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: he was then dragged through the cemetery to various graves, 186 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:23,440 Speaker 1: asking if he had robbed them. He said yes to 187 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: a lot of them, although he vehemently proclaimed that he 188 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: had not robbed the grave of Heath's daughter, which Heith 189 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: later said was the only reason that Baptiste survived this encounter. 190 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: As these events in the cemetery were playing out, words 191 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: started to spread in the city, and soon people were 192 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: rushing the graveyard to try to exhume their family members 193 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: to see if their graves had been robbed, as well 194 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: as to try to confront Baptiste. Per the police account, 195 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: getting Baptiste to the jail safely was very difficult as 196 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,559 Speaker 1: a consequence, but even after he had been taken to jail, 197 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: there was a need to transport Baptiste again. The police 198 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: wanted to walk him through the cemetery so he could 199 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:12,960 Speaker 1: point out himself which graves he had desecrated. Because of 200 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: the community's iron they had to try to keep all 201 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: of this under wraps, so he had to lie down 202 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: in the bed of a wagon and be covered up 203 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,200 Speaker 1: so that people in the street wouldn't know he was 204 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: there and passing by, and headed to the cemetery. Once 205 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: they got there, he did point out a number of 206 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:33,160 Speaker 1: graves that he admitted to grave robbing, although it appears 207 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: he did not disclose all of them. The theory was 208 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: that he was scared that as the numbers mounted, more 209 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: and more people would want to kill him. Some of 210 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: the graves that had been buried during the time he 211 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: was working as the grave digger, he outright denied robbing, 212 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: but some of them were exhumed and bodies were found 213 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: with no clothes, and in some cases the coffins were 214 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: also missing, with the deceased then just reburied directly into 215 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: the earth. Accounts from the time say that Baptiste was 216 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: using those coffins for kindlingwood to help people of the 217 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: community get answers to their concerns about whether or not 218 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: their relatives' graves had been affected. Police displayed all of 219 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: the clothes that they had found at Baptiste's home in 220 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,679 Speaker 1: the courthouse so that people could come and see if 221 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: they recognized any of them. Henry Heath later said of 222 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: the clothing displayed, quote, yes, it was a sorrowful spectacle 223 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: to see a mother identify and weep over an article 224 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: of clothing which belonged to a darling child long since dead, 225 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: or a husband or wife recognized the funeral apparel of 226 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: the life partner who had preceded them into the unseen world. 227 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: Once the clothing had been seen by everyone who wished 228 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:51,960 Speaker 1: to come, the police had to decide what to do 229 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: with the rest, because it was not all claimed. Today 230 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: that kind of thing would be admitted into evidence, but 231 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,559 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty two, a very different solution was decided. 232 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: According to Albert Dewey, another man who was involved in 233 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: the case and worked for the police, quote, there was 234 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: some doubt in the minds of the officers of the 235 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: law as to what should be done with all the clothing, 236 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: and finally it was decided to bury it in one 237 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: big grave in the city cemetery, which was done. It 238 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: was a painful task and was keenly remembered by those 239 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: to whom the work was assigned. There has been an 240 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: alternate version of the discovery of Baptiste's grave robbing, although 241 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: it appeared in papers thirty years after the events actually 242 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: played out. In that version, Lawson's relatives had Baptiste with 243 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: them when they went to exhume the body, and Baptiste 244 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: protested that they should not open the coffin because it 245 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: was sacrilegious. When the coffin was opened, the grave digger 246 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: was said to have appeared as horrified as anyone else 247 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:57,800 Speaker 1: present at the state of the body. This version further 248 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: departs from the earlier eyewitness acount out of Heath and 249 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: that it indicates that police did not stumble upon boxes 250 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: of clothes, but instead that a woman recognized a baby 251 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: dress in the window of the Baptiste's shop that looked 252 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: exactly like the dress her infant daughter had been buried 253 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: in in this account, because of that mother's insistence, the 254 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: baby's grave was exhumed, and that was when it became 255 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: apparent that there was a serial grave robber, and suspicion 256 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: turned to Baptiste. We're going to talk a little bit 257 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: more later about that differing account that came out thirty 258 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,680 Speaker 1: years later, so keep it in mind. When Baptiste was 259 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: asked why he had robbed the graves, he stated that 260 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: he intended to sell the clothes for money, although the 261 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: sheer volume that he had snashed in his house made 262 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: some people wonder if he wasn't just holding onto these 263 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: items for some more demented reason. Albert Dewey at one 264 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: point said that he was just like a man that 265 00:15:55,920 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: was obsessed, and insisted that he had the devilition about him. 266 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 1: Baptiste also told authorities that he had started robbing graves 267 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: well before he arrived in Salt Lake, and that he 268 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: had built a chapel in Australia with the money that 269 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: he made selling grave robbed items. So that piece of 270 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: information had triple implications for the LDS Church. For one, 271 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: it meant that that chapel that their missionaries in Victoria 272 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: had been using was deeply upsetting in its prominence. This 273 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: whole situation also meant that a devout member of their church, 274 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: one whose zeal was often commented upon positively in the community, 275 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 1: had been committing unthinkable crimes. And it also meant that 276 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: for a religion with very specific beliefs regarding proper burials, 277 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: that there was deep concern about the afterlife fates of 278 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: all of the affected. Deceased. People were so concerned about 279 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: their dead loved ones that Brigham Young finally made a 280 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: statement about it to try to reassure everyone. This statement 281 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: was made and the tabernacle on February ninth, eighteen sixty two, 282 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 1: and it was also published in the local papers. He 283 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: noted that grave robbing was something that had been happening 284 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: for many years, and that he had previously had the 285 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 1: responsibility of watching graves to prevent robbery on various occasions. 286 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: He then brought up the John Baptiste situation and told 287 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,760 Speaker 1: those in attendance how he thought justice should be handled. Quote. 288 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:29,119 Speaker 1: To hang a man for such a deed would not 289 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: satisfy my feelings. What shall we do? With him. Shoot him, No, 290 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: that would do no good to anybody but himself. Would 291 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: you imprison him during life? That would do nobody any good. 292 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,679 Speaker 1: What I would do came to me quickly after I 293 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: heard of the circumstance. This I will mention before I 294 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,199 Speaker 1: make other remarks. If it was left to me, I 295 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: would make him a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth. 296 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: This would be my sentence. But probably the people will 297 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: not want this done. This does sort of sound like 298 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,639 Speaker 1: a call to let Baptiste suffer the rest of his 299 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,640 Speaker 1: days knowing no peace, and it does bring up some questions. 300 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: That was well known by February when the sermon was 301 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: given that a lot of people in Salt Lake wanted vengeance, 302 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: and it had been really difficult for the authorities to 303 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: keep Baptiste out of the hands of vigilantes, so much 304 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:25,400 Speaker 1: so that initially there was not really any news coverage 305 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: about what was going on with the case because they 306 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: wanted to avoid stirring people up even further. Henry Heath 307 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,199 Speaker 1: had believed that there was a very real danger that 308 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: Baptiste would be lynched if the mobs of people who 309 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,120 Speaker 1: kept showing up at the jail got a hold of him. 310 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: So it's unclear exactly what Young is suggesting here. If 311 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: he thinks that people who want vengeance are the ones 312 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 1: who quote will not want this done, then what exactly 313 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: is the punishment for the acts he described to his 314 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,919 Speaker 1: congregation as quote A mean, contemptible, damnable trick. Is it 315 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: simply just not having ye home? Is unclear what he 316 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: was suggesting here. Perhaps more importantly, Brigham Young reassured the 317 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: members of the church that they did not have to 318 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: worry about the immortal souls of their loved ones not 319 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: having proper attire when the expected rapture came. He addressed 320 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 1: this directly, opening with quote, many are anxious to know 321 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: what effect it will have upon their dead who have 322 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: been robbed. He notes that he has two wives, three sisters, 323 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: and several children buried in the graveyard where these crimes 324 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:34,400 Speaker 1: were committed, and that he has no intention of exuming 325 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: their bodies to see if they were victimized, stating quote, 326 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: I gave them as good a burial as I could, 327 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: and in burying are dead, we all have made everything 328 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: as agreeable and as comfortable as we could. According to 329 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,959 Speaker 1: the best of our judgments. We have done our duty 330 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: in this particular, and I, for one am satisfied I 331 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 1: will defy any thief there is on earth or in 332 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: Hell to rob a saint of one blessing. We also 333 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 1: addressed the question of whether people should put fresh linens 334 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,200 Speaker 1: in the coffins of the disturbed graves, and he indicated 335 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: that people should quote pursue the course that will give 336 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: you the most contentment and satisfaction. While I was doing 337 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: the research for this, I saw these sentiments that we've 338 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: just talked about on the part of Brigham. Young discussed 339 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: a number of times, both in news articles and papers 340 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: about the Jean Baptiste grave robbing. But there's a portion 341 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:32,199 Speaker 1: of Young's oration that I found completely fascinating that just 342 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: did not seem to come up anywhere else outside of 343 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 1: the full text printing of it in the eighteen sixty 344 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 1: two papers. Because he addressed the concerns that people had 345 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,360 Speaker 1: about their relatives' ghosts coming to them and asking for clothes. 346 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: He stated, quote, some I have been informed, can now 347 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: remember having had singular dreams, and others have heard rapping 348 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: on the door, on the bedstead, on the floor, on 349 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: the table, et cetera, and have imagined that they might 350 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: have proceeded from the spirits of the dead calling on 351 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,400 Speaker 1: their friends to give them clothing, for they were naked. 352 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,920 Speaker 1: My dead friends have not been to me to tell 353 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,640 Speaker 1: me they were naked, cold, et cetera. And if any 354 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 1: such rappings should come to me, I should tell them 355 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,160 Speaker 1: to go to their own place. I have little faith 356 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,280 Speaker 1: in these rappings, he urged the community. Quote, let the 357 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 1: minds of the people be at rest upon this matter. 358 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: What has been done. They cannot help. We're going to 359 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: pause to hear from some of the sponsors that keep 360 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:32,919 Speaker 1: stuff you musts in history class going, and when we 361 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:45,880 Speaker 1: are back we will talk about Baptiste's punishment. After Jean 362 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: Baptiste was held for several weeks in jail, it appears 363 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: that there was no trial or court action of any kind. Instead, 364 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: it was decided among the police and city leadership that 365 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: Baptiste just had to be gotten rid of. According to 366 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: Albert Dewey, quote, it meant death to turn him loose 367 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: in the community, death that he deserved and in any 368 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: country would have received. But he was such a hateful 369 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 1: object that the sooner and farther he got away from 370 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: sight without being put underground himself the better everybody would feel, 371 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,119 Speaker 1: so to give him a chance for his life, to 372 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: save him in reality, from an exasperated public, it was 373 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,119 Speaker 1: decided to banish him, and a well stocked island in 374 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: the Great Salt Lake was chosen for his future home. 375 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: Dewey stated that he did not remember who initially proposed 376 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,640 Speaker 1: the ideal of exile as a punishment. When it comes 377 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: to how this punishment was carried out, the narrative once 378 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:47,160 Speaker 1: again diverges into two different versions. All accounts agree that 379 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,719 Speaker 1: Baptiste was taken first to Antelope Island, which is the 380 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: largest of the islands in the Great Salt Lake. The 381 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,119 Speaker 1: men who took him there did so by wagon. The 382 00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: island is in really shallow water at its southern tip, 383 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,959 Speaker 1: and it becomes a peninsula when the water level dips. 384 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: The men who are tasked with this job, which included 385 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,479 Speaker 1: Albert Dewey, had to swear when they removed him from 386 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 1: the county jail, that they would not kill him and 387 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: would indeed take him to the island to meet a 388 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:16,959 Speaker 1: second group of men who were going to pick him 389 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 1: up in a boat, and then he would go to 390 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,359 Speaker 1: his final destination. But before Baptiste was handed off to 391 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: the boatman. He was tattooed on his forehead to brand 392 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,200 Speaker 1: him for his crime. The specific words that were tattooed 393 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: there have been recounted differently. Albert Dewey's account stated that 394 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: the tattoo read branded for robbing the dead, although an 395 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: alternate account said that it simply said grave robber. That 396 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,240 Speaker 1: second alternate account also states that Baptiste's ears were cut 397 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:51,439 Speaker 1: off after he was transferred to the boats. Baptiste was 398 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: taken to Fremont Island, which is in the deeper water 399 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,800 Speaker 1: than was believed to be inescapable. This is not an 400 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,880 Speaker 1: especially big island, and it's less than five square miles, 401 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,119 Speaker 1: but there were cattle there and a little shack that 402 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,280 Speaker 1: had some basic food in it. The cattle and the 403 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,040 Speaker 1: shack belonged to a pair of brothers by the name 404 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: of Miller. They used this island to keep some of 405 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: their cattle, and there, with only the cattle for company, 406 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: Jean Baptiste was left to fund for himself. One of 407 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,359 Speaker 1: the big differences in how this exile story has been 408 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: shared over the years involves the detail that he was 409 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: shackled with a ball and chain before being set loose 410 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,879 Speaker 1: on the Island. This is something that the Heath and 411 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,679 Speaker 1: Dewey accounts do not include, but it is included in 412 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: a lot of retellings, and this became important years later, 413 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 1: which we will get to. The millers who used the 414 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: island were aware of Baptiste's exile there, and they still 415 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: kept their cattle on Fremont Island, and they went to 416 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: check on the cattle and kind of Baptiste roughly three 417 00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,679 Speaker 1: weeks after the grave robber had been dropped off, and 418 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: the millers reported back to folks in Salt Lake Baptiste 419 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: was managing there. But when they returned three weeks after that, 420 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: so six weeks in total after he had been dropped 421 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: for his exile, they discovered a very different scene. Baptiste 422 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found on the island. It was 423 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: apparent that he had slaughtered one of the cattle. The 424 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: remains of it were right outside the shack, and the 425 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: shack itself was destroyed. The roof was gone, and so 426 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,120 Speaker 1: were portions of the sidewalls, and as the millers looked 427 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,919 Speaker 1: around they pieced together what had happened. The heifer that 428 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 1: Baptiste had killed had been skinned, and the remnants of 429 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: hide that they could see, made it apparent that that 430 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: hide had been cut into strips. So Baptiste, it appeared, 431 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: had ransacked the shack for wood, used hide to strap 432 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: the planks together into some kind of raft, and then 433 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: dropped it in the water and took off. And he 434 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: was never seen again, at least not conclusively. In April 435 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,919 Speaker 1: of eighteen ninety three, so thirty one years after all 436 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: of this happened, an article appeared in the Salt Lake 437 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: Herald titled a Gruesome Tale, and it retold the entire 438 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: story of John Baptiste and his crimes in his exile 439 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: and this disappearance. But this article also had an update. 440 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,360 Speaker 1: The updated section had a subtitle of the Ghastly Sequel, 441 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: and it stated quote, Nearly three years ago, a party 442 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: of hunters near the mouth of the Jordan River where 443 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,080 Speaker 1: it empties into the lake, while walking across the sandy marsh, 444 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:33,679 Speaker 1: found the skull of a human protruding from the mud. 445 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: The hunters scooped up this skull and brought it back 446 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,159 Speaker 1: to Salt Lake City, where it was left with a 447 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: reporter from the Herald named R. G. Taysum. According to 448 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,679 Speaker 1: the Herald, just days before this article was published, another hunter, 449 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 1: John Weingar Junior, had found a headless skeleton near the 450 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,120 Speaker 1: mouth of the Jordan River, and according to this rite 451 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: up quote, around one of the leg bones was an 452 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: iron cla and in an attempt to lift this up, 453 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 1: a chain was found attached, necessitating a little digging up 454 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: of the ground, and there attached to the chain was 455 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: an iron ball, and the Herald states plainly that this 456 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,040 Speaker 1: has to have been the missing exile quote. The find 457 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:22,159 Speaker 1: undoubtedly is the skeleton of old Jean Baptiste. In his 458 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 1: wandering around the island, he no doubt became crazed from hunger, 459 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: fear and cold, and, falling into the briny water of 460 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: the lake, was drowned or strangled. The article goes on 461 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: to explain that the intense winds that run down the 462 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: eastern side of the lake must have carried the body 463 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: to the place where it was found, and that the 464 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: wind also caused sand to cover it over. This rite 465 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: up is the place where most of the alternate versions 466 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: of the events stem from, and it seems to people 467 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety three that the paper was running a 468 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 1: retconned version of the Baptiste affair to support the assertion 469 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: that the grave robbers Ultimate and was no longer a mystery. 470 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: The Deserete News ran a counter article a month and 471 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: a half later, calling out the Harold story as a 472 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: fable and claiming to have the real information. The Deserete 473 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: News version included statements from Henry Heath and Albert Dewey. 474 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: Heath stated plainly, quote, I helped take care of Baptiste 475 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: during the three weeks time he was confined in the 476 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: county jail. Steel nor iron shackles were never put on 477 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: his limbs, and there is absolutely no truth in the 478 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: statement that he was turned loose on the island with 479 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: a ball and chain on. Dewey reiterated that fact again 480 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: later when he talked about leaving Baptiste on Fremont Island. Quote, 481 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: he was conveyed there, but there was no ball and 482 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: chain or shackles or jives of any kind on his limbs. 483 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: He was absolutely untrammeled. So they of course are saying 484 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: that that skeleton was absolutely not Jean Baptiste. So if 485 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't became him, that is a matter of speculation. 486 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: Although there have certainly been a lot of theories over 487 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: the years, it is unlikely that he stayed on the island. 488 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: It is, as we mentioned, a relatively small place. I 489 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: think it's the third largest island in the Great Salt Lake, 490 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 1: but still five mile square is not that big, and 491 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: it has been combed over repeatedly since all of this happened, 492 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,320 Speaker 1: and there's been no sign of him. Some people living 493 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: at the time of Baptist's disappearance thought that he made 494 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: his way north to Montana, and there were actually rumors 495 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: at the time that he was recognized there and actually 496 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 1: confessed his identity to a man who started asking him 497 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 1: rather pointed questions, and that he even told Batman how 498 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: he had escaped. But there were also people who believed 499 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: that he backtracked the route that he took years earlier, 500 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: and that he went to San Francisco for a while, 501 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: but then decided to move to southern California amidst worries 502 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: that someone in the Bay Area might know him on site. 503 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: There have even been speculations that he went all the 504 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: way back to austral and one would think that eventually 505 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: someone would have noted a person with a tattoo across 506 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: their forehead that said they were a grave robber. If 507 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: not alive then dead, he could certainly keep his hat 508 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: on and cover that up, but he's not in charge 509 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: of what's on his head after he's deceased. But no 510 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,960 Speaker 1: account has ever surfaced that mentions that detail in a description. 511 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: There was a heavily fictionalized movie about Baptiste and Henry 512 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: Heath titled Redemption for Robbing the Dead. The depiction of 513 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: Heath in particular has been noted as a big departure 514 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,480 Speaker 1: from his actual life. Yeah, I haven't watched the whole movie. 515 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:40,840 Speaker 1: I watched part of it, but it depicts Heath as 516 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: having his own dark secrets that he's working through, and 517 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: his descendants have been like, none of that's supported by 518 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: anything real. It's like a dramatic tool that's used to 519 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:52,480 Speaker 1: make the story more interesting, but it doesn't appear to 520 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: really portray him very accurately. It's super interesting. Where's the 521 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: guy with the tattoo on his head? We don't know. 522 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: What I do know is that I have listener mail, though, 523 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: and I love this because it lets me talk about 524 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: something else that I love, which is spiders. So if 525 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,719 Speaker 1: you're not into spiders, this is not the time for you. 526 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 1: This goes from our listener, Alice, who writes hello, Holly 527 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 1: and Tracy. I love your show. I'm a recent adopter, 528 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: and I've been going back through your podcast systematically to 529 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: catch up on everything I had missed. I loved the 530 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: story on Cranberry's and wondered if your research included any 531 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: information about the wolf spiders used in the production. As 532 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: you may know, in order to avoid pesticides, wolf spiders 533 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: are often used and released in large numbers to help 534 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: keep the pest populations down before the bogs are flooded. 535 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: As a fellow spider lover, I have to admit I 536 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: have always been worried that the wolf spiders who are 537 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 1: used in pest control are not sufficiently looked after when 538 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 1: the bogs are flooded. I tried to do my own 539 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,760 Speaker 1: research into whether the farmers did anything to save the spiders, 540 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: but did not find anything clearly about that. Do you know, Oh, 541 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: I have answers, but I'm going to finish this email first. Also, 542 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: you may have already done this at some point, but 543 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: I've not yet found that episode. I would love an 544 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: episode on the history of nursery rhymes and lullabies. My 545 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,760 Speaker 1: daughter loves Rockabye Baby and it always creeps me out. 546 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: Good News there as well. Tracy has done a number 547 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,320 Speaker 1: of episodes on mother Goose and nursery rhymes. Yeah so 548 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: I think probably if you search mother Goose you'll find them. 549 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,360 Speaker 1: And then Alice continues for pet tax I have four 550 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: cats and four birds. I will attach a sample Dina, 551 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: my long haired queen of the house at sixteen, and Harley, 552 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: my youngest cokatil, who is such a sassy girl. Everyone 553 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: asks how the birds and cats get along. First. I 554 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: never leave the birds out when I'm not around to supervise. 555 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: But between the size of the cockatils, which must be 556 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,120 Speaker 1: just big enough to deter cat aggression, and the general 557 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: demeanor of my cats, the cats understand that the cockatils 558 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,160 Speaker 1: are off limits and respectfully ignore them. I also banned 559 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 1: the use of feather cat toys in my home just 560 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: to avoid confusion. Thank you both for all you do. 561 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 1: I absolutely love your show and regularly share new things 562 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,160 Speaker 1: I learned on it with my friends and family. I 563 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: love this idea of being like, don't train your cats 564 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: to chase feather toys. They will think my birds are 565 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: the things. It's super smart, okay, spiders. Yeah, so I 566 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: didn't include this in the episode. I hadn't done as 567 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 1: much research as I have now about them because it 568 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,120 Speaker 1: did come up. But there is a really wonderful person 569 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: named Travis McHenry who is a spider expert and a 570 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: science communicator, and he has done a longish I think 571 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: it's like twenty five minute video about it that you 572 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,400 Speaker 1: can find on YouTube. But for here, the quick answers 573 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: are the spiders are not actually put thereby cranberry farmers. 574 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: They are naturally attracted to bogs. It's a good habitat 575 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 1: for them. They love it. Not all of those spiders 576 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: are wolfies, and even so, they are smaller varieties of 577 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 1: wolf spiders than you baby envisioning in your head if 578 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: you think about those there are, and Travis McHenry mentions this, 579 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: there are a lot videos online that are very much 580 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: made to make it seem like this is a terrifying, 581 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 1: scary scenario and that's really not what's going on. And 582 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: they can save the need for pesticides to be used, 583 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: but they don't. Sometimes there still is, but basically farmers 584 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,399 Speaker 1: kind of waited out and see how the spiders are 585 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: doing their job before they get any pesticides involved. The 586 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: other thing that happens that is cool. That will answer 587 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 1: your concerns about flooding is that the spiders actually float 588 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:34,680 Speaker 1: to the top when they flood, and there's beautiful footage 589 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:36,719 Speaker 1: you can see if you like spiders. It's beautiful of 590 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: them kind of running along the tops of the floating cranberries. 591 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:43,359 Speaker 1: They're aces. The thing that gets sensationalized is that when 592 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: they harvest cranberries, these spiders will often kind of just 593 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: start walking right up the arms and torsos of the 594 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 1: workers that are doing that job. And people are often 595 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: like they're coated in spiders, and there's definitely spiders on them, 596 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 1: but they're little, they're not a aggressive. Nobody seems to 597 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: must up about it. It's fine. Spiders are good. And 598 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,760 Speaker 1: then when the waters recede and they restart that bog 599 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: with a new season of growth on the vines, the 600 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: spiders just like once again stick around. They go down 601 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: with the water and then they're on the ground and 602 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 1: can do their hunting again and all that. So the 603 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: spiders are good. One they're helping and two I'm sure 604 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: some of them don't make it, but that's just because 605 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:31,160 Speaker 1: it's nature. But they're not especially in danger from the flooding. 606 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,319 Speaker 1: They do. Great. That's a lot of spider information that 607 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: people may not have been anticipating at the end of 608 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: this episode, but here you go. If you ask me 609 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: about spiders, I'm talking about spiders. That relieves your concerns, Alice, 610 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:46,959 Speaker 1: and thank you for sharing your adorable babies with us. 611 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: That cat is so cute. I want to brush it 612 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,359 Speaker 1: and kiss it, as I have learned having two very 613 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: long haired cats in my life right now. Not all 614 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:59,040 Speaker 1: long haired cats want to be brushed. So I don't 615 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 1: know if you're a sweet or not, But if you 616 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: would like to write to us, share questions about spiders, 617 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,480 Speaker 1: pictures of your cats and birds, or whatever comes to 618 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: your mind, you can do that at History Podcast at 619 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com. You can also subscribe to the show 620 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:12,799 Speaker 1: It is easy as Pie. You can do that right 621 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,239 Speaker 1: on the iHeart app or anywhere you listen to your 622 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:23,200 Speaker 1: favorite shows. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 623 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 624 00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,120 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 625 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: favorite shows.