1 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: Take some long shots, guys. 2 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 2: So this is the Denner cell, Is that right? 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 3: Cash? 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, and they suspect that later in the eighteenth century, 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 4: after the expansion of the building, what we just saw 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 4: where the jail keeper lived. That was added new and 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 4: originally this served as the jail keepers living quarters, with 8 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 4: the cells beginning on the other side of this wall, 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 4: and then up on the second floor as well. We 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 4: can go take a look at in some of them. 11 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 5: As a matter of. 12 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 4: Fact, if you'll want to come up the stairs, we 13 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 4: move the barrier out of the way. Let be careful. 14 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:46,919 Speaker 4: Mortimers up there somewhere. 15 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 6: Let's go up together. 16 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 7: We shall be creaked out together. 17 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: My daughters and I are back in Williamsburg, Virginia touring 18 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: the old jail there with Cash ear Harts and Nicole Brown. 19 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: Is this gold sund. 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 7: Course? Sweet? 21 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: Well, that's creepy. I don't think that's Mortimer. 22 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 2: Him, that's him. 23 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 6: There's a body in there. 24 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: Hi, Yeah, we found Mortimer. 25 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 6: Tell us about Mortimer. 26 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 7: Uh So. 27 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 8: Mortimer is the nickname that we gave to a large dummy, 28 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 8: a mannequin that we used to use for a program 29 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 8: called Williamsburg Crime and Punishment. And we used to suspend 30 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 8: Mortimer from the gallows in the evening, and they would 31 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 8: have some cressets set up some of the fire baskets 32 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 8: to offer illumination to show people what it would have 33 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 8: looked like to have seen a body suspended from the gallows. 34 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 2: It is a really very visual kind of death. 35 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:05,279 Speaker 7: Yeah, that is so groovy. 36 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 8: I love it. 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: Back in October of seventeen sixty six, Colonel John Chisel 38 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: faced the same fate as Mortimer, a possible public hanging. 39 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: His attorney, John Wales, had been working hard to establish 40 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: a convincing defense, but he couldn't promise an acquittal. The 41 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: gentry class in the wealthiest colony in the United Colonies 42 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 1: was understandably shaken. What would happen to them if Chisel 43 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: were convicted, and how would it affect the class structure 44 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: in the colonies. 45 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 9: Gentlemen don't do those things, and gentlemen are not found 46 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 9: guilty of murdering. 47 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:55,119 Speaker 2: Peasants to have a gentleman not just behave this way, 48 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 2: but then the law bend in his favor rather than 49 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 2: in the arc that we are hope it goes in. 50 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 2: Is such a violation of trust? Is such a violation 51 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: of identity? Is such a violation of one's individual self 52 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,959 Speaker 2: when looking at oneself as a British subject and saying, 53 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 2: but would the law apply to me that way? 54 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,799 Speaker 1: In the seventeen hundreds, children across the city of Williamsburg, 55 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: Virginia flipped through books at their schools and their churches. 56 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: The common theme across their pages declared that status is 57 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: everything you're born into the place God has meant to 58 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: ordain you. And if God has ordained me to be 59 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: a gentleman, and he ordained Robert Rutledge to be a merchant, 60 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: then God did not mean for us to be on 61 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: equal footing. But the murder of Robert Rutledge had created 62 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: a disparity in the fundamental belief thou shalt not kill yes. 63 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: But in this case it seemed that perhaps a merchant's 64 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: lie was less valuable than a member of the gentry class. 65 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: John Chisel was trapped. 66 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 10: Colonel Chisel, if he is convicted of this felony, will 67 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 10: forfeit his property, and in the forfeit of his property, 68 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 10: he ruins his family. 69 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: John Robinson's descendant, Simon Robinson, says that the General Court 70 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: judges in Williamsburg and the colonies Governor were also trapped. 71 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 7: I think those in power couldn't win almost if they 72 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 7: convicted him. They were convicting one of their own, and 73 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 7: how that would be seen when they might want to 74 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 7: be a view, well, it was only a commoner. He 75 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 7: had it coming. I'm sure there was that view. 76 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: This certainly wouldn't be the last time the courts struggled 77 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: to reconcile the law in the handling of a suspected 78 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: murder by a member of the upper class. Ever hear 79 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,159 Speaker 1: of the Chapiquittic incident. It's a very famous case in history, 80 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: involving the death of a middle class woman and a 81 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: politician from a storied family. On July eighteenth, nineteen sixty nine, 82 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: Senator Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on 83 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: Chapiquittic Island in Massachusetts. The accident killed a twenty eight 84 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: year old campaign strategist named Mary Joe Kopeckney, who worked 85 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: for Kennedy. The subsequent investigation led to minor charges for Kennedy, 86 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: but derailed his aspirations to run for president. Yet many 87 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: questions remained about Kapeckney's death and if Kennedy should have 88 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: been held responsible. Historia Nicole Brown says she can see 89 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: the parallels between the two cases white male privilege. 90 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 2: At what point is somebody considered too valuable to be 91 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 2: held accountable for their behavior? But what it also makes 92 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 2: me think of, you know, it sounds like Edward Ruloff, 93 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 2: and you're asking and asking this question of how far 94 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 2: can someone get away with their status before they're challenged 95 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 2: on their behavior. 96 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: Edward Ruloff is from my book All That Is Wicked 97 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: and Season one of this podcast. In eighteen seventy one, 98 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,040 Speaker 1: he was executed for murdering a shopkeeper during a botched robbery, 99 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: but he had killed four people from his own family beforehand. 100 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: Rulof was a killer, even he admitted, But he was 101 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: also a genius, and there were many people, including Mark Twain, 102 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 1: who believed that it would be a waste to execute him. 103 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: What if his mind could be harnessed for good instead 104 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: of evil? Privilege? Colonel Chisel was privileged. As he sat 105 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: at his dining room table on Tuesday, October fourteenth, there 106 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: were still death threats. He didn't feel safe. Death in 107 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: the news would humiliate his family and they would lose everything. 108 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: But still, he had stabbed a man in front of 109 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: a room full of witnesses. It was privilege that allowed 110 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: him even the possibility of escaping punishment. Chisel surely understood 111 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: that the governor and the General Court were in a 112 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: tough position. They had already done so much for him, 113 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: and now the public was turning against them too. The 114 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: next day, a visitor arrived at the Chisel home on 115 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: Saint Francis Street. As they stepped inside, they made an 116 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: upsetting discovery. 117 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 2: Colonel chisels I'm dead in his home. 118 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: There's not a lot of information about John Chisel's death. 119 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: For good reason. It was kept secret, and then the 120 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: details were very vague. We don't even know what room 121 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: he was found in, or the state of his body. 122 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: We just know for certain that John Chisel was dead. 123 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 2: Did his family know he was dead? They're all staying 124 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 2: at the house with him. In theory the children were 125 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 2: all there. I think so, but they might not have 126 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 2: been so. Did they find out to the newspaper? These 127 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 2: are some answers we just don't have. 128 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: Was he murdered. Did one of the angry protesters break 129 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,760 Speaker 1: in and kill him? That was definitely a possibility. But 130 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: when the coroner arrived and examined John Chisel, he made 131 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: a decision about the cause of death, and then his 132 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: ruling was printed in the newspaper, the Virginia Gazette. John 133 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:39,640 Speaker 1: Chisel had died from nervous fits. Nervous fits I've talked 134 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: about that phrase in past seasons. It's a vague nineteenth 135 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: century term, but essentially they're describing a stroke or a 136 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: heart attack brought on by stress. 137 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 2: Now it says in the paper he'd died from nervous 138 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 2: fits due to and I'm paraphrasing here, essentially being troubled. 139 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 2: So that would imply that he's under some level of stress, 140 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 2: Whether he has suffered from some type of mental illness 141 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 2: or he is depressed. 142 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 6: I don't know. 143 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 2: We don't know. 144 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: The coroner's report specifically said nervous fits owing to a 145 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: constant uneasiness of the mind. Julie Richter says, in this 146 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: case it was coded language for suicide. But that would 147 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: never have been said about a member of the gentry 148 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: for several reasons. 149 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,760 Speaker 6: What we would call mental illness today, you know, emotional 150 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 6: turmoil is something that was supposed to be handled within 151 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 6: the family. 152 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: Historian Neil Darby explains the other reason that Chisel's death 153 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: wouldn't have been labeled that way. Suicide wasn't allowed. 154 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 3: It is kind of you know, you should not. You 155 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 3: don't have the capacity to take your own life, and 156 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 3: God has the power to take that, so it's it's 157 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:58,319 Speaker 3: a religious thing. 158 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 1: In the seventeen hundred, suicides were categorized in two different ways. 159 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 3: There were two different types of suicide. So there was 160 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 3: a fellow to say which was self murder, and then 161 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 3: there was suicide by buttons of your mind being disturbed recently. 162 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 3: So you had the two different types, and you know 163 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 3: that they would kind of distinguish between them. So which 164 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 3: was the better form? Which was the not so nice form. 165 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: Historian and interpreter Nicole Brown says suicide was illegal in 166 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: the seventeen hundreds in England and the colonies, and so 167 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: it was your family who would actually suffer. 168 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 2: In the eighteenth century horribly. Under English common law, death 169 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 2: to one's person by oneself is still considered a felony. 170 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 2: All his property, everything he owned would be forfeit, and 171 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 2: his wife and daughters under English common law for free 172 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 2: English women, all of it would be forfeit. 173 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: With so much writing on the specifics in this case, 174 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: it was strange that the city's coroner had issued only 175 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: a vague description of Chisel's cause of death. He certainly 176 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,440 Speaker 1: didn't indicate whether it was a suicide or murder, or 177 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: even an accident. Nicole Brown says that unless the reason 178 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: for death was obvious, like rope marks around the neck 179 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,839 Speaker 1: or slice marks on the body, it was more difficult 180 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: to sort out what happened than it is today, and 181 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: that was particularly true if poison were involved. 182 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 2: To be as sensitive as I can to a very 183 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 2: difficult topic, there are some methods that are more visible 184 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 2: than others, and in the eighteenth century you can't do 185 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 2: a toxicology report, so if he died by suicide with poison, 186 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 2: it would be harder to prove, and legally that's very important. 187 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 1: The coroner didn't describe any injuries found on Chisel's body, 188 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: including signs of poison or anything else really, so it's 189 00:11:55,440 --> 00:11:59,080 Speaker 1: conceivable that maybe he just couldn't make a clear determination. 190 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: But in this case there was another reason. The coroner 191 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: of Williamsburg was one of Chisel's good friends. John Chisel's 192 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: family would have lost everything if he had died by suicide. 193 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: It was the law in the United Colonies. In fact, 194 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: suicide is still considered a crime in twenty countries. Today, 195 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 1: attempted suicide is punishable by fines of thousands of dollars 196 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: and up to three years in prison. In seventeen sixty six, Virginia, 197 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: not only was Chisel's financial future in jeopardy, so was 198 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:33,839 Speaker 1: his reputation. 199 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 2: Everybody has lots of different choices, but when it comes 200 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 2: to the significance of one's status, and status is everything 201 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 2: because it's connected to power in Virginia, I think he 202 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 2: may have felt this was the only choice, which shows 203 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 2: you how profoundly important status is. I mean, if this 204 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 2: is what you consider better than going to prison. 205 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: In life, Colonel John Chisel and his wife Elizabeth, and 206 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: perhaps their adult children had attended a church that serviced 207 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: the gentry in Williamsburg. It was called the Bruton Parish Church, 208 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: and by the time that Chisel had died, the church 209 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 1: was almost one hundred years old. Bruton was a storied institution, 210 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: and some of the founding fathers had even worshiped there. 211 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry all attended services 212 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: when they were in Williamsburg. After the Stamp Act passed 213 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty five members of the House of Burgesses 214 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: complained and fretted during a service at Bruton, and it 215 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: even served as a space for debates that would lead 216 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: up to the Revolutionary War. Some of the most important 217 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: men in the colony attended services there, and tombs and 218 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: monuments in the church and the churchyard were tributes to 219 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 1: royal governors, members of the council, and local leaders who 220 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: had been part of the esteemed congregation. John Chisel's status 221 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: in life meant that he was destined to be buried 222 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: at Routin or in a prominent location in his family 223 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: plot at Scotchtown, but after his death a series of 224 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: events plunged his family into further despair. Local leaders suspected 225 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: that he had died by suicide, and because suicide was 226 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: considered self murder and a felony, anyone who had taken 227 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: their own life was forbidden to be buried there. So 228 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: Chisel was banned from being buried at Rutin, which must 229 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: have been very humiliating for the Chisels and the Randolphs. 230 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: Instead of holding an upper class service for him amongst 231 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: the gentry, his family was forced to load his coffin 232 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: onto a horse and cart and send his body off 233 00:14:56,120 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: to the family's plantation surreptitiously in Scotchtown, almost seventy five 234 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: miles away from Williamsburg. Chisel's wife and his four daughters 235 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: planned to hold a service on the land where he 236 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: was born. By this time, word had spread among the 237 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: colonists that Chisel had been found dead. He would not 238 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: be jailed, he would not be convicted of murdering Robert Rutledge, 239 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: and he would not face their idea of justice at 240 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: the gallows. The colonists were outraged, and the lack of 241 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: details from the corner and the city's leaders made it worse. 242 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: They were convinced that Chisel had faked his death to 243 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,040 Speaker 1: escape the death penalty. Once again, John Chisel had been 244 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: given privilege. A member of the gentry who brazenly murdered 245 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: a lowly Scottish merchant had gotten away with it. 246 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 10: They're really pissed off now they think that he is 247 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 10: trying to escape to Britain, to London. 248 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:00,520 Speaker 9: But you know, the obvious thing is, you know hell 249 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 9: Now the guys on a boat to Jamaica. 250 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: Then the colonists learned that a coffin supposedly containing John 251 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: Chisel would be buried at Scotch Town. They didn't believe it. 252 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: The colonists did not believe that Chisel was dead. The 253 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: gentry were once again protecting him. At this point, they 254 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: trusted no one from the upper classes. They were all 255 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: liars and cheats and above the law, and now John 256 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: Chisel would be free to live his life somewhere else. 257 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: He wasn't dead. They believed his coffin was full of rocks, 258 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: and they planned to prove it. Word quickly spread around 259 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: Virginia's countryside that John Chisel's body was being taken to 260 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: Scotch Town. Robert Rutledge's many friends loaded people onto carts, 261 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,479 Speaker 1: mounted their horses, and rode off to Scotch Town, just 262 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: in time to meet the coffin. Chisel's family had arrived 263 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: for the service as well. 264 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 9: And his daughter arranges for the funeral at Scotch Town. Supposedly, 265 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 9: once the body gets to Scotch toown that is a 266 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 9: mob of people who are basically Ruttledge people. 267 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,119 Speaker 1: The carts driver tried to move through the crowd, but 268 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: it was useless. There were too many of them. 269 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 10: A mob shows up at the funeral procession and they 270 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 10: block the procession and demand that they open the coffin 271 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 10: in front of his family is presumably his wife, his 272 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 10: daughter's everyone. 273 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,440 Speaker 1: This was already a difficult day for John Chisel's wife 274 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: and children, so the crowd and the profanities and the 275 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: sheer anger just compounded their His family was terrified. 276 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,120 Speaker 10: You can imagine the scene. You know, people are saying, please, 277 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 10: you know, for Heaven's sakes, get out of the way, 278 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 10: let these people grieve. All this, and the mob just 279 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 10: will not listen. 280 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: The mob grew even louder. They demanded that someone opened 281 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:22,680 Speaker 1: the coffin immediately. They demanded proof that he was actually dead. 282 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: The people riding with the coffin realized that the crowd 283 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: wouldn't be satisfied until they saw his body, so they 284 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,800 Speaker 1: retrieved a bar and pried open the coffin. Several of 285 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: religious friends looked inside and saw a body, somebody's body. 286 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 10: The body has I think the phrase they use is blackened, 287 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,400 Speaker 10: decomposed over the course of the time. It's summer, so 288 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 10: it's probably happened pretty quickly. It's decomposed to such a 289 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 10: state that nobody in the mob can recognize the body. 290 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,479 Speaker 1: Remember there was no embalming in the seventeen hundreds, so 291 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: it didn't take very long for a body to degrade, 292 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: and this was an especially hot Virginia summer. The mob 293 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: wasn't satisfied. How did they know it wasn't someone else? 294 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 1: Chissel's family wept. Finally, a relative named Colonel William Dabney 295 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: stepped forward and confirmed it. Yes, this was John Chisel. 296 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,679 Speaker 10: And it's not until they actually force some of the 297 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,640 Speaker 10: close relatives of Colonel Chisel to come over and look 298 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 10: at the body that they confirm that's who it is, 299 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 10: and the mob is satisfied enough to disperse. 300 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: What a disturbing scene that must have been, a mob 301 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: forcing a grieving family to probably open their dead family 302 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: patriarch's coffin. But they knew that John Chisel was a murderer, 303 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 1: and they had been convinced that his powerful friends were 304 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: helping him get away with it, and they had had enough. 305 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 2: The protest that really culminates in this case is at 306 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 2: his funeral, in people refusing to accept what someone who 307 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 2: previously six months prior would be defined as there better 308 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 2: as the truth. 309 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: They were protesting the inequity of it all, the privilege 310 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 1: that Chisel had been offered in life, even when he 311 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: was free on. 312 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,880 Speaker 2: Bail, Colonel Chisel has an endless amount of resources. He's 313 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 2: allowed to still have access to his property. He's been 314 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 2: given bail for an enormous son, six thousand pounds, two 315 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,640 Speaker 2: thousand for him and another four thousand for the four 316 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 2: people vouching for him, which is insane. He's still allowed 317 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 2: to have access to what he perceives as his property, 318 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,359 Speaker 2: which are the enslaved individuals. He allowed to visit his 319 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,359 Speaker 2: lead minds in the summer. He literally travels hundreds of 320 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,320 Speaker 2: miles outside of the city. If he had wanted to 321 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 2: disappear at that point, he certainly could have. He doesn't 322 00:20:59,280 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 2: What does that mean? 323 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: Is he I illusional enough to think this isn't gonna happen. 324 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I don't know the answer 325 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 2: to that, but I think it's a compelling It's a 326 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,640 Speaker 2: compelling question which has no answer. Was he in denial? 327 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 2: Did he see it as a matter of honor? 328 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. 329 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 2: You're a gentleman and you see everyone as beneath you, 330 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 2: then you're probably gonna be shocked when all of a 331 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 2: sudden you're held accountable and who held him accountable. Who 332 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 2: held him accountable, I would argue, would be not only 333 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 2: concerned anonymous citizens in the gazette, but people who are saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. 334 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 2: Wait a minute, you should not be able to receive 335 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 2: bail from murder. I think the minute that this fallacy 336 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,439 Speaker 2: hypocrisy of different laws applying to different people based on 337 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 2: race is no longer no longer applied on race. In 338 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 2: Chisel's mind, it's the citizens or the subjects of Virginia 339 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 2: who who respond and say, no, you're not allowed to 340 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 2: kill whoever you are because you're a gentleman, and then 341 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 2: have no consequences. 342 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: John Chisel and Robert Rutledge's argument and then the merchant's 343 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: murder shook the foundation of Williamsburg. And then it was 344 00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: talked about for decades to come, and it's been written 345 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,959 Speaker 1: about in history books. Some of America's most important men 346 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: knew John Chisel, They were affected by him and his death. 347 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 2: In various ways. Patrick Henry is connected to this case 348 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 2: through scotch Town. Thomas Jefferson is connected to this case 349 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 2: through his future father in law. And at this point 350 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 2: even the new Guard is still gentry. They have to 351 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,199 Speaker 2: have thought or pondered or reflected upon it because it 352 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 2: if pacted one of what they would perceive as their ilk. 353 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:58,400 Speaker 2: Certainly it touched everybody's lives in Williamsburg, whether directly or indirectly, 354 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,240 Speaker 2: I think probably made for a very hot, sticky, uncomfortable 355 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 2: summer of truth discovering for individuals. 356 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: By the time that John Chisel died in seventeen sixty six, 357 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 1: the rebels and the loyalists were becoming more distinct. Men 358 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: and women began taking sides. Were you loyal to the 359 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,200 Speaker 1: King of England or were you loyal to the increasingly 360 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 1: outspoken leaders like Patrick Henry who declared that colonists deserve 361 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:29,640 Speaker 1: to be free from tyranny. 362 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 2: To jump between what happens with the Stamp Act all 363 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 2: the way to declaring independence in less than eleven years 364 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 2: or eleven years approximately, is it cataclismic shift? 365 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: A revolution was coming very quickly. 366 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:47,960 Speaker 2: The only metaphor I can think of is if you're 367 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 2: standing between two tectonic plates and they start shifting. I 368 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 2: think with this case, though, you know, the Stamp Act 369 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 2: is more universally disparaged as well as the townshend duties, 370 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 2: the tax on tea, the coercion acts, which we know 371 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 2: is the intolerable acts, et cetera, et cetera. 372 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: The colony of Virginia was very powerful and very influential, 373 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: and the people there were trapped between two immovable forces 374 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: that were both determined to control the colonies. 375 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,440 Speaker 2: Virginia holds an immense amount of sway as a colony 376 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 2: in how people respond to these acts and respond from 377 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 2: being divided to finding a kind of common enemy which 378 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 2: is not British law or British rights, but British individuals 379 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 2: who've never been to the colonies infringing upon those British rights. 380 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 2: I think the Chisel case fits in, though on a 381 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 2: much more personal level, with Virginia, in the same way 382 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 2: that the Stamp Act was seen as a violation of 383 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 2: British rights on a larger international scale, the Chisel murder 384 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 2: is a violation of what Virginians perceive as this unspoken 385 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 2: but sometimes in the law certainly explicit relationship between individuals 386 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,400 Speaker 2: and their strata in society and what they are expected 387 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 2: to do and how the laws apply to them. 388 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,119 Speaker 1: So this case was a sort of tipping point in 389 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: the class struggles amongst the colonists. But of course we 390 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: have to remember that there was still another very large 391 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: population in Virginia who were ignored and under virtual complete control, 392 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 1: enslaved people who were essentially dismissed by the law, regardless 393 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,119 Speaker 1: of their class. There were no white colonists demanding that 394 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: a member of the gentry be hanged for murdering a 395 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:36,719 Speaker 1: black person. 396 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 2: The hypocrisy, I can be murdered by my owner and 397 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 2: people won't make this much of a stink. So you 398 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 2: don't really have to look at the free white British 399 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:50,679 Speaker 2: subjects who are seeing this as a violation. You have 400 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,639 Speaker 2: to look at the half of the population in Williamsburg 401 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:58,439 Speaker 2: who are black majority enslaved, but even free blacks saying 402 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 2: what a hip critical turn of events. Both of those 403 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 2: are cataclysmics reimaginings. 404 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: So what does this case represent to the gentry of 405 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: the colonies? 406 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:11,120 Speaker 7: Do you think? 407 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,880 Speaker 1: Is there fear that we see that this could happen 408 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: to us, that we are not untouchable. 409 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,040 Speaker 2: Fear might be part of it, But the greater thing, 410 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,960 Speaker 2: I think is this idea of shame as well. If 411 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 2: status is one of those things where if a gentleman 412 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 2: as a gentleman should behave as a gentleman, then people 413 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 2: are I would imagine both nervous by how individuals are 414 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 2: being held accountable as well as ashamed that one of 415 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 2: their ilk would behave in such a way. 416 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,880 Speaker 1: There's one more possibility we should talk about concerning Chisel's death. 417 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: It's the PostScript that I mentioned. Patrick Henry would later 418 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: become a founding father, one of the men who would 419 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: sign the Declaration of Independents ten years later, and he 420 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: was at the procession in Scotch Town where Chisel's coffin 421 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 1: was pride open. Like the rest of the crowd, Henry 422 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,880 Speaker 1: stepped toward the coffin and surveyed the body inside. 423 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,359 Speaker 9: Patrick Henry is one of the people that's in the crowd, 424 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 9: and according to somebody, some people say Patrick Henry said 425 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 9: that his face was black from like arsenic or something 426 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 9: like that. 427 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: Arsenic it's a very powerful poison. It's a classical poison 428 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:35,119 Speaker 1: that has been historically used for homicidal purposes. Suicide with 429 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: arsenic could have been very quick if the dosage were 430 00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: large enough, but it would have been very painful. He 431 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:46,880 Speaker 1: would have experienced vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Those symptoms 432 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 1: would be followed by numbness, and tingling of the extremities, 433 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:54,679 Speaker 1: muscle cramping and death. I spoke with doctor Neil Bradberry, 434 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: who is a poison expert, and we talked about the 435 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,919 Speaker 1: blackened face that Patrick Henry might have referred to. Doctor 436 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: Bradbury says that arsenic poisoning is associated with hyper pigmentation 437 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: of the skin, So while it is unlikely that the 438 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: victim's whole face was blackened, the hyperpigmentation and overgrowth of 439 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: skin would give the appearance of dark patches on the skin. 440 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 1: Of course, this takes time and would be more consistent 441 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: with long term ingestion of small doses rather than a 442 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,640 Speaker 1: quick large dose. So is it likely that John Chisel 443 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,639 Speaker 1: used arsenic to take his own life. I'm not so sure, 444 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: and doctor Bradbury is skeptical. He said this sounds more 445 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: like an accidental overdose or it could have been intentional. 446 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: Nicole Brown and Simon Robinson agree that suicide might not 447 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: have been his cause of death. 448 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 2: But but he has enemies, he has enemies. We don't know, 449 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 2: We don't know. 450 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: It's possible that. 451 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 2: Somebody killed him. It's possible, absolutely, so. 452 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 7: He may well have committed suicide. And I don't want 453 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 7: to inflame. Any more conspiracy theories across North America, I 454 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 7: think you've had plenty. But you know, you could almost 455 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 7: say was he offered it, was. 456 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: He depressed enough to take his own life that night 457 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: in October, or was he forced or convinced to take 458 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: his own life, or did someone ambush him just to 459 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 1: save the reputation of the gentry class. We may never 460 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: be sure exactly how John Chisel died, but it's clear 461 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 1: there could have been even more dramatic outcomes. 462 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 7: So if it been convicted, he would have been a 463 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 7: gentleman being hung or beheaded however they wished to do 464 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 7: it in those days. If it had been acquitted, the populace 465 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 7: could have risen up and you know, taken on the 466 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 7: powers that be in Virginia. So maybe the way events 467 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 7: transpired him, whether he did die a fit, or whether 468 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 7: it was suicide or possibly encouraged suicide. 469 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: Based on past events, Chisel would have likely been acquitted 470 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: because of his privilege, but an acquittal would have triggered 471 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: chaos in the lower classes. 472 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 7: If he had been acquitted, the public reaction could have 473 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 7: been explosive. So in some ways, I think it was 474 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 7: almost a good result for those in power that he 475 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 7: died on the eve of the trial. 476 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 1: Some of the material out there about Chisel is misleading. 477 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: He didn't die the night before his trial. He died 478 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,480 Speaker 1: in October, and his trial wasn't scheduled until mid November 479 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: when the new Assembly convened. He didn't die the night 480 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: before he was to be taken to jail either. His 481 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 1: attorneys were still building their case at that time. I 482 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: think murder is just as likely as suicide, and many 483 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:55,080 Speaker 1: colonists agreed with me. This story also spoke to how 484 00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: widely and quickly the gossip spread. There were many, many 485 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: rumors about Chisel's death. 486 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 9: Now, these are different things that I've heard, but I 487 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 9: have no documentation for any of it. But I've heard 488 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 9: that he hanged himself. 489 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 6: I've also heard that too. 490 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 9: Another one is that he's found dead on the floor, 491 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 9: and I have no documentation that says okay. And then 492 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 9: there's the third thing that I've heard, again no documentation 493 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 9: at all, is that he's murdered, really by the governor 494 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 9: and some of his associates, his friends. 495 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 7: To make this go away. 496 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 9: He's a problem the governor or, you know, maybe as 497 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 9: high as the governor, but maybe not but you know 498 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 9: he's a big problem. Let's make the problem go away 499 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 9: and somebody else poisons him. 500 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: Once John Chisel was buried on his property in the countryside, 501 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: his family was left without a patriarch. Nicole Brown believes 502 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: that Chisel likely made the decision to take his life 503 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: in part for the sake of his family. She reminded 504 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: me of their financial situation during my interview with Robert Weathers. 505 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,720 Speaker 2: Basically, under English common law, if you commit a felony 506 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 2: to oneself, or you commit a murder to yourself suicide, 507 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 2: it's considered a crime against your person, and like with 508 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 2: other felonies, your entire estate is forfeit too. Coblica, you know, 509 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 2: when we're talking about privilege. I think Chisel in some 510 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 2: ways still gets the last laugh in that The belief 511 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 2: from several historians when you look at the primary records 512 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 2: is that he probably did commit suicide, but no one 513 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 2: calls it that publicly, which means that publicly his family 514 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 2: still gets to maintain their status and their money because 515 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,880 Speaker 2: no one is going to bring that crime of suicide 516 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:48,959 Speaker 2: against him. 517 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: Carson Hudson reminds us that John Chisel's death impacted his 518 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: family and the colony of Virginia. 519 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 9: Some consequences of that are that Scotch Town, which is 520 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 9: where Chisel was born and where he was buried, it 521 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 9: had been a family possession. It went to his daughter 522 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,160 Speaker 9: and son in law, and because of the debts that 523 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 9: were owed because of the Robinson scandal, she had to 524 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 9: sell it, so it falls into Patrick Henry's hands. 525 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: Despite John Chisel's death, his four daughters and his wife 526 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,480 Speaker 1: continued on. His two unmarried children, both wedded, wealthy men. 527 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,880 Speaker 1: His wife, Elizabeth, died ten years after he did. The 528 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: Randolph family survived at Chisel's humiliation, but there was still 529 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: the taint left from John Robinson's financial scandal. 530 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 6: Too much power in one person's hands led to embarrassment, murder, 531 00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 6: financial problems that were widespread. And that is abundantly clear 532 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:57,480 Speaker 6: that that lesson was learned very quickly. 533 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: And yet both of the families carried on because the 534 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: story of John Robinson's theft and the deception had been 535 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: reframed by the gentry. 536 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,160 Speaker 7: You know, I think that there had also been a 537 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 7: narrative that John Robinson was a lovely fellow. He was 538 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 7: just trying to do right by the planters and others. 539 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 7: Who was really struggling. It was his generosity that was 540 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,720 Speaker 7: his failing. So I think there was a narrative, maybe 541 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:30,920 Speaker 7: created to gloss over what we can call fraud and 542 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 7: dress it up as something a lot more palatable. 543 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: I asked historian Julie Richter about this story and its legacy. 544 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: I wish there were more documents, even more information, even 545 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: though I have a lot of it. What really happened 546 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,759 Speaker 1: to John Chisel that night in October. 547 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 6: I'm one who firmly believes that will keep finding more 548 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 6: documents from the eighteenth century. People go through addicts, archives, 549 00:34:54,880 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 6: finished processing documents. You know, maybe someday somebody will or 550 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:04,840 Speaker 6: a letter or even a diary that will add another 551 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 6: piece to this puzzle of this mystery. But it must 552 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 6: have been horrendous to a witnessed so I guess another 553 00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 6: lesson as a historian, as a people in the past 554 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:17,479 Speaker 6: suffered trauma too. 555 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: Julie says that there are many victims in this case, 556 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,360 Speaker 1: not just Chisel's family or religious family and his friends. 557 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,840 Speaker 1: The people in the tavern who witnessed this event carried 558 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: the tragedy with them. The enslaved person who was ordered 559 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,720 Speaker 1: to bring the sword would have been traumatized. 560 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:39,480 Speaker 6: I mean, slavery is a violet institution inherently, but this 561 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 6: young boy is most likely in the audience. It seems 562 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 6: like a wrong word, and there may have been other 563 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 6: children in the tavern who are serving the customers. So 564 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,920 Speaker 6: you're going to have people from a swath of the 565 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 6: Virginia society seeing this and then going to repeat the 566 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 6: story too. It's just cip yeah, it's yeah. It is trauma, 567 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 6: and it's one that would have deeply affected people. 568 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 1: One note about Robert Rutledge and his legacy. The Scottish 569 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:22,799 Speaker 1: merchant had died intestate and without errors. Because of that, 570 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,319 Speaker 1: Rutledge's two hundred and seventy two acres of land were 571 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 1: given to the Colony of Virginia. The same men who 572 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,959 Speaker 1: protected his killer now had possession of his land. After 573 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: America became America as we know it now, the land 574 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: was officially owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and then 575 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:46,240 Speaker 1: something special happened. In seventeen ninety four, Virginia lawmakers turned 576 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,080 Speaker 1: over the land once owned by Rutledge to a university 577 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: called Hampden Sydney College. It's now a private men's liberal 578 00:36:54,920 --> 00:37:00,800 Speaker 1: arts college. Robert Rutledge, the commoner had contributed to higher education. 579 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: So that is Rutledge's legacy. But what about John Chisel. 580 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 10: Father in law of the Speaker of the House of Burgesses, 581 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 10: married to a randof represented by a Wales who is 582 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,320 Speaker 10: a randof two? Is he not? All of these people 583 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,719 Speaker 10: know each other and are intermarried. And what do we 584 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 10: love more than rich people behaving badly? 585 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,360 Speaker 5: And that's really kind of what you see throughout seventeen 586 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,360 Speaker 5: sixty six, with all of these different events, with the 587 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,760 Speaker 5: repeal of the Stamp Act, with the towns and Duties 588 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,919 Speaker 5: set into place, the Declaratory Act in Parliament. In some ways, 589 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:47,360 Speaker 5: I would liken it to the United States in nineteen 590 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:51,799 Speaker 5: sixty eight, or much of America in twenty twenty, with 591 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 5: the protests against police killings of unarmed black citizens. There 592 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:02,279 Speaker 5: are these incidents that inspire individuals to protest to try 593 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,239 Speaker 5: to make sure that their rights are being preserved. 594 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: The time right before the Revolutionary War was electric. Everyone 595 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 1: could feel that something was coming. Robert Weathers says that 596 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:17,440 Speaker 1: Robert Rutledge's murder was another match strike in the bomb 597 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,200 Speaker 1: that would begin the American Revolutionary War. 598 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 10: It is hard for me to overstate to you, considering 599 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 10: that this is a case, I think that ninety nine 600 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 10: point nine to ninety nine percent of people have no 601 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 10: idea of, or have ever heard of, how important this 602 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 10: individual decision is to the era of the American Revolution. 603 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 1: The scene had been set because of the King's tightening 604 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:48,360 Speaker 1: of the colonist's rites and in turn their fury over 605 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:49,520 Speaker 1: their lack of freedom. 606 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,759 Speaker 10: The Stamp Act the previous year shook the foundations of 607 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:56,560 Speaker 10: trust in the overruling government of the British Empire. But 608 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:01,800 Speaker 10: this shakes the trust of the mid and lower class 609 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:06,399 Speaker 10: in their rulers here in Virginia, the gentry class. And 610 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 10: that has to be a terrifying notion in a slave 611 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,800 Speaker 10: holding society, and it has to be a terrifying notion 612 00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:15,800 Speaker 10: for the top two percent. 613 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: It's incredible to think how one murder can lead to 614 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:22,760 Speaker 1: so much. 615 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:25,919 Speaker 10: A lot of people are of the impression that the 616 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 10: revolutionary war begins in April of seventeen seventy five at 617 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:33,399 Speaker 10: Lexington and conquered. But those men, I'm telling you, those 618 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 10: men do not stand on the green at Lexington without 619 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 10: the events taking place here in Virginia. And that includes Chisel, 620 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 10: it includes Robinson. It includes the effects of the stamp tax. 621 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:50,000 Speaker 10: That includes Henry and his resolutions. All of these things, 622 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:54,759 Speaker 10: these point directly to one end. In hindsight, we can 623 00:39:54,800 --> 00:40:04,040 Speaker 10: see it. The groundwork is late, and it's laid perhaps 624 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,319 Speaker 10: on what otherwise would have been a rather uneventful night, 625 00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:18,120 Speaker 10: had an uneventful tavern with two uneventful people in Western Virginia. 626 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this season of tenfold More Wicked 627 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:29,320 Speaker 1: on exactly Right. Our next season premieres in two weeks, 628 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:33,360 Speaker 1: but check out the trailer this coming Monday. As always, 629 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,440 Speaker 1: thanks for coming back each week. We love our listeners. 630 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,200 Speaker 1: If you love a good, real ghost story, my audiobook 631 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:45,680 Speaker 1: The Ghost Club is available on Audible now. I can't 632 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 1: wait to tell you the real story about the world's 633 00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:51,640 Speaker 1: most famous ghost hunter, who was the head of the 634 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:56,400 Speaker 1: world's most famous ghost club, and how he investigated England's 635 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:00,360 Speaker 1: most famous haunted house. Please also check out my books 636 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: American Sherlock and All That Is Wicked. This has been 637 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:08,960 Speaker 1: an exactly right tenfold more. Media production producer Jason Whaling, 638 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:15,360 Speaker 1: Senior producer Alexis and Morosi, Consulting producer Kyle Ryan, researcher 639 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:20,960 Speaker 1: Nicole Brown, sound designer Eric Friend, composer Curtis Heath, artwork 640 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:26,960 Speaker 1: Nick Toga. Executive producers Georgia Hartstark, Karen Kilgarriff and Danielle Kramer. 641 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:33,960 Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at tenfold more Wicked 642 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:36,760 Speaker 1: and on Twitter at tenfold More